Plato's Allegory of the Cave and The Truman Show
The Allegory of the Truman Show
When watching The Truman Show, a viewer who is familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave will naturally start to see similarities between the two. The characters in The Truman Show can easily be assigned a roles within Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Truman experiences a long overdue ascent to knowledge throughout the movie, after having the seeds for this growth planted years. After he is awakened, the truth begins continually flooding in and Truman can no longer stay in the dark. The final culmination of The Truman Show comes only after Truman faces his greatest fear, in pursuit of the truth.
Truman clearly plays the part of the prisoner, unaware that his hometown, Seahaven Island, is actually a television studio. Christof orchestrates every moment and movement on the studio set and effectively carries the other characters, as do the men passing along the wall behind the prisoners creating shadows. All of the people who inhabit Seahaven Island act as shadows in Truman's cave. The most important people to Truman, Meryl, Marlon, and his mother, also take the part of shadows in some parts of the movie. While the people of Seahaven, including those closest to Truman, play the part of the shadows, they also sometimes share characteristics of the cave's other prisoners. Throughout Truman's life, his natural instincts to explore and seek knowledge have been quickly squashed by whomever was present when he expresses these interests. This includes anyone from an elementary school teacher to his best friend and wife. The memory of Sylvia, the woman he quickly fell for, is the truth or knowledge that drives Truman to really break free, in the end.
When the movie begins, Truman has long had the seeds of his impending ascent to knowledge lying in wait. As a young man, he met and quickly fell for a woman by the name of Sylvia. Due to the nature of Truman's life, she was not allowed to talk to him and was quickly taken away by someone
When watching The Truman Show, a viewer who is familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave will naturally start to see similarities between the two. The characters in The Truman Show can easily be assigned a roles within Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Truman experiences a long overdue ascent to knowledge throughout the movie, after having the seeds for this growth planted years. After he is awakened, the truth begins continually flooding in and Truman can no longer stay in the dark. The final culmination of The Truman Show comes only after Truman faces his greatest fear, in pursuit of the truth.
Truman clearly plays the part of the prisoner, unaware that his hometown, Seahaven Island, is actually a television studio. Christof orchestrates every moment and movement on the studio set and effectively carries the other characters, as do the men passing along the wall behind the prisoners creating shadows. All of the people who inhabit Seahaven Island act as shadows in Truman's cave. The most important people to Truman, Meryl, Marlon, and his mother, also take the part of shadows in some parts of the movie. While the people of Seahaven, including those closest to Truman, play the part of the shadows, they also sometimes share characteristics of the cave's other prisoners. Throughout Truman's life, his natural instincts to explore and seek knowledge have been quickly squashed by whomever was present when he expresses these interests. This includes anyone from an elementary school teacher to his best friend and wife. The memory of Sylvia, the woman he quickly fell for, is the truth or knowledge that drives Truman to really break free, in the end.
When the movie begins, Truman has long had the seeds of his impending ascent to knowledge lying in wait. As a young man, he met and quickly fell for a woman by the name of Sylvia. Due to the nature of Truman's life, she was not allowed to talk to him and was quickly taken away by someone