Plato’s allegory of the cave
describes a world in which humans are imprisoned in such a “cave”, and chained
by their neck and limbs. In this world shadows created by a fire and men carrying
objects is the reality that the prisoners have been raised to believe. They
know nothing else because they have not experienced anything else. They lack
what Plato refers to as “knowledge”, the key to understanding the real world.
This “knowledge” unknown to the prisoners is right outside of the cave they
have been forcibly put in, it is the real world.
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| This is a model of Plato's Cave in which the prisoners are kept www.litigationps.com/.a/6a01156e439be2970c01538e2889c2970b-800wi |
Immediately this idea fascinated
me. It reminded me of a pretty cruel experiment, yet something extremely useful
to comprehend. How would a human act if they didn’t experience life as we enjoy
it in modern times? If they were under circumstances similar to Plato’s
prisoners? Setting up an experiment like this today would be as morally
unacceptable as it would be legally wrong. However, as I pondered this idea, I
was quickly reminded of one of my favorite movies, The Truman Show.
The
movie begins with Truman Burbank, who is played by Jim Carey. Truman is born
into an artificial world, which is set up by the producers of “The Truman
Show”. This world is controlled in a huge dome that Truman suspects is reality.
In this modern cave of a world, the Truman Show’s production team would be able
to successfully manipulate Truman’s thought processes and surroundings while
simultaneously taping his entire life through secret cameras. Eventually Truman
figures out the scheme playing around him, and opts to live in the real world.
The
resemblances to Plato’s cave are numerous. Truman is the prisoner while the
show plays a role very similar to the guards in charge of the prisoners.
Furthermore, the fake world set up for Truman acts as his personal cave, to
which he knows nothing more. Yet even with being in a modern setting, I believe
Truman’s realizations and punishment from such experimentation would be similar
to that of a the prisoner living in Plato’s era.
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| When Truman reaches the end of the artificial dome he realizes the "cave" he was living in. http://brightwalldarkroom.com/post/27992510205/the-truman-show-1998 |
In
order to compare and contrast the scenarios, I will first describe the
punishment that the prisoner faced in the Allegory of the Cave. After being
painfully dragged to the ridge of the cave, the prisoner see’s the Sun and
intuitively knows that the sun is somehow the origin of life and thus gains
knowledge. After reconvening with the rest of the prisoners, only the
enlightened prisoner knows of such knowledge. Because of his unique knowledge,
the prisoner is then killed as he challenges everything they have ever known.
Similarly,
Truman eventually recognizes strange errors in the setup of his world, and is
able to find an “exit” into the real world. He appears obviously agitated as he
pounds on the fake blue walls at the end of the dome, while crying his eyes out.
Although Truman experiences visible pain and anger, his pain seems more
psychological than that of the prisoner. Truman is not brutally killed after
his realization, but he is visibly distressed. The physiological stress that
one would take on after such events seems unbearable, similar to the torture
that the prisoner received.
Anyways, still amazing that I watched that movie so many
times and never knew it was so similar to this philosophical goldmine
Works Cited:
"The Allegory of the Cave". The Republic.
Plato. Accessed 30 January 2010. http://websapce.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html
Weir, David, dir. The
Truman Show. Screenplay by Andrew Niccol. Paramount
Pictures, 1998. Film.
Pictures, 1998. Film.
Link 2: http://www.litigationps.com/.a/6a01156e439be2970c01538e2889c2970b-800wi
Link 3: http://brightwalldarkroom.com/post/27992510205/the-truman-show-1998
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