Allegory Of The Cave And The Truman Show Essay

Limited Knowledge, truth (or revelation), reality, and idealism are some of the common themes expressed in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the film “The Truman Show.” The differences can be found in the way Plato allows some of the prisoners to remain unknowing, by giving them an almost fear-like stance involving the truth of their world, and how to free themselves. Another is that the “false” world is created on different premises, either to create a safe an ideal environment, or merely to only allow the characters to think their world is ideal (both treat those involved like a science experiment). Both of these stories, however, have a similar plot in that they keep the subjects having very limited

In the Allegory of the Cave there are chained prisoners in cave who can only stare at the cave wall in front of them. At the back there is a long entrance with a staircase the width of the cave and a fire burning in the distance. They see only shadows projected in front of them from a raised platform and hear an echo that they attribute to what they observe. They talk about and name the shadows of objects they see before them. To them the truth are the shadows. Then one day one of the prisoners is released. He is told that what he saw before was an illusion. Once he is outside it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the sun. First he observed the shadows of thing then their reflection and finally the actual object. Remembering his previous state he goes back to the cave and tries to explain that everything is an illusion but they laugh at him and think he’s crazy. They believe it best not to ascend and they choose to remain as they are. The cave represented opinion. The shadows that are cast on to the wall represented physical objects. The prisoners represented the common people (Welles).

The Truman Show is centred on a man-made island called SeaHaven where a man named Truman Burbank has been televised without his knowledge since birth. The show is a 24 hour live tv show where every aspect of Truman’s life is shown. As Truman grows older he begins to notice unsual events that leads him to believe that there is something incongruent with what people are telling him and what he experiences in his day to day life. As Truman begins to test the boundaries he realizes that the town seems to revolve around him and his desire to escape comes to an all time high. Eventually Truman begins on a journey to escape his virtual reality. Despite the boundaries that the director throws at him he eventually escapes and will try to find his way in the real world. This movie made me sympathize for Truman being that he has no privacy and is oblivious to his lack of freedom. This movie shows how it is possible to create an “ideal” community and how New Urbanism can be created and maintained.

In Plato's “The Cave” shows us a group of prisoners chained to face a wall. A fire behind them casts shadows on the wall their facing of a variety of different things however they can not see what they truly are. The prisoners only reality is the shadows and the sound they associate with these shadows. They truly have no understanding of what happening other than what they see on the wall and what they hear. This distorted view of the world

Utopia - A perfect world. Truman's world was an utopia. Everything, including the weather, was controlled in a huge Hollywood dome. Truman grew up having no idea he was being watched every hour of the day, and that every step he took was being viewed by millions all over the globe. As the show progressed, it became clear how much media influenced Truman's life, and also how Christof played a huge role in Truman's well-being.

The movie, 'The Truman Show' is about a reality television show that has been created to document the life of a man who, adopted at birth by a television network, is tricked into believing that his life, his reality, is normal and the environment that he lives is real. It is set in a town called Seahaven, which is essentially a simulation of the real world similar enough to the outside world that the viewing audience can relate to it. The town is a television studio inside an enormous dome in which the weather, the sun, the sky, and all the actions of the citizens are directed by a team of special effects people. The entire show is directed and produced by the creator of

In Donald C. Mackenzie’s article “Don’t adjust your set, the shadow you see is permanent”, he compares the allegory of the cave, specifically the idea of the shadows and the puppeteers, to modern day screen and televisions. “Television, of course, does not present the real world, but rather a series of images chosen and manipulated by its puppet-masters; yet this fake picture is very attractive to those who have become addicted to it” (Mackenzie). Mackenzie compares Plato’s description of the shadows as reality, to television becoming our modern day reality. Similarly the Plato’s cave and shadows, television and modern day screens become what people think of as reality even if fake. In modern day society, there is so much attachment to what we see on our screens, even though no screen or shadow is reality or permeant.

In Plato’s Allegory by Jeff Stickney and The Truman Show by Peter Weir there are significant similarities between both works regarding the plot. An example of plot which was briefly touched on before is in Plato’s Allegory which compares to this plot idea of figuring the truth or figuring out the “reality” in the end is when the prisoner is released from the cave to go out into the real world and he finds out the truth about what sort of illusion he has been living in. “But next imagine that ne of the prisoners was freed from his chains. Suppose he was suddenly forced to stand up and face towards the entrance of the cave” (Stickney 11). An example from The Truman Show when in the end Truman finds out the truth and figures everything out and realizes what has happened during his talk with Christop the set director. These examples from the similarities which can be compared to both works plots are when in both scenarios the characters figure out the truth in the ending. To get a deeper grasp on this major significant similarity between the two works it must be knows that both Truman and the prisoner from the cave were forcefully trapped into a fake world which they were taught and forced to believe was their real world. Again the topic of illusion versus reality. When Truman was born there was a camera there to witness the entire thing and it was casted all over the world to everyone

In Plato’s essay, “Allegory of The Cave” Plato creates a story about three prisoners in a cave, through this he further makes his point that without knowledge our view of the truth is askew. Plato explains that the three hostages have been shackled in the dark cave their whole lives unable to see the real world. The only piece of actuality they can see are shadows of people crossing in front of the opening of the cave. These figures can drive anyone insane without having any real truth to what the images could be. Without any awareness of the real world just outside of the cave they are forced to adapt and therefore accept their own reality. Plato goes on to say that, “the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (122). The obscurities are significant because they are the only apprehension the prisoners have, they have nothing to compare it to. The actuality of it to the captives is something other than the truth would be outside of the cave. The forms on the wall are only just shadows, but to them that is everything they have ever known. Plato through his legend portrays

The Truman Show is a film which has been developed through a range of images. Peter Weir has creatively directed a film portraying the media and its impact on society. Within this film we see the effectiveness of techniques, which include camera angles, framing, shot types, camera movement, style of music, costuming and sequencing. By using a range of different techniques Weir is able to create emotive images and portray three different worlds to the audience.

Peter Weir’s film, The Truman Show, allows readers the opportunity to make connections between his work and Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave. This opportunity fosters the kind of investigation into the truths of reality that make for interesting fodder for conversation. If one were to examine how Weir uses the manufactured town to discuss the importance of finding the true realities, one would additionally discover that these concepts are eerily similar to The Allegory of the Cave: specifically, the appearance of a prisoner and shadows. In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank’s entire life is the fabricated plot for a television show he is not aware of. In one possible perspective, Truman becomes the prisoner, shackled into this façade where he

'The Truman Show' is the story of a baby who is bought by a television

The Allegory of the Cave has many parallels with The Truman Show. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own “cave”; a film set or fictional island known as Seahaven. Truman’s journey or ascension into the real world and into knowledge is similar to that of Plato’s cave dweller. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities along with the very intent of both of these works whose purpose is for us to question our own reality.

The “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato represents the differences in the way we perceive reality and what we believe is real. In his story, Plato starts by saying that in a cave, there are prisoners chained down and are forced to look at a wall. The prisoners are unable to turn their heads to see what is going on behind them and are completely bound to the floor. Behind the prisoners, puppeteers hide and cast shadows on the wall in line with the prisoners’ sight, thus giving the prisoners their only sense of reality. What happens in the passage is not told from the prisoners’ point of view but is actually a conversation held between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato’s brother).

In The Film “ The Truman Show “ Directed By Peter Wier, The Main Protagonist Truman Is A Character That Is Portrayed As A Determined Yet Stubborn Character, Living Inside Of A Fake Utopia Created By The Creator Of “ The Truman Show ” Christof. Throughout This Entire Scene, We As The Viewer Can See That The Director Peter Wier Utilises This Scene To Emphasise On How Truman Is Portrayed, As He Is A Character Filled With Determined And A Desire For Freedom. With The Use Of 6 Different Aspect, Such As The Use Of Dialogue, Symbolism, Prop, Gesture, Facial Expression And Camera Shots To Portray This Specific Theme. As We As Viewers Can See How Truman Really Is Struggling During This Entire Scene, Reinforcing Our Understand Of Truman’s Determination.