Have you ever been under surveillance for 24 hours a day? Well in the Truman Show, the main character Truman was in this exact position, where he was trapped in a dome without knowing and was in the public eye. This might sound familiar to you that is, because Plato’s allegory of the cave involved a prisoner being chained within a cave facing a rocky wall, and only able to see shadows with a fire pit as a source of light. This essay will be comparing and contrasting both Plato’s cave allegory and The Truman show due to their overlapping ideas. The setting, the character’s perception of their situation and the symbolism within both the show and theory will be analyzed for differences and similarities.
Plato’s key perception in the Allegory
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In the beginning of the story there are a few prisoners in a cave locked up in chains facing a rocky wall in complete darkness. The prisoners are not able to turn around to see what is behind them. Throughout their lives, the only view the prisoners have is the shadows lurking in front of them from the steamy fire set behind them. One of the prisoners is unrestrained from the cave and finally realizes what reality is and how it is portrayed outside the cave. The prisoner has been living in the cave all his life never knowing what the outside world looks like. After witnessing the outside world, the escaped prisoner was astonished at what reality actually looks like. He knew if he was to return back into the cave and tell the others that there is more to the cave than just shadows, they wouldn’t believe him. Similarly, in the movie The Truman Show, Truman Burbank only perceived reality of what was around him, not knowing that his life was a T.V. show aired for millions of people around the globe. …show more content…
In the Truman Show, Truman saw a girl he liked and thought was beautiful. When they met in the library Silvia told Truman that it was not safe to talk and wrote on the paper that everyone is watching. Truman had no idea what Silvia was saying at that time. When they went to the beach Sylvia revealed to him that everything is fake and scripted and no one in his life can be trusted. From that moment Truman viewed the way he lived very differently. He stated to see a trend on a daily basis. For example, when Truman sat in the car with his wife and looked at the rear mirror he noticed the same people moving in the same direction every day. When Truman confronted his wife about what was happening, his wife Meryl would tell him he was crazy and that he was imagining things. While Truman was following a cast member into a building he saw the backstage of the show when the elevator opened. The cast lied to him saying that they were renovating and that there was nothing to worry about. Since the Truman Show was a success globally, the cast and director didn’t want him to suspect anything was going on. Every time Truman brought up travelling and adventures they would shut it down by having the ones he loved say something to him. One way the director made sure Truman would not travel was by making him scared of water. By doing this, they made his actor father drown in
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” explains his beliefs on education of one’s soul and the core of the way they shape themselves. The rhetorical devices that Plato represents inside of his story explains how much freedom is worth in this world. The deeper meaning inside of what Plato describes can further be found out once a reader realizes the type of rhetorical devices are being used. For example, Plato portrays prisoners being locked inside of a cave without a way out. These prisoners never got to see the outside world, yet he mentions they “see shadows” which explains they are only able to catch a glimpse of reality from the outside. Plato’s use of imagery gives us a mental picture on the tease we may feel to notice reality but not be able to experience it. In reality, we do not value freedom as much as we are supposed to. We seem to not see the world as he sees it. With the help of personification, Plato uses human like characteristics to describe non-living things to give
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.
One of the major differences between the film and the novel is the depiction of the delusional image of reality. However, it still manages to bring forth the dystopian image of both their Utopian societies. In The Truman Show, life is a real life play in an environment that provides comfortable lifestyle and happiness at the cost of reality. The producer of The Truman Show, Christof states, “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented”. This message is the underlying theme in the story and as such, will foreshadow Truman’s acceptance of a delusional reality in the film. Meanwhile, in the film everyone except for Truman is acting and not living an authentic life. There is no sense of “real”; no real affinity, no secrecy, and no faith, all of which Truman is blindly unawar...
The person in the cave is taken out and put into the world. The brightness of the sun is blinding to his eyes causing him to be blind to the “realities”
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 the show, Christof. Truman Burbank, the star of the show, is the only one who doesn't know that he lives in a giant studio and is surrounded by an illusion of reality. The entire world watches Truman's movements twenty four hours a day, seven days a week through the use of thousands of miniature hidden cameras.
What is truly real, and what is not? This question is one which has been pondered deeply throughout human history, and it seemingly has no definitive answer. To understand what is truly a part of reality, and what isn’t, may be an impossible feat. However, two famous works created by humans from two distant time periods attempt to dissect and analyze this philosophical question. The first, The Allegory of the Cave, was written by the great Greek philosopher, Plato, who was born in 428 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Allegory of the Cave is a piece of a larger work of Plato’s, The Republic, which is a collection of works concerning political philosophy. The Republic is his most famous work and what he is best known for in today’s world. The second
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is the pinnacle of philosophy, many future philosophers based their own philosophies from Plato’s Allegory. A simple Allegory questioning truth and reality has also shaped current pop culture. The past shapes the future, it is surreal knowing how a single man from the past with his love for wisdom influenced modern films. The Allegory is a simple story that makes people question their truth and their morals in which they live by. The Allegory tells a story of a prisoner who has escaped the “fake” reality and has seen “truth”; the informed prisoner attempts to return to his fake world to enlighten other prisoners of their ignorance. This same plot concept can be seen in the movie The Truman Show.
The Truman Show has several comparisons to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Truman’s home, Seahaven, represents the prisoner’s cave and the water becomes Truman’s chains. The actors that play as Truman’s friends and family represent the shadows that appear on the wall. After attempting to leave, Truman spends a long time sitting in his car observing the world and eventually predicts what will occur, just as the men in the cave predict what will appear on the wall next. In the Allegory, the prisoner had to be dragged out kicking and screaming because he was comfortable with the lie. Christoph says the same thing about Truman as Plato says about the man; he is comfortable with his false reality. Plato stated that once knowledge is gained, no one
In the contemporary world , culture refers to something as vast as the distinctive way of life of an entire community. Culture is everywhere and everyone has it; it is the mass of ideas, traditions, habits, stories, beliefs, and perspectives on life passed on to us from generation to generation through literature, language, art, myth, religion, family, and various other social institutions. Plato had many different ideas when it comes to human behavior and philosophy. Some of those things can be applied to today’s society, some of them can’t. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which is probably his most famous theory, as well as Krishnamurti’s essay on cultural conditioning of a mind, they both focus on cultural values and living within a culture and can still be seen in today’s society.
In life, the world one lives in seems to be the reality, without people questioning its credibility. As Iris Murdoch once said, “[People] live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”(Iris Murdoch Quotes). In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, prisoners are trapped in a cave and chained to face a wall and only see shadows of objects that pass behind. However, one prisoner is released and forced out into the reality, allowing the reader to understand that the world one sees and experiences is not the reality, but rather an illusion. Similarly, in The Truman Show by Andrew Niccol, Truman Bank is living in Seahaven Island, a place created for a television show that is all about Truman. Throughout the
Inside the cave the only knowledge that you can experience is the knowledge that is already installed into your head. In the cave viewpoint “The truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the image.”(Plato 450) M This quote explains that everything that is viewed in the cave is only a shadow of the real thing. But, the outside of the cave is made up of real images that can be hurtful “He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world” (Plato 451). This quote explains how humans need to adjust to new knowledge. At first, the outside of the cave is defined as unreal, because you are in denial that there is more to the world than just your cave. When one realizes the actual things that are present outside the cave one will want to spread the word and tell the other prisoners. But, one will not spread the word because the other prisoners will not be open to the knowledge. They will see your viewpoint as being insane do to the fact that they have not been exposed to the
This allows him to have an easier time accepting the truth because it was not someone else telling him the unthinkable. One day he creates the image that he fell asleep while being in the basement. The producers realize it and everyone goes on a search for him. In actuality, he is on a boat sailing off the island of Seahaven. He is trying to break the chains of the cave and search for his true love and his father. In order to prevent him from discovering the truth the producer creates a violent storm in the set, hoping to shake Truman enough for him to turn around. You can see in the viewer’s eyes the concern they have for him as they cheer him on but also their sense of realization that the show is going to be over. Truman declares he will not give up and continues to sail on into the sea until he runs into a wall. The fact that he ran into a wall validates his theory that his life was not real and allows him to reconcile with his
Plato’s, Allegory of The Cave, is a dialogue between his teacher, Socrates, and his brother, Glaucon, where Socrates dissects what is required to have a good life. During this dialogue Socrates illustrates a scenario where humans grow up in cave deep in the ground, strapped down like prisoners so that they can only face the wall front of them. On this wall there are shadows being casted
Because Truman was being manipulated for most of his life, he had never experienced true freedom. For example, Christof could never allow him to leave the island of Seahaven because if he did he would discover the truth and ruin the TV show. The writers of the show tried to nip Truman’s enthusiasm for travel in the bud such as when he announced to the class that he wanted to be an explorer when he grew up. The teacher immediately told him that he was too late for everything had already been discovered. A few years later, something more drastic was called for and they decided to write Truman’s father out of The Truman Show in a boating a...
In director Peter Weir's The Truman Show, the audience is brought into the world of Truman Burbank, where every moment, act and conversation is staged. Every aspect of Truman's world is aware of the artificiality of this 'universe', everybody, except for Truman. Truman is at the centre of a world-wide television reality show which documents his every moment, twenty-four hours a day and he has absolutely no idea.