Night And Fog Sparknotes

683 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Plato allegory of the cave relates to reality

In the documentary Night and Fog, Alain Resnais shows footage from the Nazi Germany execution camps. Throughout the film there are photos of individuals being dehumanized. Resnais wanted to expose the truth behind what occurred at these concentration camps. Humans seem to struggle to acknowledge the hellish world people lived through in Nazi Germany. In the documentary Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris’s wants to get the truth right when retelling the story of a man who was falsely convicted of a crime. Morris strives to find out the truth using multiple perspectives to try to ascertain what actually happened the night a police officer was murdered.
The struggle of accepting the truth is demonstrated in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave there are …show more content…

In 1976 Randall Dale Adam’s car breaks down and he is offered a ride by another teenager, David Harris, who, unbeknownst to Adams, was driving a stolen vehicle. When they are stopped by a police officer, multiple shots are fired, killing the officer. When this case was sent to court the jury strongly believes Adam is guilty of the murder. However, Errol Morris exposes misleading witnesses’ testimonies and police misbehavior that led to the jury conviction of the wrong man.
The truth is discovered through language, not through pictures. Photos can be misleading and are subjected to one’s references in the world. Throughout the film Randall Dale Adams who was innocent was always photographed with messy frizzy hair, a thick mustache and in his late 20’s. However, David Harris, who was guilty of murdering a police officer, was photographed as an innocent, scared young white boy with no facial hair. However, Morris believes just looking at a photo will tell you nothing. Truth only comes from the relationship between language and

Show More
Related

  • Night By Elie Wiesel Night Analysis

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    The section in the novel night that painted a dark and angry picture of human nature is when the Jews were fleeing Buna and hundreds of them were packed in a roofless cattle car. The Jews were only provided with a blanket that soon became soaked by the snowfall. They spent days in the bitter cold temperatures and all they ate was snow. For these reasons, many suffered and died. When they stopped in German towns, the people stared at that cattle cars filled with soulless bodies. “They would stop and look at [the Jews] without surprise.” It was a regular occasion for the German people to see suffering Jews and not feel pity. The dark and angry picture of human nature was when a German worker “took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it

    Read More

  • 12 Angry Men Essay

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    This report is on a movie called, “12 Angry Men.” The movie is about 12 men that are the jury for a case where a young man is being accused of killing his father. A major conflict that is very obvious is the disagreement on whether the young boy was guilty or innocent. After court when all of the men sat down to begin their discussion Courtney B. Vance (#1) Took charge and respectfully was now the leader. He asked what everyone’s votes were and all of the men except for Jack Lemmon (#8) voted the young man was guilty. Because Jack was the odd one that chose differently than the rest of the men, all of the other Jures, were defensive about the evidence just because they were all so confused.

    Read More

  • Brenton Butler Murder Case Essay

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    On May 7th 2000, fifteen year old Brenton Butler was accused of the murder of Mary Ann Stephens, who had been fatally shot in the head while walking down a breezeway of a hotel with her husband. Two and a half hours later, Butler is seen walking a mile away from where the incident occurred, and is picked up by the police because he fit the description of the individual who shot Mary Ann Stephens. However, the only characteristic of the description that Butler featured was the color of his skin. Police then brought Butler to the scene of the crime in order for Mary Ann Stephens’s husband, James Stephens, to confirm whether or not Butler was the individual who had shot his wife. Almost immediately, Stephens identifies Butler as his wife’s killer.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Rhetorical Analysis

    466 Words  | 1 Pages

    In society it is a person’s duty to teach others what they do not know. People do not need to tell others of their knowledge, but in order for society to function together people must all be taught the basics of reality. In the parable “Allegory of the Cave” the author and philosopher, Plato, uses hypothetical situation, rhetorical questions, and diction to tell his audience that a person’s reality depends on the environment they are raised in, and how it is the responsibility of the ones knowledgeable to teach others so society can thrive with most of the same beliefs.

    Read More

  • Three Aspects of Night by Elie Wiesel

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many different responses have occurred to readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the Holocaust victims.

    Read More

  • The Juvenile Court System is Distinct from Adult Courts

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    July 15, 1999, was an ordinary night for Kristopher Lohrmeyer as he left work at the Colorado City Creamer, a popular ice cream parlor. Kristopher had no idea that his life was about to end. When Michael Brown, 17, Derrick Miller and Andrew (Andy) Medina, 15, approached Kristopher and demanded his money and his car keys. Before the boys knew it shots had been fired and Kristopher was dead. About an hour after the fatal shooting of Kristopher Lohrmeyer, all three men were in custody and telling their version of the night’s events. Michael and Derrick who had run away after the shooting confessed to police and named Andy as the shooter. According to the three boy’s testimony, they had only recently met and needed away to get some quick cash, so they developed a carjacking scheme and headed to Andy’s house to pick up 2 stolen handguns. The three boys were uneducated and had spent most of their time on the streets in search of drugs. The judge ruled that they would be held without bail and there was probable cause to charge them all with first-degree murder (Thrown Away, 2005).

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In 12 Angry Men

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the eighth juror was singled out the rest of the jurors was on his him because the stories made it obvious that he boy did it. The eighth juror had something to say about every story because he realized that some of what they heard didn’t make sense. The weapon that killed the man was told to be one of a kind and it was the only sold at the store then the eighth juror whipped out the knife he bought that was nearly identical to the murder weapon and the others were in shock and disbelief. The men argued about it and couldn’t come up with a conclusion so they voted again and this time the eighth juror stayed about of it and the votes came out ten guilty and one not guilty. The ninth juror member switch because he realized that the stories didn’t add up. After more and more arguing about the stories they heard in court the vote was six guilty and six not guilty. This shows that people can be wrong and can make mistakes. Roth says it is important to realize we all have biases which can lead us to make false claims and assumptions (Roth 118). The jurors changed their minds because they realized they cannot ignore the facts and they were

    Read More

  • Parallels between The Movie, The Matrix and Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, Plato's story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most importantly, addresses the issue of society's role in our lives. To some degree, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of others; however, at the same time, we have the ability to question, draw our own conclusions, and ultimately make our own choices.

    Read More

  • Alain Renais Documentary, Night And Fog

    391 Words  | 1 Pages

    Alain Renais’ documentary, Night and Fog, demonstrates the effect during and after, one of the darkest historical events- the Holocaust. The film, created ten years prior to the liberation of the camps, exposes the conditions in which the prisoners were forced to undertake. The film is a highly significant historical recollection. Renais is genius in utilizing the recurring mental contemplation of, “Who is responsible.” He never differentiates between who was responsible and who is the victim. One can easily refer to the prisoners of these camps as victims, but the wise absence of victimization, keeps the importance of knowledge of this time period, extremely relevant.

    Read More

  • Knowledge And Truth Lead To Freedom In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    The philosopher Plato in his seminal work The Republic argues using Socrates as his vehicle in the allegory of the cave that knowledge and truth lead to freedom. Glaucon and Socrates enter into a discussion with a group of prisoners who can only see what is right in front of their faces. They are chained in a cave, unable to move. Behind them is a fire and a group of puppeteers, their keeps, who use props, vessels, statues, puppets, and other objects to cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners. This is all that they have ever seen.

    Read More

  • The Epistemology Of The Cave: The Myth Of The Cave

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    The myth of the Cave, found in the seventh book of Plato’s Republic, depicts a group of people chained in the pit of a cavern, unable to see anything but the shadows of people, and the objects they carry with them, traveling past a fire behind them (186-7). This serves as an illustration of the epistemology Socrates had begun to develop in the preceding book with the images of the Sun and the Line. It also functions as a segue into the related discussion of educational theory. Additionally, though less apparent, the analogy can also be read as a defense of philosophy, an important topic for Plato in light of his teacher’s infamous death, “the founding myth of the academic discipline of philosophy” (Nails). Plato gives a heroic portrayal of

    Read More

  • Analysis of Francis Bacon's The Four Idols

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Idols of the Cave represent the illusions of the individual. Everyone has their own "cave" which alters their opinions differently, depending upon their...

    Read More

  • Comfort Zones In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    We’re all trapped in a cave, being forced to see what is in front of us, and we believe it’s real, but it isn’t. We’re then forced out of our ‘cave’ and told that everything we know is a lie. We have to learn what is true, and what is an illusion. Then, we go back to tell the others. But we aren’t welcomed, instead, we’re persecuted. We are blind, immoral, wrong, harlots and witches. We see the world differently, and we want to share that with others, but we can’t, in fear of our death. That is Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. The theme of the text could be that we as a people need to break out of our own comfort zones in order to better ourselves and learn other perspectives. He wants you to know that it can be a risk because when people do not understand something, they become violent. The point of view, plot events and characterization help best convey this.

    Read More

  • The Wittgenstein: The End Of The World

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between forms and ideas and imagines two distinct worlds : the sensible world and the intelligible world.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    In book seven of ‘The Republic’, Plato presents possibly one of the most prominent metaphors in Western philosophy to date titled ‘Allegory of the Cave’.

    Read More

More about Night And Fog Sparknotes

Open Document