lato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is one of the most well-known
philosophical concepts in history. As such, it only makes sense that
numerous filmmakers would try to incorporate this philosophy into
their movies. But what exactly is it? And why does it work so well in
the context of filmmaking? We’ll look at this concept as well as several
films that have incorporated it excellently. It’s time to find the sun.
PLATO'S CAVE EXPLAINED
What does Plato’s allegory mean?
Virtually all philosophy descends from Plato. And this particular piece
of philosophy routinely comes up in discussions of how humans
perceive reality and whether there is any higher truth to existence.
This is a concept pondered and considered for thousands of years and
we're still nowhere closer to an answer. Naturally, this is great
material for literature and film. We'll go through this allegory in detail
with examples from movies that were clearly inspired by Plato's cave.
First things first — what is Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"?
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE MEANING
What is the Allegory of the Cave?
Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" is a concept devised by the
philosopher to ruminate on the nature of belief versus knowledge. The
allegory states that there exists prisoners chained together in a cave.
Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners
are people carrying puppets or other objects. This casts a shadow on
the other side of the wall. The prisoners watch these shadows,
believing them to be real.
Plato posits that one prisoner could become free. He finally sees the
fire and realizes the shadows are fake. This prisoner could escape from
the cave and discover there is a whole new world outside that they
were previously unaware of.
This prisoner would believe the outside world is so much more real
than that in the cave. He would try to return to free the other
prisoners. Upon his return, he is blinded because his eyes are not
accustomed to actual sunlight. The chained prisoners would see this
blindness and believe they will be harmed if they try to leave the cave.
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Examples in Film
The Truman Show
The Matrix
Dark City
Cube
The Conformist
Despite being centuries old, the allegory is appropriate for filmmaking.
After all, the audience watches images on a screen. We’re meant to
believe it to be real, but we know it’s false. Only when we step out of
the theater back into reality can we take what we’ve learned in the
cinema and apply it to our lives.
Numerous movies utilize this concept in their plots and themes. You
can likely think of plenty of films where a character believes one reality
and then becomes exposed to another, greater reality and is never the
same. For a more detailed "Allegory of the Cave" summary, you can
watch this animated film narrated by Orson Welles.
Plato’s Cave Explained
Let’s examine some very different films and how they all utilize this
allegory. You can see how universal it is and how it can be applied to
your own film. For more about allegories in general and how they
relate to filmmaking, we have a more in-depth post on that subject.
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SYMBOLISM
Read the Allegory of the Cave
It may be thousands of years old, but there’s still much to learn from
this text. You can download the PDF below to read about Plato’s cave
in all of its details.
‘The Allegory of The Cave’ by
Plato: Summary and Meaning
September 21, 2012 by Amy Trumpeter
The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put forward by Plato, concerning human
perception. Plato claimed that knowledge gained through the senses is no more
than opinion and that, in order to have real knowledge, we must gain it through
philosophical reasoning.
‘The Allegory of the Cave’ by Plato
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between people who mistake
sensory knowledge for the truth and people who really do see the truth. It goes
like this:
The Cave
Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied
to some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that
they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them.
These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside
of the cave.
Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.
People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their
head including; animals, plants, wood and stone.
The Shadows
So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything
behind or to the side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you.
When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects
they are carrying cast on to the wall.
If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that
the shadows of objects were ‘real.
The Game
Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which
shadow would appear next.
If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him
as clever and say that he were a master of nature.
The Escape
One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the
cave.
He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not
believe it can be real.
As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former
view of reality was wrong.
He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the
source of life and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers
beauty and meaning
He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is
useless.
The Return
The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his
findings.
They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
‘ The Allegory of The Cave’ by Plato – The Meaning
The Allegory of the cave by Plato should not be taken at face value. In essays
and exams, whoever is marking it expects you to have a deeper understanding of
the meaning of the theory. You can then use these to think about criticisms and
then to form your own opinion.
The Cave
In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge
comes from what we see and hear in the world – empirical evidence. The
cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of
misunderstanding.
The Shadows
The Shadows represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical
evidence ensures knowledge. If you believe that what you see should be
taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth. In Plato’s
opinion you are a ‘pleb’ if you believe this (their insult for those who are not
Philosophers)!
The Game
The Game represents how people believe that one person can be a
‘master’ when they have knowledge of the empirical world. Plato is
demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and
suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this.
The Escape
The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge
outside of the cave and outside of the senses.
The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey when finding
truth and wisdom
The Return
The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning represents that
people are scared of knowing philosophical truths and do not trust
philosophers.
