Preview

The Truman Show By Jim Carry: What Is Reality?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
836 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Truman Show By Jim Carry: What Is Reality?
What is Reality?
What is reality? Everyone has his own opinion about this question. Einstein has mentioned that “Everyone sits in the prison of his own ideas.” (Einstein, p1) This is why people always hold onto what they believe is reality, and this finally lead to the formation of a mind-set. In my opinion, seeking reality means choosing perception and giving up prejudice instead of what we can accept.

The film called The Truman show, which stars Jim Carrey, tells the story of a man to the whole world. This man lived in a fake place which is made by a famous director. Everyone in his world knows that everything is false except Truman. He is the only person who has real emotion and he treats himself as the one part of the world, and believes
…show more content…
They are chained by ropes, forced to face a blank wall. The people can only watch the shadow on the wall of the animals and people passing in front of a fire behind them. They believe the real world is what the shadows show, until one of them is released. He gets rid of the cave life, climbs out the cave and feels the warmth of the light. He realizes that shadows are just the phenomenon of the light reaction. He comes back to tell the truth to his friends. Nevertheless, no one trust him because nobody can abandon the mindset which followed them from the birth. Comparing these two kinds of people, we can find that the one can jump out of the cave because he keeps his mind to accept the new lives, while the others still stick to what they …show more content…
It’s important to note that how you choose to perceive things is how they come across to you. (Sodha, p12) What we see in the world should be controlled by ourselves. We should not just accept what we see.

Bibliography:

Boris. “Everyone sits in the Prison of His Own Ideas” The Next Web. 3 July. 2011. 29 June. 2013 < http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2011/07/03/everyone-sits-in-the-prison-of-his-own-ideas/ >.

Nik. “Random ramnlings” blogspot. 08 July. 2007. 29 June. 2013 < http://rathinikesh.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-accept-reality-of-world-with-which.html >.

Plato. “Allgory of the Cave.” Kirszner, Laurieg, ed. Practical Argument, 1st ed Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010.

Sodha, Amit. “Perception VS Reality” Unlimited Choice. 2013. 29 June. 2013 < http://www.unlimitedchoice.org/blog/meditations/perception-vs-reality/ >.

Weir, Peter. Dir. The Truman Show. Paramount Pictures, 1998,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    For this event paper, I decided to see a movie on the bottom floor of the J Standish Library at Siena College. I saw The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey who played Truman Burbank. The Truman Show is about a television show that has recorded the life of Truman ever since he was born. The television show is a worldwide phenomenon, the only catch is Truman does not know his whole life has been recorded. Every person in his life is an actor, and the producer of the show determines the fate of his life, from his marriage to Meryl to the faked death of his “father”. The life of Truman Burbank connects to the theme Voice and the story Plato, Allegory of the Cave because, in the end after discovering the truth of his life, Truman leaves the set and starts a new life in the real world on his own.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Plato's Republic we have one of the best allegories told, the allegory of the Cave. The allegory of the cave goes basically like this:…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.”(Leadbeater) Many people believe the way something is perceived, is always the way that it appears to be. In reality, there might be more to a person he is willing to show. If we assume that the way someone or something is seen is always as it appears to be, we would be lying to ourselves. A surplus of people are not exactly how they are seen to be. We should not judge someone too harshly as we may not have all of the facts or details of what is really happening to a person. Perceptions can override our abilities to correctly judge our peers and even ourselves, which can be very impactful.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Explain the analogy – who are the prisoners, what do they represent, what does the journey out of the cave represent and what is the sun?…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    and standard that has been inherited in my family through the centuries. Similarly to my circumstance, the prisoners in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” have been trapped in the cave since the start of their lives. This means that their lives have been constructed for them, as their perspectives on their surroundings, specifically the world as it exists outside of the cave, are rooted entirely from what they have been presented since birth. Since birth, they are forced to watch shadows on the walls, the product of fire illuminating images of objects from the outside. When they are not provided with any other source of information on the world and how it operates, they are forced to infer from what they are able to witness and thus accept assumptions from the shadows as the truth. This is synonymous to blindness, as what they cannot…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato's Allegory of the Cave

    • 3079 Words
    • 13 Pages

    In the “Allegory of the Cave” Socrates asks Glaucon to envision a dark cave where there are prisoners who are chained and restricted to only be able to see the wall in front of them since childhood. The prisoners cannot move their legs, necks, or heads. He describes a fire that is behind the prisoners which allows shadows of puppets, objects, vessels, statues, and animals to appear on the wall in front of the prisoners. Those shadows are the only type of perception the prisoners have about reality. Socrates states in the allegory, “the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images”(Pg. 450). In the outer world, there is light and everything is clearly visible. If one of the chained people is released from the cave world, and if he is taken to the outer world he cannot see anything at first because his eyes dazzle in the light; but if he stays in the outer world, slowly and gradually he begins to identify everything and he becomes to realize that the outer world is the real world and the cave world is the unreal world. He becomes gratified with himself and remembers the other people in the cave. He gives pity and sympathy over the cave people who are lost in darkness. He thinks that it is better to be the slave in the outer world rather than being the king inside the cave.…

    • 3079 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pi and Plato

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Plato. The Allegory of the Cave. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. The humanities. Ed. Mary Ann Frese Witt. New…

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato, Allegory Cave

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The first stage of the excerpt, which is characterized by chained and confined people, is a metaphor representing the infant and child ages of humans. Like the confined people, children are not allowed to wander freely outside of their home and must stay close to their parent's watchful eye. Those living in the underground den have their heads positioned in a way that they must not view a fire blazing behind them. The heads of the people only see the shadows cast by the fire and objects passing by behind them and they can only guess as to the actual physicality of the object. This also is very similar to children who are curious about objects around them. Although children do not understand complex objects, they do want to know the purpose and function of the object. The mentalities of the people in the cave and of children are 100% subjective and are trapped in their own ignorance: "To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images."(5) Totally emerged in isolation and without experience, those in the den have no idea as to what the true nature of the shadow is. Their only truth is the shadow and they cannot learn the real meaning behind the shadow unless set free.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As the story goes on, there is one man among the group in the cave who is suddenly freed from his bonds and is compelled to look around. He sees the fire behind the group, the curtain, and the objects passing by that cause the reflections. He therefore comes to the realization that what he has believed as real objects are actually imperfect representations of…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On The Trueman Show

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Few years ago, my friend recommended me a movie, The Trueman Show. The film tells a story about a guy called Trueman, he was born in front of a live audience. Each move of him has been captured by thousands of cameras in the big studio. Christof, the director of this show, set up a perfect life for Trueman. After Truman knew he was living in a fake world, he decided to leave and pursue a true life that he really wants. This film changed the way I think about my life. At first, I did not understand why Trueman chose to leave a wonderful life that most people want to have. Then I realize there is no point to pretend living in a world if you cannot even be yourself. To be myself is the greatest inspiration this movie gave me.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Allegories of Life

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the the cave there are a group of prisoners bond form their neck to their feet facing a stone wall. They have been their since childhood. All they know of is what the puppeteers have shown them through the fire images. They hear sounds made by the puppeteers. And the shadow of images cast from the fire. They think that this is reality because it is all they have ever known. One prisoner is lead away from his shackles and is lead out of the cave. He his blinded by the sun at first. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light he see’s a tree a real green tree that is alive. Not the shadow of a tree shown by the puppeteers. The prisoner also see’s his reflection in the water. He see’s the world in its entirety. He has been enlighten. Just as the prisoner was getting a grasp of the real world he is lead back into the cave. The other prisoners are mocking him for what they thought of as a…

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave starts in a world where men are strapped to the hard floor in a sitting position. The reader is told “[t]hey’ve been there since childhood, fixed in the same place, with their necks and legs fettered, able to see only in front of them.” This deprivation of movement does not allow the cave dwellers to turn their heads, thus giving them the inability to grasp what exists around them. The only things the dwellers can see are the images of shadows projected by inanimate objects behind their backs. Since shadows are all they observe, shadows are all they know, symbolizing the realm of deception in which they live in. In order to correct this delusion, a philosopher must step into the cave and rule over the cave dwellers, liberating them of all evils.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave addresses important aspects of a person's’ frame of mind; through indirectly comparing pieces of the story to mental exploitation. Through his story, Plato urges the reader to find truth and wisdom through elevating their personal thinking. A concept he would die to make known - some two thousand years ago - now bears a relevant message in our world today. The message Plato left behind the story lies around perception, and how knowledge obtained through what we see is simply just an opinion.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On The Truman Show

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Althusser explains that ideology is a “closed system” a word constructed by the historical, political, religious and economic institutes that determine boundaries in which people exist – to me this is similar to ‘The Truman Show’, where Truman is given existence in a stimulated realm of reality, representing an imaginary relation of an individual to the real condition of their existence. Trumans interactions with his world and relationships were both real and imaginary. They were real because they were the actual conditions that he interacted with and imaginary because of the false representations of reality that were offered to him, e.g. he was lead to believe that he couldn’t travel to Fiji because ‘it had already been explored’.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays