Preview

Truman Show and Allegory of the Cave Reality essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1201 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Truman Show and Allegory of the Cave Reality essay
Our curiosity is immeasurable. When we are curious, we approach the world with a fresh perspective, we ask questions and we are fascinated by new experiences. Rather than chasing a schedule or an anticipated set of answers, we sought out to follow our own ambitions and question the world. In order to comprehend the world around us, one must question it. Among those questions we should be enlightened by the fact reality and the truth of the world around us. Plato in his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ contends that the world of the senses is a world of delusion; and a correct philosopher must see through this illusion to the truth. Socrates stated when defending his right to theorize, that an unexamined life is not worth living, stating the position of trying to gain a true concept of reality and the world around oneself. This significant theoretical belief is apparent in the 1998 film ‘The Truman Show.’ In which the main protagonist, Truman Burbank, has lived his entire life as the star of a reality television show. The show is displayed to a worldwide audience, twenty four hours and seven days a week. From the moment of his birth, he is unaware that his reality, the world around him, is merely an extravagant set; his coworkers, mother, wife and friends are all played by actors and his life is controlled by the director of the show ‘Christof.’ Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and “The Truman show” suggests that everyone’s perception of reality is different, and it depends on the environment or the world view you are bred in, however when an individual starts to question everything they are trying to determine whether the world around them is real or not by doubting in their personal relationships and investigating the surroundings around them making oneself question the presence of reality around with what is presented leading an individual to certain depths to discover the truth about the world.
Truman unravels the truth about what is real when he takes action to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    the most dramatic in the “shifting heart”is experienced by one of the characters Clarry.from a relatively in sensitive person with conformist and racist Clarry develops into a man perceptive and sensitive to the culture of his wife’s family.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato's Cave on Ignorance

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There is a commanding belief that our experiences of reality are just simply deceptions of the truth. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, Socrates illustrates his perception about human knowledge. He contends that people are rarely able to escape from personal ignorance and with greater knowledge comes confusion and conflict when their own beliefs are challenged. (Socrates 20)…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, and the synopsis of The Matrix, there are many similarities as well as a few differences. One of the most notable differences that can be observed is that Meditations in First Philosophy begins and ends in the same reality, whereas The Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix begin with the deception of an alternate reality. Another difference that can be detected is the presence of forms in The Allegory of the Cave, which is Plato’s theory that there are perfect ideas or templates that exist outside of our physical world. The strongest common thread that can be traced through these three texts is the metaphysical question of what is ultimately real. Another common theme that can be observed in each of the texts is skepticism over the reliability of each of the main character’s senses and perceptions of reality.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many people question themselves when they think they aren’t right about something because everyone else around them believes the opposite. What you think might be truer than you think because the world tends to believe what they want to, and not the truth. In Plato’s philosophical example of life in the “Allegory of the Cave” he explains and questions his views on human existence and the reality of things. Everyone has a different reality and a way that they perceive things but other factors like the media influence and persuade us. The media has the power through the radio, television, or other technologies to tell us things that might not even be true but we have to believe them because we don’t know what is true. The media even hides the truth in the news, has the ability to persuade us to believe something, and influences human existence.…

    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On The Truman Show

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages

    - The Truman show is being sold to the people watching it. At the beginning of the film the main characters are trying to sell the Truman Show through slogans, and repetition, presenting it as one of the greatest shows made…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pi and Plato

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages

    To seek the truth of the unknown is the inquisitive nature of humans. One cannot help but acknowledge that they are a tiny speck surrounded by the insurmountable amount of knowledge hidden in the world which humans strive to gain an understanding of. Yet many of those who try to apprehend such knowledge lack the ability to perceive why some things in the world are better off not knowing. The Allegory of the Cave written by Plato and the movie Pi by Darren Aranofsky demonstrate exactly why such goals should not be attainable. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato expresses the idea of different perception of the real reality and the fear of letting go that perceived reality. The prisoners chained in a cave their whole life believe the shadows is what signifies their real world and the ultimate reality whereas one prisoner (the Philosopher) reluctantly leaves the cave and he discovers the real truth of the world. Obtaining enlightenment, he has now understood their misconception of reality and intends on sharing with his fellow prisoners. In the movie Pi, a genius mathematician name Max Cohen is on the pursuit for obtaining the key for understanding all existence. Obsessed with trying to understand the concept of our world, he is determined to find out a pattern that lays hidden within. He experiences 5 hallucinations in which signifies his process of apprehending knowledge and the reluctance to go forward with his research as he fears the dangers ahead of knowing such things. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Pi both share similar goals but in opposite fashion, the Philosopher wants to enlighten others but is rejected for his knowledge whereas Max does not want to share his knowledge with the world but his knowledge is valued upon and can be benefited from. Max and the Philosopher’s process of apprehending knowledge in order to gain a better understanding of the reason for all things will prove to have…

    • 2865 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Truman Show Analysis

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Shoe-Horn Sonata And Memorial. Misto and the picture book Memorial by Gary Crew. ... This is also a good example of Truman's treatment in The Truman Show. ...…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fake In The Truman Show

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many things in life are said to be true or false by the viewpoint of the individual. They may be pre-determined due to religious beliefs or may be by the way they were taught by observations throughout their life. In 1998, director Peter Weir released his film, The Truman Show, which revolves around a non-fictional character within a fictional world. In The Truman Show, Truman, which is portrayed by Jim Carrey, lives in a normal world, or so he thinks. Truman was born into a reality TV show. From the moment that he was born, his life has been televised. Everyone in his world from his mom and dad, to even his wife and best friend, are actors. The set takes place in a super-sized dome right above the Hollywood Hills. The creator of this world,…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie, The Truman Show, tells the story of a man named Truman (played by Jim Carrey) who lives his entire life in the set of a reality TV show that is cast to the entire world. The very popular hit contains his life from birth to present day and shows his genuine reaction to every day struggles and celebrations. His life is captured by over 5,000 cameras in a pretend world. The entire world just stands by to watch this 24-7 broadcast of Truman’s life. In the eyes of some, (mainly the producer, director, some viewers and payed cast members) there is no harm in doing this, and they continue to support the social experiment. However in the eyes of others it is viewed as cruel, negative, and unethical. This social experiment would never pass in today’s society.…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When watching The Truman Show, a viewer who is familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave will naturally start to see similarities between the two. The characters in The Truman Show can easily be assigned a roles within Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Truman experiences a long overdue ascent to knowledge throughout the movie, after having the seeds for this growth planted years. After he is awakened, the truth begins continually flooding in and Truman can no longer stay in the dark. The final culmination of The Truman Show comes only after Truman faces his greatest fear, in pursuit of the truth.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Weir’s film ‘The Truman Show’ is about a corporation that has imprisoned Truman Burbank into an artificial world for the entertainment of an audience watching him on a television show. Even though Truman’s world of Seahaven is full of actors and artificial relationships, authenticity manages to creep into his life. These relationships range from people who barely feel a relation to Truman as a product such as Christof and the audience. Additionally there a people who feel a real connection to Truman such as Sylvia, this is made visible as the effects of her removal.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The movie _The Truman Show_ is a compelling movie about the affects of a controlled society on an individual. This movie stars Jim Cary as Truman Burbank and is set in modern-day reality. The hypothesis of the movie is a mammoth sociological experiment involving this man named Truman. Truman is born and raised on a gigantic movie set. Truman's every action, since his birth, is documented in the form of a television reality show. Every aspect of Truman's life has been preconditioned since his birth. This preconditioning is much like how society teaches children today; the only difference with Truman is his life is much more controlled. One's culture is the totality of customs learned like ideas, values, and knowledge (Schaefer, 2003). Truman's culture and norms where taught to him based on what Christoph, the director in the movie, thought was an ideal society. Truman's social location is even chosen for him as the movie reveals he is a white male salesman earning a modest income. The most interesting twist to the movie is Truman's life is broadcast worldwide much like the reality shows of today. The Truman show examines how society has a propensity to accept the reality that we live in, and how we become products of society and other sociological viewpoints.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story by Plato the cave represents as the symbol that is really important. Imagine mankind as dwelling in an underground cave with a long entrance open to the light across the whole width of the cave.”(Plato 1) To add on this shows what kind of cave it is, how it looks, and what is the purpose of it being there. Likewise The Truman Show has the same kind of cave but it is the dome the show is in. It does the same purpose because Truman is basically trapped in it, he not aloud to leave the dome. If Truman left the dome, the show will be ruined because he was the main act. Also if Truman left he would not want to come back due to him not seeing the outside world and how different it…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What if the world everyone perceives as a reality is only an elaborate deception? Human beings believe they are living in realities because they do not know of anything else. What they feel, see, hear, taste, and feel all contribute to their subconscious belief of physical existence. As people dream, however, they usually cannot recognize that they are not living through the events—that is, until they wake up. What if they do not wake up? How would they know the difference between their false perceptions and reality? The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato explores this concept within an example he uses in his work The Republic. In his example, known as the “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato uses an allegorical cave to show how humans are uncomfortable when exposed to the truth and that they are manipulated by higher authorities. In their 1999 motion picture The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers use a computer program to display similar ideals of Plato's allegory, including how humans are controlled and negatively react to the truth. Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” serves as a philosophical basis to The Matrix, as both works suggest that humans express discomfort while exposed to truth and both argue that people are controlled by higher authorities.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays