Compare And Contrast The Allegory Of The Cave And The Truman Show

In reality, many people live without an absolute knowledge of the world and often times, they are comfortable with this ignorance. Likewise, Plato introduces the idea of this unawareness through The Allegory of the Cave, a short story in his published book, The Republic: Book VII. In his book, he narrates the story of a few prisoners who are held captive in a dark cave, where the only light that shines through is from a fire that burns behind them. He further explains that the prisoners are completely bound and unable to move their body or head. Moreover, he reveals that the captives grew up with no outside communication and consequently, the way of life in the cave was all they knew. As time pass by, figures pass the fire and their shadows are projected onto the wall before the prisoners. Since they are unable to look behind them, they falsely assume that the shadows before them are what they presume them to be instead of the figures themselves. Similarly, The Truman Show, a drama movie, directed by Peter Weiss and released to the public in 1998, circulates around the same concept

In correlation, both Plato’s allegory and The Truman Show applies an interpretation of this cogitation and its possible effects on the affected. And so, in The Allegory of the Cave, this interpretation is portrayed as the fire which burns bright behind the prisoners. Essentially, the fire fabricates the information that is relied to the prisoners and ultimately has the power to manufacture their knowledge. On the other hand, for The Truman Show, this idea is embodied by the show’s executive producer, Christof. Ultimately, he has the power to write the events of Truman’s life, manipulating his understanding of the world; we see the capability of his power when he removes Truman’s father and lover from the show. Nonetheless, both the fire and