Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Is there a parallel between the status of the prisoners in Plato’s cave and the spectators in a cinema? In other words, how are we deceived by movies and other media? Do we mistake fiction for reality? Is it possible that this physical world isn’t reality?

This is my second time analyzing Allegory of the Cave and both times it was hard at first until you start to make the connections. Honestly, I think there is two sides to comparing the status of the prisoners and spectators of movies or media platforms. The prisoners were held captive from when they were born up until one tried to escape and realized that the games they played trying to guess what they saw was completely obscured from reality. I think that movies and media should be classified differently though. For movies, for the most part, are fictional and people going to watch them know that unless they bought a ticket for a documentary or something based on real life scenarios. As for media, we are still enamored with the influences out there trying to become them, with their lifestyles, clothing, eating habits, and body shapes that we sometimes mistake fiction for reality. But you could also say that there is a chance to become them, but no one’s lifestyle is exactly symmetrical to others. Answering the last question is a little weird, because people have their opinions. I personally think that the physical world is a reality. We have the choice to make it a reality and make each day ours to conquer in how we want to conquer it. Some people may think that the world is this alternate universe and not everything that appears as it’s seen is real.

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