Avatar: The Allegory Of The Cave

The Allegory of the Cave is a representation of Plato's perfect world, or the world of the Forms. The Forms can be defined as an abstract or the essence of an object, like Oddness or Beauty. The allegory depicts a visual of a cave that hold prisoners bound by chains. The prisoners can only see what it is in front of them, shadows that are enlightened by fire. One breaks free of what is considered the physical world (world as we know it) and enters to the ideational world (world of the Forms). When the former prisoner sees this world for the first time, it is rather painful and challenging to get acquainted with its surroundings. A movie that I found to be the best representation of the Allegory of the Cave is Avatar. Avatar fully illustrates the Allegory of the Cave by representing both worlds the political maneuvers used in the movie.

The movie sets on Jake Sully, a paraplegic veteran that is offered to take over his brother's contract in the Avatar program. Despite Jake's impairment, he shows to

be a valuable asset for security detail and can match the DNA of his brother's avatar. After meeting scientists' Dr. Norm Spellman and Dr. Grace Augustine, Jake is acquainted with his avatar and starts exploring Pandora with his team for research. Sully is found within a crossroads, working not only for the Avatar program, but also working alongside his boss, Colonel Miles Quaritch. "I need you to learn these savages from the inside, to gain their trust", says Quaritch in a conversation with Sully. In addition, an element called unobtanium was found by Parker Selfridge and others within the "corporate-military" organization; the goal of Selfridge and Quaritch is to also find the purest form of unobtanium and sell it for their benefit.

Later in the story, Sully defines the characteristics of Pandora v. the Real World and sympathizes with his new surroundings. The agency that he works for is considered the physical world or the 'cave'. The constant rhetoric of his responsibility of being a point of contact would be the 'shadows' or 'puppet show'. Jake would be the 'bound prisoner', as he tolerated his job as security personnel and truly enjoyed learning about Pandora and the Na'vi. It is safe to say that Sully was blinded by his job and responsibilities; Jake would only hear and see what his bosses and co-workers were saying about Pandora and its citizens, both the positive and negative.As originally hired as a replacement for his deceased brother. One also tell of the toll that his responsibility took upon him mentally and physically, His appearance changed dramatically at the start of the movie, growing a beard and possibly losing weight. From an emotional perspective, he got attached to Neytiri, his love interest in the movie, and her relatives.

The moon of Pandora was later defined by Sully as the ideational world, filled with beauty and mystery; the pod that transports Sully to his avatar is the passageway out of the cave. Dr. Augustine mentioned one of the many wonders of Pandora like the "Tree of Souls". The Na'vi's diety is Eywa, and through the Tree would be the main communication between Eywa and the Na'vi. To add, the tribe would participate in a revival ritual that would consume citizens and Mo'at, Neytiri's mother, in prayer. The main objective is to hopefully transfer the human soul, who is injured, into its avatar. In an unfortunate event, Selfridge wanted to destroy the "Hometree", the home base of the "Na'vi" to obtain ubontanium. To protect them, Sully vows to relocate the Na'vi peacefully. Instead, his attempt failed and forced Selfridge's personnel to take down the Hometree, causing multiple casualties including Neytiri's father, Eytukan. Jake was also exiled from the tribe he was recently initiated in when he tried to relay a fair warning.

In addition to the different symbols of the Allegory of the Cave, the message behind the movie and reading selection does have some similarities.

In the allegory, Plato discusses the dialectic, or the process of philosophizing to understand the Forms. For Jake, this experience was not something he expected; he was goal-oriented, only there for the occupation he was undertaking. Entering Pandora through his avatar was an encounter that changed his life forever. Like the dialectic, learning a thing that it outside of your comfort zone, such as the Na'vi's customs, is rather challenging. The same applies for the prisoner that was unbound by his chains in the cave. Once he saw the world of the Forms, he didn't believe his eyes of the beauty that was beholding him. Like in the reading, when Jake try to tell his human counterparts of his new findings, they didn't believe that a person who was just hired as a gunman for a pilot would open a door of opportunity for both

sides.

The political message of Avatar reigns within the Allegory as well. James Cameron and his writers visited themes of environmental conservation and how our world is destroying the planet that God did so excellent creating. In addition, most humans only see the world for what it can benefit us, like Colonel Quaritch and Selfridge's attempt to destroy Pandora for the consumption of ubontanium. The people that work for the corporate-military agency is deceived by the idea that they are achieving justice by destroying Hometree. In fact, they are willing to kill their own objective to finish their objective. Even so that they will not listen to professionals that have worked with the Na'vi to educate them and understand their way of life.

In conclusion, the move Avatar is a great representation of the Allegory of the Cave. Avatar illustrates the symbols of the cave and its contents, as well as the outside world of the Forms. It also discusses the dialectic and the political themes of the allegory, such as conservation and appreciate for items that are different from what we learn or think. Most importantly, Jake Sully represented his character well, accepted an idea that new to him and defended the honor of individuals that was not his blood. Plato's thinking of the Just, doing the right thing and knowing of it as well. Besides, a Just world is a better world, and accepting new ideas and thoughts that are not our own should be embraced, not shunned.