Comparing Plato's Allegory Of The Cave And Vanilla Sky

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave provides an ominous view on “real world” perceptions within society. Plato’s cave symbolizes the false realities people have and the fact that things are not always as they seem. These false realities can skew one’s view on the world until they leave these falsities behind and emerge into truth. This idea is paralleled in the film Vanilla Sky, written by Alejandro Amenábar. Amenábar uses a version of false reality that aligns the plot of character David Aames, played by Tom Cruise, and the life of a prisoner within Plato’s cave. The plots of both Vanilla Sky and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave seem to revolve around someone who has been stuck in darkness for so long that they are unaware of actual reality when

In Plato’s dialogue, Socrates describes a prisoner escaping and seeing the real world for the first time. He says, “When [the prisoner] approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities” (Plato). In other words, the prisoner recognizes that there is a real world, but cannot see it, both literally and metaphorically. The sun hurts his eyes and he is also blinded by truth. The sun is a symbol of the pain that truth may bring. David’s harsh reality is a stark contrast from his lucid dream, so he succumbs to a very similar situation when his dream begins to glitch. He begins to see people and things that he knows from the real world, which mix with his alternate reality and therefore tainting his experience. The dark matters from his reality are now mixed within his dream world, triggering a plethora of bad images from his real life and into his dream. This causes David to go into a state of turmoil and denial. He continues to live in his lucid dream, but not without repercussions. “My dreams are a cruel joke,” David states, “they taunt me.. I try to dream that I am flying. Something free. It never works...” (Amenábar). David continues to be stuck within his dream although now he knows there is a way out. This relates to Plato’s concept of the prisoner because, like

At this point in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner has come to recognize truth in the real world. The quote from Plato signifies the start of a new beginning in society for the prisoner as he begins to fully grasp a “real life” and his place within society. David has come to realize that his alternate reality was not worth “living” and that the “sweet is never as sweet without the sour” (Amenábar). This epiphany frees David from the clutches of his alternate reality. This is the equivalent of the prisoner realizing his presence in the real world after escaping his chains from the cave. In Plato’s dialogue, when Socrates quotes Homer, he says, “Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner” (Plato). This quote means that living a life in reality at the lowest societal level is better than any life in an alternate reality filled with falsities. In David’s case, he had an epiphany that although his dream life was filled with pleasures, the glitches made him realize that real life was worth living despite all the troubles he may encounter. In fact, David explicitly states, “I want to live a real life... I don't want to dream any