The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato's Allegory in Clay

An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition. It is a story of open-mindedness and the power of possibility.

Bullhead Entertainment has adapted and brought it to life by shooting thousands of high-resolution photographs of John Grigsby's wonderful stop motion animation. For more information, visit http://platosallegory.com

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Nick Z]

They should have read the Allegory a little more closely. It's really important how angry the prisoner is at not understanding the real world. He only knows the shadows and at first the real world is the fake world to him. Not bad clay here, but for gods sakes get the shit right.

[pumpkinshellz]

Nice...Plato in play-doh

[222Desperado]

This video is very inspiring and let me think of the spoon-feed education system of the local schools in my country. Many students in my country have to recite loads of information, do loads of drilling exercises and recite model answers for tests every day. They may be bright students for examinations but have no insights about the things happening around them and have no feelings or sympathy on others.

[Josephine De Rossi]

Reallly thoughtful.. less dramatic than my original reading of the metaphor when I first read it as an undergrad.... but somehow I like the interpretations.

[UnknownRex]

I don't think so. The cave is not an allegory of something in particular, but as a way of life. The "cave" today is modern consumerist lifestyles, being spoon fed ads from TV, radio, games, and really all over the place, believing what you are told without thinking for yourself. Living passively and never creating.

[kahanczyk]

today's cave is of course the media, esp. TV.

[ZenPunk]

You're both idiots.

[HieronymousAnonymous]

No, the French government suspended compulsory military service (what we in Australia refer to as 'national service' - actually a form of compulsory conscription) in 1996.

The 'service nationale' that exists now is entirely non-military and is voluntary.

The reason I know this is that a person of my close acquaintance did his compulsory military service as a military attaché at the French embassy in Washington, and was pissed off because he was born in 1978 (the last year who had to do it).

[piolenc]

...and gee, pinkos might discover that everyone who disagrees with them is not an inbred axe-murderer. On second thought - they'll keep on believing it anyway. The hypothetical prisoners in the allegory have an excuse for being ignorant of reality, but there are plenty of people who simply WILL not see.

[piolenc]

France does still have national service - but the option of civilian service or "coopération," which used to be reserved for a very few conscientious objectors, is now very easy to opt for - and most do (I don't blame them). As a result, the French military is a de facto career force even though compulsory service still exists de jure.

[piolenc]

The militia that I observed on the Zugerberg were more than just a bunch of guys with guns. They were physically fit and clearly knew their equipment and their business, and were maneuvering like regulars. I would actually have given them a slight edge over invading professional soldiers because their training clearly emphasized small-unit tactics and regulars are typically trained to maneuver in company and larger formations. That works well on the plains, but not in the mountains.

[HieronymousAnonymous]

(pt2) to use the 'shower curtain' analogy... if I fail to take steps to protect the 'valued' parts of my digital life, and something I fail to protect then gets used against me... well, that's my problem.

.gov has the opposite view: if .gov has shitty security and their data gets exploited, they think the fault of the person who copies the data (hackers don't "take" data - that would be stealing - they COPY data). Typically .gov refusal to be a grownup and be responsible for their own failings.