It's interesting that some
YouTube videos have updated Plato's Allegory of the Cave
to be an allegory of the movie theater;
I think it's a useful update.
On occasions while
watching a film in a movie theater,
I become so engrossed in the story
that I begin to identify with the main character until
the main character makes a mistake that is
embarrassing or deeply troubling or
even life-threatening, or,
through no fault of his or her own,
the situation surrounding the main character becomes dangerous,
at which point
I have the luxury of disengaging myself from
this close identification with the main character
and can take comfort that I'm
not the person onscreen who is so close
to disaster; instead,
I am a person sitting safely in a movie theater,
and I know this because in the dim
light I can make out some
of the features of the inside of the theater--
the walls, the seats,
the aisles, the other movie patrons; I can see sound speakers
on the walls and I can recognize
that the sounds of the movie are coming from those speakers
and not directly from the characters and the
action onscreen; I can turn around and see
light coming from the projection booth; I can see
exit signs located above several doors, and I know
that when the movie is over I'll be leaving the theater through one
of those doors. In a similar way
I have come to realize
that whatever it is that I am, I am not
this dying animal, as Yeats calls it, whose
image you are seeing and whose voice
you are hearing. It has become
obvious to me that I am
insider a theater and am
intimately connected to this dying animal through
an interactive video which
projects not only video and audio, but also
taste, touch, smell,
pain, pleasure and emotions.
I say that this has become
obvious to me because I am
able to discern some of the features
of the theater that I am inside. One feature
of this theater is that sound
is not coming directly from the characters
and the action of the video that I'm watching
but is coming from an area above
and behind me in this theater, just
as Plato's Allegory of the Cave suggests.
This is
easy to demonstrate by listening, with a set of headphones,
to either synthesized music
or music which has been recorded in a sound studio.
Using headphones,
I perceive the sound of the music
is quite clearly coming from an
area above and behind me.
A second feature
of this theater is
that the sensations of taste,
touch, smell, pain, pleasure
and emotions are also coming
from that very same area of the theater
as is the sound--
above and behind me.
Being able to recognize these features
of the theater that I'm inside suggests
very strongly that I'm not
the dying animal who is the main character
of this interactive video that I'm watching
and allows me to disengage from
closely identifying with the main character.
Being able to
distance myself from the main character
of this interactive video allows me
greater freedom of choice, not just
the choices recommended by the interactive video,
and also hints at interesting
possibilities as to what it is
I might be and what the future may hold for me.
I do not know
exactly what it is that I am,
but I have some very clear indications
of what I am not. I would not be surprised
to discover, if and when
I'm allowed to leave this theater, that the exit is located
directly behind me as was the case in
Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It may be that
ages ago someone sent out helpful
information that eventually became incorporated
in Plato's Allegory; but
that speculation aside, the simple fact
that I could receive relevant
information through the interactive video that I'm watching
suggests that there may be
others who are going through an experience
similar to mine with whom it might be possible
to communicate, so I felt
obligated to send out this present message,
in the off chance that it might
help someone.
