Allegory of the Cave Visual
Cody:
I wanted to relate the film of Groundhog to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave like we discussed in class. There are similarities with both of the stories. In Plato’s allegory, the cave, represents the world we live in or a “dark prison”. The world we live in or “Planet Earth,” is “tiny,” while it is also pretty much a prison that we live in as well (although it’s not bad) because we cannot escape either. Similar to the film, Phil’s doom day of reliving Groundhog day repeatedly is his own cave and prison world that he cannot escape from, similar to like in the allegory.
While the prisoners in the allegory are tied up with chains in the cave, it prevents them from turning their head to see the “truth,” and rather it forces them to see only see the casting of shadows in which they use their sense to perceive it. In Groundhog Day, the “chains” that prevent Phil from realizing the truth and being unable to escape his world is his ignorance (due to his sarcastic and uptight personality) to notice that he must have have compassion and kind morals to “Pay it Forward” towards his community.
Nicole:
I agree, Cody! I’m not sure if this is too much of a stretch, but in this case I think the shadows that Phil would see in the cave would represent “substanceless pleasures”. For example, when he initially finds out he has an endless amount of days he smokes, eats a lot, and tries to get women to “hangout” with him. We see, though, that Phil soon gets tired of the repeated days of his perceived visions of “happiness” and grows depressed. This is because these pleasures turn out to not be satisfying/fulfilling enough.
Enjoy some cake Phil, since everyday is "infinite"!
The puppeteers represent the shallowness of society and what most people think can bring them happiness. Examples of these would be money, gluttony, lust, etc.
The light outside of the cave represents true and fulfilling happiness. Because the puppeteers project the shadows mentioned above, the individual is deceived into what truly gives them happiness, which is compassion and performing selfless acts of kindness. Once an individual can realize this true form of happiness (see the light they are able to escape the cave.
Cody:
I also wanted to point out another parallelism between the two. Similar to how the single “freed” and unchained prisoner can move around freely, he can go outside, and perceive objects clearly for what they truly are when the sun is reflected upon it. In Groundhog, when Phil’s chains of ignorance are finally removed, he learns learns about altruism and compassion towards others, ultimately freeing him from his prison and sees the true meaning of goodness behind his actions.
TLDR:
Prisoner- the individual
Cave- World prisoner lives in, it is dark
Chains- ignorance
Puppeteers- Society’s views that we think is true (societal norms)
Shadows- False perception of happiness
Light- True happiness
URL:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Plato_-_Allegory_of_the_Cave.png/200px-Plato_-_Allegory_of_the_Cave.png
http://www.wingclips.com/system/movie-clips/groundhog-day/no-worries/images/groundhog-day-movie-clip-screenshot-no-worries_large.jpg
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