Compare and Contrast Essay: Themes of Confinement. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave vs. Tim Burton’s Big Fish

In philosophy, we often analyze varying topics of information relating to topics of interest such as theories of famous philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. Using one of Plato’s works, Allegory of the Cave, we get a better understanding of how these theories are a part of our life and in Tim Burton’s Big Fish we get another perspective. We can relate the messages conveyed in both media to each other by comparing and contrasting. In this essay, I will be comparing the themes of confinement, the truth and reality we see in both Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Tim Burton’s Big Fish. 

To begin, we can look at the theme of the truth versus reality as seen in both media as they play an important role in each respective plot. In Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners cannot see the objects behind them but instead see only the shadows. “And what do they see of the things being carried along (behind them)? Do they not see simply these (namely the shadows)? (Plato 2), this quote shows us that they can only see the shadows alluding to seeing only a version of reality. In Big Fish, William exclaims “In tellin' the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is tell it the way he told me.” (Big Fish). This shows how his father’s life is unclear and how it is difficult to tell fact from fiction due to his elaborate storytelling. These two quotes and scenes help put together the idea of not being able to see the true reality of things. literally (the prisoners literally cannot see the outside world or the objects behind them) or figuratively (Will does not believe his father’s stories but he can't go back and see for himself) which we can relate heavily to Plato’s “theory of forms' '. 

Next, looking at symbolic objects which are present in both pieces, we can look at what they are representing and what exactly it means. In Big Fish, Edward stumbles upon a small town called “Spectre”. Spectre is an idyllic small town filled with interesting characters and is a utopia, but one of the things that stands out about this town is that no one wears any shoes. This is pretty significant as shoes carry people from one place to another and are often a symbol of movement. In this case, the lack of shoes shows how the town is stagnant and how Edward is intended for greater things as he says to the giant back in his hometown, “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're not too big? “That maybe this place is just too small?” (Big Fish). This is solidified by Edward leaving even though the town is supposedly “perfect” because he needs to keep moving. This idea is present again in Allegory of the Cave as the chains keep the prisoners shackled to the cave, not letting them leave and live a life of freedom instead of keeping them confined without even being able to fully see around them. Conclusively, both the chains and the lack of shoes represent the inability to grow and develop. 

Finally, we will look at the aggression and anger that surround the truth in both plots. In Allegory of the Cave, one of the prisoners who escaped then returns to his peers with stories of the outside world and all its glory, shocked that there is life outside of the cave. In response his peers ridicule him, refusing to hear the truth and even threatening death if taken out of the cave, “And if they can get hold of this person who takes it in their hand to free them from their chains and lead them up, and if they could kill him, will they not kill him?” “absolutely.” (Plato 6). Similar but not as extreme, is Will’s response to his father’s stories which he detests and at a point even stops talking to him for three years due to the “lies” he feels clouded his understanding of his father and his life. Overall, these correlate as neither Will nor the prisoners are willing to imagine a world in which they do not know or have not witnessed, even if they were not there or have lived their whole lives in a cave. This is symbolic of how people are afraid of the truth and the undiscovered or unknown.

Ultimately, Big Fish and Allegory of the Cave are comparable as they both have themes of truth and reality, (seeing the outside world versus seeing your father’s true self), not wanting to see the truth (the prisoners and will’s rejection) and needing to mature and develop (the prisoner's view of life completely changed, Edward was meant for bigger things) and the material helps the reader/watcher think into these concepts.