Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Allegory of the Cave Cartoon - Welcome back to 250!

I know most of you have already gone through Core 250. Maybe they showed this video at the time. I'm in 250 now, and we watched it this morning. 

Please re-watch the video, and then think about it. 

What does animation add to the allegory? What does it take away? Are there any misinterpretations of the text in this animation?

Do you like that this version of the allegory is something distributed to students in order to better understand Plato? 


2 comments:

  1. Joanna,
    Thanks for posting this. I think, for the most part, that it's pretty horrible. Partly, it's as if the allegory stands on its own and has no context, such as The Republic. Also, the awful soundtrack, the weird narrative additions, and Orson Welles' voice give the allegory an odd cartoony morality tale quality. Ironically, though the political repression does come through clearly--as does the unwarranted optimism of the whole allegory.

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    Replies
    1. So, if these were the only options for Core:

      Show this clip
      OR
      Don't explain the Cave Allegory beyond students' readings at all

      which would you choose?

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