So we discussed a llittle bit of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, which he used in The Republic (his most famous philosophical work and a book I had to read as a freshman in college - which I was not ready for and should reread when I get some time this summer). The Allegory fits for so many things, as seen in the illustrated handout on Plato's ideas that I gave to you - it can be about how mankind learns, and it can be about how humans perceive the material world (in the cave) vs. in the idealistic world (the realm of the Forms). But today, it can be used or wielded as a criticism of the dramatic tendency of people to live in the worlds they choose to see on their screeens. The video above is a different one than the one we saw in class (that is located in Schoology if you need a refresher) and also how the Allegory has been used in popular culture recently (feel free to reference the stuff in this video for Connection to the Real World Discussion #2 due next Thursday night).
So I was initially drawn to Free Guy because I am a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds and his work, but as I initially watched the movie, I started thinking that the movie could be the screenwriter's and director's takes on the Allegory of the Cave (and truthfully, I wanted to find an alternative to the two movies that I have been rotating for the past ten years to illustrate the Allegory - The Matrix and Source Code). Yes, it is a subversive satire about our online world that many of us dabble in or visit on a regular basis and all of the people who profit or comment on it. Is it a critique of corporate capitalism and the fawning belief in our tech wonder bois as represented by Antwan? Absolutely. Does the movie use the stereotype of the Black Best Friend as shown in Buddy, the bank security guard? Unfortunately. Is the film a celebration or warning about the potentials of AI? Debatable. Is it a perfect fit for the Allegory? Yes, but maybe no too.
So, after we finish watching the movie, I would like you to analyze the following with specific references to the movie AND the Allegory:
1. In what ways (minimum of 2) does any aspect of Free Guy fit the Allegory of the Cave? How close of a fit are your examples and why? Provide specifics.
2. In what ways (minimum of 2) does any aspect of Free Guy NOT fit the Allegory of the Cave? Why do your examples not fit the Allegory? Provide specifics.
Minimum 400 words total for your answers. Due Monday night, April 10th by midnight.
(If you missed Free Guy or a portion of it, the film is available on Disney+ and HBO Max).
Articles:
Every Philosophical Construct Free Guy Tackles With Video Games - https://www.cbr.com/free-guy-philosophy-explained/
The Philosophy of Free Guy: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2021/11/25/the-philosophy-of-free-guy-film-2021/
The Irony of Movies About Taking Charge of Your Life: https://www.vox.com/22617231/free-guy-review-reynolds-truman-show
Are We Living in a Simulation? Look to Free Guy, not the Matrix: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/are-we-living-in-a-simulation-look-to-free-guy-not-the-matrix-for-answers-says-david-chalmers-1.6393525
Free Guy Wants to Help You Escape the Simulation: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/08/ryan-reynolds-shawn-levy-free-guy-simulation
1. Plato's Allegory of the Cave can be used quite effectively as a foundational structure for the narrative of the movie Free Guy. In the simplest terms, the Allegory of the Cave is a story about becoming intellectually liberated, and the potential struggles of reconciling with an un-liberated world. These are also the two main plot points of the movie. Guy achieves intellectual enlightenment when he discovers that the world he knows is just a video game, and there's actually a higher level of existence (the "real world") that exists above/outside of it all. Over the course of the story, he struggles in various ways to come to terms with this truth, and introduce it to others. For example, he is initially very distressed when he learns about the real world. The knowledge almost induces an identity crisis, and he feels lost and invalidated--the sunlight outside of the cave hurts his eyes. Just like the prisoner in the cave, it takes him a while to become accustomed to his new reality, and his knowledge grows slowly. He learns about leveling up, fighting other players, different worlds, real people, etc. And, when he tries to tell his best friend Buddy about the outside world, Buddy is upset at the idea, and thinks that Guy is crazy--the other prisoners don't want to leave the comfort of the cave, and dismiss the escaped prisoner.
ReplyDelete2. Although Free Guy loosely follows the Allegory of the Cave, it's not the main point of the movie, and other story goals often get in the way and change the story in major and minor ways. For example, one of the biggest ways the movie deviates from the Allegory is through the character of Antwan. Throughout the movie, he creates problems and interference for Guy and the other people of Free City that aren't present for the prisoner in the cave. However, Antwan isn't there to be a part of the Allegory, the character was created to critique Silicon Valley/tech bro culture and greedy corporate misbehavior. Additionally, it's also important to note that technically speaking, Guy never leaves the cave. He learns about the real world, and he lives a more complex and fulfilling life within Free City because of it, but he never exits the game and actually experiences anything else. This makes sense within the rules of the story, but it doesn't follow the Allegory to a T.
Ella L.
Phares Assaf
ReplyDelete1. In the Allegory of the Cave and Free Guy, there are individuals who have been made prisoner, NPCs like Guy constrained by the coding that writes them, and physical chains that restrain the prisoners from the Allegory of the Cave. To illustrate the video game Free City, I’ll use Guy as our example. Guy was programmed to wake up every day, wear a blue button up shirt, get the same type of coffee, go to work at the bank, and then have the bank robbed every day. Additionally, he happened to be secretly programmed to be in an everlasting search for a partner which he will never find, but more on this later. Guy performs these same tasks everyday without even realising that he has been unable to deviate from them, but to him that is his reality, as it’s all he knows. Similarly, the prisoners from the Allegory of the Cave are all convinced that the shadows they see are true representations of what the world is like, because that is all they’ve conceived. These events repeat for the prisoners and Guy until something changes, one prisoner is unchained and painfully enlightened of reality, which he tries to spread to others; Guy breaks his old reality twice: the first is when he put a pair of sunglasses on and he saw the gaming world, which gave him life and meaning (mostly because he found that partner that he never was supposed to), and the second was when he was informed that he lived in a video game, his world would end soon, and he needed to save his once again fake reality.
2. Free Guy deviated quite a bit from the Allegory of the Cave, which makes sense given times in which these stories were created. I believe that one of the biggest reasons that these stories were different and yet still so similar was because of how the other NPCs reacted to Guy’s enlightenment. In Free Guy, Guy is proclaimed the first true artificial intelligence, which puts him quite a few pegs higher for comprehending the simulation they live in; the other NPCs weren’t as capable or susceptible to change even when shown proof, which doesn’t make it as fair because they were programs. The prisoners in the Allegory also refused to believe the enlightened prisoner, and instead chose to stay in the reality they know, but they were as capable as the enlightened one. Another large difference between Free Guy and the Allegory is that Guy broke himself out of the simulation, because his longing to be with the girl he met was so powerful; in the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner had to be unchained by someone else before he could perceive the true reality.
The core plot of Free Guy fits the Allegory of the Cave. Guy is representative of the “free prisoner” as all the other NPCs are representative of all the other prisoners. The world he lives in (or at least the world he perceives) is the cave and the moment Guy puts on the glasses is the moment he realizes that the shadows aren’t simply shadows. In other words, Guy seeing what the players see is a metaphor for seeing the fire in the cave. When Guy tries to explain what he saw to other NPCs, they find it impossible to understand. This is demonstrated in the coffee shop when Guy asks the barista to make a cappuccino and she doesn’t know how. She only knows what she’s programmed to know, or, in other words, what the shadows on the cave have told her.
ReplyDeleteI’d also argue that Guy doesn’t “escape the cave” until he’s told about the outside world. In Allegory of the Cave, Plato states that it takes the prisoner time to adjust to the outside world. I think this is similar to Guy, as he too finds it difficult to accept the reality of an outside world. He even opts to “go back into the cave” for a short period of time. Eventually, I’d consider the prisoner “seeing the sun” as Guy finally seeing and making it to the island, but it doesn’t fit Allegory of the Cave exactly.
In Allegory of the Cave, when the prisoner returns to the cave, his ideas send the other prisoners into a frenzy and they end up killing him. Plato’s intent with this was to convey the treatment of philosophers and artists of the time. People don’t want to be made uncomfortable with the way they’re living so they’re more likely to lash out against people with different ideas than restructure their lives.
In the ending of Free Guy, however, Guy is able to convince all the other “prisoners” to essentially see the light, but they never actually escape. The NPCs in the video game never make it to the real world. While this could have just been done for the sake of plot, it could also be an acknowledgement by the writers that some people are simply unable to “escape the cave.” It’s a way of recognizing that, despite being unable to escape the cave, it’s possible to make the most out of being inside the cave and even bring the outside world into it. It’s a more optimistic view on the cave theory than Plato took.
Jack
Free Guy is both a really good, as well as a not-that-good, example of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Shines in certain areas, for instance at the beginning of the movie the protagonist, Guy, is shown to live in a world where he has been given one perspective, along with several other NPCs, and then discovers a new perspective, where he discovered that the glasses people see things that aren't there. Guy takes a minute before figuring out exactly what that means, like Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which the prisoner too had to take a while to adjust to the fact that there is a new world atop his own. Secondly, like the allegory of the cave, Guy tries to explain to his fellow NPCs that they are in this false reality, urging them to understand the fact that they can be more than what they believe they must, according to the loop of the game. However, this is additionally where the movie starts to diverge from the allegory of the cave, because rather than accept this newfound information, in Plato’s allegory of the cave, the other prisoners strongly discredit, and disregard the ‘enlightened’ prisoner’s claims. They then proceed to kill him. This does not happen to Guy in the movie, but rather his gained sentience has a sort of ripple effect throughout the game, encouraging other NPCs to live their own lives. In a sense, this is the allegory of the cave, if it had a happy ending; the other prisoners not only accept that there is another world, but also somehow break free and leave the cave. Another road on which the movie diverges from the additional allegory of the cave is the introduction and use of the character Antwan, who is the owner of the company that owns the game GUY and the other NPCs inhabit. Antwan decides that since the game is costing him money, he should destroy it. This completely diverges from the original Allegory of the Cave, by introducing this god-like character who threatens the lives of the prisoners. In short, Free Guy was a kind of, but not really, a good example of the first part of the Allegory of the Cave. It does well with the discovery of a new reality and coping with that, however it falls short during the second half of the movie in maintaining its similarity to the original source material.
ReplyDeleteBlair
Charley King
ReplyDeleteThe movie Free Guy fits with Plato’s Allegory of the cave on a very broad basis. During the movie you see Guy (who could represent the one caveman who escaped the shackles) start to realize there is more to life than repeating his everyday life over and over again. As he starts to realize what is truly going on he starts to dig deeper in a way. The caveman who escaped the prison also seemed to keep going and was amazed by what was really out there like Guy did. Guy and the escaped prisoner went through the same realization and confusion as they got further into their experience with the knowledge that they now obtained they felt more enlightened. They also are similar in the idea that your reality is limited to one's perspective. In the beginning of Free Guy the civilians are limited to the life that repeats everyday and only see a change once Guy puts the glasses on. To me the glasses sort of represent the saying “taking the rose colored glasses off” but in this it is the opposite. Once he puts the glasses on he sees how things truly are and that things are bigger and brighter then he had known prior. Another similarity is the feeling of disbelief that is portrayed in the movie and in the reading. Antwon was sheltered from the AI code that Guy required so when he found out he didn’t believe that it had a higher possibility then just being a hacker messing with the game. It took him a while to realize what was actually going on similar to the other prisons. The prisoners were stuck in a sheltered state of mind, they couldn't believe what they hadn't seen. I would say the two run on the same line but since Free Guy is a movie it has to drift apart and not hit every mark of The Allegory of the cave. My examples are a good representative of how the movie and Plato’s writings are similar because all of those concepts from the movie meet the basic basis of what Plato was writing about.
The Allegory of the cave and Free Guy have a lot of differences as well. Guy only was deemed to escape the cycle because of the need of feeling love. He felt incomplete without her but he still never questioned if there was more to it until she unlocked that feeling (code) inside of him. The prisoners in the cave never really felt a need to escape because they just found it hopeless, along with never truly believing there was more to it because all they could see was shadows. The Free City civilians had possessions and what seemed like a life to them while the prisoners had nothing but curiosity in a way. Free Guy focused more on the level of consciousness mixed with fighting with moral absolutism. The city of Free City lived up to certain everyday expectations that every citizen followed willingly, it changed when Guy found the glasses. Even his best friend Buddy stated that they were not the types of people the glasses were meant for. Buddy also was a character that differed from the original story from Plato. When Buddy was asked “what would you do if you found out you weren't real” he responded in a satirical way. He didn’t necessarily care whether he was real or not, I think Buddy doesn’t classify as either a prisoner or someone on the outside world. He thought “who cares if i'm real or fake”, “I’m me, I am who I am”, even though he said that he still believed in Guy. He didn’t let Guy give up even though he may not have believed it but he knew Guy did and didn’t dismiss that. Unlike in the allegory where the other prisoners just believed he was crazy and making everything up.
Enzo -
ReplyDeleteThe movie Free Guy, while it does in some ways fit Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, is unlikely that it was made with the sole purpose of being a modern interpretation of the allegory, so certain aspects of it were sacrificed to include other commentaries on society.
There were a few similarities in the original state of the main character and in the enlightenment about the world around the character. In the allegory, the prisoner is originally tied up and shown shadows on a wall, and since it is all the prisoner knows, he believes it to be reality. This can be seen in Guy, the main character in the movie, and his reality consisting of the same routine each day and everyone constantly getting blown up and robbed. He greets his goldfish the same way each day, dresses the same, gets the same coffee, and each day the bank he works at gets robbed. However, he never raises an eyebrow at the last part, or reacts to the explosions all around him, because it is all he knows. He doesn’t know that he is in a video game seeing shadows on a wall. Also, in both stories, the character is freed from the shackles keeping them down, in the allegory it’s actual shackles, while in the movie, Guy puts on sunglasses that show him things he never could have imagined, and things become so much clearer to him as to how his world works.
There were also a multitude of differences, such as the end result of each story, and the characters of each story. The story ends very differently between the allegory and the movie, because in the allegory, since it was supposed to portray Socrates, the prisoner died from the other prisoners because they were comfortable where they were and did not want to leave, but since the other story was a Disney movie, they could not have the main character dying or failing, so they did something else. In the movie, Guy, after some mild resistance from some NPCs (Buddy refusing to put on the sunglasses), manages to convince all NPCs of the existence of the real world, without dying, and he manages to go to another world (the video game Free Life) where they can be free, while there was no other "cave" in the allegory. All of this occurs while Antwan is trying to eliminate Guy, something that doesn’t occur in the allegory (except for the prisoners but Antwan is not a prisoner). Also, There are many more characters in the movie compared to the allegory. For one, in the movie, there are people outside of the metaphorical cave in the real world, such as Keys and Millie, when there was no mention of any other person beyond the cave in the allegory. Other characters such as Antwan don’t have their connection to the allegory in a way that would make sense.
The structure of Free Guy is loosely based on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. They both suggest that there may be more to reality than what we initially perceive and that it’s important to question our beliefs and seek out the truth. I think there are some parallels between Guy and the prisoner who escaped. When Guy puts on the hero's glasses, he finally sees the actual game world that he lives in. Guy breaks free from the NPC model and finally sees the things he’s been missing out on, he goes on to be a hero and help try to help his other NPCs. When the prisoner breaks out of the cave and finally sees the sun, I think that directly correlates to Guy putting on his sunglasses and finally seeing the real world and seeing a different perception of life. The other parallel I found was after Guy was used to the new world he tries to convince his best friend, Buddy to join him in becoming a hero and have another perspective on his life. Buddy refuses to join him and says that he enjoys the life he’s living which disappoints Guy. In the Allegory, the escaped prisoner goes back to his other prisoners and tells them that he can help them escape and show them the real world too. They really don’t like this and beat the escaped prisoner up. I think this is a great comparison, but it’s where the parallels start to end.
ReplyDeleteWhile the two do have some similarities there are a lot of similarities there are also some major differences between the two. Free Guy I think is more about free will. Once Guy puts on the glasses he realizes that his life is not real and is scripted and tries to break free from his chains and live the life he wants. The Allegory I think is about how what we see around us is just a perception and that the thing behind it is actually reality itself. While Guy does technically escape the “cave” of being an NPC, I don’t think he really does leave the cave. At the end of the movie, Guy is still in a game so really I don’t think that didn’t really think he really didn’t leave anything. In the Allegory, the prisoner fully escapes and actually realizes the real world and the things that he had believed were once fake.
In what ways does free guy fit the Allegory of the Cave? :
ReplyDeleteOne way that free guy fits the allegory of the cave is when he “sees the light”. In the allegory of the cave, one of the cavemen gets let free from being tied up, and is brought outside into the light. This is when he sees the actual world as he thought that the cave was the real world. His eyes open up to a whole new universe. In Free Guy a similar experience happens. It could be one of two different moments. The first instance where Guy sees the light is when he first puts on the sunglasses. He realizes that there are little floating icons all around him, and that he can basically create whatever he wants. But, the true opening of his eyes to the world is when Molotov girl takes Guy through the wooden doors into the lobby, which is where she explains to him that he has been in a video game his whole life, and that there is a whole world outside of this game. A second example of when the allegory of the cave lines up with Free Guy, is the fact that the other people in the “cave” refuse to believe there’s a world outside of theirs. In the allegory of the cave, the caveman comes back inside to tell the other two about what he has seen outside, but neither of them want to believe him and think he is crazy. What they have seen their whole lives were the shadows cast on the wall, and they had no reason to believe that other things existed out in the world. The same thing goes for Free Guy. Guy tries to show his best friend, Buddy, that when he puts on the glasses he is opened up to a whole new world, but Buddy refuses to put on the glasses and thinks that Guy is going crazy.
2. What are two ways the Allegory of the Cave does not line up with Free Guy?
One way that the allegory of the cave does not like up with Free Guy is that in Free Guy there are people trying to stop him from seeing this new world. Antwan does not want the players to realize that they are in a video game, and is actively working with Mouser to try to kill guy in the game. In the allegory of the cave, there are no such people trying to stop the caveman from seeing the real world and going back to tell the other men stuck in the cave with him.
Another difference between the two is that in Free Guy, Guy gets his memory erased. Antwan erases Guy’a memory so that he can’t help Molotov girl get the file that proves that Antwan stole her work. In the allegory of the cave, the cavemen never gets his memory wiped of what he experiences when he steps out into the real world.
Hannah
Delete
ReplyDeleteFree Guy fits the Allegory of the Cave very well. Free Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds, is an NPC in a video game and isn't aware of the real world. He goes about his day in the same way everyday and says his catchphrase to everybody. Similarly, the Prisoners in the Allegory of the Cave do not know that the shadows are not reality but just a representation of reality. The NPC’s in Free World do not know that their world is not the real reality. Both the NPC’s and the prisoners are living in a world that is not true.
In both Free Guy and the Allegory of the Cave, there is a role of an overseer or someone who has seen the outside world and now is trying to let the other people in their respective worlds see what they have seen. In Free Guy, there can be two examples for this person. First, we have Millie the game developer who helped free Guy. She is a real character and person playing a video game character and has glasses in game that give her access to things only real players can see. Guy gets himself a pair of these glasses and he is effectively freed from his “prison.” In the Allegory of the Cave, one of the prisoners escapes and sees the real world, and then proceeds to tell the other prisoners of the wonders he saw. Without the roles of these observers or these emancipators, the other “prisoners” would not have seen the light or have been made aware of it.
Both of these examples follow the theme of how powerful the experience of becoming self-aware can be. The movie, however, is a more modern example of the classic the Allegory of the Cave.
In the movie Free Guy, outside factors can influence the so-called “prisoners.” For example, the game consists of a bunch of real people who actually affect what the NPC’s do. The bank robbing scene is a classic example. The bank is robbed everyday and a joke was even made that it’s robbed at a specific time. In the end, this wasn’t controlled by the NPC’s. Additionally, Guy could not control whether he was going to be hit by a car at a random time, it just happened. The prisoners in the Allegory of the Cave were not affected by the shadows. They just saw them come and go.
Free Guy is also set in a modern time so things like cars and big buildings and rockets are a thing. The “prisoners” day to day life is vastly different in this time than the prisoners in the Allegory of the Cave. The Allegory of the Cave Prisoners did not experience life. They were locked in a cave. The NPC’s in Free Guy actually experienced a life, however boring and routine it was. In a way this could actually be seen as a similarity because the NPC’s did the same thing every day, like the Prisoners. I’ll still count it as a difference, though.
Nathan
Bryce-
ReplyDeleteFree Guy is a good representation of Plato’s Allegory of the cave because you can find all the aspects of the Allegory within the movie. We see the simulation he lives in from the jump. Free City is like GTA with less pushback. In real life players can do virtually anything they want to the npc’s. The npc’s are fine with it because they love their lives and they’re glad living in their “Groundhog Day” situation. This is them being trapped in the cave. This all changes for Guy when he puts on the sunglasses and starts talking to the sunglass people. He learns that he’s not necessarily real and that he was created. He also learns how to use sunglasses and things of that nature. This is the moment where he breaks free from the cave and is “forced to see the light”. When he tries to have his friends join him he starts to get threatened and sort of disowned. This would be him trying to break the other prisoners free, and them trying to kill or hurt him. They have the same concept and the parallels match up near perfectly.
One could also make an argument that Free Guy is not an accurate representation of the Allegory of the cave. One reason I’d bring up is the fact that these things don’t seem to happen in the same order as the Allegory. It is very scrambled and if you were strictly taking notes through a sheet like we did, you would be bouncing around the movie like a madman and going up and down your paper.
In many ways, the film Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds follows ideas put forth by Plato in his allegory of the cave. Both Guy, and the prisoners in the cave are unaware that the reality they see before them is not real. When they are released from the shackles that confine them, they are able to see the real world, and are shocked. At first they reject it, but then they later come to accept it, and seek to share it with the other prisoners. The plotline of free guy definitely took inspiration from the allegory of the cave, whether it was directly or indirectly through other films like the matrix, so the plots don't align exactly. In the allegory of the Cave, the prisoners rebelled at their attempted liberator, killing him for trying to free them, and rejecting the notion that any reality other than the shadows they see dancing before them on the wall is real. It seems like a similar thing in Free Guy is going to happen. When Guy goes to the coffee shop and orders a cappucino, a changeup from his usual order of a medium decaf with two creams (I think, I can't remember exactly), the barista appears shocked and a tank outside in the street slowly pans to aim at Guy. However, when Guy eventually gives up and settles for a medium decaf with no cream, the threat to his life dissipates, but he leaves a lasting effect on the other NPCs. Unlike in the allegory of the cave, the other prisoners (NPCs) learn to accept their existence as artificial. Another way in which the two stories differ is the extent to the protaganist's understanding of their new reality. In the allegory of the cave, the freed prisoner is able to leave the cave, and go out into the "real world", experiencing it first hand. However, Millie is only able to tell Guy about the real world. He puts on the glasses, and can see his own world in a new light, recognizing that it isn't the real one, but he isn't able to actually go out, and see the real world. Instead of leaving the cave, he is more discovering a window. Because he can't go out into the new world he has discovered, Guy has a sort of identity crisis. He knows he isn't real, but he can't leave the cave, there is nothing he can do about his existence. Guy eventually comes to terms with the truth, and comforts himself with the idea that everything around him is real to him, so why should it matter if he's in a computer game. -Zane
ReplyDelete1) Free Guy fits the Allegory of the Cave in two ways, through the slow discovery of his true reality and his interactions with his best friend. In his interactions with his best friend, Buddy. The slow discovery of true reality and learning about levels, rewards, and power-ups can be related to the freed prisoner’s eyes adjusting to the world and seeing the world. Guy gains a deeper understanding and curiosity for where he is and what his life is meant for after this event. Another way this is shown in the movie is through Guy’s interactions with his best friend, Buddy. Buddy enjoyed his everyday life and had no interest in discovering the reality of his life. Because of this, when Guy tries to give Buddy the glasses to see the true video game, playable reality, he refuses. I believe this is similar to the prisoners in the cave since they can’t see what the freed prisoner can see and doubt the existence of what the freed prisoner has seen.
ReplyDelete2) In the movie Free Guy, Guy discovers the reality of his life built in a loop in a video game. Since he is AI, he is unable to leave the video game. Due to this, when he realizes that his life is “playable” as a player in the game (after he put on the sunglasses), he is limited to the restrictions of the game. He also is told of another reality farther than his own, referred to as the real world. I found this very different from the Allegory of the Cave since Guy is trapped in his reality and can’t leave the cave as much see through a barrier between him and the cave. Although he realizes its existence, he is unable to fully experience life in the real world. Another way Free Guy does not fit the Allegory of the Cave is due to Antwan. Antwan is the game owner and creator. Although he acts as a sort of God, using his power to destroy the servers in the real world, I believe this varies since he does not fit the full description of a God. Furthermore, since Guy lives in a video game, Keys and Mouser were able to alter reality there and quickly build bridges, stairs, and other things through code. With this power, essentially anyone who had any power over the game could be considered a God in this way.
Jasmine
1. The movie Free Guy tells the story of a non-playable character in a video game who becomes self-aware and decides to take control of his destiny. There are a few ways in which the movie's plot and themes align with Plato's Allegory of the Cave: The Illusion of Reality: In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato argues that people live in a world of shadows and illusions, mistaking them for reality. Similarly, the characters in Free Guy, including Guy, live in a world that is entirely constructed and controlled by the game's developers. They believe that the world they inhabit is real, but it is, in fact, a virtual reality. It is only when Guy becomes self-aware that he realizes the illusion and sets out to break free from it. The Journey to Enlightenment: In the Allegory of the Cave, the philosopher is one who has broken free from the chains of ignorance and seen the true nature of reality. This journey towards enlightenment is mirrored in Free Guy as Guy seeks to understand his true purpose and the nature of his reality. Guy's journey is one of self-discovery and growth as he breaks free from his predetermined role and takes control of his life. Overall, I would say that the examples provided above are a close fit to the Allegory of the Cave. Both narratives explore the idea of a constructed reality and the journey towards enlightenment. While the specifics differ, the underlying themes are similar, and the movie's plot can be seen as a modern retelling of Plato's allegory.
ReplyDelete2. While Free Guy shares some similarities with Plato's Allegory of the Cave, there are also ways in which it diverges from the allegory: The Role of Technology: One way in which Free Guy differs from the Allegory of the Cave is in the role that technology plays in the construction of reality. In the Allegory of the Cave, reality is constructed by the perceptions of the senses, while in Free Guy, it is constructed through technology. While both narratives explore the idea of a constructed reality, the source of that construction is different. The Idea of Freedom: Another way in which Free Guy differs from the Allegory of the Cave is in its portrayal of freedom. In the allegory, freedom is achieved through the philosopher's journey towards enlightenment and the realization of the true nature of reality. In Free Guy, however, freedom is achieved through rebellion and the overthrow of those in power. While both narratives deal with the idea of freedom, the means by which it is achieved differ. These examples do not fit the Allegory of the Cave because they diverge from the specific themes and ideas that are central to the allegory. While there may be some similarities, the differences in the role of technology and the idea of freedom change the overall message and meaning of the narrative.
Sam W.
1. The first connection that I personally noticed between Free Guy and The Allegory of the Cave was when the NPC’s realization of the fact that it’s life wasn’t fully as real as they were made to believe it was, which can be compared to being trapped in the cave and first being brought to the “light.” Now one could say that Guy doesn’t “come to the light” until he gets rebooted and temporarily loses his memory before regaining it after Millie kisses him, however there are multiple moments in the film where we can see this shared aspect of “coming to the light.” This can be primarily seen in Guy when he first puts on the glasses that allow him to see his world from the perspective of the real world player. This can be compared to when in the Allegory of the Cave the prisoner is set free and is viewing the shadows on the walls for what they really are--mere shadows of what actually exists out there. He’s confused and afraid of what he first sees, but as time passes, he grows used to what he believes his world is actually like, but as bigger troubles arise, so do the issues that relate to his perceptions of reality. This concept can also be seen at the very end of the movie when he’s fighting another NPC named Dude--which was essentially a bigger, buffer version of himself--but in order to protect himself from being choked out, he puts the glasses on dude, who then gets distracted by all of the colors and visions he was then suddenly seeing, and Guy was able to get away. The next connection that I found to be incredibly significant was when he comes back after using the glasses for a bit, and tries to convince his friend to join him and show him everything but his friends like no way jose, you're crazy. This plot point in the film can be compared to the part of the allegory where the prisoner comes back to show the other prisoners everything he’s seen, but they think he’s crazy because he’s spewing out all of these things about seeing some kind of light and is stumbling around, and think he’s gone insane. When Guy goes to his job after he’s had the glasses and experienced all of these new and unbelievable things, he decides to stand up to the robber that comes to their jobs at the bank every day and shoots and robs them, and he takes the glasses from the player and tries to give them to buddy. Buddy, at this point seeing that his friend has been breaking social norms, doing the unthinkable, and to him, has been acting crazy, refuses the glasses and essentially says that’s not what we do, in fact, up until near the end when he gains some sort of consciousness, he seems to repeat the quite frequently, which only pushes further the idea in the allegory of the cave that no one else believes him.
ReplyDeleteLily
1. Free Guy matches up with Plato’s allegory of the cave in a few ways and seems to be loosely based upon it. For example, all of the “NPCs” represent the chained prisoners simply watching the shadows. When Guy fights back against the bank robber and steals their sunglasses, it physically depicts the moment that the freed prisoner turns around to see the fire that casted the shadows. When Guy puts the glasses on and sees the entire menu of virtual options that exist for the real players he gets a glimpse into reality and the fact that he has been constrained to viewing the world through a keyhole instead of an open door. Once Guy becomes accustomed to the new reality that comes with the sunglasses his instinct is to spread the knowledge to others, specifically his best friend, Buddy. However, instead of graciously accepting the cool sunglasses and becoming enlightened with Guy, Buddy refuses the sunglasses and shames Guy for wearing his. This perfectly aligns the Allegory of the Cave when the freed prisoner comes back to the cave to try to show the other prisoners what reality is. The prisoners do not take their freedom and choose to stay watching the shadows instead of the real world.
ReplyDelete2. While Free Guy has undeniable parallels with the Allegory of the Cave, it is not a perfect match. In the movie, there is an evil overlord/god/lunatic/baby named Antwan who owns Free City and is able to control it. Antwan ultimately created and runs Guy’s entire world which there is no comparison to in the Allegory of the Cave. If there was a man who created the cave, kept the prisoners there, created the fire, and ran the entire world then there would be a version of Antwan but this person does not exist. Another major difference is the two levels of reality in Free Guy. All real humans can access Free City and real life, but none of the NPCs are able to experience reality. If Guy and the freed prisoner match up, a difference between the two is that the freed prisoner can actually access both the cave and the outside world, but Guy can only exist on the game servers and not real life. The point of the freed prisoner’s experience is that they actually go out and experience the world they have been missing before coming back to free the others, but Guy is only able to hear about the real world.
Mori
I think the main similarity that I noticed between the two was the idea of “real” the characters had of their lives. For the majority of the movie, Guy’s NPC life was all he knew, so it was real to him. Even though he woke up at the exact same time, put on the exact same outfit, got the exact same coffee order, and had an intruder come to work every single day, he still thought everything in his life was real because he didn’t know any different. This was similar to The Allegory of The Cave because the prisoners were conditioned to believe that the shadows were the only real thing out there, and there wasn’t anything else more “real” outside of their lives since they had grown up in the same position with the same view of life…just like Guy.
ReplyDeleteAnother similarity between the two was the way the characters discovered their reality was a completely fictional world to another group. One day, Guy decided to order a different kind of coffee than his usual -- a cappuccino, which threw everyone off. Then, he decided to take on the bank robber himself, and steal the villain’s glasses. When he put them on, it led him into a spiral of new possibilities of what “reality” could look like for him. He realized he was living in a simulation. When Guy tried to tell his best friend about it, his friend shrugged him off and didn’t believe him. In Allegory of the Cave, a situation similar to this is described. When the prisoner was able to escape from the underground cave with the shadows, and came to the real world to see colors and other wonderful things, he was amazed, just like Guy was. However, when he came back down to tell all of the other prisoners about the world that awaits them, the prisoner was looked at as if he was crazy, and threatened to be killed. This is due to the fact the cave is the only reality the prisoners have ever known, and if they are told anything else without actually seeing it, they won’t believe it.
A difference I found between the two was the idea of Antwan. I struggled to find any “overseeing” character in Allegory of the Cave whereas the Free City characters were essentially controlled by Antwan, the owner of the game. I think the idea of Antwan alluded to God in Free Guy, but there wasn’t really any mention of God in Allegory of the Cave.
Another difference between the two is the side characters that know about the two worlds. In Free Guy, Millie and Keys knew about the artificial intelligence that was developed through the NPCs, and were able to figure out how to communicate with them from the real world to the simulation. In Allegory of the Cave, there weren’t any side characters mentioned who knew about both the underground cave and the above ground world.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this chapter and watching Free Guy, I didn’t realize how much the two actually had in common.
Mikayla
1. One way that the Free Guy fits the Allegory of the Cave is the idea that Guy is essentially the prisoner that breaks free of the cave. In the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner that breaks free has a hard time adjusting to life outside of the cave. The prisoner initially struggles to get used to seeing things in their natural state, such as reflections in water, the sun, and objects that he has only ever seen shadows of. This is similar to how Guy had a difficult time processing the fact that he was not a real person just part of a video game. It took Guy a long time to try to understand his role in the world, just like how it took a long time for the prisoner in the cave to accept that there was a life outside of the cave and the shadows. A second way that Free Guy fits the Allegory of the Cave is the connection between Guy's friend Buddy, and the other prisoners inside the cave. These characters are similar because they were all reluctant to accept the fact that there was another life outside of the one that they normally lived. Both the other prisoners and Buddy were most likely content with staying in their own world because they were scared of the world beyond the “cave”, and wanted to stay in the reliable comfort of their own world. They were stubborn and ignorant like the masses in the Allegory.
ReplyDelete2. One way that Free Guy does not fit the Allegory of the Cave, is how in Free Guy, Buddy eventually joins Guy and “steps out of the cave”. This is different from the allegory because, in the allegory, the other prisoners refuse to accept that there is a better life outside of the cave. The other prisoners never join the free prisoner and they violently refuse to join him even when he tries to set them free. In Free Guy, Buddy ends up joining Guy and accepts the outside world toward the end of the movie, and he even helps Guy save their world from destruction. Another way that Free Guy doesn't fit the Allegory, is the romance factor of the movie. In the cave, there is no story of romance or love. This is different from Free Guy because the premise of the movie is based on how much Guy loves Millie. There are multiple scenes throughout the movie that show the theme of romance.
Nina
1. I think that the allegory of the cave most of it fit with the movie we’ve seen Free Guy because when Guy wear the sunglasses and finally see an entire new world like in the allegory of the cave the prisoner is going out of the cave and see that outside with the sun everything is beautiful, he don’t see the shadows anymore and it’s the same thing for Guy. It also really fit because Guy is the only one as an NPC that wore the glasses, he really enjoyed doing the good around him and when Guy tried to make his friend Buddy wear the sunglasses he was scared. Like we’ve seen in the allegory of the cave when the one who escaped told the other prisoners that outside was beautiful and that it was the real world. The other prisoners were afraid and didn’t believe him; they thought that he was crazy. In Free Guy, Buddy was scared and thought that Guy was crazy; he was too afraid to believe his friend. A third way in which it fits the allegory of the cave is when at the end he don’t understand that he isn’t in the real world and that he isn’t real it’s like when the prisoner who escaped come back into the cave and just see shadows, he take time to adjust to the darkness of the cave after seeing a bright world.
ReplyDelete2. The ways in which it doesn’t fit in the allegory of the cave is the love story they put in the movie because there is no other character in the Allegory of the cave that makes the prisoner achieve a saving game or the world. In Free Guy, Guy is showing Buddy how the other side of the world is and after having this big fear he joins Guy to try to save this game and the world they live in, at the end also all the other NPCs are joining Guy so they are no longer listening to their program and they are doing whatever they want,they can enjoy the life they ever wanted to live. Other examples could be at the end when Guy succeeds to save the game and all the other NPCs and at the end when Guy is delivering the message for Millie that Keys loves her. During all the movie there are a lot of references to love.
Clara
2.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Free Guy, relates to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in many ways. For starters, in the beginning of the movie, Guy is living his life and has no reason to believe there is anymore to life because Free City (the shadows in the cave) is all he has ever seen. This is until he meets Millie-a person in the real world playing a character in the game. Millie shows guy that there is more to life than simply being a NPC (non-player character). Millie also is the one to tell guy the reality, that his life and all of free city is just a video game from the real world. This is equivalent to Millie unchaining Guy from Plato’s cave, and telling him about the idea world outside of the cave. Guy was understandably upset by this just as the prisoner was when he discovered that his life, all of his experiences and people he met were not real. To sum it up, when Guy was just a regular NPC, he was in chains in the cave; when Millie tells Guy that Free City is just a videogame, Millie is breaking Guy’s chains.
2.
Although Free Guy has many similarities to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it is not a perfect match. For one thing, they have very different endings. The Allegory of the Cave ends with the newly enlightened prisoner telling the other prisoners about his discovery, and how their world is not the real world. This leads the prisoners to kill the enlightened one for his outlandish ideas. This greatly deviates in Free Guy. In Free Guy, Guy tells all of the NPC’s of Free City and tells them the truth. They were a bit hesitant at first, but Guy inspired them that there can be more to life than crimes and sitting in the background, and he proved that they can do whatever they want with their lives. So instead of the prisoners killing the enlightened one, they actually listened to him.
In addition, unlike the allegory of the cave Guy never physically left the cave (the virtual reality world). I still believe he left the cave but only in the way where he realized that there was another world; he didn’t actually experience the real, outside world. However in the Allegory of the cave the prisoner actually steps out into the real world, although it is debated whether or not he physically did so or if it was more metaphorically in the same way Guy from Free Guy did.
Ellie
n my opinion free gut fits the allegory of the cave extremely well. The first way I noticed a connection to the film and the allegory is when guy first puts on the player classes and sees the all the confusing game mechanics and systems floating around. Guys new revelation to how the players could do what they could do opened his eyes and he began to embrace the changes later using it as a way to get closer to Molotov girl. This portion of guys experience relates to the prisoner who was able to break free of his shackles and see the new world around him and be able to embrace this whole new world around him in a new light and not just in shadows. The next way free guy fits into the allegory is when guy goes to his best friend buddy ( I believe that was his name) and tries to have him put on the player glasses and see the new world around him, guy tried to bring his friend into the new world he was living in but buddy refused his offer and would rather live his known life instead of have his whole world flipped upside down. That same action is of course also in the allegory of the cave when the prisoner who was able to escape goes back to the gave to free the others and they decline his offer and said the world they saw in the shadows was their world and they didn’t want to be free into this new world the one who escaped had found. However free guy doesn’t perfectly fit into the allegory of the cave and that comes in two noticeable ways. The first is when after the movie is reaching its climax and guy revels to the other npcs the truth about their world only being a game for people to enjoy he was able to convince them all to face the new world and fight back against all the unnatural things going on. However in the allegory of the cave as previously mentioned the other prisoners stay in the cave not to leave unlike the npcs when they helped gut fight back. The last notable difference is when guy first had the truth of his world exposed to him by Molotov girl. Guy after already embracing his new world and acting as the good guy once again has his entire perspective changed when he learned that the world was just a video game and he wasn’t real. Guy after learning this gives up and stops using the glasses and returns to his old life until his mind is again changed later on of course. This doesn’t happen in the allegory, the prisoner who escaped doesn’t go back to the cave to re chain himself to the old world he knew because everything happening was to much for him to handle which in a sense was what guy did
ReplyDeleteMadison
ReplyDelete1). The first reason is fairly obvious. Guy first putting on the glasses is like being unshackled from the cave. It could also make sense that it relates to actually going outside, but at first, Guy doesn't know about reality and how his world isn't real yet; he is still blind to the real world people live in, and he's not used to all the power-ups and abilities sunglasses people have. The glasses themselves are like a key out of the cave; without the glasses, you won't be able to go outside to see the real world. Simply putting on the glasses doesn't give a full understanding of how the world in Free City actually plays, meaning near the start of the movie when Guy puts on the sunglasses, he hasn't gone out of the cave yet.
The second reason has to do with the NPC characters around him. Before he put on the sunglasses, he was living mindlessly the same routine every day. He did notice all the bad crimes happening around him, but he stays in his place and doesn't do anything because he's not a glasses person; this is the same case with every NPC. NPCs in Free Guy are like the people chained up in the cave, not knowing what's outside of the cave and not really caring. When Guy attempts to help his best friend get unshackled from the cave (giving him glasses), he outright refuses to. That scene is comparable to the person coming back into the cave to try and attempt the others to come out, with the outcome unsuccessful.
2). In the Allegory of the Cave, the main character who gets unchained seemingly gets unchained for no real reason. It's not like the person wanted to be free in the first place, unlike Guy, who wanted to become a glasses person ever since he met the Molotov Girl. Guy has an actual reason to experience the world as an actual person, unlike in the Allegory of the Cave, where there's no intentional reason for wanting to be unchained.
In the movie, Guy gets help from the other NPCs to stop Antwan from releasing Free City 2 and destroying the original Free City. This is completely unlike the Allegory of the Cave since nobody in the cave wanted to be free. From Guy's persuading, the NPCs were also able to gain some consciousness due to their AI programming. If the movie wanted to stick to the Cave Allegory, maybe none of the other NPCs would have programming like Guy. The people who didn't want to be free from the cave felt similar to the NPCs before their AI function kicked in thanks to Guy.