Star Wars and The Allegory of The Cave

Star Wars

The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of The Cave and Star Wars have many similarities as well as many differences. However, for synthesizing purposes we will mainly look a the similarities of the two texts. Both the texts to some point both deal with the idea of opening your mind because there is more out there. In The Allegory of The Cave the one of the prisoners in the cave learns that there is more out there in the world by leaving the cave. In Star Wars Episode 4, A new hope, Luke Skywalker learns that there is more to the world and his powers when obi won kenobi teaches Luke about the Force. Luke previously didn't know much about the force and when he learned about it, it greatly added to his knowledge of the world.
When I Synthesize these two forms of media I will focus on the fact that there is more to the world than we think. Both The Allegory of the Cave and Star Wars focus on it to some point.
The big difference to these two forms of media are that The Allegory of the Cave completely focuses on the idea of there being more out there. Star Wars not only focuses on the idea that there is more out there but also deals with topics about war, quests, the greater good, love, intergalactic space travel, and much more.

What is joy to Kristin and Tom

"Joy, to me, is doing something that makes me happy. It's something that that makes me smile and laugh constantly. It would also make me feel calm and relaxed." -Kristin

"To me all that joy is is the feeling of being carefree. The freedom that you feel after you get out of school for the summer, the feeling of freedom after say being in church or being on vacation. The feeling of joy is the ability to not worry about anything and just live your life in the moment." -Tom

Tom + Kristin = Joy is freedom and happiness. It is the ability to be happy.

What is Joy?

Joy is being able to lead an epic army and falling in love with the princess. Anything less is not joy. Joy is only that which the more open minded people have thought of. Joy is Science Fiction and Fantasy. There is happiness in this world, but there is no Joy to me. Oh how I wish I had been born in a different place and in a different time.
Joy is the feeling that everything I have ever wanted has come true. Joy is the knowledge that anything and everything is possible. Joy is true happiness.

The Matrix Has You

"Open you mind," said Morpheus from the Matrix. This is something that many people have problems doing. For instance many people don’t realize or down right refuse to believe that things actually make them close minded. For instance if I where to ask someone if they believe that there could be a government conspiracy going on and they were to say immediately no, then they are closed minded because they did not even consider the possibility of there being more to the world. The same would be true if I asked the same person any of the following were real and they were to immediately without any reason say no:
zombies, vampires, werewolves, the matrix itself, elves, hobbits, dwarves, dragons, wizards, witches, warlocks, magic, secret civilian societies, extraterrestrial life, intergalactic space travel (the ability to travel from star to star), super heroes, your own super powers, time travel, alternate realities, monsters, mechs, giant robots, talking animals, ancient ruins, star gates, star trek, star wars, battle star galactica, firefly (the show), futuristic weapons, dinotopia (yes it is what it sounds like), ect...
Most people won't even accept that these things could be real. I know for a fact that if I were to discover that vampires existed then I would let myself get bitten and become one, or if I learned that there was a way that I could travel to another star or planet I most certainly would.
Like in the story "The Allegory of the Cave" Plato talked about if there really was more to the world than there seemed. I'm sure he could have accepted any of the things I listed above, but he was also talking about other more smaller things that in a sense blind me from the truth of the world. For instance when I see a homeless guy walking down the street I instinctively make sure to keep my distance from him. This is because society has told me that the general homeless guy is to be stayed away from. For a long while I believed this, however I now know that this is not true. Society has blinded me from the truth that this homeless guy is just like me, but going through some very hard times and needs help.
Overall The Matrix and "the Allegory of The Cave" shows that there is more to the world than there seems. Whether it is a very small thing such as who to interact with or something huge like the existence of mythical creatures, we are blinded by from the truth of the world. It is our duty to find out what real is true about our world. I search everyday for that truth. I am ready to, "Free my mind."

Nerf Guns

http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/

This website shows boys using nerf guns. It seems to sugest that only boys would use them bacause it is a boy toy or something like that. The website makes it clear that it is a boy toy because there are no girls on the website. Also, the adds on the site make it appear that nerf guns are cool. However I dont think that this is a bad thing. This is because girls are not interested in violent toys. The average girl would rather play with barbies and play pretend house games. Due to this I don't feel that the images of boys using the nerf guns is a bad thing.
Overall it makes it appear that boys need to play a gender role of being strong, powerfull, and cool. This nerf website creates an image about men saying that men must be strong. However this is not true all the time.