Is Hollywood Like Plato’s Poets
Strange title? I know, you’re thinking I read a bit too much Plato for my own good. But this time, actually like all other times, Plato has some timely advice and attitudes. I will, however, spare you the excerpts this time around. Now, unless you don’t have a working television you probably know that the Academy Awards was on tonight. What I have been thinking about lately are the claims to truth that many of these films are making. They attempt to project an image of the way the world is or has been in some not too distant past. Now, there’s nothing at all wrong with this, in theory. The danger and, in my opinion a very extreme one at that, is when we watch movies that attempt to tell a story based in truth we seldom critically evaluate the claims explicitly or implicitly asserted by the film. What’s more is that the claims in the movie are, and here’s the danger, accepted as truth or fact, or what the world is really like or what it really was. This is especially dangerous with respect to history. Even slight distortations in films based on events in the past recast the issues, the groups and, of course, the ideas that created the history. The filmmakers, like the poets in Plato’s time, have great power, but also have a great responsibility. Plato knew all to well the irresponsibility of the writers and their distortion of the truth in an attempt to subvert minds of the people. It worked then, but is it working now? I hear discussions amonst strangers, friends and family that tell me, unfortunately, that it may be working better than ever. These films are fabulous artistic expressions, but when we use them as the means of obtaining and the method of measuring truth we are in serious trouble. Yes, yes, the truth of the matter (no pun intended) is that truth is difficult to come by in matters of history, but with some moderate mental exertion we can at least have confidence in the claims asserted in the films we enjoy. Again, are we becoming like the people of Athens being led around by the writers and poets or are we different?