Discussion: Plato's allegory with the cave
I am working on what's called "altered book." With the existent book, we're making a conceptual/ experimental work that somehow reflects the original book. (we can make 3-D work, add sound, etc) For example, one student's book was about the hunger in Africa and he practically brought in a bread and a knife in class. And as you slide the bread, there was texts glued in it. And another student made a puzzle out of her mystery book.
Mine is plato's "republic" and I remembered story of "allegory with the caves" in the reading. (how prisoners in the cave only live seeing the shadows/reflections on the wall which they believed were "real" and when one of the prisoner comes out of the cave, they see the sunlight and all sorts of things etc etc)
So I thought of making a transparent box with glass and on the inside, I was thinking of gluing the texts (tearing off of the book) on all four sides of the rectangle. Once you're done, you put it on your head and on top of it, cover it with some sort of dark sheets so that at first, you can't see anything. But once you remove the sheet, all the texts will be seen because the box itself is made from glass and the light will be on the classroom.
Another idea I came up with, was to use a projector in the classroom. When I shows the pages of the texts, it will be shown on one side of the room (in the dark) and practically implying everyone in the classroom as 'prisoners'.
My professor liked my choice of book and told me to stick with it, but insisted on developing a much better ideas. I would like to come up with more/better ideas or even more developed ideas from my original ideas above. So this is what I am going to need your help on. If you come up with something complicated, I would appreciate it if you could include a sketch or some sorts so that it's easier for me to get it. Thank you.
I am writing some notes on Plato's republic, which you may already know.
-Plato believes that reason is what will lead people to truth. But truth maybe tragic and painful.
-Prisoner is encouraged to "see" with the light of reason.
-intellectual sight is the most importance organ of vision we have. Eyesight only obscures what is "true"
-Socrates is the prisoner who was freed from the cave.