Plato Movies

[Gaetan Horton]

Nearlyall philosophy is indebted to Plato in one way or another, so unsurprisingly many films allude to him and to his cave allegory in particular. In what is to follow, I list 10 great films that feature Platonic cave allegories. I limit this list to one film per director, though many of these directors have several great platonic films. What films would you add to this list?

Inside the cave, Hitchcock gives viewers an eerie remake of the cave allegory, as the camera follows the shadows of those in the boat just through a cave. In fact, of this list, this is the most visually allusive to the allegory of the cave. But, no Hitchcock film is truly a Hitchcock film without a murder, so anticipation builds and the film builds up to a dramatic climax.

Synecdoche, New York is a reverse application of the cave analogy, because it follows Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a theater director in Schenectady, as he leaves reality and enters the cave. After facing a series of awful and unfortunate events, he becomes obsessed with a play he is producing and devotes his entire life to making it his masterpiece.

This blurring of reality inverts the analogy, of course. Plato originally envisioned that those who were able to see the world as it actually is (the philosophers) would return and enlighten those still inside the cave. It is unclear if Caden is able to see the world as it actually is, but it is clear that he inhibits and prevents his actors from leading normal lives and having any autonomy. In a sense, he chains them inside his cave and forces them to play along.

The latest Christopher Nolan installment, Interstellar provokes the imagination of viewers. It follows Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a farmer, who leaves the blighted and dying earth in search of a new planet.

Through many unexpected events and some surprisingly accurate physics, Cooper eventually arrives at a black hole and uses it to slingshot into a tesseract (perhaps simply described here as another realm to those unfamiliar). From this, he communicates back with those on earth to help save humanity.

In an obvious sense, this other realm is the exterior of the cave. Cooper must complete an arduous journey to reach it. In further inspection, we see that the tesseract also uncovers the cave of knowledge. This knowledge not only is capable of saving the human race, but it also allows Cooper to communicate back to earth and to share what he has learned.

Plato was married twice; she had a child in 1984 during her marriage to guitarist Lanny Lambert. She struggled with substance abuse for most of her life. She was arrested in 1991 for robbing a video store, and again the following year for forging a drug prescription. On May 8, 1999, at age 34, Plato was found dead in her motor home from an overdose of prescription drugs. Her death, while initially considered accidental, was ruled a suicide.

Dana Plato was born Dana Michelle Strain on November 7, 1964, in Maywood, California, to Linda Strain, a teenager who was already caring for an 18-month-old child. In June 1965, the seven-month-old Dana was adopted by Dean Plato, who owned a trucking company, and his wife Florine "Kay" Plato. She was raised in the San Fernando Valley. When she was three, her adoptive parents divorced and she lived with her mother.[8]

At a very young age, Plato began attending auditions with her mother, and by seven years old had appeared in over 100 television commercials.[9] Plato was also an accomplished figure skater. During her years on Diff'rent Strokes, Plato struggled with drug and alcohol problems; she admitted to drinking alcohol, using cannabis and cocaine, and suffering an overdose of diazepam when she was aged 14.[8]

In 1995, during an appearance on The Marilyn Kagen Show alongside co-star Todd Bridges, she spoke of her childhood with her mother, stating: "My mother made sure that I was normal. The only thing that she did, the mistake she made, was that she kept me in a plastic bubble. So, I didn't learn about reality and life skills." Kagen suggested that Plato may have been used for a free meal ticket, which Plato denied, explaining that her mother's ways were so that she would not become a prima donna.[9]

Plato made her television acting debut at the age of 10, making a brief appearance on the ABC television show The Six Million Dollar Man. She then starred in the 1975 made-for-television film Beyond the Bermuda Triangle. Plato made her film debut at the age of 13 in the uncredited role of Sandra Phalor in the horror film Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). She starred as Evie Joe in the horror film Return to Boggy Creek in the same year.[10] both films were received negatively by critics.[11][12][13] Better received was the family-comedy film California Suite (1978), in which Plato played Jenny Warren; the film was also a commercial success,[14] and earned accolades from the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards.[15]

When Plato made a brief appearance on The Gong Show, she was spotted by a producer who helped cast her as Kimberly Drummond, the older sister of adopted brothers Arnold and Willis Jackson, on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. The series debuted in 1978 and became an immediate hit. Plato appeared regularly on the show throughout its run, notably top-billed for four years. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on the program, and also was part of two TV Land Award nominations given to its cast.[16][17][18] In 1984, following the birth of her son Tyler, Plato was dismissed from her starring role due to both her pregnancy and struggles in her personal life, which producers felt would negatively impact their "wholesome family comedy".[19][20] She made a one episode appearance on season 8 episode 12 of "The Love Boat". Thereafter, Plato appeared recurringly on Diff'rent Strokes from 1985 to 1986, the show's end;[21] in season 8, the episode which aired on January 17, 1986, was Plato's final appearance on the show, which showed her character suffering from bulimia. CBC News described her performance in the episode as a "series highpoint".[22]

In 1981, Plato appeared in the television special A Step in Time,[23] which earned her a second Young Artist Award nomination. In 1983, she starred in the television film High School U.S.A. as Cara Ames, alongside Diff'rent Strokes co-star Todd Bridges, who played Otto Lipton.[24] In spite of the film being met with a mixed response from critics and viewers alike,[25][26] it gained popularity at the time of its premiere, particularly for its cast. Plato attempted to establish herself as a serious actress, but found it difficult to achieve success.[27] She had breast implants and modeled for a June 1989 Playboy pictorial.[28][29] She also started taking roles in such B movies as Bikini Beach Race (1992) and Lethal Cowboy (1995). In 1990 she made a brief attempt at a musical career, sponsored by producer Howie Rice. She recorded six tracks with songwriter/producer Daniel Liston Keller at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, but the recordings were shelved and not released.

In 1992, Plato starred in the video game Night Trap, becoming one of the first celebrities to appear in a video game.[28] She was eager to work on the project, and Rob Fulop, one of the designers of Night Trap, said that he and Plato had enjoyed working together. She made little effort to hide the fact that the project was a step-down compared to her previous career ventures.[30][28] The game was a moderate success, and is considered a pioneering title because it was the first to use live actors.[31] Night Trap received mixed to negative reviews upon release, and in retrospective has continued to polarize critics and audiences. It is best remembered for the controversy it created over the violence and sexuality that, along with that surrounding Mortal Kombat, eventually led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).[32][33]

In December 1983, Plato moved in with her boyfriend, rock guitarist Lanny Lambert. The couple married on April 24, 1984, and their only child, Tyler Edward Lambert, was born on July 2, 1984. When it was revealed that she was pregnant, she was written out of Diff'rent Strokes.[35] Her co-star Conrad Bain revealed that she was happy about her baby,[8][9] stating in an interview with People magazine: "She deliberately got pregnant while doing the series, when I spoke to her about it, she was enthusiastic about having done that... [saying that] 'When I get the baby, I will never be alone again.'"

Plato separated from Lambert in January 1988, the same week her mother died of scleroderma. In desperation, she signed over power of attorney to an accountant who disappeared with the majority of her money, leaving her with less than $150,000. She claimed the accountant was never found nor prosecuted despite an exhaustive search, and that he had also stolen more than $11 million from other clients.[36] In her March 1990 divorce, Plato lost custody of her son to Lambert and was given visitation rights.[8][37] She then became engaged to Fred Potts, a filmmaker, but the romance ended. She was later married to actor and producer Scott Atkins (Scotty Gelt) in Vancouver for one month, but the marriage was annulled. Before her death, Plato was engaged to her manager Robert Menchaca, six years her junior, with whom she lived in a motor home in Navarre, Florida.[38]

On February 28, 1991, Plato entered a Las Vegas video store, produced a pellet gun, and demanded the money in the cash register. After she left with the money, the clerk called 9-1-1 and said, "I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes." Approximately fifteen minutes after the robbery, Plato returned to the scene and was immediately arrested. She had stolen $164.[39] Entertainer Wayne Newton posted her $13,000 bail,[38] and Plato was given five years' probation. She subsequently became a subject of the national debate surrounding troubled child stars, particularly given the difficulties of her Diff'rent Strokes co-stars Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman.[40][41]

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