Apple TV‘s best sci-fi show adapts a book that was inspired by the same philosophy that drives one of Christopher Nolan‘s most iconic movies.
In the last decade, some of the most ambitious and unique sci-fi movies and TV shows have hit the big and small screens. Considering how the sci-fi genre has been more fascinating than ever, it would be fair to say that we are smack-dab in the middle of one of the best sci-fi decades of all time.
However, as unique as many new additions to the genre may seem, some recent movies and shows have undeniable parallels. For instance, one of Christopher Nolan’s most acclaimed science fiction films seems to draw from the same philosophy that inspired the source material behind Apple TV’s biggest sci-fi show.
The Philosophy That Inspired Apple TV’s Silo Also Drove Christopher Nolan’s Inception
Plato’s allegory of “the cave” hypothetically images a group of prisoners who are chained inside a cave, forced to see nothing but a blank wall. Their perception of the world is merely confined to shadows cast on the visible wall from the cave’s opening. Both Silo and Inception present intriguing takes on the same philosophy.
Silo’s author, Hugh Howey, has confirmed (via One 5C) that his book was inspired by Plato’s allegory of “the cave.”
Just like the prisoners in the allegory mistake shadows for reality, the characters in Silo believe the false projections of the outside world they are exposed to. Inception‘s characters, especially Leonardo DiCaprio’s Cobb, also often accept the reality they see, even when it’s nothing but a dream.
“Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange,” says Cobb, highlighting the importance of awakening before it is too late. Even in the allegory, a prisoner “awakens” and ends up breaking free before leaving the cave. Similar to Silo‘s Juliette, he struggles to adapt to the bright world outside but soon learns the truth about the nature of reality.
To his dismay, just like Juliette, he is misunderstood when he tries to expose the truth to his fellow prisoners. Cobb, too, steps out of his own proverbial cave in Inception when he decides to let Mal go towards the end. Like the allegory’s prisoners, though, there are characters in Inception (from the dream-den scene) who sleep “to be woken up” because their “dreams have become their reality.“
Plato’s Cave Allegory Has Inspired Many Popular Books, Shows, & Movies
Traces of Plato’s iconic philosophy can be found in everything from The Matrix to George Orwell’s 1984. The Matrix, in fact, comes off as the clearest modern retelling of the allegory, where Keanu Reeves’ Neo is the freed prisoner, while the titular Matrix represents the shadows of illusion on the wall.
Even The Truman Show seems to perfectly encapsulate the philosophy by showing how a man lives in a world constructed by shadows. He believes that whatever he perceives is real until one day he is forced to question the nature of his world. Even sci-fi shows like Westworld, Severance, and The OA seemingly present similar philosophical questions about reality and perception.
What Silo’s Cave Allegory Parallels Reveal About The Apple TV Show’s Future Story
Since Juliette is the freed prisoner from the allegory in Silo‘s story, her vision of the world will remain far more open and curiosity-driven than most other characters. Some characters will likely free themselves with her and join her on her quest to find the truth.
Like the prisoners in the allegory and the dreamers in Christopher Nolan‘s Inception, however, many, like Bernard, will prefer the comfort of illusion over facing the pains of reality in the Apple TV show’s future storylines.
