Plato and Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Plato and Cinema - Essay Example The way Plato looks at art should be understood within the context of his larger enterprise, the Republic, where his views on aesthetics are located. What exactly is the status of art for Plato? The Platonic view of art is rather pessimistic. He believes that the state should be governed by reason, in the same way, that an individual if s/he is to be a just individual, should have the â€Å"passions and the appetites governed by reason† (Albert et. al., 1980, p.25). Considering how the ideal state is conceived as one where everyone and everything must work for the good of society, art, in general, is conceived as being subservient to the state in that sense. If art is to be practiced or engaged in at all, it must be in a form that promotes a just society. In discussing how a person acquires knowledge and skills, Plato argues that from childhood, a person learns through imitating that to which s/he is exposed. As such, if the state is to raise up guardians, then these guardians -to-be need exposure only to those that promote the virtues, and not to those that arouse negative or ill attitudes. In the Republic, Plato states: If then we adhere to our original notion and bear in mind that our guardians, setting aside every other business, are to dedicate themselves wholly to the maintenance of freedom in the State,†¦ they ought not to practice or imitate anything else; if they imitate at all, they should imitate from youth upward only those characters which are suitable to their profession – the courageous, temperate, holy, free, and the like.