LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Lars and the Real Girl (2007, Gillespie) engages the philosophical issues set out in Plato's Allegory of the Cave in a unique way. Lars has taken a "girlfriend," Bianca -- and she's a doll. So there's a question right away -- what is real? Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the ultimate nature of reality (Like: for real, what is ultimately going on? What is happening right now?) So metaphysics is built right into the title, and is central to the plot. I mean, on some level she's real -- she really exists, as does the chair I'm sitting on. She's also real to Lars. Is reality "in the eye of the beholder"? If so, then she's a real girl. If not, if there is anything objective about reality, she's certainly not a real girl.
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There's also an epistemological question -- epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with questions of knowledge. On some level Lars knows she isn't real. But on another, it would appear, he does not. His family, especially his brother, Gus, is having quite a hard time with Lars' "relationship."
Enter therapist -- and a third philosophical dimension, Ethics -- who insists that the family "play along" with Lars' conviction that Bianca is real. Eventually the whole town is in on the project and hilarity -- and quite a bit of philosophy -- ensues... ​
1. WATCH the 2007 Craig Gillespie film Lars and the Real Girl
2. WRITE a 500 word reflection in which you answer the classic philosophical question "What is reality?" by exploring what the word "real" means in the title "Lars and the REAL girl" and thinking about this movie. Are there different ways to take it? Is she real? Is she also not real? Which girl is being referred to in the title? Could it be taken different ways and to refer to different girls? What does the word real mean to the different characters? How does the movie relate to Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Finally, one last question: Did you "like" Lars and the Real girl? And what does the word "like" mean to you when you use it to answer that question? (I mean: what did you mean when you said you "liked" it?