It really is fascinating how Plato nailed human truths thousands of years ago. He understood the realm of Forms while most people were trying to understand how to speak. Plato understood that the only way to grasp the perceptions we make is with a name, but that name does not grasp the concept behind the object. What happens when we add the dimension of drama to the realm of Forms?

Plato's cave is practically a representation of a movie theater. The projector casts its fire over the celluloid images created by the puppeteer or director to cast shadows on the screen of the wall. The audience of prisoners cannot look back at the projection booth.

Unless the audience of prisoners understands anything about the medium, they take for granted that what is placed before them is exactly what it supposedly represents. Unless the audience knows that these images represent more than the image, the point can be lost.

With the movie Barton Fink, we have a case on point. The movie is not easy. It does not tell the viewer exactly what to think. There are objects that represent more than what appears on the surface. For instance, the package that Charlie gives Barton is never explained outright. With clues from the film itself, we realize that Charlie was giving Barton himself, his stories, his desires, his humanity. Barton never opens the package, just like he never listens to Charlie's stories. Barton carries it around like he thinks he carries the desires of the common man.

Other Forms come out during the movie, such as the girl on the beach in the picture. Perusing the end credits, they list her character as Beauty. She is looking at the ocean, west like Barton was looking west to Hollywood. Only Beauty's west is an endless sea. They are both looking for something. At the end, Beauty turns away from Barton. Barton may also have more of an understanding of the Keats line, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

Fink's name is an obvious literary device that makes the viewer think he is going to give us the truth. He does tell Hollywood what they should be doing, the truth of the common man. But as the name implies, it is not wanted. You cannot "fink" out Hollywood. It does not want to portray the real truths but the truths that the audience wants.

The pyromania at the end is obviously Barton trying to physically destroy the wallpaper-peeling decay of this Hollywood life. The murderer that is disguised as a friend is Barton not realizing that he is not listening to the common man.

After viewing the movie, we have to look back at the projection booth and realize that Barton and Charlie are not actually there. Plato is trying to tell us that we must except the truths portrayed before us as what they mean to us personally.