u/JoK_Leop

I wrote my political philosophical reflections about 'Backrooms' down in this opinion:

Anyone searching for themselves and for the true nature behind the world around them no longer needs the help of a psychologist or life coach. The recent horror film Backrooms can, with the help of ancient philosophy, guide you further. The Greeks are the heroes here. No, this is not about Homer’s Odysseus in The Odyssey, but about the newest interpretation of Plato in the 2026 horror masterpiece Backrooms.

The popular media currently lives in the story of The Odyssey, based on Homer’s heroic tale from around 800 BC. Let’s stay in Greece, but fast‑forward to the 5th century BC. There, Plato wrote The Republic, a philosophical treatise still considered a political and philosophical standard work in the 21st century. A well‑known passage in it is the allegory of the cave. Where Homer’s Odysseus spends ten years traveling to rediscover his home (and true self), the creators of Backrooms take things a step further by pulling humanity out of the cave of illusions. We follow a difficult, frightening, and confusing journey toward the truth of real life.

After the final scene, in which the psychiatrist transforms into her monstrous allusion, the first thought that came to me was: this story is a version of Plato’s allegory of the cave. Online, interpretations circulate claiming that Backrooms presents an inverted cave allegory — that from reality we enter a world of misinterpretations and shadows of that reality.

Although I initially had the same idea, it is too simplistic an approach. Viewed from a macro (read: meta) perspective, the story is a pure embodiment of Plato’s cave allegory.

At first glance, it seems as though the main character, Clark, escapes reality through a portal and enters the cave. Although the actions, events, and unsettling distortions of reality make it appear as though we, chained cinema‑goers, are watching the shadows of a play and mistaking them for reality, the point of the film is precisely that these backrooms are not the cave — they are reality.

The backrooms inside our skull are reality. The truth — the purest ideal forms Plato strives for — are in fact anti‑ideals. The world of ideals consists of failed forms, not perfect figures and objects; our earthly interpretations are merely weakened reflections of them.

We can even go a step further. The film actively speaks to the philosophical question of how real our world and our personality truly are. The answer is simply: they are not. We live under the illusion that everything is perfectly complete and logical. But that logic is nothing but appearance. Truth lies in imperfect, confusing forms. Our identity and living world are illusions and simply do not exist.

What, then, about the fact that the rooms arise from and increasingly abstract (alienating) events? This assumption is deliberately instructed by the creators. Where the film suggests that the backrooms originate from places and events, this is nothing but an illusion. It is the other way around, forming a shadow we observe and accept as truth.

Plato followed the method of dialectic. Through dialogue, truth can be found. Let me, in the case of Backrooms, offer the following thesis as a starting point: the creators of Backrooms follow Plato’s cave allegory purely. If we cannot resolve the question, I am certain we will see the point of the creators (and Plato) confirmed.

I wrote my reflection dawn in this opinion:

Anyone searching for themselves and for the true nature behind the world around them no longer needs the help of a psychologist or life coach. The recent horror film Backrooms can, with the help of ancient philosophy, guide you further. The Greeks are the heroes here. No, this is not about Homer’s Odysseus in The Odyssey, but about the newest interpretation of Plato in the 2026 horror masterpiece** Backrooms.

The popular media currently lives in the story of The Odyssey, based on Homer’s heroic tale from around 800 BC. Let’s stay in Greece, but fast‑forward to the 5th century BC. There, Plato wrote The Republic, a philosophical treatise still considered a political and philosophical standard work in the 21st century. A well‑known passage in it is the allegory of the cave. Where Homer’s Odysseus spends ten years traveling to rediscover his home (and true self), the creators of Backrooms take things a step further by pulling humanity out of the cave of illusions. We follow a difficult, frightening, and confusing journey toward the truth of real life.

After the final scene, in which the psychiatrist transforms into her monstrous allusion, the first thought that came to me was: this story is a version of Plato’s allegory of the cave. Online, interpretations circulate claiming that Backrooms presents an inverted cave allegory — that from reality we enter a world of misinterpretations and shadows of that reality.

Although I initially had the same idea, it is too simplistic an approach. Viewed from a macro (read: meta) perspective, the story is a pure embodiment of Plato’s cave allegory.

At first glance, it seems as though the main character, Clark, escapes reality through a portal and enters the cave. Although the actions, events, and unsettling distortions of reality make it appear as though we, chained cinema‑goers, are watching the shadows of a play and mistaking them for reality, the point of the film is precisely that these backrooms are not the cave — they are reality.

The backrooms inside our skull are reality. The truth — the purest ideal forms Plato strives for — are in fact anti‑ideals. The world of ideals consists of failed forms, not perfect figures and objects; our earthly interpretations are merely weakened reflections of them.

We can even go a step further. The film actively speaks to the philosophical question of how real our world and our personality truly are. The answer is simply: they are not. We live under the illusion that everything is perfectly complete and logical. But that logic is nothing but appearance. Truth lies in imperfect, confusing forms. Our identity and living world are illusions and simply do not exist.

What, then, about the fact that the rooms arise from and increasingly abstract (alienating) events? This assumption is deliberately instructed by the creators. Where the film suggests that the backrooms originate from places and events, this is nothing but an illusion. It is the other way around, forming a shadow we observe and accept as truth.

Plato followed the method of dialectic. Through dialogue, truth can be found. Let me, in the case of Backrooms, offer the following thesis as a starting point: the creators of Backrooms follow Plato’s cave allegory purely. If we cannot resolve the question, I am certain we will see the point of the creators (and Plato) confirmed.