Inception

The film Inception deals with the notion of dreams within dreams. In fact there are three levels of dreaming within the plot and even a fourth which is limbo. This raises such questions as to what extent we can be said to have an existence within a dream, to make choices, exert morality or have free will. And to what extent is being immersed within a film similar to being in a dream state as we resonate with characters in the dream or become caught up in the story. And then later that night as we begin to drift off to sleep do we recall the dream and maybe become confused between what we have seen in the cinema, or TV, and what we experienced in real life.

There is element and that is the significance of dreams themselves. For Freud they were “the royal road to the unconscious”, in his early career Jung tended to agree with this but then felt that dreams may have less significance since the dreamer had low energy is sleep and the dreams may be more shadows of unconscious content and favored what he called Active Imagination. In active imagination we reflect or stay with a mood or feeling while not indulging in rational, analytic thought. As we enter into such a state we may hear words spoken within the mind, or see a visual image. As we continue the imagination may become more activated like a waking dream. In this context engaging and interacting with a film could become a sort of active information when we resonate with a character. Certainly the film “Black Swan” would give plenty of opportunities for a viewer who was female to imagine the condition of the dancer.

What other films come to mind when you think of dreams, dreams within dreams and waking dreams.

Shutter Island

A Flickering Reality gives emphasis to those films in which the viewer is placed in the same situation as the protagonist, or sees the world through the protagonist’s eyes. This in Beautiful Mind we are led to believe that Nash’s roommate is as real as all the other people he meets. Similar situations exist in Vanilla Sky, Sixth Sense and The Trueman Show. Shutter Island is an interesting case for we are introduced to the main character, Teddy Daniels, a U.S Marshal on his way to investigate the escape of a dangerous prisoner from an asylum for the criminally insane. But as we follow the progress of Teddy’s investigation we begin to question our sense of the reality of the situation. To begin with there are Teddy’s disturbing flashback to the drowning of his children by his wife, and to his experiences during the liberations of a concentration camp during the Second World War. These are hints at brain washing, mind control and even lobotomies on the island. And when Teddy begins to interview the nurses they appear embarrassed and uneasy at having to speak to him.

As Teddy’s sense of reality begins to break down we realize that he is not acting as a principal investigator but is an inmate of the hospital. One who is about to admit that he has been suffering from serious delusions brought about  by the guilt surrounding his failure to realize the threat his wife posed to his family. And what of the end of the film which has been much debated. Had Teddy lapsed back into the world of delusion, or made the conscious decision that it would be better to remove the crippling pain of his guilt via a lobotomy? Shutter Island is an interesting variation on films in which the view must collude with the protagonist in an attempt to make sense of the world that is presented to him.

Projection

Projection is a word found both in cinema and psychology. The former is fairly obvious, it concerns the way images on film stock are projected onto the blank screen within a darkened cinema. In the latter case it is the way in which unconscious material can be projected onto the “blank screen” of the therapist – the non-judgmental listener.  Both senses are used in Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo  as well as in Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr which, being out of copyright, can be downloaded for free from the Internet.

A Flickering Reality

This Blog is a companion to David Peat's new book "A Flickering Reality: Cinema and the Nature of Reality".
In it Peat argues that our sense of the reality of the world and of ourselves has undergone radical changes through discoveries everything from quantum physics to depth psychology, from post modernism to parallel universes, from manipulated memories to butterfly effects. And where better to experience these changes than when "dreaming in the dark" with film.

In this blog I will be discussing films and directors, from some of the great classics to the latest movies to hit the screen - and you TV set!

To start the ball rolling does anyone have comments on Black Swan - in which a dancer is chosen for the principal part in Swan Lake. She is ideal for the role of the White Swan because of her control and perfection but must also dance her shadow side - the Black Swan. It is in essence an attempt to come to terms with what Jungians call the Shadow - that part of us we attempt to deny, often by projecting it onto others. And so as she struggles to reveal this darker side her world begins to fall apart.

And now there is an interesting parallel with real life for the publicity surrounding the film portrays Natalie Portman as doing nearly all the dancing, however a body double, Sarah Lane, is now claiming that nearly all the dancing, and all of the foot work, was not by her and not Portman. So the film itself now has its own shadow side!!