Waking Life
While reading about Lucid Dreaming, I remembered a movie called Waking Life. I am sure that some of you have already seen it, but if not I highly recommend it.
It’s weird, intriguing, ridiculous, full of interesting dialogues, and truly unique in design and concept. Its sometimes hard to follow, sometimes inspiring. It is a bit of a brain overload if you watch it all at once, and I think one can get more out of the movie watching it in segments and then watching the movie as a whole. The style, rotoscope, helps create a dream like atmosphere because things are in constant motion and change in un-realistic ways. This style greatly adds to Waking Life, both in terms of the story and the visual impact.
The movie (well its closer to a documentary) follows a man as he listens and talks to a variety of people about a variety of topics that are social, philosophical, dream, life, etc oriented. However, the character realises that he is dreaming these conversations thus entering a lucid dream state, and has many false awakenings. The character is able to realise that he is dreaming by looking at a digital clock because the numbers never settle. There is a sense of franticness as the dream continues, and the main character feel trapped in a never ending dream.
Again, if you find yourself with free time and you haven't seen Waking Life, I think it would feed well into this class and offer up food for thought on some of the larger topic we have and will discuss.
Here are some links:
Reviews-
Full movie-
or on Amazon Prime, free instant streaming
I've never seen this movie, but after looking at it I intend to check it out.
ReplyDeleteA movie that sprang to mind when I was reading about your movie was the film 'Solaris'. For lack of a better description, Solaris is a soviet science fiction movie of a soviet scientist trying to talk with a conscious planet. If you overlook the part about talking to a conscious planet, this movie deals heavily with conscious dreams.
Due to the proximity of the planet, everything that the soviet scientist consciously thinks about comes true. The man is conscious in a constant lucid dream. Whatever he desires, he gets. For instance, when he thinks about his dead wife, she appears before him.
Eventually after, awhile the soviet scientist leaves, but a copy of him remains on the planet. Which begs the question "Are our dreams part of us, or are we pat of our dreams?"
I find this post very intriguing because it relates to my dream state and sense of reality very well. From the start of me remembering my dreams, I have been able to accomplish lucid dreams. I always have deciphered between the dream and real world without few problems. I tend to enjoy the path that my subconscious takes during these dreams so I don't control them even though I am fully conscious. I love to walk along the lines of my dreams while knowing that I am dreaming. I let my mind create the reality I wish to see. Recently, however, I have run into problems because my dream state and reality have become too intertwined. There have been many occasions when I cannot tell if an event in memory happened as a dream or a reality because I was conscious in both.
ReplyDeleteSo to answer Matt's question, I think that dreams are both. I love to see my dreams unfold. I imagine them as a projection of what my subconscious wants to see in my waking life. This interaction doesn't form dreams being me or me being my dreams. I interact and learn from them. I believe that I guide my dreams and they in turn guide me. How can I tell which is a part of which?