The act of watching a film and the act of dreaming have often been compared. That is why understanding the "language of dreams" can be most helpful in unlocking and exploring meaning beyond surface in cinema. We believe cinema is an active dream state, and as such, we hope you'll check out this fun and insightful article by August J. Cwik, Psy.D., associated with the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and contributor this article in Huffington Post's series on interpreting dreams.
From the article: "Cwik cautions that dreams are an individual process and have to do with
the conscious attitude of the dreamer. 'In Freudian theory,' he says, 'dreams allow the disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish, often
sexual, which must not be gratified directly.' On the other hand, Cwik
explains, 'Jung saw dreams as natural products that seek to communicate
with us, not disguise. If the meaning seems strange and
incomprehensible, it is because they speak the old, forgotten language
of metaphor and symbol.'" We see ourselves more operating in the land of Jungian symbolic expression, but as always, as artists, most of our symbolism is unintentional and therefore an expression of our unconscious, whether that be from the film's individual screenwriters, the director's inflection or the group as a whole's expression.
