Dream sequence

A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. Commonly, dream sequences appear in many films to shed light on the psychical process of the dreaming character. For instance in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, the purpose of Pee Wee's dreams is to inform the audience of his anxieties and fears after losing his bike. Other times major action takes place in dreams, allowing the filmmaker to explore infinite possibilities, as Michel Gondry demonstrates in The Science of Sleep.

Audio or visual elements, such as distinctive music or coloration, are frequently used to signify the beginning and end of a dream sequence in film. Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett points out in the film chapter of The Committee of Sleep that, while the main content of dream sequences is determined by the film's overall plot, visual details often reflect the individual dream experience of the screenwriter or director. For Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Dali designed sharply angled sets inspired by his own dream space, Ingmar Bergman lit dream sequences in several films with a harsh glare of light which he says reflects his own nightmares (though most people’s have dim light), and Orson Welles designed a scene of the trial to reflect the manner in which architecture constantly changed in his dreams.^[1]

It has also become commonplace to distinguish a dream sequence from the rest of the film by showing a shot of a person in bed sleeping or about to go to sleep. Other films show a dream sequence followed by a character waking up in their own bed, such as the dream sequence George Gershwin composed for his film score to Delicious. Certain Surrealist and neo-Surrealist directors such as Luis Buñuel and David Lynch refuse to distinguish between waking life and dreams in many of their films, mixing the two states as they please.^[2]

The dream sequence that Atossa narrates near the beginning of Aeschylus' Athenian tragedy The Persians (472 BCE) may be the first in the history of European theatre.^[3]

Similar to a dream sequence is a plot device in which an entire story has been revealed to be a dream. As opposed to a segment of an otherwise real scenario, in these cases it is revealed that everything depicted was unreal. Often this is used to explain away inexplicable events. Because it has been done, in many occasions, to resolve a storyline that seemed out of place or unexpected, it is often considered weak storytelling; and further, in-jokes are often made in writing (particularly television scripts) that refer to the disappointment a viewer might feel in finding out everything they've watched was a dream. For example, the entire sequence of the Family Guy episodes "Stewie Kills Lois and Lois Kills Stewie" are revealed to have taken place within a virtual reality simulation, upon which a character asks whether a potential viewer could be angry that they've effectively watched a dream sequence. The TV show Dallas revealed that an entire season of the program was a dream.

Films using dream sequences

• 8½
• 12 Monkeys
• L'Atalante
• Accattone
• Across The Universe
• American Beauty
• An American Werewolf in London
• Awaara
• La Ballade des Dalton
• The Bear (1988 film)
• Blade Runner
• The Big Lebowski
• Blue Velvet
• The Cell
• Carrie (1976 film)
• Chicago (2002 film)
• City of Lost Children
• Brazil (film)
• Dark Passage (1947)
• Delicious by George Gershwin
• The Devil's Advocate (film)
• The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• Dreamscape
• Dumbo (film)
• Dune (film)
• Earth Girls Are Easy
• Eraserhead
• Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• The Final Destination series
• Gladiator (2000 film)
• Halloween II (2009 film)
• Heathers
• Herbie Rides Again
• Inception
• Ivan's Childhood
• James and the Giant Peach
• Nekromantik 2
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Nightmare on Elm Street series
• Nine (film)
• Oklahoma! film and stage show
• Papillon
• Paprika (2006 film)
• Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
• Red's Dream
• Rosemary's Baby (film)
• The Kid
• The Secret Garden (1993 film)
• The Science of Sleep
• The Simpsons Movie
• Spellbound (1945 film)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
• Vanilla Sky
• Wild Strawberries (film)

Other examples in pop cultural media

• Several episodes of HBO series The Sopranos depict extended dream sequences that typically contain characters both living and dead and surreal imagery, and convey thoughts and ideas related to the story of the character experiencing them.
• In several episodes of House, much of the episode takes place inside of House's fantasies or hallucinations. These include the 21st episode of the first season 'Three Stories', final episode of the second season "No Reason" and the two last episodes of the fourth season "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart".
• The eighth season of Dallas is written off entirely as a dream.
• Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett deals a lot about dreams, including one instance when the main character Tiffany Aching remarks on how the cliché ending of "she woke up and it was all a dream" is the worst ending for any story.
• The CD Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost by psychedelic trance artist Shpongle, is said to have 20 tracks divided up into eight equal parts which represent each stage of the dream sequence.
• The Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Restless" consists primarily of the four main characters' dreams. The writers used this episode heavily as a means of multi-layered foreshadowing of elements to be introduced in the series, such as the arrival of Dawn and the deterioration and eventual death of Buffy's mom.
• Charmed episode "The Jung and the Restless" had all three of the sisters induced in slumber by Billie and almost all of the episode is their common dream where everything they go through has a meaning.
• That '70s Show is known for featuring in almost every episode at least one wacky dream sequence by one of the main characters. These sequences often spoof the seventies' TV shows, movies that were out at that time, or even fairy tales.
• CW's Supernatural season three episode "Dream a Little Dream of Me" deals with dreams
• Season five of Smallville has an episode "Lexmas" that is half a dream sequence
• Author Caitlín R. Kiernan is particularly noted for making frequent use of dream sequences in her novels and short fiction, often integrating them seamlessly with the waking narrative.
• The South Park episode "City on the Edge of Forever" (also known as "Flashbacks") is revealed at the end to be a dream of Cartman's, which is revealed to be a dream of Stan's.
• The 1991 PC game Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge used a dream sequence to convey key hints for completion of the game, indicating the correct passage in a maze. It is also unsure whether the entire game is a dream.
• The November 14, 2011 episode of Two and a Half Men featured Alan going through the worst possible times in his life. He hits rock bottom and then gets shot. He then wakes up from his dream in the "stress clinic".

Notes

1. ^ Barrett,D. The Committee of Sleep, Chapt 2: Dreams that Money Can Buy (2001/2010)
2. ^ “Surrealism” and the Omnipotence of Cinema
3. ^ Taxidou (2004, 99).

References

• Taxidou, Olga. 2004. Tragedy, Modernity and Mourning. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP. ISBN 0748619879.

See also

• deus ex machina
• Dream world (plot device)