It was all a dream

You know those movies that end where everything turns out to be a dream? All the drama, all the twists and turns, all the trials that our hero faced never actually “happened”. Any of the stakes for our hero, any of the tragedies that may have occurred, in the end everything is all OK because it was all just a silly dream.

Man, those movies suck. Everything you watched for the entire course of the story seemed to all be a waste. “None of it ever it happened? What the hell was the point of that?!“, we tell ourselves. As an audience, we feel cheated and ultimately dissatisfied. It takes the weight of the experience away from us, very often nullifying the emotional journey we went on.

Although we often hate it when a movie has a “cop out” ending where everything was a dream, the truth i so many film stories often reflect a primary character living out a dream fantasy or their worst nightmare. The hero’s journey is a hero’s dream where they are often confronted with obstacles and antagonists that symbolize their most inner fears and desires. For so many stories, it would be easy to imagine the character waking up from at the end and it all being a dream. Whatever the hero wanted most, they were able to obtain. Whatever inner demon haunted them, they were able to vanquish. In happy endings, the hero wins the gold, they get the girl or boy, they defeat their enemies, they survive a trauma, they save the day. In less happy endings, they fail to do any of those things and if it was all a dream, it’s the type that makes you wake up in a cold sweat!

Similar to when we sleep, we hit pause on our everyday lives when watching a film and for a short time we escape into another world. A world of potent images, symbols and a logic that may not make complete sense in our everyday reality but it makes sense in the movie world. But the dream we enter is not our own. It is that of our hero. It’s fascinating to think of movies as a journey into someone else’s dream world. One in which similar to real dreams, incidents and characters exist as a reflection of the dreamer’s (or hero’s) own psyche.

Very often the first 15-20 minutes of a film story (or the set-up) introduce our herin their everyday world and we get to know their fears and desires. We get a sense of their issues and hang-up’s. Or at least a tease of them. The story doesn’t truly begin though until the hero gets some type of metaphorical conk on the head, puts them to sleep and sends them off to their dream world.

The tornado that sends Dorothy to OZ would be a classic example of a conk on the head in one of the few examples of a beloved film that ends with a “it was all a dream” twist. All films regardless of the ending, have that pinnacle moment that sets off the dream journey. The Zoltar machine in Big, the iceberg in Titanic, the terrorists in Die Hard, the time machine in Back to the Future, meeting Mr. Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey. These Crossings of the Threshold typically take the hero as well as the audience from a world we recognize to one that often could only exist in our dreams.

From there, our dream heroes may enter a literal fantasy world of wonder and imagination like The Wizard of Oz or the Star Wars films. Or they may face external monsters like the creatures of Jurassic Park or Stephen King’s IT. Or more internal monsters like the addictions that plague our heroes in Leaving Las Vegas or 28 Days. The heroes may meet their “dream guy” and go on a roller-coaster journey of romance. Or they may be stuck with the most annoying person they’ve ever met and travel through the topsy-turvy world of unexpected friendship.

Whatever the dream journey may be, the characters and obstacles they face will be specific to our hero. When Dorothy travels through OZ, she doesn’t just come across a random assortment of entertaining characters. She encounters characters who very much resemble people from her waking world (even played by the same actors) and they happen to each represent elements that will make up Dorothy’s inner self. As a young woman, she is searching for the intelligence, compassion and courage to become the complete individual she hopes to be. Low and behold, she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, characters who respectively need a brain, a heart and courage.

Like all great heroes, Dorothy meets the characters she needs even if they’re not the ones she wants. This is an important part of the dream journey. Whether it be allies or enemies, the characters our Hero interacts with along their Dream journey will in many ways mirror their hero’s inner psyche. If the hero is a rebel they will encounter the epitome of officiousness, If the hero is meek, they will be paired with all sorts of bullies. If the hero is callous, they will no doubt be “trapped” with characters who have great heart. For in their dream journey, the hero is forced to face the best and the worst of themselves, likely in multiple variations. Each character, each incident will be a projection of the hero’s inner self.

I’ll take a look at some more examples but for now choose a story, your favorite film and think about how easy it would be to have the main character “wake up” at the end. Wouldn’t so many of the obstacles and story elements be something that speaks to their secret desires or anxieties? Would it not represent a dream lesson they should learn from? Most importantly, don’t we wake up from this shared dream as well? And the more vivid the dream, the more we remember it. The more we want to tell others about it. “I had this crazy dream” is what we really should say when talking to our friends about a movie we love.

I love movies. All types of storytelling really but most especially movies. They are my waking dreams. I particularly love to think about what goes into the storytelling, sometimes from an analytical standpoint, other times more practical. The Hero’s Dream is my dream journey. It’s a place where I can escape for a short while before I’m forced to wake again. My own little river journey across weird observations, fun ideas and endless mirrors. The ferry is about to embark but it still has room for others. Want to dream with me?