The use of dreams in science fiction films

October 29, 8:21 AMLA Dream Interpretation ExaminerWendy Iraheta

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Simplicity, 2004
Photo Courtesy of Nancy Chan

Science fiction films plunge us into new imaginative and uncharted places. Yet, in so many of our favorite films dream sequences always appear to take the story just a little further down the rabbit hole. Why do our sci–fi favorites use these strange and sometimes confusing dream sequences?

Here are ten possibilities:

1. Dreams add a back story, illustrate inner motivation and explain specific quirks within the character. Watch the opening scene for the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) pilot.
2. They can easily scare the audience early in the film and set up suspense. Watch the birth scene in David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986).
3. They establish and help maintain a mysterious, or overall confusing tone. Watch the Winkie's Dream Scene in Mulholland Drive (2001).
4. Sometimes dreams are an effective way to reveal information to the character. They help foreshadow events and can function as precognitive dreams. Watch the Matrix Reloaded where Neo experiences Trinity's death before it happens.
5. Dreams add a surrealist effect or establish a general weirdness that drives the plot further. Watch Eraserhead.
6. When the audience must believe that this strange fictional world exists, a crazy dream sequence helps reinforce its realism. Watch Michel Gondry's dreamy scene in The Science of Sleep.
7. With dreams you can provide an unfiltered point-of-view for a character and reveal their emotional and psychological state. Watch Bella's dream of Edward in Twilight (2008).
8. Sometimes dream sequences are the best way to illustrate a dive into the unconscious. It can be seen beautifully in the unicorn sequence in Blade Runner (1982).
9. They allow the audience to see how characters would react to each other, if the basic rules of their world could be broken for a little while and how they could carry out their fantasies. Watch Sookie's dream about Eric in True Blood (2008).
10. And finally, dreams let us indulge in our fascination with strangeness. Their bizarre qualities elicit a desire to solve the mystery of their aura. Watch Maria's transformation in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

There are hundreds of examples of amazing and rather creepy dream sequences in film and television. What are some of your favorites?

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