A few weeks ago I had a very strange and disturbing dream. In my dream, I was sitting on my bed doing homework. Across from my bed is a vanity with a large jewellery box resting on it. In my dream, an old book lay face down on my wooden jewellery box. Looking up from my homework, the book, which was face down on the jewellery box, was now standing itself up with the cover facing me. I got up and put the book back down and returned to my homework. Suddenly, the book lifted itself up again. This continued throughout my dream. Without even questioning it, I knew a ghost was pushing this book up. Nearing the end of my dream, I took a close look at the book. It was old with water colour figures that looked like they were from ancient times. Painted in faded red across the top was the title, which read Hades. Then, I woke up. Now, I know nothing of Greek mythology, but when I woke up, I knew Hades was from Greek mythology. Thinking Hades was the God of Love or God of Money, or something great like that, I looked it up online. I know wikipedia isn’t credited as being a reliable source, but through wikipedia I learned that Hades is the God of the Underworld in Greek mythology. It doesn’t necessarily mean hell, it can also mean God of the dead. Creepy. I’m not big on dream interpretation, but I know this dream must mean something, so I told a few people, all of whom thought it was creepy. My mom on the otherhand came up with what I think is a pretty darn good dream interpretation. Her take is that I was sitting in my childhood bedroom and the book was resting on an object from my childhood. Hades is God of the dead and the book kept lifting itself up to face me, even when I kept pushing it down. The objects represented my childhood while the book represented that I had to face the death of it. Maybe she should consider a new career path, dream interpretation perhaps?
While writing this, I decided to find a more reliable source about Hades. I came across a website called greekmythology.com While Hades does rule the dead, it is interesting to note that he is also the God of Wealth, which was my first thought. Perhaps what my dream really meant was, say goodbye to your crappy childhood bedroom because your coming into some money!
Although my dream won’t bring me into fame and fortune- well, never say never, perhaps I’ll become a millionaire from my novel on Hades, or maybe that’ll be the name of my clothing/handbag/perfume line (“Hades for her, Hades for him, Hades forever. Literally, for-ev-er, as in, eternity.” Has a nice ring to it.) But some people do achieve success thanks to a dream. For example, Stephanie Meyer’s dream of a girl and a vampire having a coversation in a meadow led her to write the Twilight series. Her dream led to googily-eyed tween girls everywhere taping posters of Robert Pattinson on their bedroom wall while glowering at Kristen Stewart.
But it seems like I’m not the only person thinking of dreams these days. Tim Burton’s latest film is 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. Starring the usuals- Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen- and the unlikely cast Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Alice in Wonderland looks like a journey in bright colours, strange objects, and special effects. Not to mention brilliant acting, screenplay and direction. I’m certainly looking forward to it, perhaps you will be too after watching the trailer:
Now what does this have to do with daydreaming? For those of you who read Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you may recall that Alice was day-dreaming with her sister (or was she? SpOoKy!) But the little girl may or may not have dreamed up a whole other world of adventure and wackiness if she was awake.
While Alice never would have thought of Wonderland herself (or would she?…), Susie Salmon would never think of her Wonderland alive. In Peter Jackson’s upcoming film The Lovely Bones, Salmon explores the “in-between” while her parents desperately search for her killer. I personally loved the novel by Alice Sebold, but held little hope for the film. The story is so devestating and terrible, who would want to watch that at the movie theatre? But from what I can see in the trailer, the film is promosing. It seems like more of a weird thriller, and I’m actually looking forward to watching it.
I’m also looking forward to seeing Mark Wahlberg redeem himself after the disaster that was The Happening. I know, I know it was all M. Night Shyamalan’s fault. Whatever you say…
And while Alice’s dreams it and Susie dies into it, some characters just live in it. In The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Doctor Parnassus leads a travelling show called the ‘Imaginarium,’ where he guides the imaginations of the audience. But Doctor Parnassus’ life isn’t all grand, he is immortal thanks to a deal with Mr. Nick, a.k.a. the devil. But, apparently, the devil is a reasonable man and lets you renogotiate. To rid himself of immortality after meeting his true love, Doctor Parnassus agrees that when his first-born turns 16 he or she will belong to the devil. Now clearly he didn’t think that one through... As his daughter, Valentina, reaches her sweet sixteen, Doctor Parnassus desperately tries to protect her. I think it looks like an interesting movie and am looking forward to it. And if one more person labels it “Heath Ledger’s last film” I’m going to scream!