The meaning of Dreams

Snaedis Malmquist EinarsdottirMAL11350418

London College of FashionInternational Preparation for Fashion

Project Proposal

Introduction

I started out with insanity and dreams as my two concepts. The reason and mean-

ing of dreams has always fascinated me. They have helped me to understand my

thoughts and myself, therefore I wanted to explore how and why they do so. Addi-

tionally, the concept of dreams had better possibilities of in depth research both visu-

ally and academically. Before researching the meaning and interpretation of dreams

they were an unexplainable phenomenon to me, exciting and frightening. However,

after reading Sigmund Freud’s, Interpretation of dreams (1913) the questions that

initially arose were answered, they were, however, replaced with even more compel-

ling questions about the reasons we dream. Like everything else, I believe they must

have a meaning. According to Freud there is no fixed meaning of dreams and the

symbols within those dreams, only multiple personal meanings (1913). Understanding

and interpreting dreams is similar to analyzing images and texts by using semiotics.

People will find different connotations depending on their personal backgrounds (Bar-

thes 1968).

Every night we dream, never the same dream, never the same reason, or is there

a reason? The unconscious memory is filled with stories, which come to us while we

sleep, but why? Can it be that everything we dream be an unfulfilled desire that our

subconscious is demanding us to explore, or do our obscure and incoherent dreams

have a symbolic meaning?

Nothing is more private than a dream, it is the world where we loose ourselves by

doing something that appears to be exciting, horrifying, delightful or absurd. We can

become what we had always hoped to be, or what we had feared to become. We can

go back to a place or to a self we once found ourselves to be. But we can never share

this experience with anyone else.

Freud believed that our dreams were our unconsciousness telling us to act on our

repelled desires. These desires, he believed, were mostly sexual and that it was the

way of nature to express those emotions, if only obliquely (Freud 1913). Plato shared

his believe “In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild beast nature which

peers out in sleep” (Plato 1894)

Learning Objectives

I expect this unit to give me the experience of independent learning which involves

effective decision making and academic and visual research. The research done for

the project should enable me to understand how to use theoretical contextualisation

in relation to my visual research. Therefore the visual aspect of the project should

have more depth and a professional outcome. Problem solving will be conducted

through research and analysis to find creative solutions.

Relevant Past Studies/literature/theories

The interpretation of dreams dates back as far as 5000-4000 BC in Ancient Meso-

potamia, where they were documented on clay tablets (Seters 1983). Ever since

there have been theories related to the meaning of dreams. In 5th century BC the

first steps towards modern interpretation were taken by the Greek philosopher Her-

aclitus who suggested that dreams were not a message from the Gods but from the

dreamer’s unconsciousness (Parker 1995). However, Freud’s and Jung’s theories on

the interpretation of dreams will be the focus of this project, like I mentioned before

Freud’s view of dreams was that they were hallucinatory fulfillments of repressed

wishes. Freud postulated the existence of a mental agency that forbade the open ex-

pression of wishes it found outrageous or offensive. Instead the dream would distort

the content into unrecognisable and incomprehensible form whenever the repressed

wish began to express itself during sleep (Rycroft 1979). To understand the disguised

meaning, Freud uses symbolism to interpret the wish fulfillment (Freud 1913). Jung

on the other hand rejected Freud’s theory, that symbolism in dreams was to disguise

the nature of the wishes being expressed in them. “There is no reason under the

sun why we should assume that the dream is a crafty device to lead us astray.”(Jung

1933)

Methodology, Data and Contextualization

Primary research will include both vocal and visual recording of individual dreams

to further my understanding of the dream content, producing a video with selected

dreams that affect my process. Recording my own dreams will enhance the personal

reflection on the concept of dreaming, which I will use to produce deeper and more

relevant visual research. I will analyse these dreams, interpret and visualise through

drawing, collages and other mediums.

The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud 1913) will be the main focus of my secondary

research, additionally I will use the work of the psychiatrist, Carl Jung, on dream

analysis in his books Dreams (1973) and Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933). I

will explore different ways of interpreting dreams and their meanings, using semiotics

and theories of authorship and fixed meaning, with a focus on Roland Barthes essay;

Death of the author (1968). Furthermore I will analyse poetry that relates to dreams

and reflect on my understanding of the poems, which will deepen my understanding

of symbolism and metaphors within the context of dreams.

Surrealist artists, particularly Salvador Dalí and Man Ray and their use of dreams to

inspire art will feature in my visual research. I will be focusing on the dreamlike ele-

ments of paintings and photographs and their use of symbols to create meaning.

I

I will focus on films inspired by dreams such as The Science of Sleep (Gondry 2006),

Inception (Nolan 2010), Alice in Wonderland (Burton 2010) and Night Mare on Elm

street (Wes Craven 1984). I will also look at some of the more surrealist and abstract

films, for example the animated short film Destino (Monféry 2003), made in collabo-

ration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí and Dalí’s dream sequence in the movie

Spellbound (Hitchcock 1945). In both films Dali uses symbols to endow the story with

meaning. “What you see here are just symbols. Surrealism is like a new language.

Every object means something other than it naturally appears to be.” (Dali 1958) Da-

li’s view of surrealism shows a clear connection to the symbolism Freud uses to inter-

pret dreams (Freud 1913).

David Lynch uses dreams and dreamlike imagery in his films, creating a surrealist

mood as he relies on the subconscious to provide visual inspiration. This can be seen

in The Elephant Man (Lynch 1980) and in the dreamlike logic of the narrative in Ere-

aserhead (Lynch 1977), Mulholland Drive (Lynch 2001) and Inland Empire (Lynch

2006). I will use his films for inspiration on how to make a creative, unique narrative

and mood with surrealism and dreamlike imagery as a starting point.

Evaluating Sources

For the gathering of resources, the Internet will be used as a tool to guide the re-

search to reputable resources such as literary and academic work by known psy-

chiatrist, psychologists, artists and theorists. These resources will be found at the

university libraries as well as the British library. Visual research will be attained from

museums and published art and photography books to ensure quality and good reso-

lution in the imagery. The films I plan on using as research material will be borrowed

from the library or bought.

Sustainability and Ethics

There wont be any substantial problems with sustainability and ethics within my re-

search process other than the use of paper, which I will keep to a minimum using an

A5 sketchbook and only printing what I find to be necessary.

Anticipated Problems

Problems that might arise can be avoided if handled right. I feel that my concept

might be too wide to produce a unique idea for a final outcome. Although the re-

search is very reputable and relevant, I am not sure that it will contribute in the pro-

duction of the concept.

Evaluation

The questions I had won’t be answered, for they were not asked in the purpose of a

definitive answer. I asked myself these questions to open my mind to other possibili-

ties and to create a unique way of looking at dreams.

Even though I struggled with narrowing down the concept, it resolved naturally as I

became more focused on the meaning of dreams and their connection to waking life.

As a result I produced an editorial using specific dreams as an inspiration and then

combined them with quotes from dreams I had recorded as a part of my research.

Art Direction and Styling Snædis Malmquist

Photography Iris Björk Reynisdóttir

Hair and Makeup Amrit Preet

Camera assistants Bóas Arnarsson, SnowJohannesdottir

Stylist assistant Elin Halla

Model Julia Ceaser

Bibliography

Books

Freud, S. (1913) ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Jung, C. G. (1973) ‘Dreams’. New Jersey: Princeton University Press

Jung, C.G (1933) ‘Modern Man in Search of a Soul’. London: Routledge

Lynch, D, Rodley, C. (2005) ‘Lynch on Revised Edition’. New York: Faber and Faber.

Plato. (1984) “Republic”. Trans. Jowett, B. New York: Cosimo

Rycroft, C. (1979) ‘The Innocence of Dreams’. London: The Hogarth Press.

Faraday, A. (1974) ‘The Dream Game’. New York: Harper and Row.

Parker J, Parker D. (1995) ‘The Complete Book of Dreams’. London: Dorling Kinders-

ley Limited.

Layard J. (1988) ‘The Lady of The Hare’. Boston: Shambhala Publications

Seters, J. V. (1983) ‘In search of History’. New Haven: Yale University Press

Essays

Barthes, R. (1967) ‘Death of the author’. London: Fontana

Films

‘Alice in Wonderland’ (2010) [Film] Directed by Tim Burton. USA: Walt Disney Pictures

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984) [Film] Directed by Wes Craven. USA: New Line

Cinema

‘Destino’ (2003) [Film] Directed by Dominique Monféry. USA: Disney studies France

‘Ereaserhead’. (1977) [Film] Directed by David Lynch. USA: David Lynch

‘Inception’ (2010) [Film] Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Legendary pictures,

Syncopy Films

‘Inland Empire’ (2006) [Film] Directed by David Lynch. France, Poland, USA: Absurda

‘Mullholland Drive’. (2001) [Film] Directed by David Lynch. USA: StudioCanal

‘Spellbound’ (1945) [Film] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: Selznick International

Pictures

‘The Elephant Man’. (1980) [Film] Directed by David Lynch. USA, UK: BrooksFilms

‘The Science of Sleep’ (2006) [Film] Directed by Michel Gondry. France, Italy: France

3 Cinéma