There are two stand out cult media items that I think present a quite interesting view of the cosmos. The first is the animated movie Waking Life. The film follows the main character who keeps dreaming and wakes up to find he is in another dream and the perpetual state continues. The film shows the main character going through this cyclic lucid dreaming state and having conversations with some characters in his dreams about free will, dreams, consciousness, politics and existentialism. One scene depicts a man and woman in bed engaging in pillow talk. The man ponders the thought of dreams and describes how when someone falls asleep and wakes up, thinking they have slept for a long time only to find they have been asleep for ten minutes or so. This highlights how distorted and how much longer time is in our subconscious state. What if life was just a dream? Dream time is so much longer and fuller, we could just be in a long dream. I thought this point was interesting, as the current era is touted to be an era of rational thought, science and despite this, there is so much popularity with existentialism, dreams and the subconscious and spiritual states. As spoken by one of the characters in the film, 'the worst mistake you can make is to think you're alive, when you're really asleep in life's waiting room'.
The second cult media is a graphic novella called The Universe is a Dream by Alexander Marchand. The book also discusses the idea (in visual comic style) that the universe is a dream through the idea that our current lives are in duality (Marchand 2010). Duality between sacred and profane, conscious and unconscious, spiritual and rational. Therefore (the book posits) the universe is a dream, as reality is purely non-dualistic; it is pure oneness with no differences or binaries. The book further argues that G-d is a dualistic, he creates imperfect things, punishes, recognizes separation and so G-d must be a dream as well, that we project (Marchand 2010).
How does this tie into representation you say? Both these types of graphic novellas and cult films are exceedingly popular with the youth of today, so even though we talk about this era as an age of information, of empiricism, of rationale and science, the numinous and the intangible have proven (again) to be ever present, appealing and popular. However, for there to be a rise in popularity of philosophies (however mirthfully presented) that represent life as a dream, indicates to me, the ever present whimsical, spiritual or philosophical state of humankind. Inextricably and inescapably embedded in our mental process' is the yearning for transcendence, or to understand the spiritual or the intangible. The universe as a dream also indicates to me a quiet yet self-conscious apathy, an almost passive fear-ridden philosophy. 'Oh don't let's worry about G-d, the universe, our dreams and life after death, it's all a dream, it's all a dream'. Is this self-soothing for the new era?
Reference
Marchand, A 2010. The Universe is a Dream. Inspired Arts Press: Worldwide in Cyberspace.
Video
Waking Life- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk2DeTet98o
Photo
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/921939
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