Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Reality vs. the Dream World
As we continue to watch Midnight Cowboy, the same reoccurring and somewhat disappointing thought keeps refreshing itself in my head. Here is a somewhat naive young man who runs away to the city of lights with big dreams and hopes for his life, only to be cruelly taken advantage of and reduced to poverty. And so I thought.. is this what is in store for the rest of us? The mystical fantasy of Hollywood and the lavish lifestyle celebrities lead creates a fallacious illusion from the start of an early age. We are brought up by our surrounding population to allow our dreams to grow with no limit and are constantly persuaded that the impossible is not unreachable. But what happens when we are old enough to understand that our visions of reality are far from the truth and that our longtime dreams can be as faraway as infinity? Living under such conditions during childhood brainwashes the truth of life in the eyes of an anxious child, excited to get out into the "real" world. So, when is it correct to stop supporting exaggerated hopes and goals and to start considering the logical? Now, I'm not trying to be a dream crusher or a hope eliminator, I'm just analyzing from personal experience and observations. I love getting absorbed in the conflicts of fictional characters to simply run away from my personal problems or dilemma's at the moment, but when is it pushing the envelop to run away to an overly unrealistic dreamworld and then convince yourself that maybe one day it will all come true? The greater the imagination, the more difficult it is to depart from the world created by our thoughts and the world established by powerful individuals before our time. Do movies help promote that type of thinking?
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Very insightful comments. I feel that two of the purposes of cinema should be as either a form of escapism or to portray real life truer to life than it actually is. Your comments are not easy to wrap my head around at this late hour but I wanted to comment you on an exceptionally thoughtful post. And yest, I do believe that movies can promote these thoughts in some instances but not all. It is a very difficult question to answer. Thanks for forcing me to think at such a late hour you DREAM CRUSHER! (Just kidding, it made me think it a very good and new direction about films that I had not personally concocted. You are not a Dream Crusher at all, simply a quitter.) Nice job on this one!
ReplyDeleteVery though provoking (and depressing) post Julia! I've always thought of myself as an optimist, but it is scary to think about how such high expectations and dreams could eventually lead to disappointment and depression, so it's fair to say that it's helpful sometimes to be realistic and lower our expectations of the world. At the same time, though, without dreamers and optimists I don't think our world would be so advanced. It's our illogical fantasies and ambitions that lead us to cure diseases, invent new technologies, and even apply to Tisch even though the chances of getting in are so tiny. Not that you or I know anything about that...
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I feel about what you wrote. I think it's pretty obvious that the world sucks a lot. But that doesn't mean that there isn't good in the world.
ReplyDeleteFor example, take the whole situation with Minight Cowboy. Although they are reduced to poverty, Rizzo has something he probably lacked in his life, a friend. Joe, on the other hand still has crushed dreams.
I think that we are often struck with "reality" but it's because it's different from our own. Although some of us may not see poverty or certain extremes, just because we lead "happy" lives doesn't mean that there isn't a reality in them.
Life is suffering, but that makes everything worth living for. Suffering is reality, and on many levels it can be beautiful.
No need to be nervous about reality, I think you will make your own eventually.
About dreams: I think dreams can come true on some smaller levels/schemes. If your dreams are materealistic I think they may come easier than those of other origin. But other things may offer more fillfilling things in life that material things cannot get you. I'm not sure where I'm going with this...
Also, on your last comment about movies. I think they do create that sort of imaginative reality. And I think it is particularly painful to realize that it's not real. This is mainly the beauty of movies and art in general.
This is exactly what the film is about, on an extreme and even caracaturish level. Joe and Ratso are a couple of moronic lossers who have bought into a ridiculous dream vision of wealth and ease without work or sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between their dream and yours, say, is that yours probably entails a very heavy load of work and sacrifice. Yes, you can be something, but you gotta work for it.
I think it comes down to having dreams that make some sense and correspond with reality. It's probably a good idea to bounce ideas off people you know. Joe Buck did try it briefly in the first sequence in the film. The black guy is not at all convinced. I think he says, "I don't know about that" and "It must be a mess back there." He certainly doesn't say, "good idea, Joe."
I like what Jimmy said about cinema being either a form of escapism or a portrayal of life more real than it actually is. I don't think films necessarily instill unrealistic expectations in us so much as provide us with either a sense of release or open our minds to the contemplation of issues concerning ourselves, society, etc. In any case, having a big imagination does not necessarily cause us to have high expectations. We just have to make sure that we remain firmly grounded and that we can separate reality from our aspirations to a reasonable degree. I hope what I just said makes sense. It's almost 1:00 am and I'm out for the night.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that life's more about what you experience working towards than your dream than just getting there.
ReplyDeleteEven though Joe's plan was really ridiculous, the trip changes him for the better, and his failure in not becoming a hustler only contributed to that. I think that a lot of happy people didn't become the astronaut they hoped to be when they were younger, but the people they met and the things they did amounted to a lot.
Julia, I think that's the whole point of movies and film. To make us believe in the possible rather dwell over the impossible and realistic.I agree a lot with what Mariya had to say. It's true, life can be a bummer at times, but these movies we all have been watching since our toddler days instill hope in us. I dont feel that half of us would have the goals and dreams we have today if not for movies with happy endings. The only aspect that I can relate your rationale to is the idea of big love that movies reflect. Most people come out looking for that Prince Charming, yet beauty is in the hands of the beholder and there aren't always happy endings. Otherwise the "mystical fantasies" of Hollywood are quite motivational and often an uplifting touch up to a rather dull or sad day.
ReplyDeleteAnd what if this is all just a dream? ;-P
ReplyDelete