Real World VS Dreams World

In the film, The Matrix by Andy and Larry Wachowski present one of the major characters in the film, Thomas A. Anderson, as a normal working class man, who is having dreams and he is unsure of why these dreams occur. The dreams Mr. Anderson has starts to affect his life and will later make sense to him throughout the film. In this paper I will explain how dreams are complex and have an effect on people lives and how The Matrix depicts different types of dreams within the film. In the film The Matrix, Andy and Larry Wachowski describe how computers make dreams feel like reality and how reality feels like a dream. Through the theories of Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams and Lucid Dreaming, Dreams of Clarity.

When people are dreaming they do not know that they actually go to another world, which is called dream world. In the film The Matrix, the main character Thomas A. Anderson, known as Neo, dreams of another world. This actual dream world seems so real to Neo. As Neo was speaking to his friend, he says “You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?” To Neo dreams seem so real that he confuses dreams with reality.

In reality “Dreams help humans to strengthen their memories, so they make sense of their myriad experience and keep their emotions in check”, were according to Freud. Therefore in the film Neo has a lot experience with his dreams so that he is able to develop and control them. There are two different kinds of sleep “REM and NON-REM. REM sleep is defined where there is no characteristic pattern of brain activity corresponding to dreaming,” while “non-REM sleep is defined when dreams tend to be sparse and more thought light but without the complexity, length and vivid hallucinatory quality of REM dreams” (Emma 2-3). “However both dreams hold a mirror to human waking lives” (Emma 2). This point of view of how Emma talks about Freud shows how the film depicts different kinds of dreams, but still helps Neo to see his dreams as an strength to find out who he is as a person.

Neo has been having some technical difficulties with his computer and did not know what he was seeing on his computer screen was real or was it a dream. Neo goes to a party where he first meets Trinity, another main character in the film. He finds out what he saw on his computer was because of Trinity, Neo asks Trinity “It was you on my computer. How did you do that?” But she refuses to tell him about the situation with his computer and she warns him that they are coming for him. Trinity responds to Neo by saying “Right now all I can tell you is that you're in danger. I brought you here to warn you” Neo does not know what Trinity is trying to say or what she is warning him of. Neo has been searching for a guy name Morpheus for a very long time, trying to get his help and find out why he has these dreams. However Trinity knows Neo has been searching for Morpheus because she once was like him. Trinity stated while speaking to Neo “You’re looking for him. I know, because I was once looking for the same thing.” She explains to Neo that he will find the answers to his question. Neo’s question was “What is the matrix”? In response Trinity replies to Neo by saying “the answer is out there, Neo. It’s looking for you. And will find you, if you want to.” After Neo’s talk with Trinity, this became the new beginning of his life and how everything started to develop and change.

In The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud describes how he views dreams as “once in a lifetime.” According to Freud “Dreams no longer were supernatural communication or divine interventions; they became the windows into the hidden self” (Emma 2). This is just like Neo, for example when he sees The Matrix world with him in it he is unsure of what it means or why he dreamed it. Neo is bothered by the world that he lives in and is trying to make sense of it. He is not sure that the world that he believes to be real is everything but the world he knows. Neo receives a phone call from Morpheus saying “they got to you first, but they’ve underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know you’d probably be dead.” Neo is now confused of what Morpheus is trying to tell him about his encounter with the agents that came for him at his office, offering him to help them find Morpheus as well. The agents are sentient programs who are capable of controlling The Matrix. Neo replies to Morpheus “what are you talking about. What is happening to me?” But then he discovers that he is the chosen one and had to find out about The Matrix. Morpheus stated “you are the one, Neo. You see you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I’ve spent my entire life looking for you. Now do you still want to meet?” Neo was finally going to meet Morpheus for the first time, this was what he been waiting for and it is happening.

Neo dreams of The Matrix start to form into reality, and he starts to understand the dreams he had were actually real. The film shows us the viewers that the world that was taken to be real is actually the imaginary world. The world that Neo thought was imagined in his dream which was The Matrix is the world that turns out to be reality. Another main character in the film is Morpheus whose name stands for “the son of sleep, and the god of dreams. The name signifies the fashioner or moulders, because he shaped or formed the dreams which appeared to the sleeper.” (Ovid1). In the film Morpheus is the one who helps Neo to make sense of the dreams he was having. Neo is taken to this place called Nebuchnezzar lead by Trinity. The Nebuchnezzar is a ship that is a hovercraft computer world where Morpheus and his team live. When Neo meets Morpheus he is giving an option of taking two different kinds of pills. One pill was red, and this pill was for if Neo wanted to be expose to what Morpheus has to show him and about the world that he been living in and be prepared for what is going to happen next. The other pill was blue, where Neo can forget about everything that he experienced on the Nebuchnezzar and return to his normal life as nothing ever happen. However Neo has chosen to take the red pill instead of the blue one. After Neo has taken the red pill he is now led in to a room filled with computers by Morpheus. Then Neo is placed in a chair and wires are attached to his chest and inserted into his ear, and his appearance is different. Morpheus explains to Neo about the pill that he has taken is a trace program that will help him and his associates, who are Apoc, Switch, Cypher, Tank, Dozer and Mouse, to find Neo’s location. Morpheus stated, “The pill you took is part of a trace program. It’s designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location.” Neo did not know what Morpheus was to explaining to him at the time. Neo response was “what does that mean?” Neo’s body was all ready located into the complex where the computers keep people’s bodies.

Neo is referred to as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz by Cypher one of Morpheus associates. Cypher said “it means buckle your seat belt, Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye.” Neo is called Dorothy because as we all may know she goes on a journey to find the wizard to grant her wish. In this part of the film Neo is now about to be expose to reality where is in this white room and he sees his image in a mirror. He thinks the mirror is real until he touches the mirror and his fingers go through it moving the mirror like a liquid. As Neo removes his fingers and the mirror goes back into place Morpheus asks him “if he ever had a dream that he was sure was real, once you awoke how you would know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” Neo finds out about The Matrix with the help of Morpheus. When Neo was introduced to the Matrix he was taken by surprise and did not believe it. Neo’s response to Morpheus was “this can’t be.” These computers are the machine Morpheus uses to help Neo explore his dreams, or rather to see the world that will no longer become real to him. However, before Neo was exposed to the matrix, he had a dream of the exact same structure about human being hooked up into a mega-network, which is the real world. The human body is what produces electricity to keep the computer in power. This just basically helps them to explore their dreams with the help of the machine using their energy. This is when Neo begins to see reality for the first time. Morpheus says to him “welcome to the real world.”

“Lucid dreams is different from other dreams because the dreamer is conscious of his state and at the same time knows that he can decide and act freely; understanding and will function as well as the memory of the wakeful existence and switch themselves on” (Holzinger 2). This brings me back to the film when Neo and Morpheus are hooked up to the machines when Morpheus tests Neo ability to jump from one building to the next. Morpheus says to Neo "you have to let it all go, Neo, fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” Neo is surprised and shocked with the jump Morpheus did, therefore he decided to let his mind act freely. Neo stated "all right, no problem. Free my mind. Free my mind. Alright.” Dreams can help people to act in ways they could never imagine and let them do what they cannot do as if they were awake, just like Neo. “In 1936, A.E Brown developed a technique through which a dreamer could prove to themselves that they are dreaming: he recommended jumping in the air to test the perception of the force of gravity” (Holzinger 2). The world that Neo is in now is based upon gravity; Morpheus stated that "this is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of The Matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. Neo has to let his mind be as one with gravity in order to excel in this computer world. The reason for this is so that Neo can be able to move faster than he thinks he can. Morpheus speaking to Neo “what are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are known you are” and Neo reply was “I know what you’re trying to do.” Morpheus tries to free Neo’s mind and help him find himself, as he mentioned “you’re the one that projection of your digital self. However Neo still does not believe any of it and he says “this isn’t real?” Furthermore how can he believe it is real if he never knew what The Matrix was all about? Morpheus in forces the question “what is real. How do you define real?” Everything around Neo may seem real because it is a signals interpreted by his brain and this is the world that he is use to, little do Neo know that the world that he been living in is the dream world all along. “The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this” stated Morpheus. What he means by this is when he shows Neo the fields and explains to him “human beings are no longer born and they could be fed to intravenously to the living.” Now at this point Neo wanted out and could not take what Morpheus was telling him any further. However it was too late for Neo to turn back now therefore he had to accept reality for what it is and how it will be if nothing is done.

Even within the real world on the Nebuchnezzar everything the crew all experiences while being plugged into a core where they hack into the matrix is real. Morpheus stated “this is the core where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the matrix.” This brings my attention back to Lucid Dreams, according to Holzinger “lucid dreams are dreams during which the dreamer recognizes the dream state and is able to act upon volition” (Holzinger 5-6). At the Lafayette Hotel Neo has a déjà vu, in this case he fulfill three through seven factors of lucid dreams. And these factors are “awareness of memory functions; awareness of identity; awareness of the dream environment; awareness of the meaning of the dream; and awareness of concentration and focus” (Holzinger 5). When Neo sees this déjà vu he is aware of what he saw not once but twice. Neo stated while talking to Trinity “nothing, I just had a little déjà vu.” Trinity asks him “what did you see?” and Neo response was “a black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.” After Neos’ déjà vu that’s when they all have became aware of the meaning of it. Trinity said “déjà vu is usually a glitch in the matrix. It happens when they change something.” In other words the agents had trapped them in the Lafayette Hotel. When Morpheus and his crew members and including Neo are in The Matrix world, and they are fighting against the agents it is real because their bodies feel it. Even though they are freeing their minds their bodies still can feel pain. Also, in the film when they are trapped in the Lafayette Hotel and Mouse gets caught by the agents he is shot to death. As he dies at the hotel, Tank can see his lifeless body back on the ship. This shows even in a dream or a computer dream the mind controls the body actions within that dream.

Dreams make reality looking different than we may expect it to be. The film, The Matrix by Andy and Larry Wachowski, The Interoperation of Dreams by Freud and Lucid Dreams clarify how Neo dreams made him see the world in a different prospective. Even though he would not have know what the world was really like and what his dreams meant if it was not for the help of Morpheus. Neo’s dreams felt so real because they meant something in his life. He has been the chosen one and can now help others to see and believes that the world they know to be real is not the actual real world but rather a dream world.

Works Cited

Holzinger, B. (2009) “Lucid dreaming- dreams of clarity.”Contemporary Hypnosis (john Wiley

and Sons, Inc.) 26(4), 216-224. Doi: 10. 1002/ch.390. Web. 29 May 2012

Ovid Metamorphoses,. "Morpheus." Http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/OneirosMorpheus.html.

Ovid Metamorphoses. Web. 10 May 2012.

Oreck, Josh, dir. Philosophy of the matrix. (2004). YouTube. Web 09. May. 2012

The Matrix. Dir. Andy and Larry Wachowski. Wri. Sophia Stewart. 1999. Warner Brother. DVD

Wachowski, Larry and Andy Wachowski. The Matrix (1999) Movie script- screenplays for you.” Screenplays for you- free movie scripts and screenplays. http://sfy.ru/?scripts=matrix_ds

Wattenberg, Thomas E. "Philosophy Screened: Experiencing the Matrix." Web.me.com/gerardvilar/.../Filo Sofia.../Wartenberg%20Matrix.pdf. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, XxvII, 2003. Web. 10 May 20012. <Web.me.com/gerardvilar/.../Filo Sofia.../Wartenberg%20Matrix.pdf>.

Young, Emma. “The I in Dreaming.” New Scientist 209.2803(2011): 36-39. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 29 May 2012

‘Adaptation’

Maimuna Camara

Eng101/103

Dr. McCormick

Spring I

In class we watched two different movies one was called ‘Adaptation’ and the other movie is called ‘Moon.’ ‘Adaptation’ caught my attention; this movie was directed by Spike Jonze and was written by Charlie Kaufman. This movie is based on a book called ‘The
Orchid Thief’ written by Susan Orleans. The name Orchid is the word from Latin. In the movie the characters play real life people, Meryl Streep acts as Susan Orleans, Nicolas Cage acts as Charlie Kaufman, and Chris Cooper acts as John Laroche. This movies shows how Charlie Kaufman has struggled turning the book into a movie.

In the movie each character is going through their phase of reality and imagination.  Charlie Kaufman is very insecure and depress about his self. Charlie does not like the way he looks calls himself fat and thinks something is wrong with him. Charlie is a writer and believes that writing is a journey to the unknown. He hates the fact that his twin brother Donald has moved in with him and is doing better than he is. Throughout the movie Charlie goes in and out of reality and imagination in his dreams. He was not the type to do so well when it came to females, he always was scared to even touch them. However in his dreams he seems to do pretty good and masturbates a lot. Even though it is happen in his dreams he feels it in real life, that’s when he comes back to reality and wakes up from these dreams. Donald on the other hand is very confident and has a great since of hummer. He does not have a problem when it comes to females, he even has a girlfriend.  

John Laroche is a planet collector that travels from different states to find several of different planets. Laroche believes that each planet is unique in its own way and the way they are shape. He said that the planet shapes form from different insect and how much they breed off the planet leaving their mark. This is why planets are shaped differently and can look like some insect such as bees. Laroche goes back and forth from the past to the present life. He tries to make sense of reality after he was in a car accident that killed his mother and father. His wife went into a coma and later left him. John blames himself for their death and wonders why it was not him instead. He looses his house and everything along with it. Laroche is left alone with no one and nothing. Then he discovers this planet called gosh Orchid and goes on a mission trying to find it. When he finally does find this planet he makes drugs from it. Laroche starts to develop feelings for Susan after she interviews him for her book.

Susan the book writer is unhappy and acts as if she is happy with her relationship with her husband. She becomes depress with their marriage and pretends every time she is around him or when he appears around her work place. Susan is stock with the life she has with her husband but things starts to change once she starts spending time with Laroche and interviewing him for her book. She becomes attach to him and his life style then slowly starts to fall in love with him. When she is around him she is a different person than when she is around her husband. She imaging how her life would be if she was with Laroche. Then she stops imaging and makes her thoughts into reality. She is now a part of Laroche life and starts having sexually affairs with him. She even starts to take drugs with Laroche and developed this whole new life with him. Throughout the movie Susan pretends that she is a good women and perfect worker, this is her reality of like. However when she is with Laroche she is in her imagination of life, where there is no rules and she can do as she please.

At the end of the movie Charlie and Donald discovers Susan second life with Laroche. Susan does not want nobody to find about her and Laroche and her sniffing drugs, not even her husband. So she decides that she has to kill Charlie, so her secret is safe. Instead of Charlie dying Laroche dies from being eating be alligator. And his twin brother Donald dies as well in a car crash. Susan is arrested and Charlie overcame his fears with women and finished the ended of his screen play.

"IF I TOLD HIM" A Completed Portrait of Picasso

The poem “lf I Told Him” A complete portrait of Picasso by Gertrude Stein was a very interesting poem to read. The poem was a bite confusing at first because the words were rapidly repeated in a wired order format. However I thought this were a nice poem and a good way to describe Picasso, especially from someone close to him as Gertrude Stein. I really liked how Stein incorporated music in her background as she reads her poem; this reminded me of a poetry slam. After reading the poem and finding out that she wrote the poem in this way was because Picasso was a person that spoke in incomplete sentences and not making sense. The poem was well said and put together very good, I enjoyed trying to read it and make sense of what Gertrude Stein was trying to say.

The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells’s chapter3

               In the book The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells’s chapter three is about The Strange Faces are about Montgomery, Mr. Prendick, and this black man climbing up a ladder. As they were going up the ladder Mr. Prendick notice the black man who he was afraid and startled by this man that looks like a creature to him. The man is black with big white teeth, with eyes that are bloodshot at the edges, and with a little bite of white around the hazel pupils. The man had this curious slow of excitement on his face. Mr. Prendick felt like he was being force to stare at this ugly horrible looking man because he is in front of him going up the ladder. Montgomery speaks to the black man saying “you have no business here, you know,” (9). Montgomery said this to the black man in a very deliberate tone of voice.  He also indicated that the black man should be forward instead of backward. The black men however indicate that he cannot go forward, but Montgomery on the other hand demands that he do as he says.  Half way through the hatchway, Mr. Prendick realizes how he is amazed by the way this black man looks. At first he was startled by the black man looks, now Mr. Prendick is all into the way he looks and how he seen this black man somewhere before. They are on a ship where Mr. Prendick seems to dislike the captain as much as the captain dislikes him. Therefore Mr. Prendick calls the captain the devil and ugly. The more he got on the captains nerve the captain decides to throw him off the ship, because he is the captain and can do what he wants on his ship. 

description of the painting

        

I have chosen a Painting by Francis Picabia called Me See Again in Memory My Dear Udine. The painting was done by 1914 and was begun 1913, the painting is an Oil on canvas; it is 8' 2 1/2" x 6' 6 1/4" (250.2 x 198.8 cm). ). The painting is actually a machine in the dawning technological age. That describes a girl that was born without her mother. Francis came about this painting because he was inspired by his experiences in New York. Francis was relating this painting to Napierskowska, a professional dancer whom PicabiaPicabia started showing gouaches and watercolors that were inspired by Napierskowska, before he reached New York. So throughout the year he found a way to express his imagery in paintings. Udine means a young American girl, which was incorporated in his title, referring to Napierskowska. 

The reason why I have chosen this painting was because the colors caught my attention, also the design, which is marvelous. There is a mixture of different beautiful colors in this painting; likewise he has purple, yellow, orange, grey, blue and etc. This painting looks very mellow and just makes me wonder. I really like how the painting was put together and his technique. It seems like he used a lot of different art tools to create this image. The art work tells me a lot from the title it was giving and also tells me that Francis is probably remembering one of his relatives or someone very close to him through this art work. When I looked at this painting the first thing that came to my mind was an old fashion jazz club. The reason why this came to my mind is because from my view I see people playing an instruments and someone dancing in the background. This is why I came about this old jazz scene in my head. The way I view the painting was almost close to what Francis Picabia painted.

Outline of A Streetcar Named Desire

Thesis: Why does the author Tennessee Williams from A Streetcar Named Desire referee to imagination and reality, throughout the play between Blanche and Stanley.  

Topic sentences 1: Blanche Dubois one of the major characters in the play likes to live in her own little world in order to make herself feel good.

1.   Panic about her beauty

·      She is very insecure with how she looks so she hides behind demined light so no one notice she is ageing.

·       “I brought thus adorable little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon. Put it over the light bulb!” (38)

·       She also feels if she hides who she is in the dark no one would see who she really is in the light.

2.   Her reputation is destroyed

·      Stanley discovers that Blanche is known for sexually promiscuity acts in Laurel and had an affair with a teenage student. This causes Mitch to dislike her and not want to marry her any more.

3.   Does not like to face the fact of reality.

·      “I don’t want realism. I want magic.”  (84)

4.   Set her mind to live in a imagination world

5.   Tells lies on top of lies so that it sounds believable to people

·      “Yes, yes magic! I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth.” (84)

6.   Her fantasy’s are failure to overcome reality  

 Topic sentences 2: Blanch tends to rely on men for sexually desire for her sense of self-esteem.

1.   She feels loved and appreciated

·      “Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

2.    When Blanche feels the urge for a sexually act is when she get nervous around men.

3.   So therefore she takes a lot of bathe to claim her nerve

4.   Blanche believe bathing a lot will wash away her sinful acts

Topic sentence 3: How come Stanley makes it his business to expose Blanche to the world.

1.   He does not believe nothing Blanche says

2.   Always wants evidence proven to him

·      “What do you mean she didn’t show you no papers, no deed of sale or nothing like that?” (22)

·      “in the state of Louisiana we have what is known as the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband also in vice versa.” (22)

3.   Stanley is a straight forward guy and does not like being lied to or played.

Topic sentence 4: Stanley drinking leads him into committing acts that he believes are only in his imaginations.

Assignment #4

In the book called A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, one of the main characters names Blanche Dubois cannot stand being in the light. She always wants the lights off or either demined.  Blanche stated “but don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I’ve bathed and rest! And turn that over-light off.’’ (A street car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Act one scene 1 pg. 10).  She seems to have something against being seen in light and I believe she is afraid of people seeing how old she really is. Blanche also mention while speaking to Mitch “I brought thus adorable little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon. Put it over the light bulb!” (A street car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Act one scene 3 pg. 38). Blanche has a lot of insecurities, so she feels if she hides who she is in the dark no one would see who she really is in the light. As they say “what happens in the dark always comes out in the light.” People will eventually discover the true Blanche Dubois.

Blanche has a habit of taking a lot of bathes often in a day.  I believe the reason why she does this is because she thinks in her mind the more she takes bathes she will wash away all of her sinful acts. She usually wants to bathe when she gets nervous around men. Blanche says “My nerves are in knots, is the bathroom occupied?” (A street car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Act one scene 3 pg. 33). I just think she cannot control her hormones, along with that she has a lot of sexually urges. So the best thing Blanch think she can do is to wash these feelings and thoughts away.  Blanche lives in her own imagination she finds a way to escape reality when she bathes.