New York City -or- Remembering the World Trade Centre
In 1964 when I was 8, my parents and I traveled by car to visit Washington and New York City. In the summer of 2005, I decided to take my daughter who was 11 years old by then, to New York to see the sites, Ground Zero being one of them. We flew by plane into JFK. Took a bus into the city and then over the next few days, we traveled and toured around to see the sites, the Empire State Building, Liberty Island, Tiffany's, Times Square, Central Park and Central Park Zoo.
Many of these places have also played a role in the films created by the Hollywood dream factory. Think of "Affair to Remember" and the Empire State building. Or, at the end of the film "Planet of the Apes" (1968) a decayed and half buried Statue of Liberty appears. Perhaps ending what could be an almost endless review of films made in New York, we can turn to the sublime "Breakfast at Tiffany's", starring Audrey Hepburn (as Holly Golightly) and her rendition of the Oscar winning song "Moon River" (watch and listen to Hepburn's brilliant personae performance). The film adds to New York's urban folklore and iconic status.
While my daughter and I were in New York, we decided one evening to see the movie "Madagascar". Ironically enough, the next day we went to see Central Park Zoo, where the characters of the film escape from. And then there was Ground Zero.... A point I will discuss more about, towards the end of this Field Note.
When leaving New York, we had to catch a bus leaving from across the street of Grand Central Station to JFK. Having some time, I decided that I wanted to show my daughter the inside of Grand Central, a place that Hitchcock used as a setting for the film "Spellbound". As we were walking inside the busy Grand Central, my daughter spontaneously points to the Grand Central clock and says in a very excited fashion; "Melman's head was in there!". At first, I felt a sense of disorientation...which then turned into an extremely "surreal" moment. I quickly realized that she was referring to Madagascar's animated character "Melman", who gets his head stuck in the Grand Central clock. Welcome to post-modernism, where the Salvador Dali like states of consciousness of dream, film, fantasy and reality meet and artistically meld into the surreal iconic clock at Grand Central Station.
Many dreams about New York have been sent to the International Institute for Dream Research. Here are four of them, which includes two dreams about 9/11;
Dream 1: Jennifer, 19, American Literary Student
This was in the third person point of view of someone I never met before. I was, for the most part a spectator, just watching, as all of this happened.
The sun is starting to set on this cool afternoon, rain hitting hard on the street. The sounds of city were all around, sirens of police zooming by, in this busy city. It was New York City.
A young boy, about the age of 11 or 12 hops off a bus running up to an apartment build not far from the stop. Going to the 3rd floor of the building, he enters apartment number 307. As he enters, an older man in his 30s or so yells from the other side of the apartment. "Where the hell have you been!" says the man. I assume this man is the boy's father.
The boy enters slowly. The man has a bottle in his hand and is clearly drunk. He then starts to yell and call the boy many vulgar things. The boy just standing there, dripping wet, not saying a word. By this point the man started getting physical, hitting the boy, punching and kicking. The boy then says just loud enough for him to hear. "I hate you."
"What?" says the man. "I HATE YOU!" the boy said at the top of him lungs.
Dream 2: Alexandra, 24
I often have tornado dreams even though I live in New York and I've never witnessed an actual tornado where I live-- only two storms passing through with the capability of producing a funnel cloud (with the funnel cloud spotted touching down in a place farther from where I am).
In my most recent tornado dream, which occurred early this morning, I dreamed I was at an assignment in an office assisting with some clerical work. My lunch break was approaching, and I knew my boyfriend was coming to meet me so we could go eat together. As I was leaving the building, I saw him approaching and waving at me.
Dream 3: Bobby, 32 (date dream was sent to IIDR, summer 2004)
In one of my dreams, I dreamt that four other friends of mine and myself got together in a city I was living in during the time of my dream. We responded to an ad in the newspaper to re-structure a town approximately 2 hours drive away. This town was formerly our original hometown. The reason for the re-structuring of the town was in respect to the terrorist attacks in New York whereas everyone in this town fled the town and went elsewhere for their safety. My friends and I decided to fly to our hometown on a Boeing 747 Jet Airliner flown by a male friend of mine and myself as the co-pilot. Meanwhile, the remaining friends remained in the back of the plane working together to pick fleas off a dog who nobody knew of.
Once we arrived in our old hometown, there was nobody around. Bear in mind we landed somewhere as there was no large airports to receive a Boeing 747 airliner jet. The streets were empty with deserted cars and buildings. Again, the town was abandoned with nothing in sight other than the buildings. Our job was to bring the town up to speed by being the police, doctors, mayor, retail associates and so forth. Remember there is only 5 of us including myself to manage this town.
Realizing we had no transportation to get around the town, the only way to get around was to drive the Boeing 747 Jet as though it was our vehicle. During this dream, there was no content as to how we managed the town and any further dreams of this nature. The dream simply ended or it's as much as I can remember from it.
Dream 4: James, 40, (the date the dream was sent to IIDR, spring 2003)
For years I have had recurring dreams about being high on the outside of a very tall skyscraper and barely holding on, then looking down and knowing my grip would slip. I realize finally I am falling. In the dream I think takes place in New York mainly because of the tall buildings (I live in the Southeast and have never lived in New York) and takes place in the day time that I am holding on to the building. It is cool and slightly windy. I feel some times that I may dream this more than once a night. I have this dream about once every other month or so.
Mark's Reply: First and Third Person Narratives of New York City
The first dream is seen from a third person perspective, the dreamer (student) seems to be learning the "creative life writing" skills of the "modes of narration" in her dreams. The subject material that the dream addresses is tragic, in that the child (one of the characters observed in the dream) evidently has an alcoholic parent (or care provider). This child, like many others like him, has tragically learned to hate this clearly violent, abusive and vulgar father (parental) figure. The dreamer (narrator) is trying to give a voice to the victimization of the child who cannot. There is more to the dream, that I have not included. In the next dream sequence, it only becomes more harmful and violent for the child.
The second dream is like other dreams of women sent to the IIDR. The tornado's, are most likely a natural personification of problems with PMS, read the IIDR dream interpretation Nature's Force -or- PMS.
9/11: Remembering The Falling Man -or- Memorial to the Victims of 9/11
The third and fourth dreams are residual effects and clearly related to 9/11, two and three years after the event. The third dream sounds like the post-9/11 "re-structuring" of America by "Homeland Security". In the fourth dream, we see one of the most horrific aspects of 9/11 was that with no exit, some people in a state of desperation evidently chose to throw themselves from the Twin Towers before the buildings collapsed. News camera footage verifies this painful observation. The 2006 "Falling Man" docudrama tries to give a name and voice to that horror that was "9/11", watch video) and the victims of 9/11 attacks. CNN reported a few days after 9/11 that over 90% of the American population, were suffering from nightmares. Americans, I can guarantee, were not the only ones....