Media Influence on Children's Dreams -or- King Kong

In her thoughtful book "Children's Dreams" by Patricia Garfield, we find a quote; "In general, ghostmonsters represent a child's fear of dark forces. The realm beyond boys' and girls' understanding seems primitive (as a monster does) and even unearthly (as a ghost does). This fear, played upon and heightened by the media as well as by superstitious relatives finds expression in children's dreams."

The role of the media influence and effects on dreams has undoubtedly been around for some time. Larry King reports in the forward to "Private Dreams and Public People", that he remembers a nightmare that he had after seeing "King Kong". "In the dream the gorilla was in my bedroom." For those reading this, we are not talking about the 1976 or 2005 re-makes, we are talking about Fay Wray and the 1933 version.

All material Copyright 2006 International Institute for Dream Research. All rights reserved.