Christian Adolescent Confusion –or- The Crucifix

One of the International Institute for Dream Research on-going messages to you the reader, is the pervasive influence of the mass media and the culture industries on our dreams. The Hollywood dream factory and its "star system" finds expression once more in yet another dream below. 

The Romance of Twilight -or- The Visual Language of Vampire Movies 

Regan, 16 

My dream starts off very usual. I don't remember what really happens, but it starts very nice and relaxing. I can't exactly recall the time when it changed. The scene suddenly changes and I feel like the devil has entered my mind. I feel this pressure in my arms and in my head when I try to turn around to get my crucifix. When I can't, I keep trying. I wake up and get a hold of my crucifix. I go back to sleep without looking at the clock. I begin to dream of Angelina Jolie. I seem to have a fire gun that shoots fire. I keep doing that and I can't stop. Then the dream changes again. It becomes very blurry, and then I see this gaping mouth with rows of white teeth, and then I see a face, a beautiful, but pale face. 

She looks like Angelina Jolie, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable. She looks as though she has drained the blood out of me. Then this other vampire steps in and it looks like Drew Barrymore, and she too is a vampire. Then another. They begin to circle in on me. I then shift dreams to a young man, and I try to warn him not to go inside of the house. He won't listen. He goes inside and gets bitten. I run, but I don't get far. The last thing I see, is the vampires trying to bite me. I then wake up, feeling as though I have just gotten bitten by a vampire. What is the matter with my dreams? I feel as though I am being possessed by a force stronger than myself.  

Mr Hagen's Reply: The Crucifix -or- Jesus Christ Superstar 

The popularity of the "Twilight" romantic vampire films provides a background for your dream. Angelina Jolie apparently has never been cast in a Hollywood vampire movie, your dream seems to insist that it might be a role that might work for her. As for Drew Barrymore she evidently was a vampire victim in the 1992 sequel Waxwork II: Lost in Time. 

Jolie has done numerous films where she is cast as a gun happy woman who can kick ass, including the "Tomb Raider" franchise and "Mr and Mrs Smith". Barrymore has had similar experiences with the "Charlie's Angels" films. 

The crucifixion and the crucifix appears in Christian iconography, the arts, popular culture and in dreams. You say that you; "feel as though I (you) am being possessed by a force stronger than you". This psychological force is the "visual culture" of the mass media's "popular culture" that is being produced by the culture industries. In some ways, perhaps many ways we have come to a post-modern point in the history of Christianity. 

The dream interpretation "The Global Banking Industry" shows how corporate iconography has replaced Christian iconography in our post-modern era, where the "theology of marketplace" in the global village rules. The iconographic visual language of the Hollywood dream factory is the psychological force that is taking over your mind. 

In the film "Jesus Christ Superstar" Pontius Pilate the Roman governor of Judea reveals that he has had a dream about a man from the Galilee. Pilate believes that he will be blamed for this man's death. Christ was enraged and disgusted with the "money changers" and "prostitution" in the temple at Jerusalem. Pilate's dream prophesy of his role in Christ's death comes true. Is this not basically the same type of "marketplace" that Christ saw in Jerusalem, as the marketplace we are experiencing today? 

Postscript: Free Your Mind's Eye -or- Morpheus in the Global Village 

In one of the dialogues between Morpheus and Neo in the film "The Matrix" while in a virtual reality training program reads like this; 

Morpheus: "The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it." [Neo's eyes suddenly wander towards a woman in a red dress] Morpheus: "Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?" 

You try to protect yourself from the Hollywood dream factory vampires with your crucifix. Much like in the film "The Matrix" which features a computer generated "dream world", your dreams are becoming dominated by the corporate forces of global media, their stars and popular culture. Some of the dream interpretations posted at the IIDR website discuss the on-going media conditioning of visual language, thought and the mind's eye, which is an oneiric process in progress as we speak; 

 

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