A while back we had a thread about the use of the amensia cliche in TV and movies, and whether or not it really served any real purpose to the story/plot or not... well, I've been thinking lately, and there's another writing cliche that I often wonder about too that sort of falls into a similar category: dream sequences.
Even as I make this post, more and more examples of dream sequences are coming to mind, such as The Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life (and the palethera of spoofs and parodies of them that follow), both of which do have messages and themes to them... then there's the case of dream sequences used in TV episodes of popular shows, like Lucy's musical dream sequence of being the last of the McGillicuddy's and is to be fed toa famished two-headed dragon (Fred and Ethel), or an episode of M*A*S*H where just about everybody in camp has peaceful dreams that turn into nightmares to remind them they're in the middle of a war.
The dream sequence cliche is of interest to me, becaue as someone who does most of his own writing, I have to admit that I am NOTORIOUS for writing dream sequences in stories, whether they serve any purpose to the plot or not... I guess I'm just really fascinated by dreams (maybe it's because I rarely have any normal dreams myself, but then again, most of my best ideas have come to me in my dreams): I find that exploring a character's dreams is a way of really delving very deep into the character's subconscious, and really explore what that character really feels, what his/her insecurities are, what his/her biggest wish is, what his/her biggest fear is, etc... I actually once wrote a fanfic a long time ago on that notion alone: just a small series of anecdotes where I toyed with the characters' psychies and tried to figure out what it was that made them tick. On the other hand, however, sometimes I do write dream sequences simply for comedy, and that's where I feel the cliche doesn't tend to work very well when it really doesn't serve any purpose only for random randomness (but again, I'm notorious for doing it, so I do it anyway simply because I want to).
What do you guys think?
Even as I make this post, more and more examples of dream sequences are coming to mind, such as The Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life (and the palethera of spoofs and parodies of them that follow), both of which do have messages and themes to them... then there's the case of dream sequences used in TV episodes of popular shows, like Lucy's musical dream sequence of being the last of the McGillicuddy's and is to be fed toa famished two-headed dragon (Fred and Ethel), or an episode of M*A*S*H where just about everybody in camp has peaceful dreams that turn into nightmares to remind them they're in the middle of a war.
The dream sequence cliche is of interest to me, becaue as someone who does most of his own writing, I have to admit that I am NOTORIOUS for writing dream sequences in stories, whether they serve any purpose to the plot or not... I guess I'm just really fascinated by dreams (maybe it's because I rarely have any normal dreams myself, but then again, most of my best ideas have come to me in my dreams): I find that exploring a character's dreams is a way of really delving very deep into the character's subconscious, and really explore what that character really feels, what his/her insecurities are, what his/her biggest wish is, what his/her biggest fear is, etc... I actually once wrote a fanfic a long time ago on that notion alone: just a small series of anecdotes where I toyed with the characters' psychies and tried to figure out what it was that made them tick. On the other hand, however, sometimes I do write dream sequences simply for comedy, and that's where I feel the cliche doesn't tend to work very well when it really doesn't serve any purpose only for random randomness (but again, I'm notorious for doing it, so I do it anyway simply because I want to).
What do you guys think?