Animated dreams? (Yes, like a cartoon!) Anyone ever had these?
I wanted to ask this because most folks I personally know don't have them. So, who else out there has animated/cartoon dreams? What animation style do you experience most frequently, and what are the plots and interactions like with the dream characters? How much direct control do you have over these dreams?
I have them quite often, almost on a regular basis. The type of animation itself also varies, from old school cell-shading (paint on acetate cells), to flash, to mixed media, 3d like a Pixar short, and even other forms, like stained glass. The animations themselves also sometimes blend in with "reality", or other forms of media, and even occur in assorted forms and styles, such as "squiggly lines", pencil sketch animation on paper, etc. The degree of control varies from merely being an observer of an "episode", to being an active, aware participant, to actually being a sort of active mastermind over the occurrences.
It isn't just the visual quality and range that I find particularly entertaining in these animated dreams; the plots for many of them seem pretty well developed, and many play almost like full episodes of cartoon shows or shorts, while others are just short animated segments with some sort of message. For instance, a few years ago, I had a particularly vivid animated dream that was like a full episode of the Golden Era Looney Tunes, complete with music synched with the actions, a bit of plot, and a whole lotta slapstick humor. The references even thrown about in the dream were era-appropriate, with Chicago style mobsters eventually showing up to give the main characters a bit of a slapstick style beatdown!
More recently, I had a rather interesting stained glass animated dream sequence which showed a person's life...his daily routines, and his existence in general. The sun would rise, and set...and rise, and set....and as each cycle would occur, he would go about his daily life; going to work, meeting with friends, etc. Then an omnipresent voice began to pose various existential questions. I also remember the catchphrase "Look not towards the rising and setting of the sun, but that which endows it with its power. Look to it in all things" being muttered at the end of the sequence, when the animation itself sort of took a dramatic cinematographic angle, and the sun began to set.
Then of course, there was a pretty fun and lucid dream where I was basically flying around with an animated character (from a recent, rather popular and well made series; I'll leave the guesswork up to you guys who are so inclined as to who this was ;)), and having quite a blast...that is, until I ended up crashing into some cartoon water (Flash format! :D). This one was also particularly interesting, because during one of the flight sequences, there were strange mixed-media creatures (made from recycled materials) that were hindering our progress, including flying jellyfish made from what I could only decipher as some sort of coffee packaging. These creatures were beautiful, in a strange, "found objects/collage" kinda way.
Furthermore, animated shows are often a fixture in my dreams, playing in the background on a TV or the like.
So anyway, I'd love to hear from some of you guys who have had similar experiences!
