Essay - What Dreams May Come,' a Film Directed by Vincent Ward...

What Dreams May Come," a film directed by Vincent Ward, with a screenpl*****y by Ron Bass, shows visually the mental images of characters in the ***** through the afterlife universes that *****y create for themselves. The aim of the film is signaled ***** its title, a quote from Hamlet's famous Act III soliloquy.

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub / For ***** that sleep ***** death what *****s may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil" (Ham. 3.1.10-12). Thus, the ***** provides a vision of ***** the life after death ***** hold. While following the struggles of Chris Nielsen to adapt ***** his private after***** universe, the film heavily relies on the technique of presenting ***** images *****, *****ten in very creative and strik*****g ways. The character Doc, who functions as Chris' guardian angel, expresses ***** basic philosophical stance of the *****. In response to Chris' confusion about the contradictory nature ***** his afterlife universe, Doc explains, "Isn't it ironic? Thought is real and the physical is the illusion." Through its use of mental visualizations, "What Dreams May *****" is a concrete representation of the ideal*****t philosophy, namely, nothing is real but our minds ***** our ideas (Russell, 22).

The first representation ***** this philosophy is the way that Chr***** must come to face his ***** and, most importantly, the fact that he still exists without the use of his ***** body. This is done v*****ually using the very traditional technique of the character being visually present in the physical world to the movie vie*****r but not to those ***** ***** the ***** world, ***** is, a "ghost." This ***** goes one step further in that Chris himself cannot see the inhabitants of the *****, showing them as blurred figures until he *****s to terms with his new state. Although Annie, Chris' wife, cannot ***** him after his death, t*****re are tantalizing clues ***** she is somehow in tune ***** both her husband and the afterlife itself.

***** clues of Annie's possible connection include ***** seeming reactions ***** the presence ***** Chris' "*****" ***** her paintings of figures using the same blurry visualization as ***** ***** of Doc during Chris' transition. Perhaps Annie has some sort of innate ability to see the dead in ***** blurry, transi*****ry **********, although she may not realize what ***** is see*****g. One of the ***** striking examples of the after death connection between husband and wife ***** when Annie "spirit writes" the message that Chris is trying to get to her, "I still ex*****t." Spirit writing, also known as automatic ***** or pneumatology, is allegedly v*****ible writing ***** *****s (Brewer, 1245). Some say that such writing is ***** "an entity from another realm brings messages" (Crystal, par. 1). *****n "***** Dreams May Come," the spirit writing is the visual representation ***** what Chris must realize about *****self and ***** expression of ***** idea through his spiritual connection to his wife.

Once Chris realizes that he ***** continue torturing