Dreamworlds in Incongruity

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6LHg_OFFRY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBTu7cQ_R34&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elrenG9bP-k&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KZty9LeAxE&feature=related
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJrbaTTpvI&feature=related
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXPXeJtuxBc&feature=fvw
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn7Yu4jzWZM&feature=related


The film Dreamworlds III takes images presented to us in the symbol injected world of the music video and then uses incongruity as a method directed at changing our personal understanding of the imagery employed in music videos. To achieve this the filmmaker introduces the concept of the dream world as a tool to draw a direct emotional and logical connection between the viewer and the alternative reading the filmmaker hopes to portray. This alternative reading focuses on the uses of sexuality and objectification of women in music videos, and the potential socially destructive repercussions as well as the possible occurrences of violence this imagery may be indirectly responsible for.


The first apparent mechanism employed to convey an alternative interpretation of the over-sexualized images presented in music videos is by juxtaposition; via this method the director places the images found in music videos besides real-life images of sexual violence enacted against women. Once the filmmaker has done this, he points out the stark similarities to be found in the images on our T.V. screens and acts of real-life violence. It is apparent why this method is very effective. When what we view as a form of entertainment lines up so congruently with actual acts of violence, it is incongruent to our initial interpretations of the images and as the images were presented (as entertainment) to us. The second observable mechanism the filmmaker utilizes involves focusing in on scenes that reduce women to mere body parts. In doing this the director forces us into a situation where finding an alternative interpretation is difficult to achieve. When individuals are reduced to mere body parts and secondary sex characteristics, objectification becomes immediately apparent and remains as the only viable interpretation. The third mechanism can be found in the removal of the context in which the images initially existed. By removing the context surrounding the images, we are left with a hyper-sexualized display that gives way to no alternate explanation.


All of these mechanisms are summed up into the idea of the dream world, which in itself serves as a painful contradiction. It is not presented as a dream world of the viewer's invention, but one created by those presenting the images to us. With this reinterpretation of the images, the label dream world proves to be even more paradoxical.