Cyberpunk and Speculation of New Technology

Paprika, besides being an artistic and musical triumph, has a storyline that is confusing as anything. It took me at least a second viewing before it started to make sense. This is due to the way the story flows between dream and reality; at any given point in the middle of the story up to the climax, it is difficult to say for certainty whether a scene takes place in dream or in reality. There is a scene in the movie where the protagonist wakes up from one dream, but does not realize she has only arrived in a second dream (Inception, anyone?) At some point, dream and reality actually fully merge, which only adds to the confusion. And yet, this reality that makes the story so confusing is also the fabric that pulls all the parts of the story together. The dream sequences, especially the parade sequence, made absolutely no sense at first. And then, after rewatching it, I started noticing little things here and there, and realized that the “dream” was literally a representation of the dreamer. In the big parade scene when reality and dream have merged, there are scenes of office workers committing suicide, men sneaking pictures under young girls’ skirts, and so forth, indicating the dark reality of the lives of the people living in the city. The question of whether a scene is dream or reality becomes irrelevant; the dream is reality, just as reality is a dream.

            This movie is very cyberpunk, and is based on prospective near-future technology. In addition, there is a very urban influence in the location and overall mood. The setting is very current, and the only major difference in technology seems to be the DC minis. This gives the movie a sense that this reality may be only a few years away from our reality. Dreams, an extremely personal and human experience, may not seem to mesh well with technology, but as movies like Paprika and Inception show us, it may only be just a matter of time. Technology has the ability to bridge gaps between people and allow them to connect personally on many levels: why not in dreams?