STUDY > WHISPERS IN THE NIGHT
The Sandman
Have you seen the film “Rise of the Guardians”?
If you haven’t seen it don’t worry I’m not going to spoil it for you! But I was taken with the character “Sandman”. His role as a Guardian is to sprinkle sand over children as they sleep so that they have ‘good’ dreams. He doesn’t speak at all during the film but conjours up images above his head with the sand that the other guardians need to ‘interpret’.
This has sparked an interest for me as the character in some senses seemed very familier to me. I’ve spent the last few days trying to find out more about this ‘sandman’. Apparent the Sandman appears in northern European cultures as a mythical creature who oversees children’s dreams. He has been the inspiration for Hans Christian Andersen’s story about Ole Ludoje and possibly also Roal Dahl’s BFG.
These stories are contradictory to Sigmund Freud’s assertion that all dreams come from within the dreamer. The Sandman/Ole Ludoje/BFG are all external forces which protect the dream life of children and make sure that they have ‘good’ dreams.
I’m still quite early on in my research here, so I’d be grateful of any thoughts/stories/ comments you have to share …….
Sweet Dreams!