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In what ways does (live action) cinema film figure into Paprika? Why do you think Kon references film in the ways and to the extent he does? Is he trying to say something about film? If so, what? Is there a relationship being made between film and dreams?
Kanakawa’s story is mainly about an unfinished film he made in high school. I think the way Kon uses the film is that he is trying to tell us that it is not so different from real life. Kanakawa was haunted by the film in his dreams and always avoided mentioning films or watching films. But as the movie develops and with Kanakawa escaping from the dream by shooting the criminal, he escapes the haunted dream and his past. In the last scene we see him walking into the cinema. Kanakawa isn’t afraid of films anymore and he is obviously relieved from his dreams and past. Kon is probably also telling us that dreams and films aren’t that different and they can actually merge. In the dreams that we see in Paprika, there are a lot of references to films, including Tarzan, 007 and the monkey king. I guess Kon tries to tell us that films came from imagination the same way dreams originated from imagination but film is imagination deliberately being carried out while dream is the free roaming of imagination.
Dreams our kind of like our own personal movies that we get to star in every night, and they are very real to us while we are in the dream. Even when we first awaken, it takes a little bit for us to realize that we were dreaming and not accidently sacrificing a friend’s cat to survive a zombie apocalypse, for example. This type of feeling can also apply to some live action movies, particularly the ones that completely captivate and absorb us with their brilliance. I mean who doesn’t leave a Star Wars movie waving around an imaginary lightsaber and fully believing they can use the force? I think Kon wanted to use cinema to emphasize the idea that dreams are like our own movies and that they can, for a brief period of time, make us forget what our reality is like. This would explain why Chiba/Paprika has trouble recognizing whether or not she is in a dream, especially when the dream is so similar to her reality. But dreams and movies also both have anchors that can remind us that we were dreaming and that movies are just movies, like remembering your friend doesn’t have a cat, realizing that the TV remote isn’t slowly getting closer to you, or realizing that you are Chiba and not Paprika.
Kon uses live film to explain Konakawa’s story, from the reason he keeps chasing that guy, to how he escapes from the tree guy thing. I think Kon aims to suggest not only that dreams and movies are similar, but that movies and dreams can even be manifestations of one another. What we see in dreams are (to kinda quote that one scene), like movies where we are the movie stars. But after watching a live movie, it can become part of our dreams because of their immersive reality and aspects of interest and fantasy. I guess on a kind of different note but related, dreams and movies are both alternate realities that we become absorbed in. This makes them very similar. In Konakawa’s story then, his dreams so closesly resemble films because he loves movies so much and has always wanted to be in them.
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