Announcing A Midsummer Dream Blogathon!

“If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here, While these visions did appear, And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding, but a dream.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare

Every month this year, the Pure Entertainment Preservation Society is hosting a special blogathon! We are timing most of these blogathons to coincide with holidays. Allow us to now introduce the blogathon for June, A Midsummer Dream Blogathon!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream from 1935

This blogathon is dedicated to dreams in films. We are hosting this blogathon on the weekend of the first day of summer, June 18-20. This timing was inspired by the title of William Shakespeare’s whimsical play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That play was made into one of the dreamiest Code films, Warner Bros. 1935 adaptation with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Anita Louise, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, and many more!

Judy Garland dreaming in The Wizard of Oz (1938)

“Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare

Possible topics include films from any eras which contain some form of dream. They can be long dreams, like the one in I Married an Angel (1942), or single-scene dream sequences. They don’t have to be normal nocturnal dreams, however. You can also write about a fantasy film which everyone except the main character believes to have been a dream. The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland are examples of such stories. For a more modern example of a film which could be a dream, consider Total Recall (1990), which many believe is mostly composed of the leading character’s technological dream.

Marge and Gower Champion in a dream dance number from Lovely to Look At (1952)

We aren’t restricting topics to nocturnal dreams. In fact, films don’t even have to include a somnial dream of any sort. The dream can instead be a fantasy, daydream, or imagined sequence. Scenes of this kind are most common in musicals, many of which contain fantasy dance or ballet sequences. Think of scenes like the “American in Paris Ballet” in the film of the same name and the “Broadway Melody Ballet” in Singin’ in the Rain.

Ray Milland sees bats in his nightmarish DTs in The Lost Weekend (1945)

By the way, the dreams don’t have to be good! We will also welcome reviews of films featuring nightmares. This could be a literal nightmare sequence or simply a nightmarish flavor. Substance-induced hallucinations apply, too, such as the delirium tremens depicted in The Lost Weekend (1945).

If there are any rules for dreams in film, I Married an Angel (1942) breaks them.

Here are the rules for this surreal blogathon:

1. There is no limit on duplicates, since we are interested in different opinions.
2. Writers can contribute as many articles as they choose.
3. If you are interested in joining, please leave a comment below and specify your topic.
4. If you want to join this blogathon but don’t have a website, you can still join! Email us your article, and we will publish it here on PEPS for you.
5. Please use the beautiful banners below, which Rebekah made, to help us promote this blogathon!
6. Don’t forget to include a poster and the link to the roster in your posts!
7. Promote the blogathon on social media!

Here are the posters:

Please join us for this dreamy summer blogathon! To quote the popular song, I’ll see you in my dreams!

Follow us to bring back the Code and save the arts in America!

We are lifting our voices in classical song to help the sun rise on a new day of pure entertainment!

Only the Code can make the sun rise on a new day of pure entertainment!