Dreaming in a Pandemic
One of the first dream patterns to emerge at the start of the pandemic was that people, fearful of getting sick, were dreaming about bug attacks. “I’ve never seen that sort of shared dream-life,” says dream expert Deirdre Leigh Barrett, Ph.D. “It’s rare even to see it within a country: so many people dreaming about bug attacks. But this was around the world.” Dreaming is a way to engage with your emotions, and perhaps explore feelings you would generally shove out of your consciousness while engaging in everyday pursuits. Dr. Barrett analyzed Andy Sarjahani's dream from March 2020, which we animated. When she asked about associations he had with cardboard cutouts, he said they made him think of Home Alone and a scene where Macaulay Culkin uses a Michael Jordan cardboard cutout on toy train tracks to deter robbers. Dr. Barrett said while the film was a comedy, it actually taps into deep emotions. “The idea of a child being by himself, imperiled – this is kind of primal,” she said. “I think it's how some of us are feeling about the lockdown,” she said. “Not just literally people who are alone, but even if you are with one or two or three other people – you are so isolated from most of the world.”