Dream worlds

Dreamworlds Jayne Koath
10/28/10
Kenneth Burke’s film “Dreamworlds III” draws our attention because it effectively uses a technique known as “perspective by incongruity”. Burke uses this technique by juxtaposing several things against one another in the hopes that we as viewers will experience an emotional response. Burke is successful at doing this because he is able to create that juxtaposition in several different ways, often all at the same time. When this happens, the result is sensory overload.
To start off with, we must define the dream world as it exists to Burke. He argues that music videos portray a false reality, (thus, the dream world), where men are entirely dominant and live without consequences or repercussions to their actions. In Burke’s idea of the dream world, women are seen in a certain role which the rarely break free of. They are weak, needy, sexualized beings who live for the abstract pleasure of men. They have no agency, no independence, and virtually no will. The Dream World then, consists of all the trapping of a teenage boy’s fantasy. The women are plentiful, cheap, and easy for taking whenever, wherever a man wishes. Burke exerts that this dream world is a false reality and that music videos are a major culprit in exacerbating the survival of the dream world ideal.
Burke uses perspective by incongruity to, in essence, shut down the dream world, at least within the confines of his film. One of the most effective ways he does this is by stripping the music videos of their actual music and leaving us to soak in the images of women writhing around scantily clad, existing only for the pleasure of men. Burke cuts out the music completely, and the only thing we hear is his own voice narrating his argument. When he does use music, it is in the background and is more akin to what we might hear during a horror film. This is tremendously effective for his argument, as we then subconsciously equate the sexual violence and domination with horror. The incongruity here exists with Burke replacing the artist’s music with horror themes, or even cutting music out altogether. In doing so, he forces us to focus on the actual images within the video. We may quickly see how when we hear the music, it often validates the images we are seeing as legitimate. Without the cushion of the music, we are better able to see the images for what they really are.
Burke also uses his own voice to equate the actions within the videos with horror. He speaks with a monotone inflection. Burke never reacts to what we are seeing on the screen. He never emphasizes something, and he never leads us on with his tone. This allows us as viewers to fully take in the images we are seeing and to process them on our own. The realization of how far the sexual violence goes within these music videos is that much more chilling when we realize it on our own, without the narrator’s voice telling us how to react.
Camera angles play a large role in creating the incongruity within the film. Anyone who watched movies or television has likely been exposed to the image of a nearly naked woman on screen before. What we are not used to is the camera being used so that we feel as if we ourselves are in the middle of the action. Seeing a nearly naked women grind against a veritable thug is disturbing enough without being forced, through clever manipulations of multiple camera angles, too see the action for the point of view of the woman’s leg. This and other such instances where camera angles are manipulated creates a jarring effect on viewers, as we are forced to view something that was once vaguely revolting form a point of view which makes it downright disturbing.
Burke creates perspective through incongruity in his film “Dreamworlds III” by twisting and omitting certain traditional aspects of the music video experience. These manipulations, or incongruities, challenge the dreamworld by forcing us to view it in a way which revolts ans disgusts us.