August 12, 2010

Things have been a bit quiet on the dream front since my last Lucas/Jo dream. The RA/Spooks dream avalanche that I was experiencing earlier this year appears to have come to a steady halt, except for this one brief dream I had a few weeks ago that I forgot to report. As far as I remember the dream consisted of one scene. A young girl of five or six with long dark hair in a pony tail was clinging onto Richard Armitage’s leg. The only snippet of the conversation I can recall is of RA calling Sigmund Freud an “egg”. I didn’t catch the precise intention behind his use of this term but it was vaguely derogatory and meant as an insult. I think RA was basically saying that Freud was stupid. And that’s it.

What to make of it? I don’t have a coherent interpretation of the dream but I do have a context for it. There are two things that are relevant. Firstly, for part of my postgraduate research I am examining published psychoanalytic case studies of children in my field of study that in my view are complete twaddle. It’s not Freud’s fault that some of his disciples have applied his theories in their own disturbing ways, but I frequently curse Freud out for their misdoings anyway. Particularly when I’m reading the most absurd and ridiculous of analyses that totally miss the mark and place the blame for the patient’s predicament in all the wrong places. These aren’t just words on a page, these are real children, real stories. As a (social) scientist I’m supposed to be objective and uninvolved, but bad psychoanalysis masquerading as sophisticated psychobabble makes me mad! It reminds me of something the Doctor (of Doctor Who) once said “logical merely enables one to be wrong with authority” (not sure if he was quoting someone else or that was one of his own). Psychiatrists have their own psychoanalytic logic, authority of a dubious nature, and in the case of these case studies they are simply just wrong (my analysis demonstrates the children concerned have an underlying condition that the therapists have failed to detect. Their failure to identify the condition means their interpretation of the children – and their mothers – has been conducted in complete ignorance of a critically important contributing factor on the child’s behaviour, rendering their analysis and the “knowledge” in this field highly questionable).

Secondly, in Strike Back (which I had watched shortly before the dream) there was a scene in which RA’s character John Porter was being administered a Rorschach inkblot test by a therapist. Porter did not take the assessment seriously (or so he thought), answering “vagina” each time he was asked what he saw in the series of ink blot cards. Although I think that Rorschach tests are largely baloney, my interpretation of that scene was that it revealed Porter’s possible hostility, resentment and/or frustration towards women, or psychiatry (via the female therapists), or both. The assessors concluded that Porter needed a shag (a reason, perhaps, for his hostility). Freud did not invent the Rorschach test, but I mention this scene with John Porter because I wonder what is the reason for Richard Armitage’s appearance in my dream. Am I being too cynical, like Porter? (Let’s bypass the question as to whether I need a shag!) If that was the message of the dream, to let up on Freud, then surely Porter would have been in the dream, not Richard Armitage, who appeared as himself.

What about the girl who is clinging to RA’s leg? – Is it me as a child or one of the children in the case studies I’m evaluating? Or someone/thing else? What does “egg” mean? In the dream I thought it meant ‘stupid’. Perhaps “egg” means life, embryo, children… the girl? If the later is the case, why is Freud an “egg”? And why is RA calling Freud an egg? And before you draw and long bow and suggest this dream means that I want RA’s children (!)… I don’t want to have children, and in any case would struggle to have them due to PCOS (a subject I occasionally write about on my blog). I wonder if the dream has some latent fertility meaning. Although my fertility is near non-existent, recently I’ve been aware that my hypothetical child bearing years are soon to pass. This does not bother me, but it is something I am aware of. At the time of the dream I read an interview with RA in which he spoke of feeling broody, so I wonder if he is supposed to represent something along those lines. I’ve never felt broody, ever. I’m happy to be aunt Skully to the tiny totts in my life but not mother Skully. I can’t see an obvious link in this dream with fertility, but the fact I am thinking and writing about it at this moment might suggest that there could be.

The last dream I had in which RA made an appearance he was in character as Lucas. In my ultimate interpretation of that dream (thanks to some probing by Servetus) Lucas was trying to protect me from relapsing into a hypomanic state (I have a mild form of bipolar disorder called cyclothymia). I have a mixed relationship with psychiatry that sometimes borders on contempt due to the damage I’ve seen its practitioners needless inflict on vulnerable people. Being diagnosed with a significant mood disorder has brought this complex relationship into an acute focus as I’ve had to negotiate the where to seek treatment. Therefore the other possibility is that this dream was not about my research but my own mental health. But again, it is Lucas North, not RA, who has been waging that particular battle in my dreams.

Honestly I think that my memory of this dream is too brief for me to illuminate much from it, but at least it offered a spring broad to canvass a few things. I very recently had another brief dream in which RA was crying, just like Lucas had done in the previous dream after he had “killed” my hypomania. I’m inclined to think that, as RA and Lucas are separate entities, they would represent separate things or parts of myself in my dreams. So the themes in the dreams with Lucas would not necessarily be repeated in dreams featuring RA.

Your thoughts? Silly or serious musings welcome. Feel free to share your RA / Spooks dreams too!

What would Harry Pearce say ?, originally uploaded by somebaudy.

Next time you pick up the phone ask yourself : “What would Harry Pearce say ?”

Hi Spooks Fans!

My name is Kathryn and I’m currently trying to find contributors for a short internal film to be viewed by staff here at The Shine Group. We are creating the film to showcase the values and impact of global Shine output through audience experience and connection and one of the things we’re interested in is finding super-fans of Spooks with an extraordinary passion for the show. I came across the forum yesterday and was delighted to read many great things about the series!

The film we are making is intended to be a light-hearted and honest portrayal of our audience’s views of the shows we produce to highlight the dedication and creative excellence of those involved in our productions, and to show our staff why we do what we do as a company.

We’d love to hear from people who are SUPER fans, what is about the show that has inspired you? What makes you a super fan? Anyone with an interesting, quirky story to tell – Tell us how Spooks has changed your life!

Please get in touch if you would like to share your passion for the show on film and to let our staff know what it means to you as an audience. This is not limited to the UK, we would love to hear from everyone – Worldwide!

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Many Thanks

Kat x

kathryn.hutchinson@shineinternational.tv

Discuss.

What I never told you about Tariq is this – he totally reminds me of one of my ex-boyfriends! (a good one! still friends in fact). This is going back in the day to my undergraduate degree. So I have to confess I have a bit of soft spot for the grid’s IT geek. Like Tariq my former fella…

Rode a bike:

Dressed like this (that exact same shirt!):

Was an IT student (now in network security)

After a shower he would slick his hair back like this:

And yeah, he was pretty damn cute too:

Farewell Tariq, sorry we didn’t get to know you a little better. Someone should have told him that grid based characters are DOOMED any time they venture off the grid (Except for Malcolm, cos he’s a freak). And all the very best to Shazad Latif. Spooks was his first TV gig and me thinks it will be the first of many!

Do any of the Spooks characters remind you of someone you know?

PS. I’m too busy to be doing write ups of each episode this year. Got a bloody PhD to write instead. May upload some screencaps if I get the chance.