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SPOILER ALERT DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN"T WATCHED IT


Paprika is a film that is meant to explore the concept that the line, which separates our conscious and subconscious, is a rather thin one. It accomplishes just that. It not only accomplishes that task, but through entertaining storytelling, fantastic animation, and thoughtful music. The way the movie is set up to explore this idea, is that the reality in which the characters are living in, there is a “DC mini.” This is a device that connects to your dreams as you sleep and can even replay them back, as if a film. This is the ... driving force of the movie. At first, someone has stolen one of these DC minis, and due to the lack of protection placed upon it, this person can now access and join into anyone else’s dreams. This movie is not only about the thin line between the conscious and the id, but, also, what happens when everyone’s subconscious merges. Our id has to do with Carl Jung’s theory of the ego. Our id is made to represent the primal nature of ourselves and how we act without morals or a guide we give ourselves of what to do and not to do. When we act on our id and subconscious, as one might guess, chaos ensues. Back to the plot, once the organization realizes this device is stolen, Dr. Chiba Atusko, a leader of the D.C mini project and another leader go to retrieve it. Instead of finding it, they are dragged into the dream world of, whom they believe to be a project assistant, Himuro. This dream is of a grand parade, him at the center. This parade carries over into the rest of the movie, the motif of the greedy subconscious. Backtracking to the opening scenes, a detective is having a dream beginning in a circus, and ending with him chasing a man on a train. After the dream, the man is met by a woman named Paprika. We learn later in the movie, this is Chiba Atusko’s id, her subconscious personality. The dance between the separating the two is hard for her to maintain, as shown in one scene where “Paprika” is telling Atusko to look out. The plot continues on entering in and out of the dream world until they seemingly merge. This is where we see the border between their dream world and reality merge, for us this merge being between the conscious and subconscious. Now that everyone is in the dream state, the people begin to turn into dolls, inanimate objects, etc, and join the parade. These people, now turned to objects, begin to climb the parade float, desperately trying to reach the top. They never do though, they just push each other off, and nobody gets the seat. As previously stated, this parade represents human greed and the fight for power. While this fight for dominance is happening, we get a flash-back to a previous moment in the film, Atusko helping a colleague through the elevator door. Now we see her in an enlarged form, helping her, now robot, colleague escape from being crammed in between two buildings. This direct parallel is used to show how similar the dream and real world really are. Whilst everything was happening before the merge, behind the scenes, the chairman of the company was going to use these machines to “take over the cosmos.” At the end, he attempts just that, but is stopped by none other than Paprika herself. She begins to eat the chairman’s “evil” dreams and grows in size as she does so. She eventually is large enough to eat the chairman himself. After completing this task, she and all the other dreams evaporate, having no place in this world since it has returned to reality. This is the basic plot. I skipped over a lot of it because it is quite a lot. The plot itself is a little all over the place, but that isn’t that important. The way I see it, this movie is more about the lessons and thought provoking questions it imposes, such as the question of how does one interact with their id, just how thin in that line between the two states of being, and what would happen if everyone were to act on their id.
Now that I’ve brought up the big three questions this movie made me ask, how did I get there; were any answers provided? The biggest thought provoker of the movie was, how are we separated from our id? This movie shows the different types of ids. The main character, Atusko is driven by the primal emotion of love. I know I didn’t talk about this in the plot, but she realizes she’s been in love with the head inventor of the DC mini project. This is the man she helped out both times. Then, Paprika, is meant to represent an id whose goal is to protect humanity, love for everyone. This is why she gives up her life to save humanity from the dream world. Of course we have the everyday population, representing greed. As stated before, everyone just wanted to be on the top of the float, even if it meant pushing others down. The last good example of a primal desire is that of the chairman’s id. He wanted power and was willing to do anything and everything to obtain it. He was the one who sent the world into the chaos of the dreamland. He was ready to sacrifice everyone for his own benefit. This is one of the purest forms of the human id. When we are allowed to indulge in our id, bad things happen. Then, imagine layering our own id atop of everyone else’s. Chaos is guaranteed to ensue. This is why we have to keep our id pushed down and use our conscious to make decisions. The line between the two is so blurred it can be hard at times, but, as you’ve seen, you have to try your hardest.
This “analysis” might just be the ramblings of a teenager who believes they have the whole world figured out, but who knows. Maybe there are some actual points to what I have to say. This movie is meant to begin conversation about how we can’t let our id win. We can’t indulge in our human desires, if we do, it’s not good for anyone.