), directed by Richard Linklater
and released in 2001. The entire film was shot using digital video and then a team of artists using computers drew stylized lines and colors over each frame.
The film focuses on the nature of dream
s, consciousness
, and existentialism
. The title is a reference to philosopher George Santayana
's maxim: "Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled."
Waking Life is about an unnamed young man in a persistent dream-like state that eventually progresses to lucid
ity.
Whatever I am right now. I mean, yeah, maybe I only exist in your mind. I'm still just as real as anything else.
Dream is destiny
Which is the most universal human characteristic: fear, or laziness?
Actually, the gap between say Plato or Nietzsche and the average human is greater than the gap between that chimpanzee and the average human.
They say that dreams are only real as long as they last. Couldn't you say the same thing about life?
The trick is to combine your waking rational abilities with the infinite possibilities of your dreams. Because, if you can do that, you can do anything.
The worst mistake that you can make is to think you're alive when really you're asleep in life's waiting room.
Did you ever have a job that you hated and worked real hard at? A long, hard day of work. Finally you get to go home, get in bed, close your eyes and immediately you wake up and realize... that the whole day at work had been a dream. It's bad enough that you sell your waking life for minimum wage, but now they get your dreams for free.
Super perfundo on the early eve of your day.