I didn't dare to read this essay when I first saw it, because I thought I could take the tip and rent those movies, but when I found "The Haunting" at the movie-store, I realised I had already seen it. :D (Didn't like it much, though.) It is incredibly common with spooky, haunted houses in horror movies, isn't it? And yeah, that's hardly surprising, considering a house, a place to belong, does represent so much for human beings. It's probably one of these universal symbols.
I've been told that in dreams houses represent the self, the psyche. Different rooms sometimes represent different things within that. Like, the attic represents some level of thought which I can't remember. I tend to dream about cellars and have always found cellars scarier than attics--I think they're supposed to represent your baser thoughts. Sometimes in dreams I'll be in the basement and aware of something scary on the top floor. Now, I don't think any dream symbolism is the same for everyone, but one can see why a house or some building would easily represent a self.
Yeah, I think the "house"/"appartment"/"room" (depending on how the person lives) is almost a universal symbol in dream language. According to Jung, cellars were supposed to represent pre-historic times and attics the future, but I don't put much stock into his dream theories, to be honest. I agree with you, that it probably represent different things for different people, depending on what experiences they have with cellars/attics, if any. I don't think I've ever dreamed about a basement myself, which probably has to do with the fact that I've always lived in appartments, and the basements just don't seem connected to them. I did have a nightmare about the attics once, though, when I was a child, and lived in an appartment which had attics instead of basement, so yeah. Maybe both attics/cellars often represent the unknown, or the subconscious or something?
The appartment, or house (because I sometimes dream about our summerhouse, or house in Norway, or versions thereof) tend to often have a central role in my dreams though, very often, both as a child and adult, I've dreamt about it being invaded some way or the other. Like people are coming in uninvited, or climbing up the walls peeking through the windows, or there's a bunch of rats, or other animals, that nest there and it gets out of controll, it's always very uncomfortable, and you never know when you'll be left alone. Somehow the haunted house stories, have that theme as well, the space of the protagonists keeps getting invaded, and they're not left alone. Maybe it's a universal fear as well, to have the one space where you're supposed to be able to be sure to be left alone, getting invaded?
Catching up on my flist
I've been told that in dreams houses represent the self, the psyche. Different rooms sometimes represent different things within that. Like, the attic represents some level of thought which I can't remember. I tend to dream about cellars and have always found cellars scarier than attics--I think they're supposed to represent your baser thoughts. Sometimes in dreams I'll be in the basement and aware of something scary on the top floor. Now, I don't think any dream symbolism is the same for everyone, but one can see why a house or some building would easily represent a self.
Yeah, I think the "house"/"appartment"/"room" (depending on how the person lives) is almost a universal symbol in dream language. According to Jung, cellars were supposed to represent pre-historic times and attics the future, but I don't put much stock into his dream theories, to be honest. I agree with you, that it probably represent different things for different people, depending on what experiences they have with cellars/attics, if any. I don't think I've ever dreamed about a basement myself, which probably has to do with the fact that I've always lived in appartments, and the basements just don't seem connected to them. I did have a nightmare about the attics once, though, when I was a child, and lived in an appartment which had attics instead of basement, so yeah. Maybe both attics/cellars often represent the unknown, or the subconscious or something?
The appartment, or house (because I sometimes dream about our summerhouse, or house in Norway, or versions thereof) tend to often have a central role in my dreams though, very often, both as a child and adult, I've dreamt about it being invaded some way or the other. Like people are coming in uninvited, or climbing up the walls peeking through the windows, or there's a bunch of rats, or other animals, that nest there and it gets out of controll, it's always very uncomfortable, and you never know when you'll be left alone. Somehow the haunted house stories, have that theme as well, the space of the protagonists keeps getting invaded, and they're not left alone. Maybe it's a universal fear as well, to have the one space where you're supposed to be able to be sure to be left alone, getting invaded?