Just gotta dork out on how much I love the allegorical underpinnings of Gaiman’s The Sandman on Netflix. I didn’t read the comic books, because I don’t like the art and find the need to constantly choose between image and words distracting (perhaps it just takes practice).
Is Fiction the Center of the Universe?
I’m seeing The Sandman as a debate over the place of fiction (or dreams) in the scheme of things, an argument that dreams (fiction) are central to our life. In the horrifying episode 5 “24/7”, when people lose the ability to lie, they also lose the ability to hope or dream, and in they end up mutilating themselves and each other. It was a disturbing episode, but I find the idea that writing fiction REALLY MATTERS gratifying. Being a fiction writer, though, I’m wary of the potential narcism in that assertion-particularly coming from a writer. In later episodes, it’s basically implied that if humans stop dreaming, the universe will end.
Are Humans the Center of the Universe?
There’s a definite hierarchy in this series, and a message about the relationship between the entities that form the center of the narrative. They aren’t quite gods, and they are not extensions of humans– though they seem to have the purpose of serving humans, as Death, sister to Dream (otherwise known as Morpheus), tells him in episode 6. Morpheus tells Corinthian the same thing in episode 10. I tend to disagree with this anthropocentric assertion. I think the universe is just not that into us (to revamp a phrase from the self help- dating manual by Greg Behrendt He’s Just Not that Into You (2004)).
If these beings are the extensions of humankind, it makes sense. However, I don’t agree that the fate of the universe centers around humankind, as it does in this series (as ego-gratifying as that idea may be), and I would beg to differ with Gaiman on that score. But I will leave that alone for a second.
Is Desire the Antithesis of Dream?
Desire is the twin of Despair in the series, and is definitely one of the antagonists and enemy to Dream. I do worry about the choice to make Desire some sort of trans being… though I couldn’t say whether he’s a trans man or a trans woman. I just worry about our culture’s use of LGBTQ+ as bad guys. But I’m also intrigued by the attempt to differentiate between desire and dream. Certainly capitalism seems an example of desire run amok.
Another interesting assertion is made when the Vortex is prophesied to be the end of Dream. She is born out of an anomaly caused by the humans trying to capture death and accidentally getting dream instead, suggesting that when we try to evade the normal process of life, we make trouble. The implication is that chaos and disorder is the enemy of life and order. I disagree with this contention, also.
Even though I disagree with some of the assertions, I enjoy that this series started the conversation. I’m loving how Gaiman explores these concepts allegorically. I enjoyed how the visuals (except for the tacky vortex crystal heart), which are wonderfully evocative of comic book angles, and I loved how Morpheus needs to and does.
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