I just saw the movie "Bug" for the first time. For those who aren't familiar, it is a horror/psychological thriller movie, directed by William Friedkin, starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, and is based on a play by Tracy Letts. For those who haven't seen it, I would recommend seeing it. Especially since I'm going to be talking about it in a little bit, and will be mentioning some significant plot points. So, if you don't want (at least part of) the movie spoiled, you should stop reading and go watch it. I don't mind, that's why I'm telling you this.
Okay. If you're reading this, you've either seen the movie, or you don't care about spoilers. Hey, you were warned, so I don't want to hear any whining about it.
Agnes White (Ashley Judd) is a woman holed up in a room at a crummy motel. She is introduced to Peter Evans (Michael Shannon), and the two quickly form a bond. Peter served in the military, though was pulled out of active service, and for a time was held at a medical facility, before escaping. He is firmly convinced that during the time he spent at the medical facility, the doctors experimented on him (he also points out that it would not be the first time the United States government performed questionable experiments on its own citizens, citing Project MKUltra and the Tuskeegee syphilis experiment). Peter is becomes convinced that a nest of bugs was implanted into his body and that they are now waking up and spreading out. Agnes, while reluctant at first, quickly comes to his line of thinking, believing that she has also become infected with the bugs.
It isn't until the last half-hour that doubt is cast on the validity of these two.
A third character reveals (or at least claims) that Peter suffers from mental illnesses that are more that capable of inducing hallucinations. It should also be pointed out that Agnes is a user of drugs, some legal, some not, and probably has been for some time now. Peter and Agnes believe that the bugs around them are transmitters. Peter reveals a theory as to the origin of the bugs, involving a shadow organization controlling society, the usage of surgical implants to control the minds of citizens, and the desire to create a biological mind control unit that can be spread from person to person. Peter and Agnes become convinced that they have created this super bug, and in order to prevent it from spreading, commit mutual suicide by self-immolation.
It is at this point I wish to employ Occam's Razor. For those who aren't familiar with it, Occam's Razor is a line of reasoning that states that, given two or more possible explanations, the explanation that requires the fewest number of assumptions is probably the right one. An example: Last night there was a large thunderstorm. This morning, a branch has fallen out of a tree. Explanation 1: The storm knocked the branch out of the tree. Explanation 2: The storm created an electromagnetic burst that disrupted the navigational system of an orbiting alien spaceship, which crashed to Earth, and in the process of crashing, knocked the branch out of the tree. Given the two options, and employing Occam's Razor, the first explanation is more likely to be the correct one.
Going back to "Bug", and employing Occam's Razor, it is most likely that Agnes and Peter are both caught up in a shared delusion, brought on and fueled by drug abuse (Agnes) and mental illness (Peter). So why do they go along with it, even though it is absurd?
Dream logic.
Dreams have their own special brand of logic. Have you ever had some really bizarre dream? One that had you asking, "What was all that about?" when you woke up? And yet, were you asking what it was all about when you were in the dream itself? Probably not. What might seem outrageous in the waking world makes perfect sense at the time, in the dream. So where does that leave us, and our strange, strange dreams?
I mean, it's all fine and good to tell someone that they just need to step back, and recognize that it's all just a dream, that it's not really happening. Sounds simple in theory, but good luck actually doing that in practice! In my dreams, I'm not questioning what's going on around me, because at the time it makes sense to me. In fact, there's only been one dream that I've had in which I've realized that I was dreaming and that realization just made things worse!
I don't remember the exact details of the dream (though I probably wrote it down somewhere). I do, however, remember how my thoughts ran when I realized I was dreaming. They ran something like this: This isn't happening. Wait a minute, this isn't happening! This is all a dream! Heh, that's it. And in a few minutes, I'll be waking up. Any minute now. Why am I not waking up? Seriously, I should have woken up by now. Oh, [expletive]! This isn't a dream at all - this is really happening! [Insert dramatic, drawn-out "NO!" here.]
Of the dreams that I've had, one of the most unsettling type (I've had enough of them that I now classify them as a type) is the "waking-up dream". As the name suggests, it is a dream about waking up. I think I'm awake, but I'm really still asleep. And then, when I do wake up for real, I'm scared that I'm still dreaming, that this is just another part of the dream I might or might not be trapped in.
The vast majority of the time, when I wake up, I have no memory of what I dreamt of. On those rare occasions that I do remember, I usually wish that I didn't.
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