Sat, 20 Apr, 2024

Reality In Dreams

By Kundan Shumsher Rana

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we lived in an alternate universe of our world? What would happen if the world wasn't what it seemed? Imagine a place where the abnormal was just a normal thing, and there was a sense of excitement in the normality of things; a place where dreams don't exist but rather materialize in front of you when you dream of anything; a place where dreamers are the most wanted entity; a place where you can be anything you want to be and go anywhere you want to go without restrictions; a place which is connected to our reality but different in the ways that matter; a place where reality and illusion meet. I am talking about a place where the possible is easy and the impossible is easier. Despite all this, despite all of our wishful thinking and our dreams, all we have is our reality. This is where we live and what we have. This is where we must make a name for ourselves.

Up to now, it must seem like all of these things are just pointless mumblings and they have nothing solid to offer. These things must seem like something a child might come up with and nothing more. But let me tell you this, all of these things are true and we see them everyday.

Dreams are what keep us moving forward and they are what give a man courage to change the world. Dreams aren't useless and they don't just come to us during the night. They possess the power and give us the will to create something wonderful. We all love to dream and there are many things around us that pique our interest and make us believe in our ridiculous dreams.

The things I am talking about are cartoons and animes. Now, they may seem childlike and unimportant but think about it for a second. When we were kids, what did we enjoy watching? Cartoons. Every free time and every holiday, we may have spent our time watching those silly characters running around doing things that make us laugh and feel tingly inside. The adults today were once children and every child loves cartoons. Shows like Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, and many more made us laugh and in the process teach us many important lessons. If am sure that if you ask any adult who “Bugs Bunny” or “Daffy Duck” or “Tom” or “Jerry” is, almost everyone will recognize them. Kids are influenced easily and it is the job of parents to teach them how to behave, what things are proper and how to learn. But there is no parent that can look after his or her child 24/7. So, they put their child in front of the TV and go on doing their daily chores. While in front of the TV children can watch any number of shows and not all of them are kid friendly. Have you ever met a parent who doesn't let their child watch cartoons? Cartoons can help a child to dream of a world where anything is possible. A child might forget many things when he/she grows up but there are small things that a person will never forget. They can tell a child that, with dedication, friendship and hard work anything is possible. Adults with these qualities are always needed and these are also the things that society deems important.

Along with cartoons, there are also animes. They might seem similar to cartoons on the surface, but animes are fundamentally different. While cartoons are targeted to children, animes are targeted to a wide range of audiences. Animes can be especially made for children, pre-teens, teenagers, young adults, adults and also for the older generation. There is a wide range of animes and each one of them is based off a person's dream that exceeds reality. There are many animes that gives ordinary people super powers while there are also animes that shows you don't need superpowers to change a person's life. One can make a name for himself/herself if you can give it your all, do not give up and dream of a better tomorrow. While on the surface an anime may seem like something that only a child may like, there is an entire culture based on animes around the world.

People around the world are fascinated with the world of animes. There are hundreds of thousands of animes that are made and each one of them has a complex list of characters. Every anime is based on reality. The laws, the surroundings, the characters and the storyline are all based on real world places and events. “Dreams are a figment of the imagination and the imagination is based on an alternate version of reality.” This may be the best way to describe animes.

Animes are almost exclusively made in Japan but the culture has spread worldwide. The reach of animes has covered the entire globe. Many conventions are held where people dress up as their favorite anime character. These events are called “Cosplay Events”. Even in Nepal, there are thousands of people who are fascinated with animes and follow many shows. Even here in DWIT as well as Deerwalk Inc, there are many students and employees that are anime fans. People in Kathmandu, Chitwan and Pokhara organize Cosplay Events. Fans go there dressed up as their favorite anime characters and also have mock battles. These are battle where fans reenact famous fights and battles that took place in the anime.

Animes and cartoons may still seem unimportant but let me tell you this, “Who do you think, makes these cartoons and animes?” Think about it. They are made by adults who have skills in drawing, animating, storytelling, directing, writing and much more. Thinking that cartoons and animes are stupid is to say that the skills with which the animes are created are also unimportant. Everyone all around the world covets the mentioned skills and it takes serious mastery of these skills to create a single cartoon and anime. Adults who have spent years developing these skills are able to create them. Even those silly cartoons that adults disregard were made by a person that has spent hours and hours working hard on them. People want to learn how to draw and how to animate, and I do, too. These are the things that are made using those skills. Even in the cosplay events, people dedicate days to create the perfect costume to wear and show off at these events.

So, cartoons and animes may seems childlike but they have so much depth. The dreamers who want to materialize their dreams and show them to the world make them. The hands of people who want to spread joy around the world and pass on their dreams and their values to the next generation in an exciting and fun way make them.