Dreaming of Los Angeles : what can this symbol evoke?

A sprawling city where everything plays out on appearance

Where New York imposes verticality, Los Angeles imposes dispersion : hours are spent moving about, alone in a vehicle, between places with no visible link. This geography produces a particular symbol, that of a scattered life whose whole is never perceived. Added to it is the industry that made its reputation : a city where the trade consists in producing convincing appearances. Dreaming of Los Angeles therefore often refers to the question of authenticity — not in the sense of lying, but in the subtler sense of the role one ends up holding without having decided it. The permanent light plays its part too : a sun that never stops can become oppressive, for it leaves no shaded moment in which to rest from others' gaze.

Dreaming of driving alone along an endless boulevard

Driving for a long time, meeting nobody on foot, between low façades that repeat : this is the scenario dreamers most spontaneously associate with this city. The image combines movement and stillness — much progress and no arrival — and it frequently reflects a sustained activity whose meaning has evaporated. It can also describe a particular solitude : not isolation, but permanent physical separation from others, each in their own cabin. The detail guiding the reading is the destination : heading towards someone, towards an appointment, or simply driving aimlessly do not say the same thing about what you are going through.

The dream's Los Angeles and context change the reading

• A dazzling light that tires the eyes — often evokes excessive exposure, a visibility one can no longer afford to sustain.
• Film sets or façades with no interior — frequently reflects the sense that a situation is more convincing from outside than it really is.
• Motionless traffic jams under the sun — can signal an impatience finding no way out, within a setting that nonetheless looks pleasant.
• The ocean glimpsed at the end of an avenue — often represents a possible escape, a limit beyond which the city finally stops.
• An audition, a screen test, a judging gaze — evokes a permanent evaluation, real or internalised, from which you cannot extract yourself.

A psychological reading, not a fixed box

Some currents of depth psychology connect this kind of setting to the question of the persona, that part of us built to be seen which sometimes ends up taking all the room. Others stress the sprawl itself : a city without a centre can figure an identity scattered among roles that do not communicate.