### Summary in English
Since the dawn of cinema, dreams have been a central subject of reflection on cinema, films, and the audience. Surrealist traditions, for example, have linked the power of filmic imagery to the model of dreams. Later, structuralism, Marxism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis influenced theories on the cinematic apparatus and the spectator. Conversely, cinema has also shaped concepts of subjectivity tied to psychological and neurological sciences. A well-known example is Bertram Lewin's notion of the "psychic screen," where a child projects dreams during sleep, and theories on the psyche's enclosures, aligned with the functioning of cinematic mechanisms.
This interplay challenges the notion that cinema and dream theories share minimal connections, as argued by Leslie Halpern and Laurentiu Malomfalean. These critics suggest that cinema distorts the scientific understanding of dreams, taking liberties in its representation. For instance, Halpern considers *Dreamscape* scientifically relevant due to its adherence to dream-related knowledge. However, evaluating cinematic depictions of dreams based on their fidelity to scientific theories diminishes the importance of the dialogue between cinema and dreams. Instead, it is more productive to analyze how cinema embodies the imaginary of dreams and how dreams, in turn, are shaped by cinematic and media technologies.
A dual movement must be considered: cinema as a site reflecting broader social, scientific, and cultural phenomena, and cinema as an agent shaping and codifying our relationship with the world. This reciprocal link compels us to examine the history of dream theories, cinema, and media technologies together. As Giancarlo Grossi notes, the interplay between technology and human imagination shapes how dreams are experienced and understood.
From this premise, several questions arise: How do contemporary American science fiction films represent dreams, and how do these representations connect to the concept of virtuality? What do they reveal about the nature of cinema and modern media? To what extent have these films created a new dream imaginary rooted in media practices? For instance, in *Dreamscape* and other contemporary sci-fi films, dreams are portrayed as immersive, interactive, and hyper-real virtual spaces that fulfill the fantasy of a "dream machine." These films explore themes such as shared dreams, memory manipulation, artificial dream creation, and simulated immersion in virtual worlds, reflecting the convergence of dream imagery and technological imagination.
The concept of virtuality, as interpreted broadly by Alain Boillat, frames these dream sequences as distinct levels of reality constructed as simulacra. In *Dreamscape*, dreams simulate mental worlds governed by their own laws but are recognizable as separate from the primary reality by both characters and viewers. While tied to subjective experience, these dream worlds intersect with computer technology, emphasizing the interconnectedness of cinema, dreams, and media innovation.