Beginning of First Draft

Have you ever experienced a religious miracle? Or maybe you’ve been at the foot of a paranormal event. If this is the case some psychologist may diagnose you with apophenia. Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. This term, coined by Klaus Conrad in 1958, has come to describe this distortion of reality in healthy individuals without implying any mental illness. While Conrad would tell you these patterns do not exist, psychologist Carl Jung would offer his argument of Synchronicity. Jung described Synchronicity as a “meaningful coincidence.” Synchronicity is an underlying pattern which includes, but is larger than, the system that displays it. English psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd has been accused of purposefully synchronizing their albums with movies. The most famous of these Pink Floyd synchronizations, is a mix of their album “The Dark Side of the Moon” and famous MGM movie “The Wizard of Oz” and is called “The Dark Side of the Rainbow.” After watching the movie there can be three possible responses. The first response being that there are no connections at all and those who see patterns must suffer from apophenia. The second response would be from someone who sees an underlying pattern in which the movie and album connect through synchronicity. The third way you can view this film is as a purposeful synchronization, by Pink Floyd, of film and movie to create a requiem for Judy Garland.

Judy Garland, who lived only forty seven years, worked for forty five years. Judy Garland’s works include thirty two feature films, half a dozen short subjects, star of thirty of her own television shows (gust appearance on at least thirty more), over 100 recorded singles, over a dozen record albums, and between 1951 and 1969 fulfillment of over eleven hundred theatre, nightclub and concert performances. Even with all this success Judy could not find happiness in her life. Judy Garland had faced clinical depression and substance abuse throughout her life. Judy had many nervous breakdown and even suicide attempts. In 1950 Judy cut her own throat with a piece of glass, many argue whether this was a suicide attempt or a cry for help. On the set of Judy Garlands most famous film, The Wizard of Oz, producer Melvin Leroy and director Victor Flemming were said to have abused Judy Garland. While filming the scene with the Cowardly Lion, it has been said that Judy Garland giggled and for that, director Victor Flemming took her aside, lectured her and proceeded to slap her in the face. The slap in the face was said to “cure” her of her laughing. During filming of The Wizard of Oz MGM was concerned about Garlands weight. Producer and Director of the project gave pills to Garland to keep her weight down and boost her energy to finish filming on time. It is no wonder how Judy Garland became addicted to drugs, which ultimately lead to her demise at the age of 47 from an accidental overdose on barbiturates.