Magic Realism: Difference between revisions

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Not to be confused with [[Doing In the Wizard]] where fantastical elements in an otherwise realistic setting are [[Handwavium|explained away]]. Compare [[How Unscientific]] but can have flavors of [[Domino Revelation]] if the supernatural starts to be revealed slowly.
Not to be confused with [[Doing In the Wizard]] where fantastical elements in an otherwise realistic setting are [[Handwavium|explained away]]. Compare [[How Unscientific]] but can have flavors of [[Domino Revelation]] if the supernatural starts to be revealed slowly.

{{examples}}
{{examples}}

== Advertising ==
== Advertising ==


* In this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5DWyg4ylnQ Corona Commercial] the environment shifts between a ski resort and a beach and nobody finds this weird.
* In this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5DWyg4ylnQ Corona Commercial] the environment shifts between a ski resort and a beach and nobody finds this weird.



== Anime and Manga ==
== Anime and Manga ==
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* The 1948 film ''The Boy With Green Hair'' about a war orphan who wakes up one morning to fnd that he has green hair.
* The 1948 film ''The Boy With Green Hair'' about a war orphan who wakes up one morning to fnd that he has green hair.
* ''[[I Heart Huckabees]]''.
* ''[[I Heart Huckabees]]''.



== Literature ==
== Literature ==
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* [[Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[Summerland]]'' starts out as this. It revolves around a quirky little island community where it always rains (but always has inexplicably perfect weather at the local baseball field), and includes a [[Bungling Inventor]] who builds miniature airships, a teenage boy who's convinced that he's an android, and a 109 year-old retired baseball player. Then the [[Save the World]] plot starts, and it makes a [[Genre Shift]] into full-on [[High Fantasy]].
* [[Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[Summerland]]'' starts out as this. It revolves around a quirky little island community where it always rains (but always has inexplicably perfect weather at the local baseball field), and includes a [[Bungling Inventor]] who builds miniature airships, a teenage boy who's convinced that he's an android, and a 109 year-old retired baseball player. Then the [[Save the World]] plot starts, and it makes a [[Genre Shift]] into full-on [[High Fantasy]].
* Bruce Sterling's ''Zeitgeist'' set in the midst of [[Y 2 K]] hysteria and featuring one [[The Trickster|"Leggy" Starlitz]] and his [[Magical Girl|rather odd daughter]].
* Bruce Sterling's ''Zeitgeist'' set in the midst of [[Y 2 K]] hysteria and featuring one [[The Trickster|"Leggy" Starlitz]] and his [[Magical Girl|rather odd daughter]].



== Live Action TV ==
== Live Action TV ==
* [[The Golden Girls]]: Sophia encountered her husband's ghost twice, Blanche may have encountered her grandmother's ghost once, Dorothy may have been cursed by a witch, Sophia may have been a witch, the girls encountered bizzare dreams, and let's not get started about St. Olaf...
* [[The Golden Girls]]: Sophia encountered her husband's ghost twice, Blanche may have encountered her grandmother's ghost once, Dorothy may have been cursed by a witch, Sophia may have been a witch, the girls encountered bizarre dreams, and let's not get started about St. Olaf...
** Don't forget, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHBg0pA-2o God likes Rose]
** Don't forget, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHBg0pA-2o God likes Rose]
* The unfortunately [[Too Good to Last]] Fox sitcom ''[[Key West]]'' was, in its time, one of the best examples of this on television.
* The unfortunately [[Too Good to Last]] Fox sitcom ''[[Key West]]'' was, in its time, one of the best examples of this on television.
* The [[Britcom|British]] [[Sitcom]] ''[[2point4 children|Two Point Four Children]]'' is a prime example. It is a perfectly mundane show, with the exception of the strange things that happen to the mother, Bill Porter. Like the number of prophetic dreams she's had, or the time she found herself chased... by a hurricane (the storm literally followed her when she left Miami to avoid it, and was also named Hurricane Bill).
* The [[Britcom|British]] [[Sitcom]] ''[[2point4 children]]'' is a prime example. It is a perfectly mundane show, with the exception of the strange things that happen to the mother, Bill Porter. Like the number of prophetic dreams she's had, or the time she found herself chased... by a hurricane (the storm literally followed her when she left Miami to avoid it, and was also named Hurricane Bill).
** Odd things occasionally happen to her husband as well. Yes, it's ''possible'' that his [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]] (who's a ''[[The Prisoner]]'' fan) might kidnap him and leave him in Portmerion ... but then Rover appears...
** Odd things occasionally happen to her husband as well. Yes, it's ''possible'' that his [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]] (who's a ''[[The Prisoner]]'' fan) might kidnap him and leave him in Portmerion ... but then Rover appears...
** And the man on the motorcycle who kept appearing whenever Bill needed help and who may actually have been {{spoiler|[[Dead All Along]]}}.
** And the man on the motorcycle who kept appearing whenever Bill needed help and who may actually have been {{spoiler|[[Dead All Along]]}}.
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* There has been at least one ghost (maybe) and an alleged vampire on the otherwise reality-based ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]].''
* There has been at least one ghost (maybe) and an alleged vampire on the otherwise reality-based ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]].''
* The ghosts that visit Tommy in ''[[Rescue Me]]'' may or may not be real.
* The ghosts that visit Tommy in ''[[Rescue Me]]'' may or may not be real.
* ''[[Night Court]]'' was packed with examples of this trope.
* ''[[Night Court]]'' was packed with examples of this trope -- including an appearance by [[Looney Tunes|Wile E. Coyote]].
* ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' does this with the Rambaldi artifacts with which Arvin Sloan has an obsession. They do things that are on the border of magic and technology, and are never fully explained. In the series finale, {{spoiler|the Rambaldi artifacts become clearly magical, as they preserve Sloan alive forever, trapped underground.}} J.J. Abrams, y'all.
* ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' does this with the Rambaldi artifacts with which Arvin Sloan has an obsession. They do things that are on the border of magic and technology, and are never fully explained. In the series finale, {{spoiler|the Rambaldi artifacts become clearly magical, as they preserve Sloan alive forever, trapped underground.}} J.J. Abrams, y'all.
* ''[[The Unusuals]]'' is an otherwise completely normal (if quirky) cop show that has a character who receives occasional prophetic messages from fortune cookies and, in the pilot, is the recipient of a ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''-style miracle. And then there's the episode "42," which seems to indicate that a psychic they question can really see the future.
* ''[[The Unusuals]]'' is an otherwise completely normal (if quirky) cop show that has a character who receives occasional prophetic messages from fortune cookies and, in the pilot, is the recipient of a ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''-style miracle. And then there's the episode "42," which seems to indicate that a psychic they question can really see the future.
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* The real world portions of [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]] are this. the Fairy world portions are of course much more explicitly magical.
* The real world portions of [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]] are this. the Fairy world portions are of course much more explicitly magical.
* ''[[American Horror Story]]''
* ''[[American Horror Story]]''
* Kenneth in [[30 Rock]] is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]. This is played totally as a [[Running Gag]].
* Kenneth in ''[[30 Rock]]'' is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]. This is played totally as a [[Running Gag]].
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'': The time travel stuff and the seldom-seen future setting of [[Mission Control]] were the only non-mundane features of the universe, as the bulk of an episode was the mission to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] in the lives of normal people. "That guy runs someone over on Friday if he keeps up the illegal street-racing; help him learn his lesson before then" was the usual mission rather than "prevent [[World War Three]]." But we once met the devil, and once had Sam leap into a vampire. He also met a ghost and an angel.
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'': The time travel stuff and the seldom-seen future setting of [[Mission Control]] were the only non-mundane features of the universe, as the bulk of an episode was the mission to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] in the lives of normal people. "That guy runs someone over on Friday if he keeps up the illegal street-racing; help him learn his lesson before then" was the usual mission rather than "prevent [[World War Three]]." But we once met [[Satan|the Devil]], and once had Sam leap into a vampire. He also met a ghost and an angel.
* If Halloween specials count, every sitcom in ABC's TGIF line ran into the supernatural but its characters never saw fit to mention it during the rest of the year or adjust their worldview knowing that [[Boy Meets World|Cory]] traveled through time or that [[Step by Step|TJ]] got dating advice from a ghost.
* If Halloween specials count, every sitcom in ABC's TGIF line ran into the supernatural but its characters never saw fit to mention it during the rest of the year or adjust their worldview knowing that [[Boy Meets World|Cory]] traveled through time or that [[Step by Step|TJ]] got dating advice from a ghost.
* Another "the fantastic exists, but not ''that'' kind" example: ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' shares [[The Verse]] with magic-based teams, but that particular series was all sci-fi - good guys were a [[Heroes-R-Us]] organization, bad guys were [[Gattaca Babies]] [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. However, the Yellow Ranger meets the ghost of a previous owner of their clock tower. The ghost is gone once she ends up changing history and giving him a happy ending, and there's some question as to whether or not any of it happened, but we get the [[Or Was It a Dream?]] reveal with a painting that is now different.
* Another "the fantastic exists, but not ''that'' kind" example: ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' shares [[The Verse]] with magic-based teams, but that particular series was all sci-fi - good guys were a [[Heroes-R-Us]] organization, bad guys were [[Gattaca Babies]] [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. However, the Yellow Ranger meets the ghost of a previous owner of their clock tower. The ghost is gone once she ends up changing history and giving him a happy ending, and there's some question as to whether or not any of it happened, but we get the [[Or Was It a Dream?]] reveal with a painting that is now different.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
== Newspaper Comics ==


* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' is a wonderful, delightful comic about [[A Boy and His X|a six-year-old boy and his stuffed pet tiger]] who go on all sorts of crazy adventures. It's unclear to what extent Calvin is imagining the whole thing or [[Your Mind Makes It Real|believing makes it real]].
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' was a wonderful, delightful comic about [[A Boy and His X|a six-year-old boy and his stuffed pet tiger]] who go on all sorts of crazy adventures. It's unclear to what extent Calvin is imagining the whole thing or [[Your Mind Makes It Real|believing makes it real]]. In particular, the strip was very cagey about the true nature of Hobbes, with evidence both for and against him actually being a sapient, animate being.
* ''[[Candorville]]'' is usually credible enough, allowing for a pretty serious undercurrent to the punchlines in Lemont's life. But every few months, he'll meet someone like a talking scarecrow, a ghost, or himself from the future.
* ''[[Candorville]]'' is usually credible enough, allowing for a pretty serious undercurrent to the punchlines in Lemont's life. But every few months, he'll meet someone like a talking scarecrow, a ghost, or himself from the future.
* A world where one encounters inexplicably sentient plants and animals, mythological creatures who may or may not really exist, buildings that are larger on the inside than the outside, and several young children with unexplained highly-advanced talents and knowledge would probably be considered by many to be a magic realist setting. And that's the world [[Peanuts|Charlie Brown]] wakes up to every day.
* A world where one encounters inexplicably sentient plants and animals, mythological creatures who may or may not really exist, buildings that are larger on the inside than the outside, and several young children with unexplained highly-advanced talents and knowledge would probably be considered by many to be a magic realist setting. And that's the world [[Peanuts|Charlie Brown]] wakes up to every day.

== Professional Wrestling ==

* The Undertaker. He can apparently control lightning and fire, the arena lights always dim when he makes his entrance and then there's the rolling fog. None of the other wrestlers question this or even seem bothered by the fact that they are sharing a locker room with an apparent supernatural being. Except of course there was that brief time when he went around in a biker costume calling himself the American Badass.
** This was later worked into his gimmick as Taker got older and his body couldn't keep up with a rigorous schedule, working (at best) a few months out of the year. It's now explicitly stagecraft; the "power of the Undertaker" is his ability to awe through his mere presence, and being the most [[Badass Grandpa|long-running performer to still look good by his own merits]].
* A more recent example would be the character Winter in TNA. She only appeared in backstage segments with Angelina Love and kept disappearing whenever she looked away. The announcers never mentioned her and apparently only Angelina could see her. Then Angelina accepted her and now she actively competes on the roster.


== Video Games ==
== Video Games ==
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* The game of ''[[The Darkness]]'' is about a mafia hitman who just so happens to become possessed by a millenia-old demon that grants him superpowers. The main focus of the plot is still his quest for vengeance against the entirely mortal don who betrayed him.
* The game of ''[[The Darkness]]'' is about a mafia hitman who just so happens to become possessed by a millenia-old demon that grants him superpowers. The main focus of the plot is still his quest for vengeance against the entirely mortal don who betrayed him.
* ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' follows an ordinary man journeying through a realistic town... which periodically turns to ice and spawns hideous monsters. Exactly what is causing these things to happen is never fully explained (merely implied, and ambiguously so at that).
* ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' follows an ordinary man journeying through a realistic town... which periodically turns to ice and spawns hideous monsters. Exactly what is causing these things to happen is never fully explained (merely implied, and ambiguously so at that).
** Heck, the [[Silent Hill]] series as a whole. There are various explanations, but they're ambiguous, or contradictory, or there are elements in place suggesting that things aren't quite as they seem.
** Heck, the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series as a whole. There are various explanations, but they're ambiguous, or contradictory, or there are elements in place suggesting that things aren't quite as they seem.
*** It's not Magic Realism at all. Regarding Shattered Memories, {{spoiler|None of it happened. It's a metaphor. Cheryl, the protagonist's daughter, is sitting on the couch in the psychiatrist's office. The real protagonist, Harry Mason, died in a car accident some time ago. The player's actions follow a symbolic - and absolutely not literal - [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] of the conflict in Cheryl. The game uses the player's actions during that journey to try to guess the ''player's'' nature, and then tries to tailor that journey to pull a [[Player Punch]]. Whether it succeeds is up to each player.}} Also, the town and setting is clearly not realistic. The town's residents can be counted on one's fingers, despite some pretty big apartment buildings. There's quite a bit of [[Chaos Architecture]] in Shattered Memories (and the rest of the series). As for the others, Silent Hill I and [[Silent Hill Homecoming]] both have endings which could allow the events to have been fictional or a [[Dying Dream]], but if Silent Hill I is a dying dream, then Silent Hill III could not happen. Silent Hill II's, III's, IV's, and Origin's endings all accept that the events in question ''did'' happen, and only the final outcomes could be in doubt (joke endings excluded). They also lack the restraint that Magic Realism requires. Blood splattered trips to a hellish alternate reality populated by things which would make Giger wet himself are ''not'' a feature of [[Magical Realism]].
*** It's not Magic Realism at all. Regarding ''Shattered Memories'', {{spoiler|None of it happened. It's a metaphor. Cheryl, the protagonist's daughter, is sitting on the couch in the psychiatrist's office. The real protagonist, Harry Mason, died in a car accident some time ago. The player's actions follow a symbolic - and absolutely not literal - [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] of the conflict in Cheryl. The game uses the player's actions during that journey to try to guess the ''player's'' nature, and then tries to tailor that journey to pull a [[Player Punch]]. Whether it succeeds is up to each player.}} Also, the town and setting is clearly not realistic. The town's residents can be counted on one's fingers, despite some pretty big apartment buildings. There's quite a bit of [[Chaos Architecture]] in ''Shattered Memories'' (and the rest of the series). As for the others, ''Silent Hill I'' and ''[[Silent Hill Homecoming]]'' both have endings which could allow the events to have been fictional or a [[Dying Dream]], but if ''Silent Hill I'' is a dying dream, then ''Silent Hill III'' could not happen. ''Silent Hill II''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s, ''III''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s, ''IV''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s, and ''Origin''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s endings all accept that the events in question ''did'' happen, and only the final outcomes could be in doubt (joke endings excluded). They also lack the restraint that Magic Realism requires. Blood-splattered trips to a hellish alternate reality populated by things which would make Giger wet himself are ''not'' a feature of [[Magical Realism]].
* ''[[Pathologic]]''. The setting is realistic, the characters are very human, one of the playable characters has [[Lovecraftian Superpower|Lovecraftian Super Powers]]. There are a bunch of medicine men wrapped head to toe in bandages who sell herbs that grow from blood. There are loads of children walking around without parents, and occasionally wearing the dead heads of dogs as masks. [[Nightmare Fuel|Disease clouds attack you. They come in the form of horrendous, symbolic abominations]]. We haven't even discussed the rather meta theater themes...
* ''[[Pathologic]]''. The setting is realistic, the characters are very human, one of the playable characters has [[Lovecraftian Superpower|Lovecraftian Super Powers]]. There are a bunch of medicine men wrapped head to toe in bandages who sell herbs that grow from blood. There are loads of children walking around without parents, and occasionally wearing the dead heads of dogs as masks. [[Nightmare Fuel|Disease clouds attack you. They come in the form of horrendous, symbolic abominations]]. We haven't even discussed the rather meta theater themes...



== Webcomics ==
== Webcomics ==
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== Other ==
== Other ==


* The [[Everything2]] short story, [http://everything2.com/user/Ignis/writeups/How+to+spot+a+powerful+mage?author=Ignis How to spot a powerful mage].
* The ''[[Everything2]]'' short story, [http://everything2.com/user/Ignis/writeups/How+to+spot+a+powerful+mage?author=Ignis How to spot a powerful mage].
* ''The Residents'' ' Bunny Boy series is set in what could loosely be construed as "reality", if it weren't for such things as [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone]], people who might not exist-but on some level do anyways, warped Bible prophecy, and just enough little additions and subtractions from what's "real".
* ''[[The Residents]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> "Bunny Boy" series is set in what could loosely be construed as "reality", if it weren't for such things as [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone]], people who might not exist-but on some level do anyways, warped Bible prophecy, and just enough little additions and subtractions from what's "real".
* Many David Firth works, e.g. ''Roof Tiling'', ''World Within a Sock'', can be described as this.
* Many David Firth works, e.g. ''Roof Tiling'', ''World Within a Sock'', can be described as this.
** Although they can also be described as [[Surreal Horror]].
** Although they can also be described as [[Surreal Horror]].


== Professional Wrestling ==

* The Undertaker. He can apparently control lightning and fire, the arena lights always dim when he makes his entrance and then there's the rolling fog. None of the other wrestlers question this or even seem bothered by the fact that they are sharing a locker room with an apparent supernatural being. Except of course there was that brief time when he went around in a biker costume calling himself the American Badass.
** This was later worked into his gimmick as Taker got older and his body couldn't keep up with a rigorous schedule, working (at best) a few months out of the year. It's now explicitly stagecraft; the "power of the Undertaker" is his ability to awe through his mere presence, and being the most [[Badass Grandpa|long-running performer to still look good by his own merits]].
* A more recent example would be the character Winter in TNA. She only appeared in backstage segments with Angelina Love and kept disappearing whenever she looked away. The announcers never mentioned her and apparently only Angelina could see her. Then Angelina accepted her and now she actively competes on the roster.


{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}