Or Was It a Dream?: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, at the end of a [[Dream Sequence]] or an [[All Just a Dream]] episode, after the character in question has woken up and demonstrated any [[An Aesop|Aesop]] that the dream might have been communicating, there's some small hint that it wasn't a dream after all, even though it quite obviously was... right?

Don't ask for advice; you're bound to get [[You Imagined It]].

 

 

[[Sub-Trope]] of [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]], in that the mundane explanation has to be dreaming.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* The climactic scene in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' wasn't a dream, but the title character is convinced it was one. 'Snow Mountain Syndrome' ends with Haruhi convinced all the weirdness was essentially a waking dream. The possibility of this is explored (and dismissed) as a potential ending for the student movie.

* The ''[[Pokémon]] Mystery Dungeon'' manga ended with Ginji, who had been turned into a Torchic, waking up as a human again. He thinks it was a dream but he soon finds the badge that he received in the Pokémon world. The one problem with this idea is that the beginning of the story shows Ginji searching for his hidden birthday present, which he never found... the present may be the badge, making the adventure [[All Just a Dream]] after all.

* Used as a repeated narrative device in the Satoshi Kon film ''[[Perfect Blue]]''.

* ''[[Miyuki-chan in Wonderland]]''

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' uses this trope in the Saikoroshi-hen chapter.

* Shinji after defeating Sachiel in the manga adaptation of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.

* In the ending of [[Eureka 7]] movie, its debatable on whether Renton and Eureka survived and their whereabouts. Is it really their homeland Warsaw? or in Renton's dream world? or even an afterlife world? You decide.

 

* [[Wolverine]] tracks down the studios set up by the Weapon X program to stage his [[Fake Memories]], but one key period, when he shared a cabin with Silver Fox, does not have a corresponding set, giving him hope that his happy recollections of that time actually happened. When he encounters Silver Fox again, she shows no recollection of the cabin, but after her death, Logan is told the location of the real cabin and allowed to bury her there.

* The ''[[Batman]]: Legends of the Dark Knight'' story "Masks" features Batman apparently [[Cuckoo Nest|in an insane asylum]], having imagined all his adventures after years of homelessness when his parents' debts left him penniless. It turns out that it was all a [[Gaslighting|gaslight]] by a psychologist who blamed Bats for his criminal father killing his mom in a murder/suicide. The second to the last page, of course, throws the entire [[The DCU|DC Universe]] into doubt.

* Inverted in the "Quantum Quest" story arc in ''[[Captain Atom]]'': there is plenty of evidence in the text to support the supposition that Cap's experience of creating, misgoverning, and ultimately destroying his own universe were just a fever dream brought on by Shadowstorm's attack, but that idea is never considered in the story itself.

* [http://s1.subirimagenes.com/otros/464973qu-mala-es-la-gente.jpg This strip] from [[Quino]]. Slightly [[NSFW]].

 

== Fan Works ==

 

== Films ==

* [[Inception]] is built around this trope.

* This trope is a key part of [[Terry Gilliam]]'s "Trilogy of the Imagination", for self-evident reasons, as they are built specifically around Gilliam's belief in the power of imagination.

** ''[[Brazil (film)|Brazil]]'' is the story of an adult dreamer, and reverses the trope. At the end, Sam is [[Strapped to An Operating Table]], about to be tortured by an acquaintance, an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] who knows ''very well that he doesn't know anything'', but is rescued by [[La Résistance]] [[Just in Time]]. He reunites with his [[Love Interest]] and they retire to the countryside... {{spoiler|only to reveal that he hasn't physically escaped at all. Throughout the movie, he used his powerful imagination as his own personal [[Lotus Eater Machine]] for periodic escapes from the bureaucratic [[Crapsack World]] he was born into, and knowing that his Love Interest is dead and no one is coming to save him, he enters his fantasy world one last time and locks himself in it, escaping his tormentors forever. They know it, and don't even bother to unstrap him, they just leave his body to die and rot as he wistfully sings Ary Barroso's "Brazil".}}

** ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]'' is the story of an old dreamer, and it takes the trope to new levels. Throughout the movie, the city has been besieged, with cannon-fire falling like rain and a sense of doom in the air. Its titular Baron finishes his [[Refuge in Audacity|ridiculous]] yet [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilarious]] and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|moving]] yarn by stating that though he died, [[Death Is Cheap]] to him and "everyone who had a talent for it lived [[Happily Ever After]]." He then {{spoiler|mounts his horse and rides out of the city, which ''is as it had never been attacked''. The townspeople are in awe, but his most devoted listener, Sally, states in wonder that, "It wasn't just a story, was it?". The Baron waves to them as he [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|vanishes as if he was never there]].}}

* ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]'' also does something similar. The [[Framing Device]] is a girl being told a story by her grandmother. The grandmother is in fact {{spoiler|[[Character Title|Edward]]'s [[Love Interest]], who states that before Edward's adventures, it never snowed. And it now does with regularity. It is in fact Edward carving snow sculptures in her memory, the ice flakes blowing over the town.}}

* Early storyboards for ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' have the Ruby Slippers appear under the bed at the end.

* Likewise, the coda for ''[[Return to Oz]]'' has the scene where Dorothy touches her new bedroom's mirror, only to have a vision of Ozma and Billina manifest itself.

* ''[[Total Recall]]'' plays with this extensively, as the main character wants a virtual reality experience of being a spy, then is chased by spies because he accessed protected memories in his head, then is told he's really in a virtual reality experience and if he doesn't snap out he'll be lobotomized, then decides he isn't, and then at the end is told {{spoiler|to kiss the woman he saw in case he really is in a dream, and the movie fades to white, leaving us to wonder if it was a dream (and he was lobotomized) or not. Another possible interpretation is that it might be both a dream and NOT lobotomized -- after the last scene, he wakes up in the chair, and then is asked, "Did you like your virtual vacation? Were you the super agent you dreamed of being?"}}.

* Invoked early on to establish the conflict in every single [[Nightmare On Elm Street]] movie.

* Although Neverland is revealed to be part of a dream Wendy Darling had at the end of Disney's ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]'', at the end of the film's sequel, Wendy (now an adult) actually ends up discovering the fact that Peter Pan (who recently befriended Wendy's daughter) is actually real after all!

 

== Literature ==

** In ''Straight Silver'', completely inverted: Gaunt and Beltayn meet a woman in [[Lost Woods|the woods]] and borrow a car. When they go to return it, they find that not only the car but its keys have vanished. {{spoiler|Gaunt later learns that her name was that of a woman who had served Saint Sabbat and had died centuries ago.}}

* ''[[The Frost-Giant's Daughter|The Frost Giants Daughter]]'' by Robert E. Howard.

* ''The Saint'' story ''The Darker Drink'' plays with this on multiple levels. A man named Big Bill Holbrook claims to serve as the dream avatar of Andrew Faulk of Glendale, California. He encounters the Saint in the High Sierras. Holbrook claims that the personages from a recurring dream Faulk had have started to manifest in the waking world. Templar takes a jewel off of Holbrook. When thugs searching for Holbrook open fire on Templar, he loses consciousness. When he awakens later, he has no injuries, but still feels the jewel he took from Holbrook in his pocket. When he searches for Andrew Faulk in Glendale, he discovers that Faulk died after slipping into a coma. Templar intends to show Faulk's widow the jewel from Holbrook, but it has disappeared from his pocket.

* Near the end of [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u2A4BNkN--oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Farther+up+and+farther+in&source=bl&ots=vquxYMuHp0&sig=EJZlJ0aR8ORmi5v6Eu7znJsCHOc&hl=en&ei=IC2rTLqtMYKUjAf33_jsBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false Farther Up and Farther In] the hero wakes up in hospital thinking that all the weird stuff that happened before was a near-death hallucination. Until he opens his computer and finds it holds the story he wrote in Asgard at the start of Part 3...

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s "The Shadow Kingdom", [[Kull]] tetters on the verge of believing this in the final scene, except when he sees Brule, which prevents him.

** Also the flashback of Hurley at the mental institution involving Libby in season 2. Whether this was real or imaginary has yet to be resolved.

* One episode of ''[[The Young Ones]]'' ended with Neil about to get beaten up, then waking up and saying to camera "Oh. It was all just a dream." The credits roll over shots of him getting out of bed, but when they end he wakes up again, about to get his face smashed in. He only dreamed about it being only a dream.

* ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'' episode "The Night of the Man-Eating House". Near the beginning, the characters discover and approach the title house. After a series of terrifying events, at the end the characters wake up and discover that the horrific events in the house were [[All Just a Dream|all just a nightmare]]. In the last scene, they find themselves approaching the house again.

* One of the last episodes of ''[[Married... with Children]]'' had Al Bundy selling his soul to Lucifer. After three centuries spent in Hell, Al asks Lucifer if there is a way to get his soul back, and the Lucifer, among other things, gives him a chocolate bar. After waking up and realizing it was all a dream, Al realizes he still has the chocolate bar in his pocket.

* This occurs at the end of the ''[[Radio Active]]'' episode "Daydreams".

* One particularly odd episode of [[CSI: Miami]] has Calleigh critically injured during a case. She finds herself a walking spirit interacting with the ghost of the victim while her physical body fights for its life in a hospital. In this state, she finds a critical clue just as she is brought back to consciousness. She wakes up thinking of a hint that leads to the clue, but no memory of how she got it. Horatio Caine figures that she saw it before she was injured, and her subconscious brought it to the forefront while she was in a coma. And that would be the accepted explanation... If the vic's ghost hadn't appeared one more time (unseen by anyone) at the end of the episode...

** Troy [[Completely Missing the Point|doesn't understand the relevance]] only wondering why Chang would tell ''him'' about it despite {{spoiler|the sounds of the zombies attacking at the end}}.

* The ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' episode "And Then There Was Shawn" turned out to be an extended dream Shawn was having of some maniac in a skull mask killing everyone in detention to make sure Corey and Topanga stayed together. The killer was revealed to be Shawn... by Shawn. After he wakes up and everyone leaves Mr. Feeny's classroom... the killer emerges from behind the computer stand and departs the room.

{{quote|Blood on my pillow. // Blood on my skin.

Am I going mad // Or was this a dream? }}

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

 

 

* In one episode of ''[[The Boondocks]]'', Huey is followed by someone who claims to be a secret agent hired by the government to tail him (later named "The White Shadow" by Huey). Since no one else can see him and he seems to disappear inexplicably, it suggests that Huey is fantasizing about it all, although the show intentionally leaves it ambiguous.

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode, "Thank God It's Doomsday", Homer wonders if visiting the afterlife was all a dream. When Homer sees that God had granted him his wish to see Moe's Tavern restored (whereas earlier in the episode it had been converted into a sushi bar), he takes what happened as fact.

** Parodied in "Tennis the Menace." Homer has a nightmare that [[Oedipus Complex|Bart has murdered him and married Marge]]. After waking up, Homer sees a picture of Bart and fearfully says, "That's the guy from my dream."

* Played with in a ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode where Mrs. Puff ends in jail after Spongebob causes havoc in a boat.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Dream Tropes]]

[[Category:Ending Tropes]]

[[Category:Twist Ending]]