"It was a dream"-fic

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I've seen this crop up a few times on the interwebs, where the "truth" about a given story is that one of the characters is simply dreaming the whole thing up. Normally while comatose or suffering from some kind of mental disorder. Examples include but are probably not limited to Adventure Time and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

I have to ask, what's the point? I get shipping, more or less. We care about characters and think x would pair well with y. I also get "fixing" a story so your favorite character is more important because we all have favorites.

But to posit that all events of a story (as opposed to isolated dream episodes and arcs) are the results of a character's imagination is...pointless because we already know it's not real. Is the delusional/insane character merely a stand-in for the people who write the show? An inability to accept stories with fantastic elements as part of their premise? Can someone explain it to me.

[Tiki Snakes]

I think it's mostly just another meme to be perfectly honest.

[The_Snark]

I suppose I'll start by listing the only example I can recall off the top of my head: the Ash coma theory, which posits that the protagonist of the Pokemon TV show fell into a coma early on, and goes on to explain how all the subsequent characters, events and so on in the show represent aspects of the protagonist's subconscious. I don't know enough about the show to say whether it's a stretch or not, but it's a moderately amusing read.

It can get a little silly. In fact it can get very silly; coming up with coherent explanations for everything is hard, while sloppy ones are easy. But it can be fun if done well. Suddenly, Character A isn't just a person; he represents something about the dreamer. Plot Twist B isn't just a thing that happened, it reflects one of the dreamer's secret fears, or desires, or something they believe about the world. Everything becomes a metaphor. It turns the story from a regular narrative into a in-depth study of a single character.

Another example, I suppose, is the classic Wizard of Oz movie, which recasts Oz as Dorothy's dream of exploring faraway exotic lands.

Is it always worthwhile? No, not necessarily. (For instance, I don't think the Wizard of Oz twist added a whole lot to the story, though it wasn't terrible.) But like I said, it's fun sometimes.

[Tengu_temp]

"It was all just a dream" is a cheap copout. "It was all just a dying/coma dream" is a cheap copout combined with grimderp. It can be done well in some rare cases (even rarer with fanfiction, where Sturgeon's Law applies twice), but usually, it's stupid.

Why do people do this? For dying/coma dreams, like I just hinted with "grimderp", some people think that taking a lighthearted show and tacking on a dark interpretation makes them cool, edgy and mature. Which, of course, usually results in the exact opposite. For normal dreams, I guess they don't want to contradict canon? That's all I got.

[Gettles]

I think "all a dream" is popular with people who don't know what makes good storys good. They know that people talk about endings with a twist, so they associate twits=good story. Then they take and try to apply it to anything they can think of so that it gets a massive twist at the end. "All a dream" is popular because it has been famously used a few times in the past(the fact that it is almost universally criticized is ignored, if not being parodied) and because it being a dream means it requires almost no prior set up to happen, just someone snapping awake.

[Traab]

Another reason it gets used is to explain plot holes. Take Ferris Buellers Day Off. Can anyone here honestly deny that the general reaction of the school to him not being there one day was insanely over the top? Thats why one of the fan theories is, its all in his buddy's head. He basically has this mental image of what it means to be the super popular guy and his delusion is creating this wonderful world, where being popular means if you call in sick the whole world shuts down and worries over you. Of course, the more accurate theory is, its a freaking comedy and being over the top is why its funny, but we dont let little things like logic get in the way of a good theory.

*EDIT* Also, when it is ACTUALLY used, its also sometimes done to walk back a bad choice the author made. Say the author kills off a character and the reader backlash is intense. So he uses some variant of "it was all a dream/it wasnt real" and boom, back to life.

[BWR]

And then you end up with Misery.

Edit: I'm with the crowd that thinks 'it was all a dream' is a bad, overused cop-out.
If the story should turn out to be a dream, there should be some very good hints that it's a dream, or should tell a sort of story that couldn't take place in the waking world of the dreamer. Using it as a twist works the very first time you are exposed to it.

[DigoDragon]

I have to ask, what's the point?

They can make for entertaining "What If?" story plots when done right since it allows the writers a chance to deviate from the usual formula.

[KillianHawkeye]

Go watch the episode "Normal Again" from the 6th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That should give you some perspective on "it was all just a dream" stories.