fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3206 ]

[ SECRET POST #3206 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3206 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 032 secrets from Secret Submission Post #458.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I actually don't get the hate for this one. People tend to argue that it makes the whole story pointless but I think that depends on the character development and how the dreaming character reacts to the dream. If the dream works as a kind of metaphorical epiphany or something I think it can work.

Also as long as it's entertaining I really don't care if it was real to the character or not, but that's a much more personal thing.

My complaint is that the framing device tends to be more interesting than the actual problem. Lovecraftian monster wants a human sacrifice in order to escape its prison? No, it's just a kid with self-esteem issues slowly dying of paint fumes. (I did not make that example up.)

"Lovecraftian monster wants a human sacrifice in order to escape its prison? No, it's just a kid with self-esteem issues slowly dying of paint fumes"

all of my wat

I'm not sure whether I should spoil the title, but it actually got great reviews. For most of the game, you're investigating bloody deaths and trying to find and protect the primary target of the monster's rage, and then it turns out there was no monster, none of the deaths ever happened, and the kid imagined it all while dying because he wrongly thinks his family would be happier without him. I was pretty annoyed.

+1 It's a twist that can indeed be a total weak cop-out, but I think there are also ways to do it right.

I've personally never seen it done well.
I think it also has to do with the fact that by and large, most people are not going to give tons of credence to a dream, and they won't let it really /change their life/ or anything. You wake up and go "wow, that was a weird dream" and move on.

I was thinking that when I wrote my comment but really how many things in fiction are significant that would be completely forgotten in real life? Why have higher standards for this one?

Hmm. You raise an interesting point.
I think it's that for most other insignificant things that are presented as very important in fiction, the story takes the time to convince you that this thing is actually meaningful to the character.
But typically the "it was a dream" is a twist that comes at the end. We just went through a whole process with the character, and then they wake up and yawn and that's it. You don't get the feeling of gravity or the story going anywhere with it.
Besides, in general when this twist comes, it doesn't actually improve or add much to the story. It's a copout of a mediocre ending, and its only purpose is to be a twist. Perhaps one in a thousand manage to make it be a meaningful twist (Alice in Wonderland? but the whole story there is dreamlike in general).

I can agree with the general principle that a twist should offer more than simply being a twist.

Part of this goes back to me being weird. I find it incredibly easy to ignore parts of a story that I don't like (to the point where sometimes I honestly forget about things that I wouldn't like if I remembered they were there) so if that happens then I just ignore the part where they woke up and enjoy the rest of the story for its own sake. The tacked on ending really doesn't diminish the rest of it for me.

That was awesome.

Hmm, so you mean more like A Christmas Carol, less St. Elsewhere.

I agree to some extent, but ultimately think that the dream-induced epiphany works better when it doesn't come as a twist (as per the original comment) and the audience is aware or at least has some inkling that the story is not operating on its normal wavelength.

Yeah I can agree with that. I'm trying to intellectualize it because I'm finding the topic interesting, but really it comes down to the fact that this twist bothers other people on a level that it just doesn't for me.

Actually my reaction the last time I came across a movie with that twist ending was to laugh and think "other people would hate that".

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #3206 ]

Re: Inspired by #7

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Hey, what about the end of Newhart?

Re: Inspired by #7

Re: Inspired by #7