Why do we care if it was a dream?

mrbigchin

mrbigchin

We've all seen this story before. We go through an compelling adventure with these characters, and at the end they wake up. It was all a dream. We stand up in our seats and we scream FUCK YOU!! THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME!!
But why? Why do we care that it was a dream? It's a movie, we already know that it's not real. Yet we feel like we were basically lied to. For example: at the end of Inception when, SPOLIER: we don't see the top fall over. I instantly told myself that it did fall over, just so that I could care about this story. But why do we do this?
 
We don't care. Simple as.

Inception is a clever exception because the final shot is designed to leave doubt in your mind (does it wobble?) but other things, like the dream in Dallas, are very much 'I don't care anymore' inducing...
 
Wombat said:
The vast majority of the time, "it was all a dream" is used as a copout rather than being an important element in the story.
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What he said.

Also, I agree with Nick.
The closing shot of
"Inception" doesn't really fit this category,
because it's still in question. Besides, even if the top continues to spin, that doesn't mean the entire movie was just a dream, but merely the final scene.
 
"It was only a dream" used to bother me a lot. And sometimes still does. However, I've come to understand that the journey is more important than the destination (love and study of folklore). Just because something wasn't real, doesn't mean that the characters aren't changed by it, and I think a good story is about the characters, not the action. Furthermore, like papertwin said, we exist, and we experienced the story, "real" or not. It's experience of seeing it that counts. To quote:

Harry: Is this all in my head?
Dumbledore: Of course its all in your head; but why should that mean its not real?
 
How about Total Recall....they dont even explain that much....and Barton Fink thats a real mind trip there!....i dont get pissed, but sometime it makes my head hurt thinking if it was real or not.
 
Psychosis Media said:
How about Total Recall....they dont even explain that much....
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Wait, what? The last time I saw it, I was in my teens, so maybe I missed a subtlety, but I saw it as rather straight-forward
(the only fake memories were those of his "normal" life, and that he really was a special agent who discovered an ancient alien civilization and released an oxygenated atmosphere on Mars)
.
 
Waking Life is another perfect example of a good movie where it was all a dream. It's not a copout, it's incredibly thematically important to the work.
 
mrbigchin said:
We've all seen this story before. We go through an compelling adventure with these characters, and at the end they wake up. It was all a dream. We stand up in our seats and we scream FUCK YOU!! THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME!!
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I agree... The worst case scenario...

"But why? Why do we care that it was a dream"?!

Because...

Film is not a copy-paste-machine of life... Film is like... like... :)
 
kinglis said:
I agree... The worst case scenario...

"But why? Why do we care that it was a dream"?!

Because...

Film is not a copy-paste-machine of life... Film is like... like... :)
Click to expand...

See that's what I mean. It's this impossible to answer question. It is, simply because it is.
 
The "it's all a dream" ending deprives us of a satisfying, or at least "rational" explanation. We want resolution at the end of our stories - the guy gets the girl, the good guys win and other happy endings; or the girl dumps the guy but that's the only good thing that happens, the hero sticks by his principles and is punished for it, the protagonist dies, etc. for the unhappy but at least "real life" endings. Even the good films with ambiguous endings leave us with questions we must ask ourselves and debate at the water cooler.
 
Cracker Funk said:
Wait, what? The last time I saw it, I was in my teens, so maybe I missed a subtlety, but I saw it as rather straight-forward
(the only fake memories were those of his "normal" life, and that he really was a special agent who discovered an ancient alien civilization and released an oxygenated atmosphere on Mars)
.
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ok here are the hints.. spoiler:
(when he is at Recall they mention a 2 headed dragon and they were telling quadw "they just found artifacts on mars" the last image on the monitor is the ruins of the thermal heaters. Quade ends up there in the end...Also Melina is on the screen as he is giving the details on the type of woman he likes.

On the other hand the nurse is trying to tell the Recall salesman that the memory implant has not been started. Is that the start of his vacation or is it the real thing..)
There are other examples but rewatch the movie. Its not so cut and dry
 
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mrbigchin said:
We've all seen this story before. We go through an compelling adventure with these characters, and at the end they wake up. It was all a dream. We stand up in our seats and we scream FUCK YOU!! THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME!!
But why? Why do we care that it was a dream? It's a movie, we already know that it's not real. Yet we feel like we were basically lied to. For example: at the end of Inception when, SPOLIER: we don't see the top fall over. I instantly told myself that it did fall over, just so that I could care about this story. But why do we do this?
Click to expand...

We care because we aren't stupid. We've seen this cheap-trick so many times, it's become cliche.
 
Stay is another example of an "it was all a dream," although that premise is somewhat obvious throughout the movie. In that case, it didn't matter for me because the dream-setting perfectly fit the protagonist's broken mind and his perceptions of reality.
 
It worked in Fight Club.


Well, actually, that wasn't a dream so much as it was psychosis, but an interesting take nonetheless.


-- spinner :cool:
 
spinner said:
It worked in Fight Club.


Well, actually, that wasn't a dream so much as it was psychosis, but an interesting take nonetheless.


-- spinner :cool:
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Yeah, that's one sort of example where it didn't bother me either. Maybe because it doesn't leave us feeling unsatisfied or like it was a cop-out. I think it kinda maybe sorta made the story richer, actually, more satisfying, and fun. Because it's kinda fun when the truth comes out, and then you're sitting there and, like you're supposed to be doing, I'm sure, you're hurriedly thinking back on the whole journey and it's pretty amusing and compelling. It seemed to fit.

I think the ending of Inception is clever, but I don't know if I'm on board in liking it all that much. I don't think there is much ambiguity. The damn thing does not stop spinning in a clearly unnatural way. I think it's very much all about being a dream within a dream within a dream adinfinitum. Which is okay and interesting. But is it satisfying? Well, maybe.

So what about The Wizard of Oz?
 
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