History Main / AndYouThoughtItWasReal

* The 1995 movie ''The Adventures Of Captain Zoom in Outer Space'' likewise has an alien race mistakenly thinking an arrogant 1950s actor is really the heroic space adventurer he plays on TV and whisks him off to fight in their war.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''

** The Ellimist's species was destroyed due to a misunderstanding: one of their favorite pastimes was playing extremely detailed VideoGame/{{Civilization}}-like games, which were part of the data they broadcasted into space. Another species picked up the signal and saw a race of {{Manipulative Bastard}}s who played god with other sentient beings, and destroyed nearly all the Ketrans. Ironically, the Ellimist eventually did play games with other sentients when he had attained godlike power.

* In the children's story ''The Book that Saved the Earth'' some Martians that are planning to invade Earth wind up in a library and end up mistaking a book of nursery rhymes for things that Earthlings have accomplished. Their leader, who looks like an egg, reads Humpty Dumpty and winds up believing that the earthlings know about the invasion and are planning their own invasion of Mars leading to him calling off their invasion and evacuating his people to a planet millions of lightyears away.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' seems to involve a dead secret agent. Then Castle realizes that the victim was just playing a deeply immersive spy game, along with a few of their witnesses [[AndYouThoughtItWasAGame who didn't realize they were dealing with the real police]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had the family go on a cruise. When Bart realizes that the cruise is going to end soon and he'll never have fun like that again, he tries to extend the cruise by passing off a movie about a viral outbreak as a news report. It fools everyone, including celebrity passenger Creator/TreatWilliams who starred in the movie.

* In ''[[Creator/DaveBarry Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys]]'', Dave tells the story of two of his friends who are given the alias of "Wally" and "Lynde" because they were stoned during the story. They were watching TV and the broadcast was interrupted by an news report about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_David Hurricane David]], with the couple slowly realizing that they had no time to get ready even if they could think clearly or had full mobility. Fortunately Wally eventually remembered they were watching a recording made several years back, so the danger posed by the David had passed.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "[[Recap/SonicBoomS1E33EggmanTheAuteur "Eggman The Auteur"]], Sonic stops one of Eggman's robots that is attacking the village early on in the episode, only to find out that it was actually for a film that Eggman is making. Subverted in that it is later revealed by Orbot and Cubot that Eggman was actually using the film as a cover to mine for rare metal in order to make stronger robots. [[spoiler:Only for it to be DoubleSubverted when Eggman reveals that was a ruse too and he was actually tricking Sonic into filming the last part of his movie.]]

** The 2015 movie "Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSpaceHeroes" has the roles flipped: this time, the cast is shooting for a movie and an alien comes to them for help thinking they are superheroes.

** The 2015 movie "Nobita's Space Heroes" has the roles flipped: this time, the cast is shooting for a movie and an alien comes to them for help thinking they are superheroes.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Rules of Engagement" manages to combine this with AndYouThoughtItWasAGame. In the episode, SG-1 stumbles across what appears to be a missing SG team in a firefight with some Jaffa. When they move in to assist, they get shot by their would-be allies, who turn out to be Goa'uld infiltration trainees participating in war games using [[StunGun weapons modified to be non-lethal]]. The opposite trope comes into play when SG-1's [[NotSoFakePropWeapon very real weapons]] are unknowingly mixed into circulation with the fakes, leading to both camps believing their DeadlyGraduation has begun.

* Radio host Radio/NealBoortz in 1988 created an entirely fictitious event for his radio program called "The Great Georgia Cat Chase," or alternatively the "Georgia Cat Chasing Championship" or "Great Neal Boortz Cat Chase." This is a supposed sporting event in which cats were tossed out of airplanes and caught by skydivers, presented complete with "live commentary" and sound effects of angry, mewling cats. He reported that a number of people called in to complain, convinced that it was real.

* ''Film/{{Pixels}}'' revolves around this as the aliens mistake a video game as a declaration of war.

* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'':

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[[folder: Film - Live Action ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

** When the Yeerks first came to Earth, they were horrified to discover that humans not only had [[Series/StarTrek variable-setting laser weapons, but were capable of multiples-of-lightspeed travel in realspace (with recording devices capable of such impossible speeds).]] They quickly figured out it wasn't real, but thought it was for intimidation purposes. It wasn't until they started infesting them that they understood the human need for entertainment.

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[[AC:{{Film}} - Live Action]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/Family Guy'', Mayor Creator/AdamWest watches ''Film/RomancingTheStone'' and sends the entire Quahog police force to rescue the film's heroes, but by the end of the episode, the rescue is called off.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation?Family Guy'', Mayor Creator/AdamWest watches ''Film/RomancingTheStone'' and sends the entire Quahog police force to rescue the film's heroes, but by the end of the episode, the rescue is called off.

While this trope often pops up because of a simple miscommunication it also can turn up in works where there are aliens involved. NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture, right? Well, LawOfConservationOfDetail might explain that, but in this case the aliens literally do not have pop culture. Or any other form of entertainment, because in their culture there is no such thing as fiction. And thus, when they watch something like ''Franchise/StarTrek'' they think we actually have laser weapons and photon cannons.

This trope does '''not''' have anything to do with a convincingly realistic costume or anything of the sort.

* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum 3'': the Lancelot statue that gets alive ran away from the museum to try to find the kingdom of Camelot. When he finds it, it's actually a theatrical play with Creator/HughJackman as King Arthur. Lancelot, knowing nothing about opera, goes onto the stage and talks to "Guinevere" as if she's the real one, which confuses the viewers. When he's told that it's just an opera and not a real thing, Lancelot goes nuts and runs away.

!Examples:

* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum 3'': the Lancelot statue that gets alive ran away from the museum to try to find the kingdom of Camelot. When he finds it, it's actually a theatrical play with HughJackman as King Arthur. Lancelot, knowing nothing about opera, goes onto the stage and talks to "Guinevere" as if she's the real one, which confuses the viewers. When he's told that it's just an opera and not a real thing, Lancelot goes nuts and runs away.

** The Ellimist's species was destroyed due to a misunderstanding: one of their favorite pastimes was playing extremely detailed {{Civilization}}-like games, which were part of the data they broadcasted into space. Another species picked up the signal and saw a race of {{Manipulative Bastard}}s who played god with other sentient beings, and destroyed nearly all the Ketrans. Ironically, the Ellimist eventually did play games with other sentients when he had attained godlike power.

* {{Blackadder}}: In ''Sense and Senility'', the two actors trying to coach Prince George take a break to rehearse their own play, "The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and His Enormously Bosomed Wife" (a philosophical piece). Baldrick overhears them during a scene planning to torture the prince and his servant, thinks it's for real, and the panic spreads to Prince George. Blackadder returns, and gets rid of the actors by confirming that they were traitors, having made the classic mistake of planning their deed by writing it in play format.

* In Undertale, Undyne believes that anime is human history. When Alphys confesses to her that it isn't, she initially laughs it off, but then begins to undergo an existential crisis. You have the option to either reassure her that it is real, or confirm that it isn't.

* On October 30, 1938 the book ''Literature/WarOfTheWorlds'' about an alien invasion was adapted into a series of fake news broadcasts for ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'', which fooled many people into thinking an actual invasion was happening and causing mass panic.[[note]]Although whether the "mass panic" actually happened is disputed.[[/note]]
* In ''[[DaveBarry Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys]] Dave tells the story of two of his friends who are given the alias of "Wally" and "Lynde" because they were stoned during the story. They were watching TV and the broadcast was interrupted by an news report about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_David Hurricane David]], with the couple slowly realizing that they had no time to get ready even if they could think clearly or had full mobility. Fortunately Wally eventually remembered they were watching a recording made several years back, so the danger posed by the David had passed.

While this trope often pops up because of a simple miscommunication it also can turn up in works where there are aliens involved. NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture, right? Well, LawOfConservationOfDetail might explain that, but in this case the aliens literally do not have pop culture. Or any other form of entertainment, because in their culture there is no such thing as fiction. And thus, when they watch something like ''LiveActionTV/StarTrek'' they think we actually have laser weapons and photon cannons.

* In one of his books, DaveBarry mentioned two of his friends who were watching TV while stoned. The broadcast was interrupted by an urgent hurricane warning, with the couple slowly realizing that they had no time to get ready. Fortunately one of them realized/remembered they were watching was a recording made several months back when the hurricane was still a threat.

* On October 30, 1938 the book ''Literature/WarOfTheWorlds'' about an alien invasion was adapted into a series of fake news broadcasts on radio, which fooled many people into thinking an actual invasion was happening and causing mass panic.[[note]]Although whether the "mass panic" actually happened is disputed.[[/note]]