History Main / OpinionChangingDream

* An episode of ''Series/SmartGuy'' uses this, with a twist: Yvette has been struggling with her college applications, afraid to apply to her dream university Brown for fear of rejection and instead "playing it safe" with a less renowned state college. Then she has a recurring dream in which she marries Marcus's dimwitted friend Moe Tibbs, whom she isn't attracted to at all such that the initial dream is treated as a CatapultNightmare. After several nights of trying to find out why she's having these dreams, she eventually plays along and joins Dream!Moe on their "honeymoon" at a cheap motel room. When Yvette questions Dream!Moe on what their future will be like, Dream!Moe responds that he's content to just coast on by with minimum wage job and his ZanySchemeOfTheWeek, putting in the bare minimum amount of effort. Yvette, horrified that ''this'' is what her future will be like, realizes that because she settled on her choice of college, she settled on love and on life as well, only "choosing" Dream!Moe because he was safe and familiar. Dream!Moe then inspires her to apply to Brown like she had wanted, and when she wakes up she immediately rushes to fill out her application.

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[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* One ''Literature/BerenstainBears'' book centered on [[GreenAesop environmentalism]] had Papa Bear go through one after he decided he didn't need to recycle or plant trees to replace the ones he cut down.

* In one of the ''Literature/ArabianNights'' stories, a princess hates men because she dreamt about a male bird who left his mate to a birdcatcher, to save himself, after she had stayed behind to rescue him. A strange plot device, considering that the princess lives in a world where her father will ''execute'' her for losing her virginity ... it's not as if she needs a dream to have a low opinion of men. But, of course, her hate of men is easily remedied by telling her the truth about the end of that story; the hero (who, for some reason, had the ''same'' dream) tells her that the male bird was killed by a falcon before he could return.

--> '''Eugene''': ''(Bolts up in terror from sleeping)'' Oh, (begins laughing) it was just a dream... Wow that was the worst dream I've had my whole life, that was horrible... Gosh... Phew... [[WorthIt The easy wins are so worth it though]]...

--> '''Eugene''': ''(Bolts up in terror from sleeping)'' *laughes* Oh, it was just a dream... Wow that was the worst dream I've had my whole life, that was horrible... Gosh... [[WorthIt The easy wins are so worth it though]]...

* [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104940/trivia?item=tr0659078 According to IMDb]], Steve Whitmire was incredibly nervous when taking over as Kermit the Frog for ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'' (the first Muppet project since the death of Creator/JimHenson). He felt more confident after having a dream where he met Henson in a hotel lobby and talked about his fears, which Henson assured him would pass.

* Happens in the 1943 Film/CabinInTheSky, where a man who gambles too much has a DreamWithinADream where some angels and devils try to get his soul. As he awakes in real life he throws the dice away and swears to repent and devote his life to going to Church more often.

* This is one possible explanation for Coily in ''Film/ACaseOfSpringFever''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In ''"Bart the Lover"'' Bart's class watches a 1950s educational film which has a young man foolishly wish that zinc didn't exist (?!), which proceeded to ruin his life because he couldn't (a) drive his zinc-less car to pick up his girlfriend for a date; (b) call his girlfriend to postpone their date with his zinc-less telephone; and (c) shoot himself in despair (as even the hammer in the gun was made of zinc). The young man is quick to regret his desire for a world without zinc ("Zinc! Come back!"); fortunately, it turns out to be AllJustADream. Then he happily states to be glad to live in a world of zinc.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' in the episode "Lawnmower Dog", when Rick uses a device to allow them to enter dreams. The original idea was convince Morty's teacher to give him good grades, but things go awry and they end up meeting Scary Terry, a "[[CaptainErsatz legally-safe knockoff]] of [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet an '80s horror character with miniature swords for fingers instead of knives]]". Scary Terry hunts them relentlessly, until he just gets tired and goes home to sleep. They decide to go into ''his'' dreams, where they help him through a nightmare of his own. Terry wakes up thinking they're cool guys and befriends them. He in turn helps them with their original plan with Morty's teacher.

A character is bored or uninterested in learning something. Or he/she is just completely uninterested in a certain topic and doesn't understand why other people value it so much. Or he/she is just a mean person who doesn't understand why his/her behaviour is wrong. In all cases, he/she doesn't care about the topic and even pokes fun at other characters for taking it so seriously.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' in the episode "Lawnmower Dog", when Rick uses a device to allow them to enter dreams. The original idea was convince Morty's teacher to give him good grades, but things go awry and they end up meeting Scary Terry, a "[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet legally-safe knockoff of an '80s horror character with miniature swords for fingers instead of knives]]". Scary Terry hunts them relentlessly, until he just gets tired and goes home to sleep. They decide to go into ''his'' dreams, where they help him through a nightmare of his own. Terry wakes up thinking they're cool guys and befriends them. He in turn helps them with their original plan with Morty's teacher.

** "WesternAnimation/TheBigSnooze" has Elmer Fudd [[NoFourthWall tearing up his Warner Brothers contract]] after being bested by WesternAnimation/BugsBunny one time too many. Bugs invades his dreams and induces [[DerangedAnimation a truly]] [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs bizarre nightmare]] as only Creator/BobClampett can produce, prompting Elmer to get back to work.

** "Downer Ending": After [[GoneHorriblyRight reading "One Trick Pony"]], he disowns and refuses to allow its publication out of fear and self-denial, claiming [[LetsSeeYouDoBetter he can do it better.]] After a night of drug-binging and postponing, he goes into a [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind journey of self-discovery]] [[MoodWhiplash and]] [[FreudianExcuse psychological]] [[AbusiveParents scars]], culminating in the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happiest moment he has ever lived]], [[TearJerker only to have]] [[YankTheDogsChain it yanked away.]] By the time he regains consciousness, not only has he failed to present an alternative to the autobiography and convinced himself that Diane should publish the original, but he has realized [[BrokenBird what an utter wreck he is]] and worse, [[IAmAMonster how bad it]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone can affect him and others.]] [[AintTooProudToBeg He spends the last portion of the episode]] [[JerkassWoobie asking Diane if]] [[TearJerker he is a good person.]]
** "That's Too Much, Man": Once [[RockBottom the Oscar nominations, the groupies and his friends fade out]], [=BoJack=] contacts Sarah Lynn and they enter a six-weeks long bender with every drug imaginable: vicodin, LSD, heroin, etc. In between his blackouts, the constant shifts in scenery and light-headed visions, he has some flashbacks to his reunion with Sarah Lynn in 2007 when [[CareerResurrection he was planning his comeback]] and [[OpportunisticBastard needed a guest star in the first episode]]. Sarah Lynn was [[ThePerilsofBeingTheBest having some problems with stardom]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship wanted to rely in a true friend]]...until she realized he had come for the guest spot, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero leading her to drugs and booze to cope and the state she was at the beginning of the series]]. And [[AesopAmnesia he's repeating the same mistake again]]. Unlike the example above, [=BoJack=] doesn't realize the lesson in time and the bender combined with keeping up with the lower tolerance due to her brief sobriety kills Sarah Lynn [[{{Tearjerker}} just as she was starting to realize what she wanted in life]].

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by RickAndMorty in the episode "Lawnmower Dog", when Rick uses a device to allow them to enter dreams. The original idea was convince Morty's teacher to give him good grades, but things go awry and they end up meeting a "[[NightmareOnElmStreet legally-safe knockoff of an '80s horror character with miniature swords for fingers instead of knives]]." Scary Terry hunts them relentlessly, until he just gets tired and goes home to sleep. They decide to go into ''his'' dreams, where they help him through a nightmare of his own. Terry wakes up thinking they're cool guys and befriends them. He in turn helps them with their original plan with Morty's teacher.

A character is bored or uninterested about learning something. Or he is just completely uninterested in a certain topic and doesn't understand why other people value it so much. Or he is just a mean person who doesn't understand why his behaviour is wrong. In all cases he doesn't care about the topic and even pokes fun at other characters for taking it so seriously.

Then he or she goes to sleep. Before he falls into unconsciousness he might even say: "I wish that certain person/event/product didn't exist." As he starts dreaming [[TalkingInYourDreams some legendary character arrives and provides the person with a lot of background information about the topic]]. Sometimes the dreaming ignoramus is put in the action himself. Or he sees a world where the [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor people or things he wished didn't exist now indeed don't exist, with catastrophic consequences]]. In any case he finally gains knowledge, respect and enthusiasm for a topic he originally knew nothing about.

When the character eventually awakes he makes a HeelFaceTurn. He is glad that it was AllJustADream and finally realizes the importance of learning math, respect for your country, respect for your ancestors, respect for people he formerly threatened or hurt, why a certain product is necessary,... and so on. In most cases he even becomes an vocal supporter of the cause.

This corny plot device was very popular in old educational films and tv series.

* In the Pluto cartoon, Disney/PlutosJudgementDay, MickeyMouse punishes [[PlutoThePup Pluto]] for chasing a little kitten. Pluto then goes to sleep and has a nightmare where he is sent to Hell and tortured by several cats. When he awakes he changes his ways and acts gentle towards his feline friends.

* In [[TheFifties the early 1950s]], Creator/LucilleBall had grave doubts about adapting her popular radio sitcom, ''My Favorite Husband'', for the new and untested medium of television... until she had a dream in which her close friend, Carole Lombard (who had been dead since 1942), told her to "give it a whirl". She did, and you may have heard of the resulting series: ''Series/ILoveLucy''.

** "That's Too Much, Man": Once [[RockBottom the Oscar nominations, the groupies and his friends fade out]], [=BoJack=] contacts Sarah Lynn and they enter a six-weeks long bender with every drug imaginable: vicodin, LSD, heroin, etc. In between his blackouts, the constant shifts in scenery and light-headed visions, he has some flashbacks to his reunion with Sarah Lynn in 2007 when [[CareerRessurrection he was planning his comeback]] and [[OpportunisticBastard needed a guest star in the first episode]]. Sarah Lynn was [[ThePerilsofBeingTheBest having some problems with stardom]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship wanted to rely in a true friend]]...until she realized he had come for the guest spot, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero leading her to drugs and booze to cope and the state she was at the beginning of the series]]. And [[AesopAmnesia he's repeating the same mistake again]]. Unlike the example above, [=BoJack=] doesn't realize the lesson in time and the bender combined with keeping up with the lower tolerance due to her brief sobriety kills Sarah Lynn [[{{Tearjerker}} just as she was starting to realize what she wanted in life]].

** "That's Too Much, Man": Once [[RockBottom the Oscar nominations, the groupies and his friends fade out]], [=BoJack=] contacts Sarah Lynn and they enter a six-weeks long bender with every drug imaginable: vicodin, LSD, heroin, etc. In between his blackouts, the constant shifts in scenery and light-headed visions, he has some flashbacks to his reunion with Sarah Lynn in 2007 when [[CareerRessurection he was planning his comeback]] and [[OpportunisticBastard needed a guest star in the first episode]]. Sarah Lynn was [[ThePerilsofBeingTheBest having some problems with stardom]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship wanted to rely in a true friend]]...until she realized he had come for the guest spot, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero leading her to drugs and booze to cope and the state she was at the beginning of the series]]. And [[AesopAmnesia he's repeating the same mistake again]]. Unlike the example above, [=BoJack=] doesn't realize the lesson in time and the bender combined with keeping up with the lower tolerance due to her brief sobriety kills Sarah Lynn [[{{Tearjerker}} just as she was starting to realize what she wanted in life]].

** "That's Too Much, Man": Once the Oscar nominations, the groupies and his friends fade out, [=BoJack=] contacts Sarah Lynn and they enter a six-weeks long bender with every drug imaginable: vicodin, LSD, heroin, etc. In between his blackouts, the constant shifts in scenery and light-headed visions, he has some flashbacks to his reunion with Sarah Lynn in 2007 when he was planning his comeback and needed a guest star in the first episode

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'':Whenever [=BoJack=] goes on one of his benders, expect this to happen:

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* Happens in the 1943 Film/CabinInTheSky, where a man who gambles too much has a DreamWithinADream where some angels and devils try to get his soul. As he awakes in real life he throws the dice away and swears to repent and devote his life to going to Church more often.

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* This is the concept of the movie ''Film/{{Inception}}'', including the title, which refers to the act of specifically engineering an OpinionChangingDream for another person without them realizing it.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In the episode ''[[Recap/TheBradyBunchS4E17BobbysHero Bobbys Hero]]'' Bobby becomes so fascinated with UsefulNotes/JesseJames that he brings a toy gun to school and makes his teachers and parents very concerned. Eventually an OpinionChangingDream in which he imagines himself part of James' gang makes him change his mind, especially when James murders his entire family in cold blood.