History Main / OpinionChangingDream

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' featured this plot with Binky. Binky regularly does good deeds because he knows they're the right thing to do. He told a teacher to stop his friend from doing a dangerous stunt, [[BeingGoodSucks causing his friend to get detention and hate him, and doing so made him miss the wrestling special he wanted to watch]]. He resolved to stop doing good deeds until he had a dream where his favorite wrestler told Binky that doing good deeds was the best thing he ever did and the world would be a much worse place if he didn't do them.

* At one point in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', Reinhard von Lohengramm of the Galactic Empire contemplates grinding his rival and WorthyOpponent Yang Wen-li's battlefleet down via attrition with his overwhelming strength, but a visitation by [[spoiler:his dead friend Sigfried Kircheis]] convinces him to offer a cease-fire instead.

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 behavior 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.

Then he or she goes to sleep. Before he/she falls into unconsciousness, they might even say: "I wish that certain person/event/product didn't exist." As he/she starts dreaming, [[TalkingInYourDreams some legendary character arrives and provides the person with a lot of background information about the topic]]. Sometimes the dreaming ignoramus has put in the action him/herself. Or he/she 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 or she finally gains knowledge, respect and enthusiasm for a topic he/she originally knew nothing about.

When the character eventually awakes, if they were supposed to be the antagonist, he/she makes a HeelFaceTurn. He/she is glad that it was AllJustADream and finally realizes the importance of learning math, respect for your country, [[ThickerThanWater respect for your ancestors]], respect for people he/she formerly threatened or hurt, why a certain product is necessary,... and so on. In most cases, he/she even becomes a vocal supporter of the cause.

This plot device (which some audiences may consider corny if it's not done well) was very popular in old educational films and tv series.

* The''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' episode "Time for Everything" centers around a conflict between Dongwa and his father, Baba. They both come from a family of cats that have primarily been scribes, but Dongwa is more interested in practicing kung fu than in doing his "scrolls" homework. When Dongwa coaxes his sister Sagwa into doing his work for him, Baba finds out and scolds them. But when Baba goes to bed, he has a nightmare that flashes back to ''his'' younger days, when he wanted to play outside but his grandfather insisted on him doing his scrolls. The next morning, partially due to this, Baba and Dongwa are able to reach a compromise: writing is still an important tradition, but Baba will give Dongwa less scrolls to do so Dongwa doesn't have to think of it as work, and Dongwa can use the additional spare time to practice kung fu.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' centers around a conflict between Dongwa and his father, Baba. They both come from a family of cats that have primarily been scribes, but Dongwa is more interested in practicing kung fu than in doing his "scrolls" homework. When Dongwa coaxes his sister Sagwa into doing his work for him, Baba finds out and scolds them. But when Baba goes to bed, he has a nightmare that flashes back to ''his'' younger days, when he wanted to play outside but his grandfather insisted on him doing his scrolls. The next morning, partially due to this, Baba and Dongwa are able to reach a compromise: writing is still an important tradition, but Baba will give Dongwa less scrolls to do so Dongwa doesn't have to think of it as work, and Dongwa can use the additional spare time to practice kung fu.

** In "Hillennium", Hank gets swept up with the fears of the {{Y2K}} bug and is terrified of what the TurnOfTheMillennium will bring, and when he puts some varnish on Peggy's grandfather clock, the smells of it combined with lack of ventilation in the garage make Hank fall unconscious. He has a dream where he's a mole in a a game of Whack-A-Mole, with several moles (including a version of Peggy). Hank is initially fearful of getting whacked, with mole Bobby de-aging back to a baby and making a fort of toilet paper. It's not until he talks to a mole version of legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry that he should stop fearing getting whacked and enjoy the moments when he pops out and doesn't get whacked. When Hank recovers, he then learns that he shouldn't be afraid of what the future will bring.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Trans-Fascism", Hank drives a lunch truck serving then-illegal trans-fat foods. At first he sees himself as a patriot for disobeying an unjust law. A dream featuring George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Tom Landry (on Landry's B-17 during World War II) in which they express their disapproval of Hank's actions gives Hank the strength to tell Buck that he wants out.

* 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.

* On an earlier ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' stories, ComicBook/{{Robin}} (that time being Dick Grayson), was getting too disobedient with Batman that the latter scolded him that his son would end up disobedient like him. Robin ended up having a dream of getting married, having a son, inheriting the Batman costume while his son inherited his Robin costume, but the son was also disobedient like him, but this time with fatal results of trapping him ''and'' his son in a missile heading towards explosion, death was inescapable. When Robin actually woke up, he became more obedient with Batman's instructions. [[spoiler:In hindsight, it became more tragic that [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily disobedience was what caused the second Robin to horribly die]], he did not receive similar opinion-changing dream.]]

** When Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant before they are even married, he plans to quietly break things off with her, [[note]] During this period in time, a woman becoming pregnant out of wedlock could result in her getting executed if he willed it, so this is considered a merciful act.[[/note]] but then an angel comes to him in a dream, telling him to go ahead an marry her anyway, saying she is pregnant with the Son of God.

* Act II of ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' ends with Elder Price having a "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream", complete with a song of the same name. Price was content to just leave Elder Cunningham alone in Uganda, but Price realizes through the dream that he's done something terrible in the result. That, and he pissed off Jesus at the same time. So Price tries to go back and reconcile things with Cunningham.

* In ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', after Tevye decides to cancel the ArrangedMarriage between his daughter Tzeitel and the elderly drunk Lazar Wolfe, he realizes that his wife will not accept the decision without some spiritual reason underlying it, so he pretends to have a dream in which he is confronted by the vengeful ghost of Lazar's late wife, who threatens to haunt and kill Tzeitel if the marriage goes forward.

* An odd example from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet:'' in one episode, Wheeler opines that people shouldn't have more kids than they can afford, and the other Planeteers yell at him for being insensitive. Then he goes to sleep and dreams that he and Linka are married with a lot of kids. He wakes up with the moral that [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop large families are miserable and bad for the environment]], and it's ''framed'' as this trope...except that the writers apparently forgot that ''that was his opinion to begin with.'' It's perhaps the best example of how Wheeler is always treated as wrong, even when espousing the show's own viewpoint.

Compare DreamingTheTruth.

* A few episodes of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' involved elaborate dream sequences wherein one of the castaways would grab the JerkassBall, be rude to their friends, then fall asleep and see the error of their ways.

* ''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 Opinion-Changing Dream in which he imagines himself part of James' gang makes him change his mind, especially when James murders his entire family in cold blood.

* Corey from ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' is initially flippant and dismissive of his black history month assignment. He's motivated to take it more seriously after meeting various African American trailblazers and pioneers in a dream. Realizing that their struggles and achievements are important and need to be remembered.

* In ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'', during the scene when the gamblers are attending the revival at the Save-A-Soul mission because Sky won a bet, Nicely-Nicely Johnson recounts a dream he had that turned him from his wild gambling ways, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat". (Clip from the 2011 Broadway revival is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bnzSSPP4mGE#t=0 here]]; the film version (performed by Stubby Kaye) is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCfGjUfXUIE here]].) The trope is subverted, in that Nicely didn't change his ways and may not (probably didn't, in fact) even have such a dream at all.

* Mr. Slowy's nightmare about [[spoiler:Wilie become a clone of Wolffy]] in the beginning would lead to ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' ''Happy, Happy, Bang, Bang!'' episode 30 and he decide to expel Wilie from Goat School. However, this doesn't last long, and a peace agreement between goats and Wolffy were signed in order to let Wilie continue to study on Goat School.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "The Other Bin of Scrooge [=McDuck=]!", Lena ends up falling under the spell of a magic dream catcher that makes her witness her worst nightmare (which ends with her accidentally vaporizing her best friend) and it ultimately helps her commit to the HeelFaceTurn that she had been on the edge of for the whole season. [[spoiler:It's just too bad that [[FamilialBodySnacher Magica takes over her body immediately afterwards]].]]

* Invoked in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Obsoletely Fabulous." Bender escapes before he can receive an upgrade that will make him love the new model of JobStealingRobot and goes on a journey that [[spoiler:ends with him learning to love the new robots on his own. [[AllJustADream Then he wakes up]] and discovers that he received the upgrade after all, with the whole story being the way his consciousness processed it.]]

* The children's book ''JustADream'', a classic [[GreenAesop Green Aesop]], is entirely based on this idea. As in the above example, the main character is uninterested in environmentalism until he has a series of dreams showing what the world might be like if no one took care of the earth.

* The children's book ''Literature/JustADream'', a classic [[GreenAesop Green Aesop]], is entirely based on this idea. As in the above example, the main character is uninterested in environmentalism until he has a series of dreams showing what the world might be like if no one took care of the earth.

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* A few days after firing Kyle in the prologue to ''VideoGame/LastWindow'', Ed has a bizarre dream in which he found Kyle dead by the road. He decides not to take his chances and agrees to rehire Kyle if he can manage to prove himself.

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--> '''Eugene''': ''(Awakes in terror)'' 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]]...

* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/Heavenly Puss" shows Tom dying and going to Heaven. There he is told that he should go to Hell, but if he can make Jerry sign a contract of forgiveness he may enter Heaven. Tom goes through great lengths to do so, but in the end he fails and is cooked in Hell. Then it turns out it was AllJustADream and he hugs Jerry to become friends again.

* In the Pluto cartoon, Disney/PlutosJudgementDay, WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse punishes [[WesternAnimation/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.

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* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "Heavenly Puss" shows Tom dying and going to Heaven. There he is told that he should go to Hell, but if he can make Jerry sign a contract of forgiveness he may enter Heaven. Tom goes through great lengths to do so, but in the end he fails and is cooked in Hell. Then it turns out it was AllJustADream and he hugs Jerry to become friends again.

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