History Main / TragicDream

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Buddy Pine wanted to be a superhero. Unfortunately, he never managed it. He even gained some abilities, but became a SuperLoser. [[StartOfDarkness The results weren't pretty]].

** Mad Hatter developed mind control technology only to be with his crush, Alice. But as Batman notices, she is nothing but a doll. Mad Hatter doesn't take that revelation well.
** Mr. Freeze keeps his wife Nora in cryogenic stasis until he can find a cure for her illness. He does eventually succeed, but his own powers cause him to deteriorate until he's nothing but a head in an artifical body, and he can't bring himself to return to her in this condition. This DespairEventHorizon makes him even crueler than before, and he attempts to freeze all of Gotham, only to be stopped by Batman and Batgirl. He finally redeems himself in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', [[RedemptionEqualsDeath but at a great cost]].

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': Being a kind of WarEpic, there are some dreams that never quite work out. For example...

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': Being a kind of War Epic, there are some dreams that never quite work out. For example...
** Charles Vi Britannia was scarred in his youth by the chaos of a succession crisis. After being mentored in leadership by Megatron, he had a new dream to end all wars through [[spoiler: an AssimulationPlot to unite all minds and "kill God."]] Unfortunately, to achieve this goal, Charles decided to declare war on the whole world, and turned his family into mere assets in his drive to succeed. And once his EvilMentor found out about this plan, he retaliated for his treachery by [[spoiler: [[LifesWorkRuined destroying his home, his empire and his life]]]].

* ''film/catchmeifyoucan'': Frank Jr thought if he just kept working hard and playing the system to his fiddle, he'd be able to rebuild his family life and live the high life that they deserve. Unfortunately, for all his swindling and smooth playing, eventually 2 great factors caught up to him: The Law of the FBI eventually caught wise to him, and [[spoiler: his father died suddenly]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' revolves around Mike's dream of becoming a Scarer. [[ForegoneConclusion It's a prequel]], [[LateArrivalSpoiler and he doesn't.]] He's just not scary, but on a more uplifting note, his skill sets and knowledge allows him to be treated like an equal to the Scarers. Still, the [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc other movie]] shows [[spoiler:he excels when the focus is switched to making kids laugh]], so there's that.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'': Railroad Tycoon Morton desperately wishes to see his railway reach the Pacific Ocean before the tuberculosis that has crippled him fully claims his lungs and his life, so much so that he enlists the aid of a monster like Frank to 'clear the track' and eliminate any problems they find in the way (thus jump-starting the plot). Frank makes some grim comments about the progression of Morton's disease as they've crossed the country, and given Morton's pitiably feeble state it seems doubtful he'd ever make it to the ocean [[spoiler:even if he weren't ultimately killed in a shootout at the end.]]

* ''Film/RequiemForADream'' - the title alone makes this abundantly clear. Harry and his girlfriend Marion dream of opening a garment store for which she will be chief designer, their friend Tyrone dreams of leaving the Brooklyn ghetto, and Harry's mother Sara dreams of making a glamorous appearance on a TV game show-cum-infomercial. Unfortunately, their methods of achieving these dreams involve illegal drugs; Harry and Tyrone buy a large shipment of drugs to sell and fund their dreams, but most of it goes into their and Marion's arms, noses, and lungs, while Sara tries to lose weight with the help of diet pills that are strongly implied to be methamphetamines. The second and third acts of the film see their addictions drag them away from their dreams into inescapable nightmares ([[spoiler:prison for Tyrone, arm amputation for Harry, prostitution for Marion, catatonia for Sara]]).
* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Clu's ultimate objective is to turn he Grid into the "perfect" system, which was a directive given to him by Kevin Flynn. Unfortunately, Kevin did not realize at the time that true perfection is unattainable, and that Clu's goal was ultimately doomed to failure. Clu's inability to create the "perfect" system eventually drove him to betray Kevin and to turn the Grid into a brutal dictatorship in order to optimize it, which just made things worse.
* In ''Film/{{Sniper}}'', Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett has a dream of retiring from the Marine Corps and returning to his hometown and settling down to a quiet life where he can spend his days fishing in his favorite lake. When he tells his new partner about this, he is informed that the partner knows the area and it has seen major development in the years since Beckett left and is no longer an idyllic small town. Most poignantly the lake has been filled in and is now a parking lot. Beckett does not take this revelation well and it is one of the factors that leads to the two men turning on each other during a mission.
* ''Film/CitizenKane'': Charles Foster Kane's dream is IJustWantToBeLoved. Unfortunately, that dream is available to everyone but him: given the way he was raised, Charlie is used to paying for everything with money, and the idea of investing time and sacrificing his own interests for a relationship [[ItsAllAboutMe is absolutely beyond his comprehension]].

* In ''Film/TheHustler1961'', Eddie Felton wants to beat Minnesota Fats and prove he's the best pool player ever. [[spoiler:He eventually succeeds, but the price he pays means he derives no pleasure from it.]]
* Gangster films have this as it's core
** ''Film/TheGodfather'': The Corleone family's inability to go straight.
** ''Film/CarlitosWay'': Carlito being with his girl.
** ''Film/{{Bugsy}}'': His inability to get his fellow gangsters to invest in Las Vegas. This only comes true after he dies.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Maximus retiring and being with his family. Marcus Aurelius wanting Rome to be a Republic.
* ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' and ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane''. Norma and Jane's obsession with becoming famous again.

* In ''Film/YouDontMessWithTheZohan''. Zohan's friend refuses to give him a job at his electronics store because the store sucks out people's ambitions. He points out his many employees initially had other dreams but they got stuck at the store and never left.

* Kaoru from the Japanese film ''Film/ASongToTheSun'' is allergic to the sun. She can't do most things due to this allergy. She falls for a boy she sees out her window, but can't interact with him. [[spoiler:Eventually, she decides to go outside even despite her illness; however, it [[TheHeroDies eventually kills Kaoru]].]]
* Once Seth Brundle learns he's becoming a HalfHumanHybrid in ''Film/TheFly1986'', he works his way through all of the StagesOfMonsterGrief. He tries to accept and even ''embrace'' what he's becoming, but also comes to realize that he'll eventually lose his human reason and compassion and starts working on a plan to retain, if not regain, as much of his humanity as possible. Unfortunately, that plan requires him to [[spoiler: genetically fuse himself with another human]]. His attempt to realize this dream becomes all the more tragic and horrific when [[spoiler: he decides that human will be his pregnant lover Veronica, promising her with his last words that "We'll be the ultimate family!"]], a moment followed shortly thereafter by his OneWingedAngel transformation -- underlining how his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain is now complete. [[spoiler: His plan fails and Veronica ends up having to Mercy Kill him.]]
* ''Film/LittleMissSunshine'': Olive's brother Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he achieves his dream of becoming an Air Force pilot. [[spoiler: Olive administering a colorblindness test to pass the time during the road trip reveals that Dwayne is colorblind, and therefore disqualified from ever becoming a pilot. [[AtomicFBomb He doesn't take it well.]]]]
* ''Film/Joker2019'': Arthur Fleck is a street clown who dreams of becoming a stand-up comic and making people laugh. Trouble is, he is also a mentally disturbed man with a [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumour very poor grasp of humour]] - his material consists of misanthropic jokes about tragedies that just leave audiences confused and uncomfortable, and only he finds them funny. His first gig is a disaster that gets mocked on national TV, and then he [[SanitySlippage begins to lose his mind]].
* ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'': Danilov has made his career as ThePoliticalOfficer in the Red Army, but after trying to pull a UriahGambit on Vasily and then believing Tania to be dead, he admits that he no longer believes in the socialist cause.
-->'''Danilov:''' We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there'd be nothing to envy our neighbor. But there's always something to envy. A smile, a friendship. Something you don't have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor. Rich in gifts. Poor in gifts. Rich in love. Poor in love.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Padmé's dream of raising her and Anakin's unborn children peacefully on Naboo is this, considering it's a ForegoneConclusion that Anakin turns to the Dark Side and Luke and Leia grow up without their biological mother.
** At the start of the sequel trilogy, Rey longs to be reunited with her long-lost parents. However, it's made obvious that they're never coming back to Jakku and the revelation that [[spoiler: they died years ago]] is the final nail in the coffin.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Buddy Pine wanted to be a superhero. Unfortunately, he never managed it. He even gained some abilities, but became a SuperLoser. [[StartOfDarkness The results weren't pretty]].
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'':

* Merrill of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' just wants to recover the history of her oppressed people--particularly to fix the [[CoolGate Eluvian]]. Unfortunately, the lengths to which she's willing to go for this--BloodMagic and [[DealWithTheDevil deals with demons]]--have terrible consequences for her and others around her, and she isn't as capable of dealing with the danger as she believes herself to be.

* In ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'', the BigBadDuumvirate, the Parliament, feel broken and long for the days in which [[PiecesOfGod all things were one]]. All of their efforts are dedicated to destroying the current reality so that they can [[AssimilationPlot reassemble it into]] the original being. [[spoiler:This is impossible because their dream is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what they really are. The original being was the AnthropomorphicPersonification of dying to be recycled into the new thing in the first place. Even if they succeed in their plans, it will just die and break down into the new reality again.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Siya wants to become a master artist and leave behind a legacy, but doesn't feel she has enough time due to her fate to become a HumanSacrifice as a young adult, and occasionally laments that it is her rather than her sister who is slated to die. She is heartbroken when [[spolier:her sister's death]] ensures she'll have enough time and freedom to learn and develop her skills as she pleases.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' the only thing that makes Roxas' life worth living is spending time with his best friends Axel and Xion, so his dream is to be with them forever. Sounds quite easy right? Well, seems like [[spoiler:Xion can't be close to Roxas for long because her mere presence is slowly killing him by absorbing all his strength and life force]]. Also, their group Organization XIII is using them to achieve their evil goals and will ultimately get rid of them once it's done. Going to the good guys for help? Nope. The good guys also want Xion gone because she's interfering with the awakening of TheHero. Oh yeah and Axel [[spoiler:is still loyal to the Organization so he won't exactly be of much help with filling the blanks about all these dangers]]. And the kicker? Remember TheHero sleeping? Well to be awakened, [[spoiler:he not only has to absorb Xion, but Roxas as well]]. In other words, Roxas not only can't ever hope to achieve his dreams of being with his friends forever, he can't even be allowed to [[spoiler:[[{{Tragedy}} stay alive]]]]. Thankfully [[spoiler: they all finally get reunited in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', although with Axel in his original self as Lea]].