# Fictional works that are revealed to be fictionally fictional **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866 "2013-11-26T23:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/61 "2013-11-27T22:24:50Z")
What about [Jacob’s Ladder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_%28film%29)? At the dénouement, it is revealed that Jacob never made it out of Vietnam; his body is shown in an Army triage tent just after he died, with a now peaceful look on his face. I’ve only seen it once years ago and definitely thought “WTF was that?” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/62 "2013-11-27T22:36:17Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > What about [Jacob’s Ladder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_%28film%29)? > > At the dénouement, it is revealed that Jacob never made it out of Vietnam; his body is shown in an Army triage tent just after he died, with a now peaceful look on his face. > > I’ve only seen it once years ago and definitely thought “WTF was that?” Yes, when I saw it, I decided I would have liked it much better if I’d left right after the stair-climbing scene. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/63 "2013-11-27T22:41:57Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > In a sense, _The Matrix_. We are presented with the notion that what we think of as the real world is actually a fiction, a computer simulation; and then we are shown the actual real world. By the end of the trilogy, it’s strongly implied that the “actual real world” is also a simulation. But everything that happens within the Matrix happens – it’s only a veil that gets lifted (and that veil is lifted at the end of the first act). ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/64 "2013-11-27T22:52:17Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If it’s a bald-faced “this whole this is made up,” as opposed to “this was a dream,” then the work (if published or filmed) would almost by definition be ‘cult’ or otherwise non-mainstream. > > I think this is because though we humans admire successful trickery (both because we’d like to have that skill ourselves, and because we don’t want to fall prey to trickery practiced by others), we don’t like to have the obvious shoved in our faces. > > And obviously a work of fiction is…a work of fiction. To have the “twist” be the author saying, in effect, “Haha you losers, I made all this up!” doesn’t seem clever to us. It just seems rude. Well…yeah. It would an extremely difficult thing to “pull off” without seeming mocking or lazy. I’ve seen worse endings in major works (see: Infinite Jest). And I’ve seen writers / directors who are very interested in breaking the fourth wall. It seems like somebody would have at least tried to get away with this – and from the thread, it seems like there’s at least a few close calls. The Usual Suspects actually might be on the nose exactly what I was thinking in my head as it seems my interpretation of the “truth” of the story was off. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/65 "2013-11-28T00:53:57Z")
There’s the movie _eXistenZ_, where everything up to the final scene was part of a game, or maybe it wasn’t. It may have been partly inspired by Philip K. Dick’s _The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_, since it makes a reference to it (when the characters eat food from Perky Pat’s). _The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_ is maybe the weirdest of Dick’s novels, where it’s hard to figure out what reality you’re supposed to believe in. There are all sorts of screwing around with reality in Dick’s works ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/66 "2013-11-28T01:28:06Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It’s revealed at the end of the series _St. Elsewhere_ that it’s all a dream in the mind of the character Tommy Westphall. There are many TV series that can be connected to _St. Elsewhere_ by cross-overs (where the same actor plays the same character in both series) and are thus in the same universe. So apparently all of those shows were in the mind of Tommy Westphall. Not necessarily. Could just be the autistic kid saw those shows and incorporated them into his fantasies. Like fanfic, but without all sex. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/67 "2013-11-28T01:49:31Z")
There are various opinions about what the ending of _St. Elsewhere_ means, as you can see in the link I gave to the Wikipedia entry on Tommy Westphall. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/68 "2013-11-28T02:05:15Z")
The Thousand And One Nights. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/69 "2013-11-28T03:36:43Z")
How about the episode in Star Trek: TNG where Picard lives his entire life as a citizen of another species, only to find at the end that it was all fabricated so that the race would not be forgotten? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/70 "2013-11-28T03:46:57Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The Thousand And One Nights. Which actually contains stories within stories within stories. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/71 "2013-11-28T10:43:19Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Does _ **If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler** _ count? I don’t know, and I hated it too much to think through it. I love it and even I’m not sure I want to try and unpick it. Let’s pencil it into the “Yes” column for now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/72 "2013-11-28T12:46:55Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The Thousand And One Nights. At that, how about _Rashomon_? “Once upon a time, the following happened.” “Uh, it didn’t happen like that; it happened like this.” “You’re both incorrect; here’s how it actually happened.” “I saw the whole thing, and it happened quite differently.” If one of 'em is right, we’ve spent much of our time watching in-context fiction. If none of 'em are right, we’ve spent that much _ **more** _ time watching in-context fiction. ---
**Author:** ![chinchalinchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@chinchalinchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chinchalinchin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/73 "2013-11-30T05:50:19Z")
Craig Clevenger wrote a book entitled _Dermaphoria_ where the main character suffers a brain melting drug overdose and his mind rearranges certain relations so he gets his history leading up to the overdose all jumbled up. The lost love he thought he was tracking down is actually the name of the street or something. All the things he thinks he knows have the same sort of symbolic relationships he thought they had, he just got the objects wrong. I forget the specifics; It’s been a while since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/74 "2013-11-30T08:08:52Z")
Just remembered one, but it’s one that really pisses people off, so I’m going to spoiler the whole thing. I’ll give you a hint, it’s a work by C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce is revealed to all be a dream in the end. Literally a dream. He wrote an awesome story about what hell, purgatory, heaven and such might actually be like. A very believable story. But because it was pretty heretical to traditional Christian interpretation, he just tacked on a “and then I woke up to sirens blaring” ending for no reason other than to provide some cover for himself. “oh well I wasn’t actually writing about heaven, hell and purgatory! It was just a dream!” UGH ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/75 "2013-11-30T09:44:48Z")
I always had a different interpretation He awoke in wartime Britain. It was a real experience and waking up was being transported back into hell. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/76 "2013-11-30T09:58:17Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Well…yeah. It would an extremely difficult thing to “pull off” without seeming mocking or lazy. The webcomic Order of the Stick seems to exist in a limbo state where it’s not entirely clear whether the characters live in a universe that happens to have comic and narrative rules as real as our laws of physics, or if they’re simply self aware that they’re in a comic. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/77 "2013-11-30T10:05:04Z")
Also, one of the proposals for SCP-001 on the [SCP Foundation](http://www.scp-wiki.net/sandrewswann-s-proposal) website is that their universe is a very fragile universe that shifts and bends based on the whims of a bunch of horror writers (i.e. us). In this case, it’s rendered effective by the fact that **they** realize we’re writing their universe, and they’ve also taken preparations to be able to defend themselves if we try to end their universe. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/78 "2013-11-30T15:21:37Z")
I don’t think there’s anything in _The Great Divorce_ that would be considered heretical. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/79 "2013-12-02T15:55:15Z")
This may come too close to the “it was all a dream” trope, but in John Cusack’s movie _ **Identity…** _ [spoiler] Most of the action and most of the characters aren’t real. Most of the characters are just manifestations of an insane man’s multiple personalities. Each of the personalities is competing for control of the man’s mind. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866/80 "2013-12-02T16:09:01Z")
300, while in a broad sense true as seen, the description of the fights/battles was probably made up/greatly embellished. {The movie 300 you didn’t watch the actual battle…but a storytellers telling of the battle} [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-works-that-are-revealed-to-be-fictionally-fictional/674866.md?page=5)