# Is there any movie analysis idea worse than "The main character was dead all along!"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115 "2022-11-01T05:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/81 "2022-11-03T15:26:04Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Gesundheit. Thank you-- I’ve got a bad sinus infection. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/82 "2022-11-04T13:07:07Z")
I gotta say to 12 year old me and my friends, when MTV played the Fish Heads video that was a “Call EVERYONE into the living room NOW!” moment. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/83 "2022-11-04T18:55:14Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Wait! Bunny Lake really existed, and was missing, Her father took her. (at least in the 1965 film) No, it was her uncle. Shortly after the 1987 movie _Siesta_ came out on video, my sister had rented it. We had a family dinner the next day, and she still had the video, so she wanted to watch it with us. She was so disappointed that about ten minutes in, I said “she’s dead.” Actually, I liked it. Atmospheric with Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne. Oh, and I grew up with Dr. Demento on KMET (A little bit of heaven…). I’m glad I had it as part of my formative experience. A little bad taste never hurt anyone, and people with _only_ good taste can be boring pedants. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/84 "2022-11-04T20:38:51Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > No, it was her uncle. Yes. I forgot! More creepy, because of the his implied incestual thoughts . eww ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/85 "2022-11-04T21:02:19Z")
Yeah, played, appropriately, by Keir Dullea. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/86 "2022-11-04T21:09:15Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Keir Dullea. His guest star role on L&O had the same ickiness! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/87 "2022-11-04T21:20:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m not sure if **pkbites** ’s post is tongue-in-cheek or not, but I certainly didn’t care in the game. It’s a 1980s platformer. I don’t expect a coherent storyline or much of a narrative at all other than jump on things and beat the mini-bosses and final boss. I presumed joke, too. It’s not even a good example, seeing as most of the enemies show up in later games that are not dreams. It would be like getting mad that Super Mario Bros 3 is a play. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/88 "2022-11-04T21:23:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It would be like getting mad that Super Mario Bros 3 is a play. Wait. What? It is? How the hell did I never realize that? I’ve beaten that a gazillion times. I guess that explains the stage curtains in the beginning and end. I’ve just never drawn the connection. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/89 "2022-11-04T21:28:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > It would be like getting mad that Super Mario Bros 3 is a play. ⁢ > > Wait. What? It is? How the hell did I never realize that? I’ve beaten that a gazillion times. I guess that explains the stage curtains in the beginning and end. I’ve just never drawn the connection. ⁢ I mean, it’s somewhat debatable, but it’s not just the curtains. It’s also how you seem to have things nailed onto the sky, and can even go back behind the curtain in a couple places. And Miyamoto did confirm it back in 2015 (which I didn’t know). > **[Miyamoto Confirms That Super Mario Bros. 3 Was A Play](https://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/09/miyamoto-confirms-that-super-mario-bros-3-was-a-play/)** > > One of my favourite video game theories to emerge over the past few years is that Super Mario Bros. 3, with its hanging blocks and curtains, was actually just a stage performance. Turns out, according to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the theory is... ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/90 "2022-11-04T21:49:49Z")
I think there are plenty of films that have pulled off the “the character was dead / dreaming / in a sim / a ghost / a clone / imaginary / otherwise had what they know as ‘reality’ upended” twist. Plenty that didn’t. But the narrative needs to have support it. And it needs to be more support than “this stunt was ridiculous so they probably died and everything after that point is imaginary.” I mean you could claim that for the Fast & Furious films. Dominic Toretto smashed his head when he crashed at the end of the first film. The rest of the series are increasingly ludicrous (and Ludacris) coma dreams of Dom and his friends pulling off international heists and spy capers. > [@Quimby](#): > > I have to admit there is one movie where in my head canon this happened: the Steven Spielberg War of the Worlds makes a lot of sense if the movie ends when Tom Cruise gets sucked into the Martian War machine and the rest of the movie is all in his head. > > The movie ending with an undestroyed Boston, his son just showing up and his smiling Ex Wife waiting for him just seems like a false fantasy. Not to mention the Martians just all dying (but I give that one a pass). You think the Martian’s “Vanilla Sky-ed” Tom? ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2022, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115/91 "2022-11-05T02:15:15Z")
I think _Jacob’s Ladder_ is fairly clever, and moving at the end with his kid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-analysis-idea-worse-than-the-main-character-was-dead-all-along/974115.md?page=4)