# Movies where the reality created is the main draw. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617 "2012-03-13T04:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/21 "2012-03-13T15:05:46Z")
I’d go with _Time Bandits_. It’s clear that Terry Gilliam put a bit of thought into the film’s world - not just the bits that are _our world_, but the land of dreams, the kind of ur-reality that the heroes explore at the end - and we only see a tiny bit of it during the course of the film. As a kid I could imagine Randall and Fidget and so forth slaving away in a factory somewhere, building dinosaurs, whilst God sits in his drafting office coming up with plans for the next universe. Like the office at the beginning of Brazil, in fact. The little vignettes that make up the story are snapshots of different continuums that carry on when the Time Bandits have left. In some of them (the Napoleon sequence, King Agamemnon) we know what happens next, in others we’re left to wonder. You know, there’s a parallel between the situation faced by the Time Bandits and that of Sam Lowry in Brazil. They’re stuck in unrewarding jobs, and dream of escaping. But whereas Lowry doesn’t get very far, the Time Bandits seem to do very well. They almost outwit God. That’s pretty clever. Presumably Gilliam’s background in the visual arts led him to metaphorically build the sets first and then populate the film with actors and a story, rather than the other way around. I have three further observations. Firstly, Agamemnon is probably the manliest name in all of ancient history. I can understand why they wanted Sean Connery. Yes, Maximus is manly as well - but it’s _too_ manly, it sounds parodic. Secondly, “The Bee Index” will be the name of my first book. Third, _without chemicals, he points_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/22 "2012-03-13T15:13:45Z")
_Watchmen Sucker Punch Dark City_ ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/23 "2012-03-13T16:21:56Z")
**Labyrinth** was a pretty good movie that rejected normal reality and substituted its own. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/24 "2012-03-13T16:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Labyrinth was a pretty good movie that rejected normal reality and substituted its own. That’s true. You have to respect a movie that can have the characters walk through what appears to be a solid stone wall into an invisible hallway, and still make it look perfectly normal. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/25 "2012-03-13T16:53:26Z")
Nobody suggested _Mad Max_ and its progeny? The plots were pretty worthless, but those movies pretty much created the whole post-apocalyptic wasteland trope. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/26 "2012-03-13T17:01:32Z")
Rocky Horror Picture Show, because it introduced the Space-Transvestite Continuum. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/27 "2012-03-13T17:04:27Z")
What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams. Absolutely brilliant portrayal of a dream world, so-so story. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/28 "2012-03-13T18:20:30Z")
12 Monkeys ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/29 "2012-03-13T18:52:10Z")
Harry Potter, especially the first two movies. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/30 "2012-03-13T20:14:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > and arguable **2001** – most of the film is really spent in luxuriating in the environment Kubrick cinematically describes, not in getting to know the characters. I disagree. You don’t need to get to know the characters for there to be a very clear story, narrative, and theme. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/31 "2012-03-13T20:34:59Z")
Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) Children of Men ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/32 "2012-03-13T20:38:52Z")
Seven? No. It’s set in our world and is for all intents and purposes exactly the same as our world. I suggest Planet of the Apes and its successors. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/33 "2012-03-13T20:42:37Z")
For most of the movies mentioned here it’s the story that’s the main draw. Blade Runner included. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/34 "2012-03-13T20:58:49Z")
Another vote for Dark City. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/35 "2012-03-13T21:44:17Z")
\*The Sixth Sense \*kind of qualifies, at least on the next couple of viewings after the first. I actually enjoyed it more the second time, because I was looking specifically for things that would support the big “reveal” at the end, and boy, were they there. M. Night might have gone waaaayyy downhill in most of his subsequent films, but this one hit the spot. Both of the \*Willy Wonka \*movies fit, too. Ever try to read all the buttons in the glass elevator in the Johnny Depp version? ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/36 "2012-03-13T22:48:52Z")
> [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](#): > > Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) > Children of Men I think Pan’s Labyrinth worked as a story (not just a world) enough to be borderline. Guillermo del Toro is really good at creative worlds and less good at stories, though; both Hellboy movies had far more interesting sets than plots. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617.md?page=1)