The Dream Sequence Cliche: Good or Bad?

[D'Snowth]

A while back we had a thread about the use of the amensia cliche in TV and movies, and whether or not it really served any real purpose to the story/plot or not... well, I've been thinking lately, and there's another writing cliche that I often wonder about too that sort of falls into a similar category: dream sequences.

Even as I make this post, more and more examples of dream sequences are coming to mind, such as The Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life (and the palethera of spoofs and parodies of them that follow), both of which do have messages and themes to them... then there's the case of dream sequences used in TV episodes of popular shows, like Lucy's musical dream sequence of being the last of the McGillicuddy's and is to be fed toa famished two-headed dragon (Fred and Ethel), or an episode of M*A*S*H where just about everybody in camp has peaceful dreams that turn into nightmares to remind them they're in the middle of a war.

The dream sequence cliche is of interest to me, becaue as someone who does most of his own writing, I have to admit that I am NOTORIOUS for writing dream sequences in stories, whether they serve any purpose to the plot or not... I guess I'm just really fascinated by dreams (maybe it's because I rarely have any normal dreams myself, but then again, most of my best ideas have come to me in my dreams): I find that exploring a character's dreams is a way of really delving very deep into the character's subconscious, and really explore what that character really feels, what his/her insecurities are, what his/her biggest wish is, what his/her biggest fear is, etc... I actually once wrote a fanfic a long time ago on that notion alone: just a small series of anecdotes where I toyed with the characters' psychies and tried to figure out what it was that made them tick. On the other hand, however, sometimes I do write dream sequences simply for comedy, and that's where I feel the cliche doesn't tend to work very well when it really doesn't serve any purpose only for random randomness (but again, I'm notorious for doing it, so I do it anyway simply because I want to).

What do you guys think?

 

[CensoredAlso]

I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with using plot cliches, as long as you do them well.

Now when an individual writer starts becoming known for certain cliches that can become a problem (i.e. The Stephen King Drinking Game, hehe).

When I was a kid I was fascinated with amnesia plot lines and my Mom warned me not to become a one trick pony, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

Daggnabbit, Snowth... you did an entire post and didn't mention Arthur once. A show that, let's say "borrows" recurring dream and fantasy sequence from Doug.

I remember Brad Bird in the commentary of The Incredibles saying that dream sequences only serve the purpose of restating the obvious. That's why one was cut from the movie. I completely agree.

If the dream sequences are well done, and at least a little layered, say like the hour long season 2 finale of Third Rock from the Sun, they're at least entertaining and enjoyable.

 

[Slackbot]

I think that dream sequences are often abused. If it's an excuse to get out of a story by saying "but it didn't ACTUALLY happen!" it's a cheap cop-out. I picture the writer snickering at having put one over on the gullible reader/viewer.

However, if it goes into the character's psyches, showing the reader or viewer what is happening inside the character's head, then it can be an excellent device. The M*A*S*H episode D'Snowth cited is a good example of this. (I just got the Martinis and Medicine box set; do you remember the episode title?) Among Muppet series, the episode Boober's Dream is another good example of the worthwhile use of dreams in a story.

A few years ago, when I was writing He-Man fanfic, I wrote a story called "Hordak 4:1". I shoehorned in as many of the show and fandom cliches that annoyed me as I could. Orko abuse, gratuitous badASCIIry, overblown villainous dialogue, glaring continuity errors, yadda yadda. It was essentially a pander-fic in which the Masters were eventually destroyed due to Orko's incompetence... and it ended up being Orko's fear dream. I posted it over three days, with the final chapter going up on April Fool's Day. I expected people to swat me hard over this leg-pull, especially the lame ending, but nobody ever did. Weird.

 

[Drtooth]

I think that dream sequences are often abused. If it's an excuse to get out of a story by saying "but it didn't ACTUALLY happen!" it's a cheap cop-out. I picture the writer snickering at having put one over on the gullible reader/viewer.

Sheep in the Big City hammered that hard. Anytime something unbelievably stupid happened, it meant that something was inevitably a dream, and the narrator got increasingly annoyed by everything in the episode being a dream.

It's all laziness in trying to write themselves out of stupid corners they got stuck in. look at Dallas. They screwed up a season so badly, they had to make it a dream.

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's all laziness in trying to write themselves out of stupid corners they got stuck in.

You know what? A few months ago I found a book about movies written in the 1920s and EVEN THEN the author was warning filmmakers to avoid the already tired dream sequence ending, LOL.

 

[D'Snowth]

Daggnabbit, Snowth... you did an entire post and didn't mention Arthur once. A show that, let's say "borrows" recurring dream and fantasy sequence from Doug.

Mainly because I wasn't necessarily lumping in day-dreams and fantasy sequences in my "study", I'm talking about lengthily, deep-sleep sort of dream sequences that take a look deeper into the characters' minds and such.

As a matter of fact, I just remembered another such dream sequence episode that may have actually done SOME good for it's use: an episode of Bewitched (that even Dick York said was his favorite), in which Darrin has finally had it with Samantha's seemingly impulsive, yet conscious decisions to use witchcraft in any given situation, and decideds he no longer wants to keep her identity a secret, and plans to tell "the whole world" about her being a witch; Sam knows this is a mistake, so in bed that night, she puts a dream spell on him to show him what would happen if the whole world knew she was a witch... Larry Tate fires him because he refuses to let him use Sam's power to rule the world, the Kravitzes across the street suddenly fear them because of her supernatural powers, and when word gets out Darrin is constantly mobbed by people wanting him to ask Sam for favors, meanwhile Sam gets phone calls from people all day long wanting favors (including baseball great Mickey Mandle), until finally the military puts the the Stephenses under protective custody when anti-witch groups plan to take her out. Naturally, the dream scares Darrin straight, and he decides to continue to keep Sam's being a witch a secret.