History Main / LongingForFictionland

[[folder:Liv- Action TV]]

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* As his moniker implies, Franchise/{{Batman}} rogue the Mad Hatter aka Jervis Tetch prefers whimsical Wonderland to gritty Gotham, especially the more sympathetic versions. Tetch genuinely does not understand why Batman would want to stop him from having riddle games and tea parties [[IJustWantToHaveFriends with friends]] all day, even when it involves kidnapping, {{Hypno Trinket}}s, and tea spiked with hallucinogenics.

* It's practically a requirement for ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' fans to write at least ''one'' fic starring a human or group of humans getting magically transported to Mata Nui somehow. Usually by way of a space portal opening up or getting lost at sea.
** Several fics by popular fan-author [=GaliGee=] poke fun at this trope by having all the characters being real and merely starring as themselves in the series. Her AuthorAvatar is taken back and forth from the Bionicle world several times by Teridax, who makes good and frequent use of LEGO's secret gateway in Denmark.
* The plot "Yukari brings an outsider to Gensokyo" present in many ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fics is also popular because of this.
* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' provides yet another example of a FandomSpecificPlot used as wish fulfillment, with its nigh-omnipresent "human time-travels forward to Inkopolis" fan fics.

[[folder:Film]]

* Quentin Coldwater in ''Literature/TheMagicians'' dreams of traveling to the land of Fillory, from the ''Fillory and Further'' series by Christopher Plover (essentially an {{Expy}} of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' and C.S. Lewis with a dash of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland''). [[spoiler: Eventually, he succeeds - [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor though it's quite unlike what he imagined]].]]
* Not initially in Norman Juster's ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', as Milo does not use the titular tollbooth because he hopes to go to fantastical kingdoms, but because he's got nothing better to do at the time. In the end, however, he states he might go back for a visit when he finds the time.
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', the Pevensies appear to do this. Actually the land they're longing for is very real, and they ruled there for fifteen years.

* Heavily implied to be the case in ''Literature/PaleFire'', with Charles Kinbote trying to edit his late friend's last poem but unable to avoid inserting long, idyllic references to his own, probably fictional, home country in the commentaries.
** The friend in question, John Shade, has said in Kinbote's hearing that a person who re-imagines their own history into a nostalgic Fictionland is ''not'' insane, merely fleeing a "drab and unhappy past".

* ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', in which almost everyone on Earth plugs into the virtual utopia, the OASIS, in an attempt to escape the rather sobering reality.
* Creator/TerryPratchett did such a good job of humanizing the GrimReaper he would receive letters from terminally-ill patients hoping to meet his version of Death when their time came.
* Literature/JetlagTravelGuides essentially promote the opposite: ''No one'' wants to go to the lands they feature.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''Series/SamuraiGourmet''. Kasumi isn't trying to escape his real life, nor is he quite ''obsessed'' with Sengoku samurai stories. Nevertheless, when he encounters a social challenge, he can't help fantasizing about [[WhatWouldXDo how a samurai would have handled it]]. Sometimes this provides useful insight, and sometimes it amounts to little more than escapism.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* "School eccentric" Anghel in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'' has a bizarre fantasy world in which he is the Crimson Angel of Judecca and the protagonist is an angelic warrior called Edel Blau who defeated him by encasing him in ice. It's implied by the fact that he's a member of the manga club and the fact that whenever you see inside his fantasy world it's just a JRPG that he's one of these people who unfortunately [[spoiler: has the ability to induce hallucinations in others when physically agitated]]. Though it's also hinted that [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane there may be more to it]].

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* An Website/SCPFoundation researcher working on an SCP that produced an extensive fantasy world in the sleeping user committed suicide on waking up. Having spent 200 years inside, he just couldn't return to real life. In a subversion of the usual Foundation-contained EldritchAbomination, the entity of the fantasy-making book had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and went into such a debilitating HeroicBSOD that it refused to even communicate for weeks. When it finally "wrote" something on the pages, all it could say was "[[WellIntentionedExtremist I'm so sorry. I never intended for this to happen. I just wanted to make people happy...]]" on every single page, while the book was soaked with tears.

* Creator/TomScott has a video entitled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfVYxnhuEdU "I asked an AI for video ideas, and they were actually good"]], which is rather self-explanatory. While some of the suggested titles were about real subjects, many were not. Towards the end he mentions that some of the fictitious ideas sounded so compelling, he wished they were real and that he could visit the world in which these videos would have been filmed. (In fact, he did film part of a fake video for one of them: "The Dream of a Russian Utopia in East Yorkshire".)

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Before arriving in the Boiling Isles, Luz didn't fit in, and often poured over fantasy novels to imagine some place where she could. [[AscendedFangirl She got her wish]], [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor to an extent]], when she arrives on the Boiling Isles, even if it's "[[WretchedHive not the PG fantasy world [she] dreamed of]]".
* [[EldritchAbomination Bill]] uses this to prey on Mabel in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': rather than a physical prison, he keeps her in a pocket dimension that is filled with all her favourite things like cute stuff, fantasy, magic, happiness, and fun, knowing that even if she realises that she's being held prisoner, she won't ''want'' to escape.
* Marcy from ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' loves role playing games and video games to the point of obliviousness to the real world. This is the main source of [[TheKlutz her chronic clumsiness]]. Getting transported into the titular fantasy world is a dream come true for her[[spoiler:, especially because she planned to come there]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', this is part of the Nerd's gimmick. His sketches commonly begin with him putting down a book and saying "I wish I was in (the setting the book he was reading took place in). That would be so cool. So cool..." before falling asleep and dreaming about getting his wish.

* An Wiki/SCPFoundation researcher working on an SCP that produced an extensive fantasy world in the sleeping user committed suicide on waking up. Having spent 200 years inside, he just couldn't return to real life. In a subversion of the usual Foundation-contained EldritchAbomination, the entity of the fantasy-making book had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and went into such a debilitating HeroicBSOD that it refused to even communicate for weeks. When it finally "wrote" something on the pages, all it could say was "[[WellIntentionedExtremist I'm so sorry. I never intended for this to happen. I just wanted to make people happy...]]" on every single page, while the book was soaked with tears.

* The infamous "[[Franchise/{{Digimon}} Project Digiclipse]]" from the early to mid-2000s. What started out as just a bunch of kids having fun with roleplaying about Digimon in the real world got out of hand quickly, as some people [[PoesLaw either genuinely believed that Digimon was real and believed in the site's mission of one day reaching the Digital world]] or [[{{Troll}} signed up to troll the people who did]][[note]][[PoesLaw only to then end up having people mistake their post as legitimate]][[/note]] began to join the site in mass. ''Then'' the goons at ''Website/SomethingAwful'' caught wind of it and [[InternetJerk it proceeded to get out of hand from there.]] Although some people [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbhOjtFFdFI briefly mistook it as an actual cult]], nowadays it's generally agreed on that it was just a bunch of kids wanting to have some fun roleplaying only for it to snowball horrendously out of control.

-->-- '''Stuart Wilson''', ''The making of Film/{{No Escape|1994}}''

-->-- '''Stuart Wilson''', ''The making of No Escape''

** This is called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotomania erotomania]]. Unlike what it says at Wiki/TheOtherWiki, erotomanic episodes can happen to anyone, male or female, and is not limited to the mentally ill. Despite the name, it often has little to do with sex; in fact, it can include the idea that you and the famous person will help to promote and exemplify a more spiritual love.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' provides yet another example of a FandomSpecificPlot used as wish fulfillment, with its nigh-omnipresent "human time-travels forward to Inkopolis" fan fics.

* Norwegian author Ingeborg Refling Hagen once wrote a novel about a girl living a really crapsack life. But being gifted with a rich fantasy and a mother who had told her quite a lot of fairy tales before she died, she handled her daily suffering with this, crossing over into {{daydream believer}} territory. When she gradually lost all hope, she entered her own fiction completely, preferring to be a {{cloud cuckoolander}} for the rest of her life. And to everybody else, she was passed off as completely out of her marbles, ''but initially happy.''

[[folder:Comics]]
* ''Comicbook/AstroCity'': When the man that will become the supervillain the [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Mock Turtle]] was a child, he always was trapped in wardrobes. Everyone else thought he was an idiot. But he was trying to find a portal to [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]. If he could have found [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz a twister]] or [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland a rabbit hole]], he would have tried those too. As an adult, when fleeing from enemies that want to kill him, alone and broken, [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz he happened to be in Kansas and saw a twister. That gave him hope]]. So he got to Astro City, where the superhuman community defeated his enemies and welcomed him. So he went to the roof of a building, [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz put on his green visor, and all Astro City looked like an Emerald City.]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* Tsutomu, the main character of ''Film/UltramanGaiaTheBattleInHyperspace'', is a lonely boy who spends most of his time fantasizing that the Ultramen were real. His wish is eventually granted when he comes across an alien artifact that opens a portal from our world with the Ultramen's, but unfortunately the monsters also comes along for the ride.,

--> '''Detective''': You know, she's just an actress.
--> '''Nelson''': Shut up! Some of us prefer delusion to despair!

* A lot of hardcore Creator/{{Disney}} fans have a similar mindset to the above, which isn't surprising given [[Creator/WaltDisney Walt Disney's]] stated goal of trying to reach the inner "innocence" of audiences. This can be particularly distressing when it comes to children. In fact, over 40% of wishes granted to heavily ill kids by the Make-a-Wish foundation [[https://tipsforfamilytrips.com/florida/disney-world-make-a-wish/ are Disney related]]. When it comes to struggling children (and adults) who dream about living in {{WesternAnimation/Zootopia}}, hanging out with [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Buzz, Woody, and the gang]], exploring the [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Hundred-Acre Wood]], and the like after their troubles are finally over, it's hard to say 'no' to them.

* Creator/GarethEdwards has admitted to having a "secret fantasy" of living in a world where {{Kaiju}} are real. This is probably the reason why his two breakout films, ''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}'' and ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', are devoted to making such giant monsters ''seem'' real.

* ''Series/WandaVision:'' It's revealed that Wanda has been a fan of sitcoms from a young age and prefers them over her tragic reality. [[spoiler: While her RealityWarper powers allow her to enjoy life in one for a while, it turns out the townspeople really don't enjoy being forcibly converted into NPCs for her plots.]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in a parody of ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'', had Lisa making friends with a girl named Julie. Together they create an imaginative fantasy world where they ruled together. As they get deeper into the fantasy, and after her mother sees that she may be troubled, Marge decides that Julie is a bad influence on Lisa and says they can't see each other anymore. Lisa and Julie run off together so they could continue being in "Equalia" but after getting into trouble with some bullies, Lisa decides that she wants to live in the real world. Julie is sad, telling Lisa that the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better. Cue Lisa giving [[CuckooFingerTwirl the "cuckoo" hand symbol]] as Julie leaves.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in a parody of ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'', had Lisa making friends with a girl named Julie. Together they create an imaginative fantasy world where they ruled together. As they get deeper into the fantasy, and after her mother sees that she may be troubled, Marge decides that Julie is a bad influence on Lisa and says they can't see each other anymore. Lisa and Julie run off together so they could continue being in "Equalia" but after getting into trouble with some bullies, Lisa decides that she wants to live in the real world. Julie is sad, telling Lisa that the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better. Cue Lisa giving the "cuckoo" hand symbol as Julie leaves.

* Marcy from ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'' loves role playing games and video games to the point of obliviousness to the real world. This is the main source of [[TheKlutz her chronic clumsiness]]. Getting transported into the titular fantasy world is a dream come true for her[[spoiler:, especially because she planned to come there]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in a parody of ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'', had Lisa making friends with a girl named Julie. Together they create an imaginative fantasy world where they ruled together. As they get deeper into the fantasy, and after her mother sees that she may be troubled, Marge decides that Julie is a bad influence on Lisa and says they can't see each other anymore. Lisa and Julie run off together so they could continue being in "Equalia" but after getting into trouble with some bullies, Lisa decides that she wants to live in the real world. Julie is sad, telling Lisa that the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better. Cue Lisa giving the "cuckoo" hand symbol as Julie leaves.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', this is part of the Nerd's gimmick. His sketches commonly begin with him putting down a book and saying "I wish I was in (the setting the book he was reading took place in). That would be so cool. So cool..." before falling asleep and dreaming about getting his wish.

* Admit it. At ''some'' point in your life, you wished one of your favorite series/franchises was actually real.

* Let's be honest, there is at least a sizeable chunk of scientists and laypeople who find the Multiverse theory appealing due to all the cool universes and dimensions there might be therein.

* The infamous "[[Franchise/{{Digimon}} Project Digiclipse]]" from the early to mid-2000s. What started out as just a bunch of kids having fun with roleplaying about Digimon in the real world got out of hand quickly, as some people [[PoesLaw either genuinely believed that Digimon was real and believed in the site's mission of one day reaching the Digital world]] or [[{{Troll}} signed up to troll the people who did]][[note]][[PoesLaw only to then end up having people mistake their post as legitimate]][[/note]] began to join the site in mass. ''Then'' the goons at ''Website/SomethingAwful'' caught wind of it and [[{{GIFT}} it proceeded to get out of hand from there.]] Although some people [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbhOjtFFdFI briefly mistook it as an actual cult]], nowadays it's generally agreed on that it was just a bunch of kids wanting to have some fun roleplaying only for it to snowball horrendously out of control.

Frequently, these characters may feel detached from real life or seem to suffer from depression. After all, they wish to leave to somewhere they can never go or wish to meet people who don't even exist yet seem so vastly superior than those they do know. Or they may decide to actualize it, try to build something like it in the real world.

* The Literature Girl in ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' wrote a RomanceNovel, then had a crush with the novel's hero, and then sought to reenact a MeetCute scenario from her novel in the series' RealLife... {{Deconstructed}} in that the series is a fairly realistic (and comical) SliceOfLife, and Hidenori, the boy to whom she is projecting her hero on (simply because they frequent the same ArtificialRiverbank), got weirded out. Her example is a bit more {{downplayed}} than most example of this trope as she's not all that detached from the series' RealLife as long as Hidenori is not in her presence.

* ''Comicbook/AstroCity'': When the man that will become the supervillain the [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Mock Turtle]] was a child, he always was trapped in wardrobes. Everyone else thought he was an idiot. But he was trying to find a portal to [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]. If he could have found [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz a twister]] or [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland a rabbit hole]], he would have tried those too. As an adult, when fleeing from enemies that want to kill him, alone and broken, [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz he happened to be in Kansas, and saw a twister. That gave him hope]]. So he got to Astro City, where the superhuman community defeated his enemies and welcomed him. So he went to the roof of a building, [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz put on his green visor, and all Astro City looked like an Emerald City.]]

* Not initially in Norman Juster's ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', as Milo does not use the titular tollbooth because he hopes to go to fantastical kingdoms, but because he's got nothing better to do at the time. In the end, however, he states he might go back for a visit, when he finds the time.

-->''Reality...Fantasy...What is reality? What is fantasy? Those are two entirely different aspects. It depends on your perspective view on them. But no matter what people say, they would always prefer Fantasy. For you see, Reality is harsh and painful. Everyday, many bad things bound to happen in one's life. Even after they had resolved that problem, another would occur. It would happen repeatedly until the end of the day. The next day, it would happen once again...And again...And again...until the end of their lives. Fantasy, on the other hand, is full of joy, life, and happiness. Even though they're not actually real. The most important part of fantasy has to be "entertainment". People loved it, either it's music, films, and video games. Fantasy always helps them forget about Reality. Sadly, they can't escape Reality. They have to return to Reality either they want to or not, where their suffering will begin anew.''

* An Wiki/SCPFoundation researcher working on an SCP that produced an extensive fantasy world in the sleeping user committed suicide on waking up. Having spent 200 years inside, he just couldn't return to real life. In a subversion of the usual Foundation-contained EldritchAbomination, the entity of the fantasy-making book had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, and went into such a debilitating HeroicBSOD that it refused to even communicate for weeks. When it finally "wrote" something on the pages, all it could say was "[[WellIntentionedExtremist I'm so sorry. I never intended for this to happen. I just wanted to make people happy...]]" on every single page, while the book was soaked with tears.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in a parody of ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'', had Lisa making friends with a girl named Julie. Together they create an imaginative fantasy world where they ruled together. As they get deeper into the fantasy, and after her mother sees that she may be troubled, Marge decides that Julie is a bad influence on Lisa and says they can't see each other any more. Lisa and Julie run off together so they could continue being in "Equalia", but after getting into trouble with some bullies Lisa decides that she wants to live in the real world. Julie is sad, telling Lisa that the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better. Cue Lisa giving the "cuckoo" hand symbol as Julie leaves.

* [[EldritchAbomination Bill]] uses this to prey on Mabel in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': rather than a physical prison, he keeps her in a pocket dimension that is filled with all her favourite things like cute stuff, fantasy, magic, happiness and fun, knowing that even if she realises that she's being held prisoner, she won't ''want'' to escape.

* Devoted fans of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' reported doing this. The original Tolkien Society incorporated the food, the languages and the cosmology into their daily existence. People had the appendices memorized. They took their class notes and doodled in Quenya, and founded communes with names like Lothlorien (one of which [[http://www.elvinhome.org/index.php still exists]], devoted to eclectic paganism).

* The effects of certain hallucinogenic drugs are often strongly affected by the expectations and desires of the person taking the trip. For instance, on certain plateaus (i.e. levels of inebriation) of DXM, it is not at all uncommon for the hallucination to be moulded to the past experience and thoughts of the day and the mindset of the tripper (i.e. the world around you slowly begins to morph into the kind of landscape they had in the film you were just watching). With practice you can get yourself to control your trips this way. Lucid dreaming is said to work on vaguely comparable principles.

** This is called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotomania erotomania]]. Unlike what it says at Wiki/TheOtherWiki, erotomanic episodes can happen to anyone, male or female, and is not limited to the mentally ill. Despite the name, it often has little to do with sex; in fact it can include the idea that you and the famous person will help to promote and exemplify a more spiritual love.

* ''[[EldritchAbomination Bill]] uses this to prey on Mabel in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': rather than a physical prison, he keeps her in a pocket dimension that is filled with all her favourite things like cute stuff, fantasy, magic, happiness and fun, knowing that even if she realises that she's being held prisoner, she won't ''want'' to escape.