History Main / MagicRealism

* The Brazilian soap opera ''Series/Saramandaia'' was responsible for popularizing the genre in Brazilian television. It has a werewolf, a guy with wings on his back, a girl with resuscitating tears, a guy who throws up his heart, another guy who has ants coming out of his nose and finally a woman so fat she explodes.

* ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' despite the talking trains, freight cars, buses and boats; the rest of the world of Sodor is mundane. The Queen is [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Elizabeth II]], several real life historical figures are AllThereInTheManual, and real life events such as World War II or the Beeching Cuts are alluded to in the series. Sodor itself is treated as an island in the Irish Seas between England and the Isle of Man, and is part of the United Kingdom; otherwise mundane except in that ''trains can talk''. The decision of the [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends TV series]] to add more fantastical elements resulted in a BrokenBase, especially considering the only theatrical film from the franchise WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad, adds in loads of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin magical elements]] and alternate dimensions that were never present in the books.

* ''Film/Groundhogday'': Bill Murray lives every day over and over until he becomes truly selfless. The constraints of this mysterious circumstance is never fully explained. Additionally, his way out of the loop is never really known to the audience.

* ''Film/Yesterday'': The protagonist is one of only three people on the planet who remember the Beatles because of a blackout. But even then the blackout doesn't explain anything, because hard copies of the Beatles records don't exist and John Lennon has no memory of recording those songs.

* ''Series/DispatchesFromElsewhere'' drops strange places, inexplicable MaybeMagicMaybeMundane events, and abrupt ImagineSpots into the ordinary world of Philadelphia.

* With optional supernatural events turned on, ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'' takes on this vibe. Mostly it's a deeply-researched and intricate simulator of medieval Europe, India, the Middle East, and surrounding areas. But every so often, you'll encounter things like TheAntichrist rising, the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Necronomicon]], and characters questing for, and sometimes achieving, immortality. All of these are mere texture in the ruthless politicking of dynasties and nations, however.

* Sharyn [=McCrumb=]'s ''Ballad'' novels, slice of life/mysteries set in rural North Carolina featuring Nora Bonesteel an old woman who has "The Sight". One book also features a ghost.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. Real world setting, real guns, lots of talking about real-life politics and science, but also features walking robots, magical floating psychics, autotrophic snipers, bee men, and ghosts. The original ''Metal Gear Solid'' title featured a collection of CharlesAtlasSuperpower bosses, the EnsembleDarkHorse of which was a floating, fourth-wall breaking psychic. Later games would expand upon this with a steady increase of Magic Realism. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' dabbled with DoingInTheWizard, but official WordOfGod is that Vamp was still immortal in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and Ocelot [[spoiler: ''was'' possessed, but had the arm removed and started faking possession instead]].

* ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'': In otherwise normal medieval France, a bishop has cursed a pair of lovers to [[BalefulPolymorph transform into beasts]] at alternating times, so that they can never be together.

* A number of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's plays nonchalantly introduce fantastic elements and would probably qualify as magic realism if they were written today. ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' has a ghost, ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' has witches, ''Theatre/TheTempest'' is set on an island inhabited by strange creatures and spirits, and ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' deals with TheFairFolk and their supernatural shenanigans involving {{love potion}}s and [[BalefulPolymorph a jester who gets transmogrified into a donkey-man]]. Of course, at the time Shakespeare was writing, belief in the supernatural was more common, so these elements didn't raise as many eyebrows.

* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' is an interesting example as the first two films are relatively mundane murder mysteries before Jason Voorhees becomes a nigh-superhuman ImplacableMan in the later sequels. After death, he's resurrected by a lightning bolt and becomes an outright super-Zombie. Then the series leans more and more into the fantastic, randomly introducing PsychicPowers, turning Jason into a body-switching demon, landing him in a space based future with androids and bionics, and finally pitting him against a [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet demonic fiend who dwells in dreams]].

* ''Film/Halloween1978'' could otherwise be considered a mundane SlasherMovie, but features a super-strong, seemingly-unkillable villain who is heavily implied to be the Boogeyman himself. The sequels lean even heavier into this, as Michael Myers shrugs off injuries that would kill any mortal man, and more or less [[BlueAndOrangeMorality seems to be more force of nature than rational human being]]. Michael is even more of an enigma considering he is the only one who demonstrates such otherworldly traits. Regardless, all anyone cares about is killing the Shape rather than understanding what he is. The few who ''are'' interested in this never come close and swiftly die at Myers' hands.
** Of course, the series itself has so much CanonDisContinuity that it's very difficult to come up with ''any'' consistency. Only the first film is canon across all continuities (bar [[BizarroEpisode the third]]) and the films that explicitly state Michael is a supernatural being are most certainly not canon by now.

* Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents and its prequel series, Literature/AllTheWrongQuestions aren't explicitly fantastic, but contain several surreal elements like talking snakes, killer leeches, a forest of land seaweed, a hotel organised by the dewey decimal system, a villain with the ability to mimic any voice or animal call, and a sea monster.

* ''Snow in August'' by Pete Hamill pulls out the magic realism card in the last few chapters. In order to punish the gang of anti-semitic thugs that beat a Jewish store clerk into a coma, threatened Michael and his friends, beat him up later on, attempted to sexually assault his mother, beat up Rabbi Hirsch, and repeatedly vandalized the temple with swastikas, Michael [[spoiler: performs the Golem summoning ritual in the legend the Rabbi told him and actually succeeds. As part of the miracle, all of the gang's victims are also healed, and the Rabbi's wife who was killed by the Nazis is brought back to life.]]

In Magic Realism, events just ''happen'', as in dreams. Tchotchkes telling the heroine what to do (''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'') or the ghost of your father showing up at odd intervals to offer personal and/or professional advice (''Series/DueSouth''). Or perhaps it's just a quirky vibe that infuses the environment (''Series/NorthernExposure'', ''Series/TwinPeaks''). Magical realism is a story that takes place in a realistic setting that is recognizable as the historical past or present. It overlaps with MundaneFantastic. It has a connection to {{surrealism}}, dream logic, and poetry.

** Similarly, her novel ''Through the Arc of the Rainforest''. The plot revolves around a massive field of [[GreenRocks plastic with seemingly magical properties]] being uncovered in the middle of TheAmazon, and the manner in which the main characters (including an American businessman with three arms, a Japanese railway conductor with a little ball floating in front of his face, and a Brazilian radio evangelist who thinks that the plastic is holy) interact with it.

* LampshadeHanging: Within the ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'' anything made in Mexico contains "Mexican magical realism." For example, a camera that takes pictures of what a person feels like, an RV that is always raining on the inside, and a helicopter that moves by causing the occupants legs to grow to several hundred feet and walking.
** Most recently, a Nagel serape that grants wishes [[spoiler:(actually only the "Hecho en Mexico" tag attached to it grants wishes)]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', an otherwise normal series about a teenage girl and her family, has several strange things show up every now and then, such as: a telepath, an evil talking baby, a talking credit card, an evil, [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] Al Roker, a blue-skinned trio of bullies, a mad scientist and his island of peanut people, ghosts, snacks that give people superpowers, etc.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRedTurtle'': The only fantasy element happening in the movie is [[spoiler: the tittular turtle turning into a woman in the middle of the film]]. This event is never questioned nor explained, just happens.

* ''Film/{{Arizona Dream}}'': At least three characters take to the air, one flying the ambulance after he dies, and two more levitate at odd times with no particular attention paid to it. A flying fish wafts through the desert, meandering in and out of the story for no particular reason.

* The FilmOfTheBook of ''Film/BeingThere'' diverges from its source novel in this manner. Hal Ashby, the director, came up with [[spoiler:a different ending than the one scripted]] as a salute to how believable the actors were -- since the audience would already accept Chance the Gardener becoming one of the most important men in the world in a matter of days simply through misunderstandings, then they would also accept [[spoiler:the final shot's revelation that he can literally WalkOnWater. There's no explanation given as to how, and Chance is as surprised as the audience is; he even tests the depth of the water with his umbrella...but, being who he is, he accepts it right away as just something he can do.]]

* ''Film/DonJuanDemarco'': The [[Creator/JohnnyDepp title character]] is a mental patient, with delusions of living in a wonderful world full of romance and adventure. In the movie's final sequence, [[spoiler: he and a couple friends hop on a plane and go to that world.]]

* ''Film/EurovisionSongContestTheStoryOfFireSaga'' is an otherwise grounded comedy about a hapless pop music duo trying to get into the Series/EurovisionSongContest, in which [[spoiler:ghosts and elves are real. After Katiana is killed, her ghost appears as a SpiritAdvisor to warn Lars that Karlosson is planning to kill him too, while it turns out that Sigrit's belief in the existence of elves was [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight right all along]] when they save Lars from Karlosson.]] Neither of these things is brought up again.

* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' is an interesting example as the first two films are relatively mundane murder mysteries before Jason Voorhees becomes a nigh-superhuman ImplacableMan in the later sequels. After death, he's resurrected by a lightning bolt and becomes an outright super-Zombie. Then the series leans more and more into the fantastic, randomly introducing PsychicPowers, turning Jason into a body-switching demon, landing him in a space based future with androids and bionics, and finally pitting him against a [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet demonic fiend who dwells in dreams.]]

* ''Film/Halloween1978'' could otherwise be considered a mundane SlasherMovie, but features a super-strong, seemingly-unkillable villain who is heavily implied to be the Boogeyman himself. The sequels lean even heavier into this, as Michael Myers shrugs off injuries that would kill any mortal man, and more or less [[BlueAndOrangeMorality seems to be more force of nature than rational human being.]] Michael is even more of an enigma considering he is the only one who demonstrates such otherworldly traits. Regardless, all anyone cares about is killing the Shape rather than understanding what he is. The few who ''are'' interested in this never come close and swiftly die at Myers' hands.

* The ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' films have this general atmosphere. They’re set in ordinary 21st century London, but there are certain Wes Anderson-inspired stylistic choices that tend to skew things, such as scenes of the Brown family living their lives as viewed through a dollhouse replica of their house, a calico-style band that seems to be following the characters around [[GreekChorus singing oddly-apt songs about what’s happening]], and of course the fact that [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight no one seems particularly fazed or surprised by the presence of a]] [[AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal surprisingly well-dressed talking bear]] wandering around the place.

For when it's ambiguous, as in [[Creator/FranzKafka Kafka's]] ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'' where the protagonist has either actually turned into an insect or just gone insane, see MaybeMagicMaybeMundane and UnreliableNarrator. Compare/contrast with LikeRealityUnlessNoted.

* Physically impossible {{Finishing Move}}s? Flaming {{Battle Aura}}s that look straight out of ''Manga/DragonBallZ''? Lightsabers, {{Morph Weapon}}s disguised as canes, haunted video tapes, and more cases of MadeOfIron than you can shake a metal pipe at? Just another day for Kamurocho's [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Neighborhood-Friendly]] (and not-so-friendly) VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}, though it's never made clear just how much of the wacky stuff Kiryu and pals pull off is in-universe and how much is just artistic licence for the fun of it.

* ''Manga/TwinSpica'' is a sci-fi series that falls on the high end of MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness. And there's "Mr. Lion", the ghost of an astronaut who died in a major shuttle accident prior to the events of the story and now mentors the main character. [[spoiler: Shuu is implied to have become a Mr. Lion-style ghost as well after his death.]]