Line #50 Main/MentalStory


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7	A story where what's going on in someone's head -- be it their DreamLand, MentalWorld, [[ImagineSpot imagination]], [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind inner struggles]], conversations with their ImaginaryFriend, or [[PowerFantasy power fantasies]] -- is the main attraction, with not much happening in "reality."
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9	Sometimes, the focus will be on mundane events in RealLife represented as all kinds of metaphorical weirdness playing out in the characters' minds.
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11	A MrImagination will usually be the protagonist, unless the story revolves around seeing or entering other peoples' dreams, which is a major SubTrope, although one we don't have yet.
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13	AllJustADream and DyingDream are {{Sub Trope}}s, but they are not this trope. '''Do not''' list examples that belong under those two tropes on this page. They have their own examples sections.
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15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	[[index]]
21	* ''Manga/DreamEaterMerry''
22	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' dips into this as the series progresses and everyone's mental stability comes crashing down. The [[GainaxEnding original ending]] became this due to the budget running out. Finally, about 30% of ''[[TheMovie End of Evangelion]]'' is entirely this.
23	* ''Manga/OnaniMasterKurosawa'' is a little more plotty, but it's still mostly Kurosawa's head.
24	[[/index]]
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Comics]]
28	* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', even leaving aside the question of whether or not Hobbes is real, a lot of stories take place in Calvin's imagination.
29	* ''ComicBook/TheTick vs Proto-clown''
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Fan Works]]
33	* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/119688/1/you-obey/the-interrogation You Obey]]''
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Film]]
37	[[index]]
38	* ''Film/AkiraKurosawasDreams'', technically.
39	* A significant chunk of ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' takes place in Malkovich's head.
40	* ''Film/ABeautifulMind''
41	* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'', partly.
42	* ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' is kind of a subversion, since although we see them from the main character's perspective via Flashbacks and {{Imagine Spot}}s, most of the events in the story really happened.
43	* ''Film/FightClub'' is this in large part, but some interesting stuff happens in reality, too.
44	* ''Film/{{Identity}}'' is a spoiler-example, as it's presented as being weird events happening in the real world until the reveal.
45	* Quite a bit of ''Film/{{Inception}}'' happens in someone's head -- not always the same someone.
46	* ''Film/ShutterIsland''
47	* Possibly also ''Film/SourceCode''.
48	* ''Film/SuckerPunch''
49	* ''Film/UnfaithfullyYours'': An orchestra conductor who thinks his wife is unfaithful to him. We see him take revenge on her and her lover -- which turns out to be a very long ImagineSpot type sequence he thinks of while conducting. He then tries to execute his plan, which [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee doesn't work nearly so well]].
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Literature]]
53	* Perhaps the most famous book of this sort is ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''. The plot of the book is a boy taking the train home from prep school and meeting up with his little sister. The book is about the boy's descent into paranoia. His descriptions of places and people become progressively more strange and twisted, showing his deteriorating mental state. He also fantasizes about doing strange things to and with geese.
54	[[/index]]
55	* The Creator/PhilipKDick novel ''Eye in the Sky'' takes place in a sort of shared mental world, with the current most-dominant personality warping it to their prejudices and worldview.
56	[[index]]
57	* ''Literature/{{Paprika}}''
58	* ''Literature/ThePilgrimsProgress'' takes place entirely in two dreams (one for each part) by the narrator.
59	* "Literature/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty" is about a man who escapes from his humdrum life into a series of daydreams about heroic adventures.
60	* The philosophical book ''Literature/SophiesWorld'', with the mains realizing that they are only fictional characters within a book (within ''another'' book) and undergoing an existential crisis because of it.
61	* ''Literature/WelcomeToTheNHK'' is mostly about the main character's inner strife, and no decisions are reached even in the end.
62	[[/index]]
63	* The fifteenth book of ''Literature/WingsOfFire'', ''The Flames of Hope'', mostly centers around the visions protagonist Luna gets from Cottonmouth and Lizard about their backstory and later her use of the two's mind-sharing to show Lizard the empathy and kindness of dragons.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has a few episodes like this.
68	** "[[Recap/FarscapeS03E16RevengingAngel Revenging Angel]]" is a TwoLinesNoWaiting episode. One plot is about D'Argo, Chiana, and Jool trying to stop D'Argo's ship from self-destructing, while the other plot takes place inside Crichton's head as he's lying in a coma (and is [[MediumShiftGag a Looney Tunes pastiche]]).
69	** "[[Recap/FarscapeS04E07JohnQuixote John Quixote]]" takes place in a virtual-reality game based on Crichton's memories.
70	* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': "[[Recap/FringeS03E19LysergicAcidDiethylamide Lysergic Acid Diethylamide]]"
71	[[index]]
72	* ''Series/HermansHead''
73	[[/index]]
74	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'''s final season turns out to be a book that Roseanne is writing.
75	[[index]]
76	* ''Series/SamuraiGourmet'' is Mental Story in two senses. There's the obvious gimmick of the OncePerEpisode IndulgentFantasySegue where a samurai shows Kasumi how his social dilemma might be solved, but those are relatively brief. The broader sense is that the show is very much ''about'' Kasumi's introspection and reflection. If you took away the samurai sequences, Kasumi's InnerMonologue, and reminiscent flashbacks, the show would be little more than an old guy wandering around wondering where to have lunch.
77	[[/index]]
78	* Nearly all the events of the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "[[Recap/ScrubsS4E17MyLifeInFourCameras My Life in Four Cameras]]" take place in JD's head. Only the {{Bookends}} are real.
79	[[index]]
80	* Much of ''Series/TheSingingDetective'' involves Philip Marlow playing out one of his detective novels in his head with himself as the protagonist, as well as flashbacks to his childhood.
81	[[/index]]
82	* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'':
83	** In "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E09Home Home]]", the main characters apparently manage to return to Earth, but it's actually an illusion of Earth fabricated from the memories in their heads.
84	** "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS03E06TheRealWorld The Real World]]" combines this trope with CuckooNest for Dr. Weir.
85	* ''Series/StargateSG1'': "[[Recap/StargateSG1S8E6Avatar Avatar]]" takes place in a virtual-reality scenario that's effectively going on inside Teal'c's head.
86	* ''Series/StargateUniverse'': "[[Recap/StargateUniverseS2E15Seizure Seizure]]"
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Music]]
90	* Music/{{KAAN}} primarily discusses depression and suicidal thoughts in his music, mostly referring to himself.
91	* Music/PoetsOfTheFall's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfvtPTvuFTA "Drama for Life"]] is about a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where the singer attempts to grapple with and embrace his creative GhostInTheMachine, and its aftermath, never really leaving the symbol-filled confines of the singer's head.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Video Games]]
95	[[index]]
96	* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' and, to a slightly lesser extent, ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' both take place largely in Wonderland -- in this case, the corrupted HappyPlace of a catatonic girl who blames herself for the death of her parents.
97	* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' is revealed to be this and not a literal or even exaggerated series of events starting about halfway into the progression of a save file.
98	* ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}''
99	* ''VideoGame/TheCompanyOfMyself''
100	* ''VideoGame/HellbladeSenuasSacrifice'': Senua is a Celtic warrior who suffers from sever psychosis on a quest to rescue the soul of her lover from the Norse underworld.
101	* ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', until the final mission.
102	* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' has a good chunk of its plot occur in the real world, but an equally sized chunk occurs in the subconscious of a young boy.
103	* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', though it's a case where there are many different minds instead of just one.
104	* ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' is about a {{hikikomori}} lucid dreamer, whose primary interaction with the products of her subconscious is to stab them with knives.
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
108	* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' combines this with [[spoiler:NestedStoryReveal]] in Episode 8 -- most of the plot is [[spoiler:Toya Hachijo attempting to recreate the events of Rokkenjima 1986 as mystery novels in order to speculate on what happened on the island]].
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Web Animation]]
112	* The most commonly agreed interpretation of the series ''WebAnimation/{{Boisvert}}'' is that every video in the series represents some manifestation of social anxiety and/or depression (or perhaps the things in life that lead to both) within the headspace of an unidentified individual.
113	[[/folder]]
114	[[/index]]
115
116	[[folder:Webcomics]]
117	* The plot-driving half of ''Webcomic/YumeHime'' takes place within the protagonist's dreams and daydreams, with the other half being a quiet SliceOfLife.
118	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MentalStory