History Main / SchrodingersButterfly

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[BlatantLies never used this trope]].

* One very simple [[OntologicalMystery interpretation]] of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes'' is that it is all in the mind of the main characters.

* ''Literature/{{Liar}}'' by Justine Larbalestier is told from the point of view of a [[UnreliableNarrator compulsive liar]], who lies to the reader. To make things worse, she even lies about her lies, most notably on the issue of [[spoiler: whether Jordan is alive or not, or even if he's ''real'']].

* One WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck comic revolves around the world being the dream of an ancient cephalophoid monster slumbering in a city at the bottom of the sea. Yes, there exists ''a Donald Duck CosmicHorrorStory''.

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy CuckoosNest PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a few seconds preview]] of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of "Hahaha, actually, forget that funny joke I made about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (''please don't hurt me'')".

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy CuckoosNest PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a few seconds preview]] of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of "actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (''please don't hurt me'')".

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a few seconds preview]] of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of "actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (''please don't hurt me'')".

* ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. Captain Picard and Dr. Soran, the villain, enter the Nexus, a dimension of eternal pleasure that shapes itself to your desires. Picard is told by a mental projection of Guinan that he can use it to travel anywhere in time, and so he goes back right before Soran blew up the sun that destroyed the planet they were on and the Enterprise. It's entirely plausible that Picard never did leave the Nexus, and that he still exists there to continue his voyages in his own perfect reality. And if he did really travel through time and stopped Soran, whether the Soran that entered the Nexus in the alternate timeline is actually still there. In fact, see the [[WMG/StarTrek Trek]] WildMassGuessing page for more interpretation of this.

* ''Film/TheMatrix''. Particularly at the end of the [[Film/TheMatrixReloaded second movie]] when Neo was able to stop a machine with his mind in what was supposed to be the real world when nobody had shown powers in the real world before, fans speculated that the "real world" might just have been another layer of the matrix used to control rebellious minds. One of the comics also references the TropeNamer in a short comic where a monk or something beats up some agents.
* The deleted scenes of ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' show that Jason didn't just make Xavier think he was back at the institute, he made him think that he succeeded in convincing Jason to let him escape from the LotusEaterMachine.
* As ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' unfolds, the line between the real world and Sam's dreams gets progressively blurrier. The final scene reveals that Sam's escape [[spoiler:was a delusion, likely brought on by the trauma of being tortured by his friend Jack.]]

* ''Film/MinorityReport'': [[spoiler: Did John Anderton clear his name or was the ending of the film just a dream he was having in his containment cell?]]

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After a few seconds preview of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of "actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (''please don't hurt me'')".

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After a few seconds preview of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of "actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (please don't hurt me)".

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter in case he goes too far and kills him. After a few seconds preview of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (please don't hurt me).

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. It's subverted, however; Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter. After a few seconds preview of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (please don't hurt me).

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story, Batman has been subjected to a nightmarish fantasy PsychologicalTormentZone by the Mad Hatter in an attempt to break him. After making his way through it and returning to reality, the Mad Hatter tries to taunt Batman with this trope and the fact that he can never be certain what is or isn't reality after what he's experienced. Batman, who is by this point rather ticked off and in no mood for any of this nonsense, simply notes that if this is true, and he is still trapped in his own fantasy, then this means that he no longer has to worry about holding back when beating the ever-loving shit out of the Mad Hatter. After a few seconds preview of what this means for him, the Mad Hatter is quick to respond along the lines of actually, forget what I just said about you maybe still being trapped in a dream, this actually ''is'' reality (please don't hurt me).

* Some Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure books had the results of really bad screw-ups followed by "it was all a dream". An [[TVTropesWikiDrinkingGame egregious]] example is ''Space and Beyond''; one ending has it be AllJustADream; the rest of the endings say that it is not.

*** ThePowersThatBe apparently toyed with the idea of having the entire series (and therefore the entire TrekVerse?) being ''all'' Benny Russell's book.

* The world of the ''{{Franchise/Buildingverse}}'' (''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'', ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'', ''Webcomic/DownTheStreet'' and ''{{Webcomic/Superintendent}}'') is by definition recursive and mind screwy (things like fiction being real ''and also'' acknowledged to be fiction is normal) but there was also interaction with {{Film/Inception}} and a full blown LotusEaterMachine. Even the ''readers'' routinely joke about their own possible fictionality.

* This is basically the entire premise of a Jostein Gaarder novel ''SophiesWorld''.

* A large chunk of another [[Creator/MartinScorsese Scorsese]]-[[RobertDeNiro De Niro]] film, ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'', can be interpreted as a product of its [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness protagonist's imagination]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The ultimate example of this is the [[Series/StElsewhere Tommy Westphall]] Universe theory. The final episode of ''Series/StElsewhere'' reveals the entire show to be in the imagination of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall. The show had a crossover with ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', a show that has JohnMunch who appeared on eight other shows, meaning that all these shows and all the shows those shows had crossovers with and so on and so on are a figment of his imagination. There are, of course, arguments against this theory, such as saying that Tommy Westphall simply watched the show ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' and imagined his characters having a crossover with them. Another is that if a person has a dream about something, i.e. a real place like London, that doesn't mean that place exists only in that Universe. It was simply that Universe's version of the place or person. Because of this, we'll never know if dozens (if not ''hundreds'') of shows take place in his imagination or not.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/{{Inception}} "BWWOOOOOOOOONGG"]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Film/Inception "BWWOOOOOOOOONGG"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/Inception "BWWOOOOOOOOONGG"]]