Dream worlds are a commonly used plot device in fictional works, most notably in science fiction and fantasy fiction. The use of a dream world creates a situation whereby a character is placed in a marvelous and unpredictable environment and must overcome several personal problems to escape. The dream world also commonly serves to teach some moral or religious lessons to the character experiencing it – a lesson that the other characters will be unaware of, but one that will influence decisions made regarding them. When the character is reintroduced into the real world (usually when they wake up), the question arises as to what exactly constitutes reality due to the vivid recollection and experiences of the dream world. A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. ... // Fiction (from the Latin fingere, to form, create) is the genre of imaginative prose literature, including novels and short stories. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... A moral is a one sentence remark made at the end of many childrens stories that expresses the intended meaning, or the moral message, of the tale. ... Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... Reality in everyday usage means the state of things as they actually exist. ...

Dream worlds contrast with fantasy worlds, in which the world has existence independant of the characters in it.^[1] The use of "dream frames" to contain a fantasy world, and so explain away its marvels, has been bitterly criticized and has been become much less prevalent.^[2] A fantasy world is a type of fictional universe in which magic or other similar powers work. ...

Fictional dream worlds

Dream frames were frequently used in medieval allegory to justify the narrative;^[2] The Book of the Duchess and Piers Plowman are two such dream visions. John of Gaunt Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster The Book of the Duchess is a dream vision narrative poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer. ... Page from a 14th century Psalter, showing drolleries on the right margin and a plowman at the bottom. ... A Dream vision is a literary genre, literary device, or literary convention, where the narrator falls asleep and learns information in a dream, usually from a guide, that they could not have learned otherwise. ...

An early example of a fictional dreamworld is the forest in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is like a collective dream world of the lovers that venture into it.^{[citation needed]} William Shakespeare (National Portrait Gallery), in the famous Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

One of the best-known dream worlds is Wonderland from Alice in Wonderland. In the 1939 movie, Oz from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was altered from a fantasy world (in the novel) to a dream world of Dorothy's.^[3] In the film version of Peter Pan, Neverland is a dream world from which Wendy wakes (her brothers, Michael and John, are still asleep).^{[citation needed]} In the 1980s, the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films introduced a dark dream realm inhabited by the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger. Wonderland may refer to: // The setting of Lewis Carrolls book Alices Adventures in Wonderland A world in Kingdom Hearts; based on the Disney movie adaptation, which in turn was based on the book by Lewis Carroll A novel by Joyce Carol Oates. ... Alice in Wonderland is the widely known and used title for Alices Adventures in Wonderland, a book written by Lewis Carroll -- as well as several movie adaptations of the book -- and is also the setting for several short stories. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Oz is a fantasy region containing four countries under the rule of one monarch. ... For the film, see The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a childrens book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. ... Peter Pan is the fourteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional heroine and main female protagonist in the Peter Pan stories by J.M. Barrie, in all their theatrical, literary, and motion picture adaptations. ... Michael Darling is a character from J.M. Barries Peter Pan novel as well as its many movie and television adaptations. ... For the person, see John Darling. ... Cover art for the first film A Nightmare on Elm Street is a series of horror films that were exceptionally popular in the 1980s. ... This article is about the fictional character. ...

Other fictional dreamworlds include the Dreamlands of H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle; Down Town, the land of nightmares where all people who are in comas go in the movie Monkeybone, and The Neverending Story's world of Fantastica, which includes places like The Desert of Lost Dreams, The Sea of Possibilities, and the Swamps of Saddness. The Dreamlands is a fictional location in the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. ... H.P. Lovecrafts Dream-Cycle, although often overlooked for his Cthulhu Mythos, is a huge entity in a good number of this master of the macabres fictional works. ... Monkeybone movie poster. ... The Neverending Story (original German: Die Unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in Germany in 1979. ... Fantastica is the fantasy land in the book The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. ...

Dreamworlds also appear in Rozen Maiden, in the Outback(s) of The Maxx; in Dream Land, the main setting of many Kirby games, in the webcomic The Dreamland Chronicles, in the Maginaryworld from Sonic Shuffle, and in Nightopia and Nightmare (collectively known in a place called the "Night Dimension") from NiGHTS into Dreams... and its upcoming sequel for the Wii, Nights: Journey of Dreams. The Life and Times of Juniper Lee and the movie Sailor Moon Super S the Movie: Black Dream Hole also have dream realms. Serialized in Monthly Comic Birz Original run September 2002 – July 2007 No. ... The Maxx is a comic book and animated series written and illustrated by Sam Kieth (with writing assistance from William Messner-Loebs earlier on in the series and from Alan Moore in a later issue), and published by Image Comics. ... Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land cartridge Below are the games in which the game character Kirby appears as the main protagonist, sorted by their US release date when available. ... Sonic Shuffle is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast and was Segas answer to the successful Nintendo party game, Mario Party. ... Nights into Dreams. ... The Wii (pronounced as the pronoun we, IPA: ) is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo. ... The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, also known as Juniper Lee for short, is an American animated television series, created by Judd Winick and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. ... The Movie Poster The Sailor Moon SuperS movie is the third theatrically released Sailor Moon movie. ...

References

See also

• Dreamscape (dream)
• Neverland (disambiguation)
• Astral plane
• Mental plane