Daydreaming: A pleasant visionary usually wishful creation of the imagination.
Characters that daydream can be presented as a hopeless bunch who are imprisoned within their mind's own unlimited imaginings. Who are some favorite characters that are known to spend a lot of time daydreaming? What are they avoiding in the real world or hiding from? Do they daydream for pure enjoyment and distraction?
Escapism: When the everyday and mundane aspects of the character's ordinary life cause the onset of excessive daydreaming. Some characters dream of being anywhere other than where they are, and frankly, it doesn't matter where for them, as long as it is far away from their immediate environment. The character may dream of vacationing or traveling to far-off lands and escaping to unknown destinations. They might get lost in an already devised world that has been constructed for them in whichever format, outlet or medium they have gravitated towards. Sometimes the escape does not even need to be an unvisited land, it might just be the park, the mall, or the movie theatre away from their desk or cubicle.
Delusions of Grandeur: Where the character in question envisions themselves transforming or becoming something other than what they are, a rockstar, an action figure, a pro sports athlete, the leader of a nation, and so on. The actual character might be entirely opposite to what they dream of which could be a contributing reason for envisioning themselves in such a role; the shy and nerdy boy that doesn't know how to talk to girls and dreams of himself as a handsome jock that is a ladies man and a magnet for all women, and other such generic examples. This could also motivate them towards a path where they wind up pursuing their desired profession or identity. Or oppositely the character develops an alter ego and ulterior motives that are starkly divided from what is believed or known about their day-to-day personality.
Alternate Outcomes: Where they dream of events and interactions that play out differently than what they had already experienced. The guy gets the girl, the sports team wins instead of loses, the leader lives and doesn't die, the party triumphs instead of having lost, etc. Or the character dreams up different scenarios related to a specific period in their lives, or the preservation of a point in time that may have slipped away or been taken from them. Before a loved one or family member died, before they moved or relocated, before their life was ripped apart, before they had kids, before they got old, and so on. When the character daydreams of more positive or rewarding moments in their lives this makes it easy for them to fixate over the past and get hung up on them.
Sensory Delight: Applies to a wide spectrum of human emotions experienced, in their highest and most exaggerated forms. When the character seeks Highs and Lows of a disproportionate kind. Characters that dream of pleasure-steeped environments, ones where they are swallowed up in sexually driven scenarios, places where they can gorge themselves to their heart's content in sweets and food or other forms of drugs and stimuli. Usually, these indulgences take the form of instant gratification that can be consumed in a prolonged state and at length for much more than should be tolerated in real life. Characters that dream of thrill-seeking experiences. Driving wildly on a race track, riding a never-ending loop on a roller-coaster, sky-diving off a perilous cliff, and so on.
Fantastical or Other-worldly Experiences: When the character creates a highly developed fantasy world and creates various levels, dimensions, and stratifications to this imagined world. Where their musings of an idea turn into something that is beyond plausible in terms of what could actually occur in the real world. This goes one step, or many steps further than the previous examples as the former ones can still be grounded in reality to some degree. While the fantasy world devised by the character could not wholly exist on planet Earth and they construct a different land, realm, planet, or alternate galaxy as a separate playground for their daydreams to exist and occur within.
Film
Chicago: The character in the musical and film known as Roxy Heart has grand dreams of becoming a famous actress and stage performer. She gets involved with a man who lies to her about his supposed connections within the industry, and after having slept with him several times, she comes to the realization that he has been lying the entire time to get into bed with her. After having learned he was just a lying scoundrel, in a moment of impulsive rage Roxy grabs her husband's gun and shoots him in the chest and kills him. She winds up in prison and while spending time there in her cell, her imaginings and delusions intensify.
The world of the theatre she dreams of being a part of begins to encompass the prison environment and goes on to include the other female inmates she meets. The Matron and the other women of murderess row that have been placed on her cell block have their own songs and staring moments which are featured in her imagined delusions that make up part of her grand vision. There are many instances shown, in the film particularly, where she dances and sings alone on a stage, and her name is called out by an anonymous audience that speaks to her. She envisions herself greatly admired by paparazzi and hosts of adoring fans. Interestingly enough, she does get her wish and she becomes an overnight sensation when her trial is picked up by the papers and she is represented by a famous lawyer who in a successful defense gets her off. The delusions Roxy experiences arise at the height of the tensest and most dramatic moments in her life and they are transformed into whole acts in her mind with dance numbers and songs sung in response to the action that is supposed to be happening in real-time.
Brazil: In the 1985 film, the character Sam Lowry is a paper-pusher who works for the state and attends the grind of his day job every morning at the ministry. Even though he does not hold any particular title and is no one of noteworthy importance, he still has high-ranking connections upheld by previous members of his family. Because of the run-of-the-mill nature of his job, he finds himself dreaming of a maiden that is in need of rescue and he envisions himself as the hero. It is a rather colourful dream, where he is seen flying through the sky amongst the pastel clouds sporting a pair of gilded wings like the figure Icarus. The maiden is a beautiful woman with glittering makeup and long flowing hair, she is entirely unknown to Sam, until he comes across her in real life in an unexpected meeting.
After their first chance encounter, Sam pursues her relentlessly like a madman because he cannot believe she has appeared out of his dream and is a real woman with a face identical to the one he dreamt up. He uses his position at the ministry to find out details about her and then hunts her down. They both live in a heavily surveilled society, and finding love during a time when it might as well be a crime is no easy task. But after having committed too many infractions inside the ministry and crimes out in the real world while on his wild chase in pursuit of this rogue woman, even his family's standing does not protect him. He is eventually brought in for questioning by interrogators, one of which who had been a former friendly coworker known to him before he was turned in by the state. While he is being questioned they intend to torture him. However he is uncooperative, and his mind goes down a delirious rabbit hole and he is not mentally present for any of the torture tactics used upon him. Whatever pain he should have felt is swept away by a delusional and self-induced dream state he enters in to escape his captors.
Sucker Punch: The character know as Baby Doll is taken from her traumatic family home and sent to an institution for mentally unsound women. The facility is rife with many malpractices and the caretakers and those in charge of the corrupt institution mistreat and abuse the girls. Baby Doll is grouped together with other girls who are expected to entertain and dance for wealthy men and other clients that attend the facility. There is the actual medical facility that houses the girls, which is run by a sadistic man, and then there is the dreamt-up scenario created by Baby Doll, which is a Burlesque House or a Strip Club where they are made to perform.
One particular dreaded client is known as the High Roller who comes to collect the girls. The film switches back and forth from the Medical Facility to the Strip Club while the plot occurs simultaneously in both places. In this part of the constructed world by Baby Doll, she is pressured and trained to dance like the other girls, she responds by treating the task like a challenge that needs to be completed and mentally she devises and enters into a separate environment while engaging in this battle. This occurs simultaneously while the dancing is supposed to be taking place. However, Baby Doll is never actually shown to be dancing or strip-teasing for the men as the scene shifts away during these moments to the alternate imagined scenario that is occurring in her mind the battle that she is expected to fight.
Each time she is supposed to dance for a separate client, she conjures up specific challenges every time, like the different levels of a video game, she faces different opponents in each battle; a host of Samurai, then a dragon, then zombies, and so on. The goal and main objective of Baby Doll and the group of girls she surrounds herself with are to escape the medical facility. With every villain vanquished and every level completed, they are one step closer to achieving this, but not all of her friends make it, and some of them are killed. Baby Doll's daydreaming and the alternate realities she creates which appear every time she has to dance, seem to be a way for her to cope with her situation and the severe environment she and the girls have been subjected to. Her imaginings also cloak within high fantasy what would otherwise likely be a lecherous and perverted scene to watch.
What other daydreaming characters came to mind?