Both Philip K. Dick’s short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" and Paul Verhoeven’s film adaptation "Total Recall" engage with the blurred line between fantasy and reality, each offering a self-reflective commentary on their respective genres: science fiction and Hollywood adventure. In Dick’s narrative, the protagonist, Quail, is driven by a deep-seated desire to visit Mars, leading him to the Rekall agency for memory implantation. The story employs plot twists to destabilize the boundaries between reality and illusion, first revealing that Quail’s yearning is linked to suppressed memories of being a secret agent on Mars, and later uncovering that his actions prevented an alien invasion. The story’s conclusion, which asserts that "an illusion, no matter how convincing, remained nothing more than an illusion," underscores its self-referential irony, as the narrative itself turns out to be fiction.

菲利普·K·迪克的短篇小说《我们可以为你全盘记住》和保罗·费尔霍文改编的电影《全面回忆》都探讨了幻想与现实之间的模糊界限，同时对科幻小说和好莱坞冒险电影这两种类型进行了自我反思。在迪克的叙事中，主人公奎尔因内心深处对火星的向往，来到瑞卡尔机构进行记忆植入。故事以情节曲折的方式，不断颠覆现实与虚幻的界限，先是揭示奎尔的渴望与被压抑的火星特工记忆有关，随后又透露他曾阻止外星人入侵。结尾处，故事断言“幻觉，无论多么令人信服，也不过是幻觉而已”，这一句强调了故事的自我反讽意味，揭示了叙述本身也是虚构的这一事实。

The film adaptation, while following a similar premise, transforms the story into a hyperbolic Hollywood adventure, characterized by exaggerated action and visual spectacle. The film embraces the "white male savior" trope, with Quail’s Mars adventure mirroring the idealized fantasy sold to him by Rekall. Characters like Melina are tailored to fit Quail’s fantasy, embodying attributes described by the Rekall agent, thus highlighting the film’s tongue-in-cheek critique of genre conventions. The film’s cult-like aesthetic, featuring elements such as a prostitute with three breasts and grotesque visual effects, parodies Hollywood’s penchant for hyperbolic violence and melodrama. Through this exaggerated lens, "Total Recall" critiques the genre’s detachment from reality, using self-aware parody to comment on the inherent artificiality and escapism of both science fiction and action films.

改编成电影后，虽然故事的前提相似，但却变成了夸张的好莱坞冒险故事，其特点是夸张的动作和视觉奇观。影片采用了 “白人男性救世主 ”的套路，奎尔的火星探险与雷科尔向他兜售的理想化幻想如出一辙。梅丽娜等角色都是为适应奎尔的幻想而量身定做的，体现了 Rekall 代理人所描述的特质，从而突出了影片对类型传统的调侃式批判。影片中的邪教美学元素，如拥有三个乳房的妓女和怪诞的视觉效果，模仿了好莱坞对夸张暴力和情节剧的偏好。通过这个夸张的镜头，《全面回忆》批判了类型片脱离现实的现象，用自我意识的模仿来评论科幻片和动作片固有的矫揉造作和逃避现实。