# How hard is it for you to suspend disbelief? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009 "2011-10-08T16:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/1 "2011-10-08T16:49:18Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=627145), people are saying that _Third Rock from the Sun_ was a shitty sitcom because it was unrealistic. :dubious: Uh, yeah – so what? It was a funny show and I enjoyed it. Similarly, people regularly get peeved with _Glee_ because it’s not realistic. Ditto for _NCIS_, in a thread that just started. I still watch _Glee_, and gave up on _NCIS_ only after _Glee_ switched to that time slot. I’ll be honest with you, if it’s a show I like, I don’t even think about this stuff. Whatever, it’s a TV show, I’m watching to be entertained, not to prove how much smarter I am than the people who came up with the show. (This is not to say I never get irritated with these things – I stopped watching _CSI_ not because the science was wacky, but because crime scene technicians don’t get involved in questioning suspects.) How about you? Do you pick apart plot lines? Why? Do you relax and go with the flow? If so, do you ever reach a snapping point? ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/2 "2011-10-08T16:51:44Z")
Easy for me when I can “rationalize” it. For example, I can accept Superman can do all these cool things because he is an alien whereas I think the whole Batman thing is stupid as I can’t suspend disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/3 "2011-10-08T16:53:57Z")
I approach each show as a universe unto itself. They can make up their own rules, as long as they play by them consistently. That’s the “deal” going in. If they live up to that, I can watch it no matter how much it differs from “my” universe. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/4 "2011-10-08T17:15:01Z")
It’s pretty easy for me. I can even notice that something is unrealistic, but then not care a few seconds later. And I love fanwanking stuff. The first time I’ve run into a problem was with River Song’s origins on Doctor Who. And I’m not entirely sure why. I do know I was disappointed when I found out. Maybe it was just that I had had a lot of time to formulate how it was going to go, and what really happened didn’t live up to what was in my head. It’s not that I can’t accept an almost magical explanation, just that I wanted a much better one–one that we could have figured out. One that doesn’t feel like it was written with the idea that he’d come up with a way to plug up the holes later. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/5 "2011-10-08T17:42:03Z")
Depends entirely on the show. 3rd Rock From the Sun can be unrealistic because that’s what I expect from it. Same with Glee. But with a show like NCIS I expect realism and when it fails to deliver a certain amount of it it turns me off of it. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/6 "2011-10-08T17:47:03Z")
I never understood people who find shows unrealistic. It’s a show. It’s fiction. It doesn’t matter if the show is based on reality, it’s still fiction. I watch shows to be entertained. If they succeed in doing that, then I’ve enjoyed the show. I have a very large suspension of disbelief simply because I know the thing I’m watching is _made up._ If they wanted to put a tale of a flying chair in the middle of The West Wing, I’d watch and probably enjoy it if it amused/entertained me that much and I wouldn’t think twice about it being unrealistic. I always ask myself what people who watch shows are expecting when they start to complain about having to suspend disbelief (like it’s a bad thing). You’re watching a FICTIONAL show. Key word there is fictional. “But…but…It’s unbelievable!” Yes, that’s why it’s called fiction. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/7 "2011-10-08T17:50:28Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I never understood people who find shows unrealistic. It’s a show. It’s fiction. It doesn’t matter if the show is based on reality, it’s still fiction. > I watch shows to be entertained. If they succeed in doing that, then I’ve enjoyed the show. I have a very large suspension of disbelief simply because I know the thing I’m watching is _made up._ If they wanted to put a tale of a flying chair in the middle of The West Wing, I’d watch and probably enjoy it if it amused/entertained me that much and I wouldn’t think twice about it being unrealistic. > I always ask myself what people who watch shows are expecting when they start to complain about having to suspend disbelief (like it’s a bad thing). You’re watching a FICTIONAL show. Key word there is fictional. “But…but…It’s unbelievable!” Yes, that’s why it’s called fiction. When I watch a show I can get immersed in it. A lack of a certain amount of realism (or at least what I buy as realistic) would stand out to me just like a pink unicorn in the middle of a World War II shooter. It’s distracting to me. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/8 "2011-10-08T17:55:38Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > When I watch a show I can get immersed in it. A lack of a certain amount of realism (or at least what I buy as realistic) would stand out to me just like a pink unicorn in the middle of a World War II shooter. It’s distracting to me. I understand that, but most of the time, it’s not ever anything as dramatic as that. Take the show 24, for example. I read (online) a few topics (on other message boards) of people complaining on how 24 gets unbelievable. Like “The president would never do that” or “Oh, Jack got there in five minutes time” or “Why didn’t they just make a copy of the recording that they need so badly! Why take the chance someone will try to erase it?” Stuff like that, I wonder what they’re expecting. It’s obviously drawn out like that so, you know, _they have a show_. Because if they did everything realistically, it would be over in about five minutes and probably be pretty boring. So I’m not talking about your usual Law and Order characters suddenly getting up and dancing and singing as if they were in a musical, I’m talking about small, little things that people could choose to ignore but, instead, talk like it makes the show sucky. I suppose to them, it does…just seems to me to be a bit overly anal about things. You have to suspend disbelief and realize you’re watching a fictional, made up thing in order to enjoy a lot of things, I find. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/9 "2011-10-08T17:56:43Z")
I totally buy whatever the show is selling. Need to zoom in and enhance and rotate 180 degrees and then xray vision that bitch, all from a blurry security cam tape? Sure. Why not? Why on earth would I assume you can’t do that in your fictional universe? Maybe it’s harder for nerds to suspend their disbelief. Not that I have anything against nerds. Always wanted to be one, but wasn’t smart enough. Plus, was too cool. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/10 "2011-10-08T18:09:00Z")
The time I have most difficulty in suspending my disbelief is when I have specialist knowledge, then I just keep stumbling on the discrepancy between my deep down knowledge and the work arounds being used. For this reason, having studied archaeology, prehistory and anthropology I haven’t yet met a story with a stone age setting that I can bear. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/11 "2011-10-08T18:34:02Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I approach each show as a universe unto itself. They can make up their own rules, as long as they play by them consistently. That’s the “deal” going in. If they live up to that, I can watch it no matter how much it differs from “my” universe. This is how I see it for the most part. I’ll accept whatever premise the show starts with and sometimes the more ridiculous it is the more I’ll like it, as long as they keep the boundaries they originally set up in place. > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I understand that, but most of the time, it’s not ever anything as dramatic as that. Take the show 24, for example. I read (online) a few topics (on other message boards) of people complaining on how 24 gets unbelievable. Like “The president would never do that” or “Oh, Jack got there in five minutes time” or “Why didn’t they just make a copy of the recording that they need so badly! Why take the chance someone will try to erase it?” This annoys me. Like I said, I’ll accept the original premise, but after that I expect, or at least want, the characters to act like real people would do if they were in that situation. I want the characters to be consistent. If the character is supposed to be an idiot then fine, let him do stupid things. If he’s supposed to be a tough guy with an uncontrollable temper, I’m ok with seeing him lose control even when it’s a poor decision. But if the character is supposed to be a brilliant special agent, or the president, but then makes stupid choices that even _I_ would know better than to make, it takes me out of the show. It’s possible to avoid this, and the good shows do. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/12 "2011-10-08T18:36:55Z")
I can suspend my disbelief easily, in a well-written show that is consistent within its universe. Most of Star Trek, Eureka, Warehouse 13, those are all shows I can get into and appreciate within the rules of the show’s universe. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/13 "2011-10-08T18:42:09Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I understand that, but most of the time, it’s not ever anything as dramatic as that. Take the show 24, for example. I read (online) a few topics (on other message boards) of people complaining on how 24 gets unbelievable. Like “The president would never do that” or “Oh, Jack got there in five minutes time” or “Why didn’t they just make a copy of the recording that they need so badly! Why take the chance someone will try to erase it?” > Stuff like that, I wonder what they’re expecting. It’s obviously drawn out like that so, you know, _they have a show_. Because if they did everything realistically, it would be over in about five minutes and probably be pretty boring. > > So I’m not talking about your usual Law and Order characters suddenly getting up and dancing and singing as if they were in a musical, I’m talking about small, little things that people could choose to ignore but, instead, talk like it makes the show sucky. I suppose to them, it does…just seems to me to be a bit overly anal about things. You have to suspend disbelief and realize you’re watching a fictional, made up thing in order to enjoy a lot of things, I find. Some of us have higher standards I guess. 😃 This would be an issue if there weren’t any shows that satisfied us. But there are plenty of shows that manage to do it. It’s like saying “ugh, there’s too much romantic drama in that show. I don’t like that.” Some of us don’t like a lack of perceived realism. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/14 "2011-10-08T18:46:22Z")
I will say say that as a fairly adept magician and mystical humanist, I have not quite plumbed the very depths and depravity of cynicism and regret. For instance, I can still enjoy a magic show with enough fresh faced joy and the innocence of a child, with a lack of personal offense and searching for the sleight and the wrong to my sense of absolute structure and absolute knowledge and to think that paranoiacally that people are trying to deceive me, or “put one over” on me… I don’t have to be the center of that attention. or in other words, I can enjoy magic for entertainment and don’t have to ruin everyone’s enjoyment, wonder, and surprise with a sense of instutuinalized socratic stoicism, overt logic, pathological autism, and misplaced righteousness. Silly rabbit, tricks is for wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/15 "2011-10-08T18:50:02Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I never understood people who find shows unrealistic. It’s a show. It’s fiction. It doesn’t matter if the show is based on reality, it’s still fiction. That’s how I feel as well. If a show was realistic you’d have entire scenes of Friends where they discussed what to have for lunch and finally decide on cold pizza from last night after 10 minutes of talking about it because that’s realistic. In real life Joey wouldn’t always eat every last thing all the time. It’s also boring and no one would watch it. Anyways, right now I’m racing through S1-S5 of Psych to catch up before it starts in a few weeks. I’ve noticed a ginormous plot hole that shows up on about a third of the episodes and ya know what…I really don’t care. It’s a good show and I like it enough that I can look past it. It takes a lot for be to stop suspending disbelief but it usually involves me not liking the show to begin with and/or a gaping plot issue or bad acting/production. But again, in a show like Psych, I really like the show, it makes me laugh and even though the plot hole is pretty big, the only time it really comes into play it only lasts a few seconds and then it passes. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/16 "2011-10-08T19:15:50Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > So I’m not talking about your usual Law and Order characters suddenly getting up and dancing and singing as if they were in a musical, I’m talking about small, little things that people could choose to ignore but, instead, talk like it makes the show sucky. I suppose to them, it does…just seems to me to be a bit overly anal about things. You have to suspend disbelief and realize you’re watching a fictional, made up thing in order to enjoy a lot of things, I find. There’s a difference between suspension of belief in order to buy the premise of a show (aliens exist, people break out into song in the middle of school hallways, time travel is possible, etc.) and small things that happen because of bad writing. Saying that simply a show being fictional means that anything can happen and ‘how can you complain because it’s fiction!?’ is frankly, asinine. I’d say if you always buy every single little thing on a show, and never think anything is ever out of place, your standards are quite low. > [@twickster](#): > > In this thread, people are saying that Third Rock from the Sun was a shitty sitcom because it was unrealistic. Uh, no one in that thread said \*\*3rd Rock \*\*was a shitty sitcom because it was unrealistic. Care to link to the post that said that? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/17 "2011-10-08T19:20:13Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > The time I have most difficulty in suspending my disbelief is when I have specialist knowledge, then I just keep stumbling on the discrepancy between my deep down knowledge and the work arounds being used. > > For this reason, having studied archaeology, prehistory and anthropology I haven’t yet met a story with a stone age setting that I can bear. I was OK with the Flintstones until they celebrated Christmas. Goodbye, SOD. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/18 "2011-10-08T20:16:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’d say if you always buy every single little thing on a show, and never think anything is ever out of place, your standards are quite low. Or maybe I just don’t care/am bothered as much because the entertainment value is higher than the disbelief level. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/19 "2011-10-08T20:22:45Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > But if the character is supposed to be a brilliant special agent, or the president, but then makes stupid choices that even _I_ would know better than to make, it takes me out of the show. It’s possible to avoid this, and the good shows do. I agree with the majority of your post (before this quote). I just wanted to reply to this part of it, though, to say that sometimes those things are needed for certain plots to take place. Sure, the characters can do the smart thing and always make the right choice…but even if the genius characters made the right and smart choice all the time, I’d think the shows would start to become more predicable and much less humorous/suspenseful/continuing…take your pick. Obviously it’s all relative, however…what might entertain and amuse me, another person might not like. Like I said, me, I watch shows to be entertained…so I rarely pick apart plot lines and character motivations. If a show or movie is entertaining, then it’s done its job, in my opinion, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/20 "2011-10-08T20:43:37Z")
I don’t really want to suspend disbelief; it doesn’t turn me on. I generally am just not impressed with TV shows or movies, anyway. Some stuff is well done enough, but mostly, I don’t need some Hollywood jerks tweaking my stimuli response to be entertained. Just like some folks don’t want to drink or do drugs, I don’t want to sit on my duff and be fed processed pabulum. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009.md?page=2)