# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/21 "2011-10-08T20:48:46Z")
I’m happy to suspend disbelief; it is essential requirement when reading or watching ficition. Fiction itself is one big lie - the characters never existed. If you can’t suspend disbelief, you have no business reading anything fictional. ---
**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, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/22 "2011-10-08T20:58:01Z")
For me, it’s not the fictional aspect of it; I like a good story. But TV and movies tend to engage in a sort of imagery fascism that’s a turn off for me, such that I tend to want to call B.S. on it. ---
**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, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/23 "2011-10-08T21:40:53Z")
Here’s an example, last year’s finale of **Glee**. It’s imperative that you must be able to suspend disbelief when watching the show, as sometimes it almost seems to take place in an alternate world. However, _even within the world of the show_ it was still utterly incomprehensible that after finally making it to NYC to take part in the major big fancy competition that everyone has been working for years to get to, that the students & teacher would think it OK to write & rehearse their songs _the night before the performance_. Or that Rachel, the biggest Broadway fan on the show who knows just about anything you can know about theatre, would think that \*\*Cats \*\*was still playing on Broadway. Saying “What’s the problem? It’s all fictional anyway. They can do whatever they want!” is just a cop-out to excuse lazy writing. ---
**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, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/24 "2011-10-08T22:04:14Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > 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. If it’s a comedy I can sometimes make an exception, you expect some dumb decisions there because dumb decisions are funny. But if it’s a serious show having the protagonist make stupid, and I don’t mean less than ideal, but honest to God _stupid_ choices can ruin it for me. It makes me feel like the writers weren’t able to come up with something complicated enough to actually puzzle their action hero and it just screams incompetence and then I’m taken out of the story. Once I’m out it’s very hard for me to get back in. edit: Horror movies are practically ruined for me because it seems like nobody can make one without having the people make the dumbest possible decisions every time they get the option. After a point I don’t care about them. “He’s fucking dumb, eat him, hit him with an ax, he had his chance and I just don’t give a shit anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/25 "2011-10-08T22:39:58Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Here’s an example, last year’s finale of **Glee**. It’s imperative that you must be able to suspend disbelief when watching the show, as sometimes it almost seems to take place in an alternate world. However, _even within the world of the show_ it was still utterly incomprehensible that after finally making it to NYC to take part in the major big fancy competition that everyone has been working for years to get to, that the students & teacher would think it OK to write & rehearse their songs _the night before the performance_. This is a good example of the kind of thing I don’t think people _should_ be expected to suspend disbelief for. The problem isn’t that the situation would be implausible or impossible in the real world, but that it’s inconsistent with the established fictional world of the show and the personalities of the characters within it. It is if anything even less realistic in real-world terms that the kids _succeed_ in writing two original songs, working out the vocal arrangements, and getting a choreographed routine together in just a few hours, but I see you’re not complaining about that. Neither am I, because this is the kind of thing I think people need to suspend their disbelief for or else just not watch musicals. It’s a musical, so there are going to be musical numbers and they are not going to look like they were thrown together by amateurs at the last minute. But having the choir arrive in New York with no routine prepared went against what we know about these characters while also failing to make the show more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/26 "2011-10-09T01:39:11Z")
I really don’t have a problem with suspension of disbelief. I realize most shows, books, movies etc are trying to entertain and that’s it. It it’s done well who cares if it wouldn’t work in the real world. In the words of Mystery Science Theater 3000 “it’s just a show you should really just relax…” ---
**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 9, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/27 "2011-10-09T02:13:21Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > _snip_ > > Saying “What’s the problem? It’s all fictional anyway. They can do whatever they want!” is just a cop-out to excuse lazy writing. This! Suspension of belief is one thing, but ignoring bad writing and avoidable plot holes is quite another. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/28 "2011-10-09T02:17:36Z")
For me it depends on what I expected before going in. Flying cars are great in fifth element, but would piss me off if they showed up in Forest Gump. So if it’s supposed to be a serious and realistic movie, don’t ask me to believe something impossible. ---
**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 9, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/29 "2011-10-09T02:38:39Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Here’s an example, last year’s finale of **Glee**. It’s imperative that you must be able to suspend disbelief when watching the show, as sometimes it almost seems to take place in an alternate world. However, _even within the world of the show_ it was still utterly incomprehensible that after finally making it to NYC to take part in the major big fancy competition that everyone has been working for years to get to, that the students & teacher would think it OK to write & rehearse their songs _the night before the performance_. Or that Rachel, the biggest Broadway fan on the show who knows just about anything you can know about theatre, would think that \*\*Cats \*\*was still playing on Broadway. > > Saying “What’s the problem? It’s all fictional anyway. They can do whatever they want!” is just a cop-out to excuse lazy writing. Right. This kind of thing is bad writing. But, in my mind, suspension of disbelief is about something slightly different. I think a better example would be if in the show, Cats \*was \*still playing on Broadway. In the universe of Glee, that should be fine, but no, lots of people would cry that it isn’t realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/30 "2011-10-09T03:44:40Z")
My general attitude is just that the story needs to be internally consistent, both in its explicitly established rules and the implicit ones as well. Also, the more you break from reality, the better you need to sell it. As a very recent example, I just tried to watch _Cop Out_, the buddy cop flick with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. The movie is ostensibly set in modern-day Brooklyn. It starts off with Tracy Morgan trying to celebrate nine years of being partners with Bruce Willis. Tracy Morgan then proceeds to act like an incompetent manchild, first in interrogating a suspect and then in trying to conduct a sting on a drug supplier. Now, if through some weirdly but cleverly-scripted circumstances Morgan’s buffoonery actually wound up leading to an arrest, I could actually buy that. I love Bunny Ears Lawyers and Obfuscating Stupidity as tropes. But no, he and Willis botch the operation completely, and both are suspended for a month without pay. (This is all in the first 20 minutes of the movie, so I don’t think I’m spoiling much.) At that point I lost my suspension of disbelief. I don’t care how wacky Morgan might be, there is no way that kind of childish incompetence would have made it through training, much less _nine years on the force_. Morgan doesn’t come across as a goofy cop who gets results, he comes across as a goofy SNL character who was somehow allowed to interrogate a suspect. He wasn’t selling the goofiness, and I turned the movie off after less than a half hour. (It also didn’t help that I just didn’t find Morgan that funny.) Contrast this with the TV show _Castle_. In real life, a fiction writer would never be allowed to work so closely with a homicide detective for so long as Castle does, but I can buy it in the show, because while Castle may be goofy, his competency isn’t in question. The show sells the idea that the precinct would want Castle around, because he demonstrably helps them close cases. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/31 "2011-10-09T03:56:48Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Right. This kind of thing is bad writing. But, in my mind, suspension of disbelief is about something slightly different. I think a better example would be if in the show, Cats \*was \*still playing on Broadway. In the universe of Glee, that should be fine, but no, lots of people would cry that it isn’t realistic. I think you’re confusing one thing with another. People who have a problem with suspension of belief are not necessarily, and probably not likely, to be the same people who give a shit about meaningless anachronisms. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/32 "2011-10-09T04:09:53Z")
I’m willing to tolerate a lot from a movie or TV show, as long as it doesn’t ever ask that I indulge them by becoming a total moron. The 2009 _Star Trek_ make that particular demand early and often. _Fifth Element_, in stark contrast, amuses but doesn’t condescend. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/33 "2011-10-09T04:12:46Z")
My suspension of disbelief is subject to the rule of cool: if it’s cool, I don’t care if it’s unrealistic. I can watch someone spontaneously invent FTL travel to punch somebody in the face and not think twice about it, but undermining a character with OOC behaviour will annoy me. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Saying “What’s the problem? It’s all fictional anyway. They can do whatever they want!” is just a cop-out to excuse lazy writing. I can agree with that. The only times I’ve ever heard someone say “It’s science FICTION” or “It’s fan FICTION” is to defend works that have already failed. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/34 "2011-10-09T04:26:34Z")
I go a couple of different ways about this. In once sense I’m a total hypocrite about it – if I like a show I’ll be amused by how ridiculous its premise and plot is, but it will be among the things I whine about most when I don’t like the show. The other things is about the genre. I cannot stand movies that purport to be “serious drama” or “realistic” to have gaping plot holes, unbelievable situations and miraculous escapes. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/35 "2011-10-09T04:38:18Z")
I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy. It’s pretty easy for me to suspend my disbelief in faster-than-light travel and/or unicorns, for instance. But if a fantasy writer tells me that this fantasy world works one way, and then the ending of the story hinges on the world working in a contrary way, then I feel cheated. I don’t demand that a fantasy or science fiction world work in the same way that my real world does, but I do demand that such worlds should operate by the rules that the author states. It’s like a mystery story must introduce the wrongdoer in the early or middle portion of the story. It’s not fair for the detective to reveal, at the end of the last chapter, that s/he has found the wrongdoer, and it’s someone that the author has never even hinted at. The writers of stories have an obligation to their viewers/readers. They don’t have to show characters taking a dump, unless it’s necessary to the plot, but the writers need to have the story hang together. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/36 "2011-10-09T04:41:07Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > 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. To be fair, though I didn’t comment on it in the original thread, I thought _Third Rock_ was shitty because I found the jokes hacky and unfunny, not because it was unrealistic. To the question in the OP, I can suspend my disbelief fairly well, but if I find something too out there it takes me right out of my immersion. Case in point: The episode of _The Office_ where they were going to hire a male stripper and ended up hiring an actor playing Benjamin Franklin instead. Dwight quizzed him on BF trivia, and at one point said “I’m 99% sure that’s not the real Benjamin Franklin.” I couldn’t believe anyone on Earth could be stupid enough to entertain the possibility that Benjamin Franklin could possibly be alive, and it ruined the whole illusion for me. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/37 "2011-10-09T04:47:31Z")
I can forgive a show almost anything, as long as it is entertaining. But finding shows that entertain me is getting more and more difficult. Otherwise I’ll just quote the MST3K Theme: Repeat to yourself, it’s just a show, I should really just relax. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/38 "2011-10-09T04:49:56Z")
I generally have no trouble suspending belief. Hell I watch the StyFy movies. I liked the first couple seasons of 3rd Rock. But Alf was a bit hard to take. I understand TV takes liberties. that is why the CSI crew questions people, goes out and makes arrests and also finds time to do lab work. The fact that that is not factual is no big deal. The fact that all the labs techs, bosses and most criminals on Tv are beautiful, might also be unrealistic. The only CSI lab worker I know is chubby and not pretty. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/39 "2011-10-09T05:22:53Z")
> [@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. That’s the way I feel. Like with “Independence Day” for example, I can buy the huge space ships hovering over major cities, I can buy that they have shields, I can buy that they have technology that allows them to fall to the ground without having a big seismic impact. I can even buy the whole scenario about downloading the computer virus onto the mother ship. But the one thing that takes me out of the movie is the dog outrunning a big fucking fireball, even as it’s incinerating everything in sight and literally nipping at its heels. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009/40 "2011-10-09T05:25:50Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > 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? > [@Popular sitcoms that suck(ed)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-sitcoms-that-suck-ed/599000/5): > > My main problem with **3rd Rock** was that they never answered some questions: > > How did they come by these bodies they were using? Did they just design them from scratch, and if so how did they fake credentials needed for Dick to teach Physics or SSNs for employment and the like? Clearly somebody somewhere had to have some knowledge of Earth culture to do this. He didn’t call it “shitty” in so many words, but that was the OP’s question – what popular sitcoms were actually shitty shows – and **Sampiro** is pointing out various things that made the show unrealistic (no one can get a job without a SSN). I took some slight liberty in my summary but I don’t think it was a complete distortion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-for-you-to-suspend-disbelief/599009.md?page=3)