# Watching movies when the suspense of disbelief has been broken **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005 "2017-10-27T17:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/41 "2017-10-31T12:56:06Z")
> [@I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](#): > > this was a problem for me a while ago, well , I felt that actors seemed too self conscious in a “I’m acting, I am” kind of way, I watched a lot of stuff with subtitles for a while not understanding the language they spoke made it believable again, I used Danish programmes some cop style things, good stories. Are you good at spotting when people are lying too? I think all the bullshitters in my life were what broke tv for me! seriously though, subtitles. I’ve said before that one thing I can’t let go is when, upon hearing a recording of the call to 911 from the night of the murder or whatever, somebody will weigh in like an authoritative voice of experience: _nobody’s that good an actor_. Pulls me right out of the story: I _know_ someone is that good an actor; he’s right there! And he’s not even that good an actor! You’ve just reminded me that he’s one of them there actor-type fellas, when you insisted that his acting (a) _wasn’t_ acting, and (b) _couldn’t_ have been acting – and I just remembered that he’s never yet won an Emmy or an Oscar; and I just concluded that he ain’t gettin’ it for this! _“Nobody could fake that.”_ Man, don’t make me ask! Not while he’s faking it! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/42 "2017-10-31T12:59:47Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > OK, one more from me. And this happens much more often than one might expect. > > The camera establishes a shot of a business. (In my most recent example, it was actually a cemetery.) The sign for the business is misspelled. (In this example, it was a wrought-iron arch that spelled it “CEMETARY…”) I mean, come on! Some production assistant or stage dresser was given a budget to have a faux wrought-iron arch made and he/she couldn’t be bothered to get the spelling right? The PA had ONE job and screwed it up. I’m sure that most of the people on the set realized it was misspelled, but the shooting schedule made it necessary to use the erroneous sign. > > The same thing happens with newscasts, newspaper headlines and articles, highway signs, official paperwork, and similar materials shown in films. I immediately start thinking, “What the heck did the director think when the lead actor was handed a fake newspaper with the headline,‘WIFE OF PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN DISSAPPEARS’?” Did he fire the PA? Did he just sigh and say, “Nobody will notice?” > > In any case, it takes a long time for me to get back into the movie. It bugged me that several times in Tim Burton’s original 1989 **Batman** movie the newspaper headlines used British spellings (it was mostly shot at Pinewood Studios in the UK). Is Gotham City in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/43 "2017-10-31T13:06:47Z")
…[yes?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham,_Nottinghamshire) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/44 "2017-10-31T13:51:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > …[yes?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham,_Nottinghamshire) I dunno. That village seems to lack the city canyons and vertiginous heights necessary for costumed superheroes to use to their advantage in fighting crime. It’s hard to look down from the heights when the heights are only a few storeys up. Not that the comics have been ignoring the place. From your own cite: > [@](#): > > The existence of Gotham, Nottinghamshire in the DC Universe was recently acknowledged in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight No. 206 (and again in 52 No. 27),[4] although the connection between two names within the DCU has not been fully explained. In a story titled ‘Cityscape’ in Batman Chronicles No. 6 it is revealed that Gotham was initially built for the purpose of housing the criminally insane, and Robin reads a journal that tells of how Gotham got its name; “I even have a name for it. We could call it ‘Gotham’ after a village in England – where, according to common belief, all are bereft of their wits.”[4] ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/45 "2017-10-31T14:42:09Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > But you can’t say you weren’t warned by the title 🙂 I sincerely thought it referred to the train!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/46 "2017-10-31T14:44:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve said before that one thing I can’t let go is when, upon hearing a recording of the call to 911 from the night of the murder or whatever, somebody will weigh in like an authoritative voice of experience: _nobody’s that good an actor_. > > Pulls me right out of the story: I _know_ someone is that good an actor; he’s right there! And he’s not even that good an actor! You’ve just reminded me that he’s one of them there actor-type fellas, when you insisted that his acting (a) _wasn’t_ acting, and (b) _couldn’t_ have been acting – and I just remembered that he’s never yet won an Emmy or an Oscar; and I just concluded that he ain’t gettin’ it for this! > > _“Nobody could fake that.”_ Man, don’t make me ask! Not while he’s faking it! Sometimes it gets me the other way. Say with a show like Elementary, where you’re solving the case at the same time as the characters, and they interview someone and you the viewer can see they are lying, or have the wrong affect for what they are feeling. But you as the viewer wonder if that is a clue, or if the actor is just bad. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005/47 "2017-10-31T15:35:55Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I somehow came across a movie on TV, where they had the Apollo 11 lunar module in the back of a truck and we’re trying to sell it, complete with the descent stage! Yeah, it’s hard to believe some schmo could have slipped through the security of a secret desert base and made off with such large objects connected with a top-secret psy-op. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-movies-when-the-suspense-of-disbelief-has-been-broken/800005.md?page=2)