# When you don’t mind suspending disbelief **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2023, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151 "2023-04-25T07:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/81 "2023-04-27T14:13:53Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > …there are plenty of folks who could cover that distance in three to four hours. In the clothes worn by Michael Douglas’ character and in his physical shape? ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/82 "2023-04-27T14:24:05Z")
With plenty of stops along the way for breakfast, killing neo-nazis, terrorizing convenience store owners…he’s got a full leisurely day. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/83 "2023-04-27T14:47:28Z")
> [@Steve\_McQwark](#): > > There were a few times when I mentioned that something on the show should have bothered me because it violated the rules the show had set up for itself If I am watching a show, I am happy to suspend disbelief regarding whatever is part of its premise. Magic, elves, dragons? Fine. Aliens, artificial gravity, warp travel? Fine. It drives me nuts when they start doing things that are inconsistent with their storyline or contrary to their premise. Sometimes this is when they introduce some sort of time travel shenanigans or special power to solve a problem, and with no explanation they never use it again as though they totally forgot they could do it. That’s just stupid writing. Sometimes the rules within a show’s world change from season to season, maybe due to a change in writers or producers. Years ago, I watched _ **Kyle XY** _ with my kids. In season one, Kyle was a clone who learned skills and information at super speed due to spending years growing in a tube with his brain wired up to a supercomputer. In season two, he had telekinetic superpowers because he had been cloned from a powerful psychic. They threw much of the original premise out the window and went a different direction. > [@JohnT](#): > > I also bought _Ozark_, regardless of how preposterous the plot. The one thing which threw me out was when 22yo Ruth rented a U-Haul with cash. WTF?!?! I wondered at first if rural U-Haul franchises might operate with a more “Mayberry” business model, but U-Haul’s website says you can rent things with cash, and only renting trucks and cargo vans (things with motors?) require you to provide a credit card as security. It looks like you actually can rent simple trailers using only cash. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/84 "2023-04-27T14:50:08Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > CGI can be used effectively, just look at Mad Max: Fury Road. I’m sure CGI is often used and I don’t even notice it. But sometimes it just looks bad and takes me out of the moment. That’s what it does to me as well. Part of it for me is what comes across as a lame attempt to convince me that something is real, or even so close to real that my brain won’t shout ‘not real!’. And yes, CGI can be used a lot without being noticed, that’s one of the things the technology was supposed to achieve. > [@alovem](#): > > In Meet Joe Black, at the beginning, when Brad Pitt’s character gets hit by a car. Looks about as realistic as the characters swept up by the twister in The Wizard of Oz. > ., > The scene could have been shot effectively using traditional means and it wouldn’t have been out of tone with the rest. Producers and directors might have been dead set on using some CGI in the movie. I think there’s likely a shortage of people working old style special effects also, so practical considerations may have made CGI their best choice at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/85 "2023-04-27T14:55:35Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > In Indian Jones and the Crystal Skull, there’s a chase scene through the jungle where they’re speeding along in some Jeep-like vehicles complete with CGI monkeys. The whole thing looks like a cartoon and it takes me out of the movie. I’ve often thought the real problem with bad CGI is that the animators seem to forget about gravity and momentum. Like in The Phantom Menace. My biggest problem with Jar Jar Binks as a character is that his huge flappy ear-things are clearly not being affected by gravity at any point. Real physical objects just don’t move like that. In an actual cartoon, that might be okay, but when the CGI guy is standing next to a real person, the difference stands out. Unless that’s the whole point, like in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it ruins the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/86 "2023-04-27T15:21:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But one thing that takes me out of a scene is sleight-of-hand stuff where the actor doesn’t _do_ anything. Like, we’ll see the character pickpocket a guy — except it’s obvious that the actor simply had the wallet before he walked past the guy, is all. Or we’ll see the character doing a magic trick — only it’s just the actor saying Is This Your Card while producing an eight of spades that he _didn’t_ actually palm or whatever. In the Netflix series _ **Shadow & Bone** _, they pull off the exact opposite. There is a gunslinger character named Jesper, played by Kit Young, who is supposed to be “the best in the world”. Allegedly, they intended to use CGI and stunt people for many of the scenes involving gun tricks, but Kit Young learned to actually do them himself. There are a few videos of him on YouTube and Twitter demonstrating some of the tricks he learned. The YouTube video “Kit Young Playing With Pistol” shows a little of what he learned to do. [youtube kit young playing with pistols - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+kit+young+playing+with+pistols&rlz=1C1ASUM_enUS707US707&oq=youtube+kit+young+playing+with+pistols&aqs=chrome..69i57.8894j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/87 "2023-04-27T15:28:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > so practical considerations may have made CGI their best choice at the time. Well, I don’t know about it being the _best_ choice, but I might agree that it was a logical one, especially considering how slow the rest of the film is. Still, I have to insist that they could have filmed a scene with even more impact (pun unintentional) without CGI. I’m not saying it would have been easy. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/88 "2023-04-27T18:34:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > CGI can be used effectively, just look at Mad Max: Fury Road. I’m sure CGI is often used and I don’t even notice it. But sometimes it just looks bad and takes me out of the moment. That’s a good example. There was a lot of enhancement done with CGI in Fury Road but I believe the general ethos of the movie was to do as much physical work as possible. I think that a huge amount of the dynamic stuntwork was real rather than digital and I think it looks all the better for it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/89 "2023-04-27T19:09:10Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > In Meet Joe Black, at the beginning, when Brad Pitt’s character gets hit by a car. Looks about as realistic as the characters swept up by the twister in The Wizard of Oz. It’s strange, because I don’t recall any other special effects in that film. The scene could have been shot effectively using traditional means and it wouldn’t have been out of tone with the rest. [That scene was mostly practical effects](https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/the-story-behind-brad-pitts-meet-joe-black-car-accident.html), including a dummy Brad Pitt that they slung around with cables as it bounced off of real cars. They used some CGI to composite the shot of Brad Pitt in the street with the dummy, and to change how the suitcases moved a little bit, but the creators of the scene claim that there’s only about 15 frames of CGI in that whole scene. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/90 "2023-04-28T05:48:38Z")
Well, that looks much more realistic than I remembered. Credible behind-the-scenes information is always interesting, especially in this case, as it came straight from the creators. I also find it interesting that some of their comments seem to reflect their professionalism, with the one worrying about not having backup photos and the other regretting that onlookers hadn’t been informed. Funny anecdote, too, about pranking the assistant producer and director. Thanks for the link, @Miller! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/91 "2023-04-29T15:11:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@alovem](#): > > > > In Meet Joe Black, at the beginning, when Brad Pitt’s character gets hit by a car. Looks about as realistic as the characters swept up by the twister in The Wizard of Oz. It’s strange, because I don’t recall any other special effects in that film. The scene could have been shot effectively using traditional means and it wouldn’t have been out of tone with the rest. > > [That scene was mostly practical effects](https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/the-story-behind-brad-pitts-meet-joe-black-car-accident.html), including a dummy Brad Pitt that they slung around with cables as it bounced off of real cars. They used some CGI to composite the shot of Brad Pitt in the street with the dummy, and to change how the suitcases moved a little bit, but the creators of the scene claim that there’s only about 15 frames of CGI in that whole scene. Thanks, that’s how I remembered it. I thought my memory was faulty. It’s gotten really hard to tell. Movies like John Wick seem to be 90% CGI anymore. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/92 "2023-04-29T17:20:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Movies like John Wick seem to be 90% CGI anymore. I thought one of the reasons the _John Wick_ series is so well-liked and respected is that it **is** mostly practical effects and does not rely heavily on CGI. Unless that is what you mean, I’m not sure by your use of “anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/93 "2023-04-29T17:23:17Z")
Reading another post reminded me of my love of Brian DePalma’s movie _Obsession._ Which lead me to Roger Ebert’s review. [Obsession movie review & film summary (1976) | Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/obsession-1976#:~:text=The%20movie's%20been%20criticized%20as,you%20saw%20a%20ghost%3F)). The closing paragraph: “The movie’s been criticized as implausible and unsubtle, but that’s exactly missing the point. Of course the ending is out of a lurid novel, and of course the music edges toward hysteria, and of course Robertson goes from mad to worse (wouldn’t you, if you saw a ghost?). I don’t just like movies like this; I relish them. Sometimes overwrought excess can be its own reward. If “Obsession” had been even a little more subtle, had made even a little more sense on some boring logical plane, it wouldn’t have worked at all.” This how I feel about certain movies, too, and why I suspend my disbelief. If you can be carried along like riding a tsunami and not think about how impossible that is, I’ll go right along with it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/94 "2023-04-29T20:36:02Z")
There are real stunts but a ton of it is CGI or a blend of CGI and practical. The fact that you can’t tell shows how good it’s integrated. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/95 "2023-04-29T22:11:52Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The problem I had with _House_ was more about what they did and the order they did things in rather than who was doing the tests. They would order things like technetium-99 scans, lumbar punctures, and even do exploratory surgery, brain biopsies, and / or breaking into the patient’s house to search for drugs, and finally at the end they would do a routine urinalysis or blood count and get the diagnosis from a test that would have been ordered in the first 30 minutes in real life. Plus they’d always guess lupus at some point and it was never lupus…except this ONE time. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151/96 "2023-05-01T17:09:07Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Superheros. > > Musicals. Then I guess this really did it for you: [Rogers: The Musical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wjnr4azzy0) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-don-t-mind-suspending-disbelief/983151.md?page=4)