Suspension of Disbelief

[Sheikah_Witch]

Wikipedia describes Suspension of Disbelief as "Suspension of disbelief, sometimes called willing suspension of disbelief, is the intentional avoidance of critical thinking or logic in examining something surreal, such as a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe it for the sake of enjoyment."

Are there any particular instances you remember where suspension of disbelief was hard for you? Or when it was easy? Do you feel like you have to do this often, when you're enjoying media?

 

[Spirit]

I feel like modern media, especially movies, ask for a lot more suspension of disbelief than they used to.

But modern movies really do suck and their writing can be so bad and plots so nonsensical that no matter how hard I try I just can't do it.

The new Star Wars movies are a good example where things are just so unbelievably convenient and contrived that they start to lose all sense of common logic that I just cannot immerse myself in them no matter how hard I try to suspend my disbelief.

There's definitely a line and modern Hollywood movies have no idea where that line is anymore.

 

[Mido]

Suspension of disbelief is interesting in that it seems to be a game of balance. One on hand, too much can lead us to accept situations or concepts that might become too much of a stretch even for a large will to believe. On the other hand, too little can lead to more cynical takes where almost everything is scrutinized. On this scale of suspension, I would say I lean more towards the first extreme.

As an example, Ace Attorney has a ton of moments where one has to flex suspension of disbelief a bit to get behind what the series puts out. The idea that spirit mediums exist in the game's universe can be considered a bit out of left field, but I think the characters surrounding it are endearing enough or intriguing enough to look past the concept.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

My thoughts on this is that the Suspension of Disbelief is what we have to take for granted in order for the story to play out.

Therefore, it stands to reason that all stories have something that you need to suspend your disbelief in order for the story to work.

Some require you to just accept a small change (historical fiction or westerns), some require you to accept more fantastical things (science fiction/fantasy), but all stories have a suspension of disbelief by nature.

For example, in a fantasy setting, we assume that dragons, magic, and other fantastical things exist, because they need to in order for the story to work.

For science fiction, we assume that extra-terrestrial beings exist, and are intelligent, forming complicated civilizations, and that faster than light travel exists, otherwise, the story wouldn't work.

HOWEVER

People are more willing to accept something that couldn't happen in reality if it is justified. For example, magic doesn't exist, but for a fantasy story, if the author or writer can describe a system of magic that makes sense in the context of the story's canon and such, then people are more willing to accept that magic exists.

Now, any object traveling faster than light would be impossible, because according to Einstein, the object would have to expend more than an infinite amount of energy to travel faster than light.

HOWEVER

People are willing to accept faster than light travel if the writer gives a clear way of how the travel works, like, for example, you can travel great distances by folding space and time to create a wormhole, or something like that.

Mass Effect's Mass Relays are a great example, as is Halo's Slipspace Jumps, all are explaining FTL travel, so that the story makes sense.

Notice the thread here.

IT HAS TO MAKE SENSE.

Stories aren't an accurate descriptor of real life and all of its randomness. They're constructs. Thus, a story has to be written where it has a clear beginning, middle, and end with conflict threading all throughout the story.

Stories, by definition are characters, settings, and plot, all connected by conflict or drama, and filtered by how the story is told.

Thus, I can accept magic being a thing in a story, but I won't accept a character acting in a way that doesn't make sense, or go against who they are.

For example, I accept that Homer Simpson is stupid, and it's necessary for some of the gags in the Simpsons, but if Homer all of a sudden starts acting responsible, reasonable, and intelligent, and no explanation is given, then it's breaking my suspension of disbelief.

So as long as something makes sense, the willing suspension of disbelief remains intact, but if something breaks that, or creates a hole in it, and no sufficient justification is given, then the willing suspension of disbelief is broken, creating a plot hole.

Anything that takes you out of the narrative and has you go, "Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense," is what I would consider breaking that suspension.