Suspension of Disbelief - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is an essential ingredient for any kind of storytelling. With any film, the viewer has to ignore the reality that they are viewing a two-dimensional moving image on a screen and temporarily accept it as reality in order to be entertained. Black & White films provide an obvious early example that audiences are willing to suspend disbelief, no matter how unreal the images appear, for the sake of entertainment. With the exception of totally color blind people (See: Achromatopsia), no person viewing these films sees the real world without color, but they are still willing to suspend disbelief and accept the images in order to be entertained.

Suspension of disbelief may be seen in enjoyment of many B-grade science fiction films and television series such as the early series of Doctor Who, where the audience willingly ignores low-budget props and occasional plot holes, in order to engage fully with the story — which may be the more so for those additions to its inherent outrageousness.

Suspension of disbelief is also supposed to be essential for the enjoyment of many movies and TV shows involving complex stunts, special effects, and seemingly unrealistic plots, characterizations, etc. The theory professes to explain why a subset of action movie fans are willing to accept the idea that, for example: The good guy can get away with shooting guns in public places (without getting in trouble with the local law-enforcement himself), never running out of ammunition (Rambo movies), or that cars will explode with a well-placed shot to the gas tank (numerous action movies use this cliché/plot element).

Suspension of disbelief is also needed when a character is not supposed to age over the course of a series (because of being a vampire or be eternal/immortal because of some quirk/trait/power of the character) but the actor eventually does - as seen in Angel and Highlander.

In the three CSI series, it is frequently implied that forensic test results are received immediately after said tests are performed; since in reality, it can take several months to get results back, it is inconvenient to the plots to show the necessary waiting period. To advance the plot, a suspension of disbelief is necessary, and viewers must accept that the waiting period has passed or that there is no waiting period to begin with. As well, in real life, crime scene investigators are not responsible for the wide array of police duties that the show's characters typically carry out (investigation, arrest, interrogation, etc.); they limit themselves to forensic and lab work; these series would have audiences believe that crime scene units are solely responsible for entire investigations, including the arrest.

Also another suspension of disbelief is having an episode of a TV show (or a movie) set in a foreign country and have all the actors portraying citizens of said country speak another language entirely and fluently (example: a setting in Germany during the Third Reich where people dressed as German citizens and German officers speak fluent English).