Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Movies are a fun escape for me ...I suspend belief all the time.
Sure, I may comment that that guy's reaction was unreal and preposterous..
NO one would have done that...
but that's ok. They are for my enjoyment.
To me, over-the-top is fine; WAY over-the-top isn't.
If the movie isn't sold as realistic and they don't try to make it really realistic, I can suspend disbelief better than if I feel like they're playing it straight and then throwing in some weird things.
Improbable stuff has to be consistent. Storylines, character personalities*, etc. If the people who created the movie can't even keep it straight, they can't expect me to.
All parts have to make sense-- no plot holes, things unexplained, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by harry chickpea
Have an engineer and a social worker watch the same movie and then poll their reactions. Movies reflect and build on our individual realities and fantasies. If you are used to dealing with structures and physics, it is going to be difficult to suspend reality in "Transformers."
Yes, that's another problem. If it's sci-fi but supposed to be realistic, if they don't get their astronomy right, I spend the movie shaking my head, not being entertained. Sometimes I'll ignore a slip if it's obviously for stylistic reasons, but not often.
For example, the movie Oblivion (this is just the one that pops into my head first when I remember having arguments with people about the plot).
Spoiler
The character of Vika was not very believable to me. It was fine through most of the movie that they portrayed her as shrewish and fearful and content to remain in one small house without leaving it for years. Then at the end they revealed who she really was... and I'm sorry, but a woman who was an astronaut, a pilot, whose last moments were spent bravely sacrificing herself for her shipmates is not going to turn into what she was for the whole movie, regardless of a memory wipe; it's simply not her personality.
And then of course the end: the fact that just because someone looks like another person doesn't mean they are another person and you can just settle in with them happily when the first one is gone.
So, I got into an argument with my wife while watching 'Inception.' She hated it, I loved it. She said that could never happen. I said it was Sci-Fi and you had to "suspend disbelief."
She then dinged me on the Liam Neeson movie 'Unknown.' I didn't like the movie because I thought the plot was improbable--that, generally, human memory doesn't act the Neeson's did in that film. She said that I had to "suspend disbelief," the way I did during 'Inception.' I said no, 'Unknown' wasn't a Sci-Fi movie, so as far as I was concerned, the plot had to be credible.
What say you?
--
Sci Fi doesn't get a special dispensation. Suspension of disbelief must be done for all FICTION movies. The writers and directors have creative license that will supersede plausibility and reality.
So, I got into an argument with my wife while watching 'Inception.' She hated it, I loved it. She said that could never happen. I said it was Sci-Fi and you had to "suspend disbelief."
She then dinged me on the Liam Neeson movie 'Unknown.' I didn't like the movie because I thought the plot was improbable--that, generally, human memory doesn't act the Neeson's did in that film. She said that I had to "suspend disbelief," the way I did during 'Inception.' I said no, 'Unknown' wasn't a Sci-Fi movie, so as far as I was concerned, the plot had to be credible.
What say you?
--
I have to "suspend disbelief" anytime I go to the candy counter and pay $15 for a small drink and a box of popcorn!
So, I got into an argument with my wife while watching 'Inception.' She hated it, I loved it. She said that could never happen. I said it was Sci-Fi and you had to "suspend disbelief."
She then dinged me on the Liam Neeson movie 'Unknown.' I didn't like the movie because I thought the plot was improbable--that, generally, human memory doesn't act the Neeson's did in that film. She said that I had to "suspend disbelief," the way I did during 'Inception.' I said no, 'Unknown' wasn't a Sci-Fi movie, so as far as I was concerned, the plot had to be credible.
What say you?
--
I loved “inception”
Probably went to see it 4-5 times in the theaters
I also enjoyed “Unknown”
I don’t think it was Sci-Fi at all—-
Plenty of people get amnesia—either temp or a permanent form—because of serious head trauma or even emotional trauma...
So I thought his behavior was accurate for someone in that situation
Remember that the audience is not aware of the “pre” story line until well into the movie
That is necessary for suspense and “empathy” with Neeson’s rather unsavory character...
The fact that Neeson is capable of being so adaptable and resourceful as he tries to uncover his personal mystery is similar to someone who has ingrained muscle memory—
the body knows even if the mind doesn’t
But—suspension of disbelieve—watching “Betty Draper” act requires suspending disbelief...
Re suspension of belief/disbelief—
It is all about context and quality—
How real can the writer/director/actors make “their universe”
Was “Atavar” or “Alien” believable on merits or was the audience required to go beyond the bounds of those universes and disregard “glitches” to stay within the virtual reality of their universes...
I just know I was scared ——less in “Alien”, totally sucked in to the Nostromo’s universe as reality...
even though I knew before, during, and after that it was ephemeral...
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 7 days ago)
35,630 posts, read 17,968,125 times
Reputation: 50652
I think if you go to a movie like spiderman, you are prepared to suspend reality and believe for the sake of the show that a man can climb up the outside of buildings like a spider and have other superhuman traits.
What I hate is movies that are the action films/car chases/shoot-up-up espionage where the plot doesn't hang together. Where you say well why didn't they just _____, and the only answer is "well, then there wouldn't be a movie, would there".
No, there wouldn't, and I wouldn't have wasted my evening and 12 bucks on something completely unbelievable and contrived.
I suspend disbelief based on the movie. It depends on the realm of the movie. If it's a movie about Super Hero, I'm expecting super hero things. If it is a Sci-Fi movie about Aliens, I'm expecting Alien ships, superior technology, etc. If I'm watching a fantasy movie, I'm expecting swords, magic, elves, etc. It depends on the realm.
Movies that I can not and will not suspend disbelief are the Fast and Furious franchise. A person jumping from one car to the next both going 200 mhp and the dude that jumped actually lands on the other car without bouncing off the car to his death. A bunch of street racer somehow becomes a super team of everything defeating enemies that are too big for them to overcome. It's not realistic at all.
Roughly 80% of films I watch I have to accept an awful lot of suspended disbelief otherwise why bother seeing the film?
Whether its Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Memento, Heat or a whole host of other films from different genres, certainly unlikely liberties are taken purely to enhance the entertainment level of the film - hopefully not to the detriment to the film as a whole.
Uh, no, she's right...you always have to suspend disbelief.
The difference is the movie has to engage you from the get go to be WILLING to allow it to happen. THat's what good media does.
You just aren't that into Liam Neeson. So you weren't willing to engage.
It has nothing to do with sci-fi or not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Movies reflect and build on our individual realities and fantasies. If you are used to dealing with structures and physics, it is going to be difficult to suspend reality in "Transformers."
