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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Suspension of disbelief

11:09 / 20.08.01

Has anyone out there ever been watching a film when someone pipes up with a disbelieving comment about the actions on the screen after they should have accepted the "movie world" the film is set in?

To clarify my badly worded statement heres an example from my own experience.

Whilst watching Army of Darkness *SPOILERS* my friend sat through the lead character, Ash, smashing a mirror, the little reflections in the mirror shards coming to life as mini Ashes to attack him, the mini-Ashes forcing Ash to swallow one of them, a new Ash growing out of the shoulder of the original ash, the two Ashes fighting resulting in good Ash shooting bad Ash in the face with a Shotgun. Good Ash chainsawing bad ash into several pieces. Good Ash burying the remains of bad ash at which point bad Ashes severed head opens its eyes and starts ranting at good Ash....

At this stage my mate announces that the film is crap because no-one could survive a shotgun blast to the head and refuses to watch anymore. He sat quite happily through the buildup but a talking severed head was deemed unbelievable in a world where mirrors come to life and people grow out of other peoples shoulders!

So, anyone experienced any disbelievers?

12:48 / 20.08.01

Yes, this attitude annoys me beyond words.

In a lot of ways, watching movies with friends is one of my favourite activities, but it can swiftly become one of my least favourite activities when stuff like this happens..

The kind of attitude where .. shit I can't think of any good examples at the moment.

SLEEPY HOLLOW! Almost everyone I talked to about that film sort of went "mumble mumble .. plot was too contrived .. bad acting .. too corny .. not very good..".
Hense I practically bust a gut enthusing about the films greatness and trying to make people understand that that's not the point!! It's a fairy tale fantasy film! You're not supposed to sit through it making sarcy comments about it's short comings, you're supposed to suspend your disbelief, forget the outside world, get drawn into the world of the movie, gasp, laugh and cry in all the right places and have a generally rewarding film viewing experience.

It also annoys me when people completely fail to grasp the psychological aspects of a film and sit through, say, Taxi Driver, going "huh? what's he doing that for? That doesn't make sense! What's he up to?"

Lazlo Woodbine [some call me Laz]

12:59 / 20.08.01

I've also run into one of these "people" who to this day refuses to finis wathing "The Matrix" as running up walls is inpossible, AND THERE POINT IS ????

Lazlo Woodbine [some call me Laz]

13:28 / 20.08.01

You generally find that these "disbelivers" are people with serious imagenitive problems or their just empty headed, the proof comes, for me anyway when i was in Florence, the "Matrix" disbeliver was with me and she failed to notice any of the beutiful buildings and art, so thickly layored about tha you can swim in it, but she did notice that "The shops are all closed." So i put it to you are these people
stupid or in need of our help ?

13:59 / 20.08.01

My Dad does this and it makes me what to commit patricide.

Why do people do it?
- To piss other watchers off
- Because they themselves do not like the film for some reason (subject matter to alien) and rather than critique on a rational level, they just dismiss it as being unrealistic
- They have a similar attitude to art as the Soviet Union - if it ain't a gritty, unvarnished depiction of reality, it ain't worth shit

So when somebody pulls this shit, ask them what's really going on.

Or it could just be that the film genuinely IS rubbish.

15:26 / 20.08.01

Many films really don't suspend my disbelief. Air Force One, which I watched on Saturday night, was a great example: it was just crap. On-the-nail dialogue, pointless shots, and a plot described as ridiculous. It would take more than a 747 to suspend my disbelief of that film, I tell you.

But one film that suspends belief PERFECTLY is John Woo's "The Killer" - I use htis because it's one of the few HK action films I know. Once you twig that it's not cinematic, it's Operatic - melodrama not drama, overblown characterisatoin, etc, it works _perfectly_. You don't care that it's unbelievable, or the action sequneces are unrealistic, because it's made clear that no matter how much it looks like our world - it's NOT.

Compare this to many bad action movies that try and make out it IS our world when it clearly can't be.

The best, of course, work in all contexts.

06:17 / 21.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Kosh:
You generally find that these "disbelivers" are people with serious imagenitive problems

Yep, thats my mate! Its strange because he hates most fiction but loves Star Wars?

On another film related rant I know of three people who watched "The Usual Suspects" and WON'T WATCH THE LAST 10 MINUTES!!!! They get bored with the film and refuse to watch the end! People then try to pursuade them to watch the end and they refuse and eventually find out the ending. "It sounds crap anyway!" they say!

Incidentally my less imaginative friend loves the Usual Suspects. Strange how peoples imaginations work. How many people do you know who failed to see the humour in Starship Troopers?

08:36 / 21.08.01

I lent a friend of mine "Videodrome" last week. He phoned me yesterday and informed me that it was crap because "watching sex and violence on TV made that guy go mad - and that doesn't happen".

o. k.

Lazlo Woodbine [some call me Laz]

08:36 / 21.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Chubby P:

On another film related rant I know of three people who watched "The Usual Suspects" and WON'T WATCH THE LAST 10 MINUTES!!!!

You could always make them watch
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
"Scary Movie"

Ganesh

08:36 / 21.08.01

Heh. I do this constantly when my boyfriend's watching 'Star Trek'.

"Surprise. Another 'anomaly'."

"And the alien looks liiike... a human with crap on its face."

"I wonder how many years you have to train at StarFleet Medical School to wave that doodah over people and pronounce them healthy?"

Etc. So sue me.

08:36 / 21.08.01

If there's one thing that drives me mad, it's people who do this during the wrestling. "He didn't really hit him," etc. What's really annoying is that people always act like they're especially clever for working this out when really, hello, it's the wrestling.

10:24 / 21.08.01

quote:Originally posted by Kosh:

You could always make them watch
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
"Scary Movie"

I laughed my tits off at that ending! Thought it was brilliant!

Our Lady of The Two Towers

13:29 / 21.08.01

I'm okay with the suspension of disbelief necessary to believe someone with a gaping stomach wound can walk about quite happily and not lie on the floor going into shock, it's more gaping plot holes that I have difficulty with, maybe it's my secret belief the writer is lauging at me going "He's too thick, he'll never notice..."

02:32 / 24.08.01

let's face it, most movies we go to see, we know what to expect. suspension of disbelief isn't difficult... MASS suspension of disbelief is another story. cynicism has become so fashionable that i pretty much expect hecklers at a movie now, attempting to pit their obvious intellectual superiority against media unintended for the lowest common denominator. drives me nuts.

02:35 / 24.08.01

hey, maybe that explains the current cartoon saturation, as suspension of disbelief is implicit in the cartoon-interpretation of a story.

Jamieon

11:28 / 24.08.01

quote: At this stage my mate announces that the film is crap because no-one could survive a shotgun blast to the head and refuses to watch anymore.

How old is this bloke?

Five?