Suspension of disbelief
Encyclopedia
Suspension of disbelief or "willing suspension of disbelief" is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction. It was put forth in English by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...

, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. Suspension of disbelief often applies to fictional works of the action, comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, and horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 genres. Cognitive estrangement in fiction involves using a person's ignorance
Ignorance
Ignorance is a state of being uninformed . The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult...

 or lack of knowledge to promote suspension of disbelief.

The phrase "suspension of disbelief" came to be used more loosely in the later 20th century, often used to imply that the onus was on the reader, rather than the writer, to achieve it. This might be used to refer to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. These fictional premises may also lend to the engagement of the mind and perhaps proposition of thoughts, ideas, art and theories.

Coleridge's original formulation

Coleridge coined the phrase in his Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria, or in full Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of MY LITERARY LIFE and OPINIONS, is an autobiography in discourse by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which he published in 1817. The work is long and seemingly loosely structured, and although there are autobiographical...

, published in 1817, in the context of the creation and reading of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

. Chapter XIV describes the preparations with Wordsworth for their revolutionary collaboration Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature...

(first edition 1798), for which Coleridge had contributed the more romantic, Gothic pieces including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and was published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss...

. Poetry and fiction involving the supernatural had gone out of fashion to a large extent in the eighteenth century, in part due to the declining belief in witches and other supernatural agents among the educated classes, who embraced the rational approach to the world offered by the new science. Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

, notably, felt the need to explain and justify his use of elemental spirits in The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 1712 in two cantos , but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope's name on March 2, 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version...

, one of the few English poems of the century that invoked the supernatural. Coleridge wished to revive the use of fantastic elements in poetry. The concept of "willing suspension of disbelief" explained how a modern, enlightened audience might continue to enjoy such types of story.

Coleridge recalled:
”... It was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Mr. Wordsworth on the other hand was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us ...”


The notion of such an action by an audience was however recognized in antiquity, as seen particularly in the Roman theoretical concerns of Horace, who also lived in an age of increasing skepticism about the supernatural, in his Ars Poetica
Ars Poetica
Ars Poetica is a term meaning "The Art of Poetry" or "On the Nature of Poetry". Early examples of Ars Poetica by Aristotle and Horace have survived and have since spawned many other poems that bear the same name...

.

Examples in literature

Suspension of disbelief is sometimes said to be an essential component of live theater, where it was recognized by Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

, who refers to it in the Prologue to Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...

:
"[...] make imaginary puissant [...] 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings [...] turning accomplishment of many years into an hourglass."


See also dramatic convention
Dramatic convention
Dramatic Conventions are the specific actions or techniques the actor, writer or director has employed to create a desired dramatic effect/style....

.

Examples 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
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 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 color-blind people, no one 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.

Most see the enjoyment of many B-grade
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s and television series such as the early series of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, where the audience willingly ignores low-budget "cheesy" props and occasional plot hole
Plot hole
A plot hole, or plothole, is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot...

s, in order to engage fully with the story — which may be the more so for those additions to its inherent outrageousness. A counterpoint to "bad special effects" would be the "gratuitous special effects" which have become common in recent films. Special effects have become inexpensive enough that filmmakers will insert special effects laden scenes into a film which are not important to the storyline, creating a plot hole
Plot hole
A plot hole, or plothole, is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot...

 in the process. When this happens, the filmmakers' quest to entertain with more and better special effects is thwarted, as the plot hole created breaks the suspension of disbelief. "Bad special effects" which are integral to a story will be accepted by an audience willing to suspend disbelief, whereas good (even great) "gratuitous special effects" will not.

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 the good guy can get away with shooting guns in public places (without getting in trouble with the local law-enforcement himself), or never running out of ammunition ("Rambo
Rambo
Rambo is an action film series based on the David Morrell novel First Blood and starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former Green Beret who is skilled in many aspects of survival, weaponry, hand to hand combat and guerrilla warfare...

" 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
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

 or be eternal/immortal because of some quirk/trait/power of the character) but the actor eventually does, or vice versa (e.g. Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...

, Highlander
Highlander: The Series
Highlander: The Series is a fantasy-adventure television series featuring Duncan MacLeod of the Scottish Clan MacLeod, as the Highlander. It was an offshoot and another alternate sequel of the 1986 feature film with a twist: Connor MacLeod did not win the prize and Immortals still exist post-1985...

).

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.

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 speaking perfect English).

Experimental rock group Circa Survive
Circa Survive
Circa Survive is an American alternative rock band from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburb of Doylestown, formed in 2004. The band consists of vocalist Anthony Green, former singer of Saosin and members of the now-defunct This Day Forward....

 also has a song entitled "Suspending Disbelief", which refers to plot-holes and inconsistencies in writing.

Indie rock group Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...

 has a song entitled "Willful Suspension of Disbelief" on their Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

.

On Air Farce Live, many Canadian politicians are parodied. For humorous effect, real politicians are often seen interacting directly with their parodic counterparts.

On This Hour Has 22 Minutes, characters on the series are sometimes seen interacting with their actors. For example, in one episode, the character Raj Binder was having a conversation with Shaun Majumder(who plays Raj Binder).

Animations and comics

One contemporary example of suspension of disbelief is the audience's acceptance that Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 hides his identity from the world by simply donning a pair of glasses, conservative clothing, and acting in a "mild-mannered" fashion. Not only is the disguise so thin as to be ridiculous, but also in the TV series, Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...

, this absurdity was carried to an extreme. Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....

 and Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character who appears mainly in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Olsen is a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Superman and Perry White...

 constantly suspected Clark Kent of being Superman, yet when obvious evidence was right in their faces — such as times when Clark was missing his glasses — they never saw the resemblance. (Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...

 and Jack Larson
Jack Larson
Jack Edward Larson is an American actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the TV series Adventures of Superman.-Biography:...

, in DVD commentary, said their standard answer when questioned about this was, "We wanted to keep our jobs!")

Some find it strange that while some audience members took issue with the flimsiness of Superman's disguise, they didn't take issue with the idea of the existence of a superbeing whose only weakness was kryptonite
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material from the Superman mythos —the ore form of a radioactive element from Superman's home planet of Krypton. It is famous for being the ultimate physical weakness of Superman, and the word kryptonite has since become synonymous with an Achilles' heel —the one weakness...

. One arguing from the theory of suspension of disbelief would contend that while Superman's abilities and vulnerabilities are the foundational premises the audience accepted as their part of the initial deal; they did not accept a persistent inability for otherwise normal characters to recognize a close colleague solely because of minor changes in clothing (glasses vs no glasses).

Another major example of suspended disbelief was The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...

cartoon series. The characters have televisions, cars, telephones, and various appliances that would be powered by electricity in modern society, but since the show was set in "prehistoric" times – electricity could not have been mastered, and especially not used. The "prehistoric" characters were even shown to celebrate Christmas
A Flintstone Christmas
A Flintstone Christmas is a 60-minute animated Christmas television special featuring The Flintstones. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and aired on NBC on December 7, 1977. This special is not to be confused with the episode "Christmas Flintstone" which aired during the show's run...

 and travel into the future
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones is an animated TV movie, featuring the first meeting between the characters from The Flintstones and The Jetsons...

.

Gary Larson
Gary Larson
Gary Larson is the creator of The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to newspapers for 15 years. The series ended with Larson's retirement on January 1, 1995. His 23 books of collected cartoons have combined sales of more than 45 million...

 discussed the question with regard to his comic strip, The Far Side
The Far Side
The Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...

; he noted that readers wrote him to complain that a male mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...

 referred to his "job" sucking blood when it is in fact the females that drain blood, but that the same readers accepted that the mosquitoes (in "fact") live in houses, wear clothes, and speak English.

Comic book universes such as Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 typically feature set groups of prominent characters who do not age visibly and also become embroiled in many epic adventures over the course of their perpetual careers. Most true epic stories involve one defining event and permanent growth or change for characters along with a definite beginning, middle, and end to their stories. Such closure realistically leaves no room for characters to have further adventures, even if they are still alive at the end of the story. Conversely, comic book characters usually return to their status quo upon the conclusion of each story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...

.

In the cartoon Yogi's Space Race
Yogi's Space Race
Yogi's Space Race was a 90-minute Saturday morning cartoon program block produced by Hanna-Barbera from September 9 to December 2, 1978 for NBC. The show also appeared on BBC in the United Kingdom...

, the main villain races using two identities: Captain Good, who successfully pretends to be a hero; and Phantom Phink, who is widely known as a bad guy. Despite the fact "Phantom Phink" never joins the other racers at the starting line, he's never disqualified for that and despite "Captain Good" and "Phantom Phink" never being seen at the same time, people never suspect (except for the race's official computer at one episode but the narrator dismissed it as a malfunction).

Video games

Video games are also said to require suspension of disbelief. Often realism is compromised even in games that set out to be realistic, either intentionally to not overly complicate game mechanics or due to technical limitations. Some games based on Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

have the comic hero swinging around a city with his webs sticking to nothing but the sky. Another example is of Solid Snake
Solid Snake
Metal Gear, initially released in 1987, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and...

's performance of near impossible acrobatic stunts in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a stealth action video game developed by Silicon Knights and Konami that was published in for the Nintendo GameCube video game console...

remake as opposed to his more down-to-earth style of combat in the original Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid
is a videogame by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake...

. There are other examples of breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

 in the Metal Gear
Metal Gear (series)
is a series of stealth video games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. The first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for the MSX2. The player takes control of a special forces operative Solid Snake who is assigned to find the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear", a...

series which require a suspension of disbelief, notably in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
is an overhead stealth action game that was originally released by Konami in for the MSX2 computer standard exclusively in Japan. Metal Gear 2 was directed and written by Hideo Kojima, who also designed the MSX2 version of the original Metal Gear...

and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001....

. In particular, the postmodern narrative
Postmodernist film
Postmodernist film describes the articulation of ideas of postmodernism through the cinematic medium. Postmodernist film upsets the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization and destroys the audience's suspension of disbelief to create a work in which a less-recognizable...

 of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in the latter part of the game requires a suspension of disbelief in the common occurrence of bizarre supernatural phenomena and unconventional plot twist
Plot twist
A plot twist is a change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot of a film, television series, video game, novel, comic or other fictional work. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation...

s in an otherwise realistic setting. Fighting games often feature magical elements, such as characters who can throw fireballs, which has become a staple of traditional fighting games.

Other video games feature instant death upon falling into water instead of giving the player a chance to swim out before drowning (such as a few episodes of Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...

and Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...

, among many others). In an opposite turn, some games show falling into water is completely safe when in reality the surface tension
Surface tension
Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. It is revealed, for example, in floating of some objects on the surface of water, even though they are denser than water, and in the ability of some insects to run on the water surface...

 would be lethal (most notably in Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...

). Also, in many video games (particularly RPGs), a character will say the same phrase over and over indefinitely when repeatedly talked to(World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

) . Some video games begin with a tutorial in which the player is taught how to play. These are often woven into the story, for example a character in the game might say to the player, "Press the triangle button to jump! Walk up to a crystal to save your game! Don't forget to use the 'select' button to change your weapons!" and so forth. In the fictional context of the game world, such sequences make no sense — the character is being told to push a button which (from his perspective) does not exist, in order to perform normal activities such as jumping and running. In a few games, the NPCs who tell the character how to act in game terms often profess that they really don't know what they mean by it (such as in Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening). In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door the player can see an NPC being taught a same tutorial as the player was taught. According to proponents of the theory, it is up to the player to reconcile this problem by suspending disbelief. Super Paper Mario
Super Paper Mario
is a platform style console role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. Originally developed for the Nintendo GameCube, it was released for the Wii in 2007. The style of gameplay is a combination of the previous Paper Mario titles and Super Mario Bros. titles...

takes this a step further when characters are asked by Mario about things like the 1 button
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...

, they simply reply that any inter-dimensional beings would know what they were talking about.

However, it is possible for a tutorial to be 'written in' to a video game as part of the overall plot of the game. For example, in the video game Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...

, the ability for the player to receive specific tuition as to which buttons to press to perform certain actions (entering a first person perspective, drawing one's weapon and 'free running' (a notable feature of the series) and so on) is permitted by the narrative of the video game as it has been explained to the player that the main events portrayed in the story are done so as part of a computer recreation of historical events. The use of standard video game inputs (left and right mouse buttons, the WASD keys, the arrow keys, the space bar and so on (for the PC)) is explained away in the manual that accompanies the game as an attempt by the producers of the computer recreation software to 'acclimatise' the person used to recreate the historical events to the device used to perform these recreations.

Other examples

Another example where suspended disbelief is said to be necessary is kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...

 professional wrestling. The characters (that is, the professional wrestlers) somehow manage to keep their violent exchanges to the confines of the wrestling arena. They do not follow each other home, assault each other between TV episodes, or bring guns to the ring and shoot each other if they are losing a match, etc.

A further example is that of the use of sound in films, games and TV. Music is present in most movies, shows and games, for the purpose of enhancing the viewer's experience. In reality, no music would play without a source, such as a radio or people playing instruments. In most films that incorporate an outer-space setting, such as Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

, engine and gunfire sounds caused by spacecraft can be heard despite the fact that sound cannot travel in the vacuum of space. Such sound effects are often vital for creating the atmosphere of a scene, such as space battles. The series Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

is one of the few shows to actually observe silence in space. Other shows, such as the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

, uses more ambient sound to create an impression of empty space. "Star Wars" and other science fiction and action movies require suspension of disbelief in order to accept that the heroes are almost never hit in severe gun fights.

Many instances where suspension of disbelief is required are not due to elements which transcend laws of science of physics. They may be purely psychological elements based on history, culture, and human nature. For example. In many children's adventure tales, adults are often invariably depicted as less competent in order to provide an opportunity for the underage main characters to accomplish heroic deeds.

The movie Spaceballs
Spaceballs
Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...

also has a classic reference where the actors literally address the audience
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

 during the beginnings of the movie as the plot is explained. Making a joke of "suspension disbelief" by suggesting the entire plot line in the beginnings of the movie and then turning to the camera directly and saying "Everybody get that?" and in effect suggesting the audience is 'along for the ride now' and will accept anything that occurs in the movie from here on-in. There is also a reference made in Austin Powers Two in relation to time travel where the dynamics are quickly criticized and worked out to be impossible to occur as Austin may engage his future self, the issue is solved simply through suspension disbelief via the audience being directly addressed and told to just accept the fact that this is fantasy and not at all in reality.

Examples in politics

It was used by Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

 during the United States' 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

 preliminaries. Clinton apparently considered General Petraeus'
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...

 reports on Iraq to be unbelievable or not factual, and used the phrase "suspension of disbelief" loosely, in this case, implying such to be a requirement to accept his statements.

Actual use in film

Several examples exist of films in which the principle of suspension of disbelief is not only used, but also mentioned as such.

In the 1994 film Ed Wood
Ed Wood (film)
Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...

, the main character (played by Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

), uses the term in the dialogue. He is on the set of Grave Robbers from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...

and is arguing with one of the producers who asks, "How 'bout that the policemen arrive in the daylight, but now it's suddenly night?" to which Wood replies "What do you know? Haven't you ever heard of 'suspension of disbelief'?"

The term is also used in the film Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct is a 1992 erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, and starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone....

when the character Catherine Tramell
Catherine Tramell
Catherine Tramell is a fictional character, a psycho-killer, in the film Basic Instinct and its sequel, Basic Instinct 2 . She is played by Sharon Stone in both films...

, played by Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...

, explains to the detectives while riding to the police station in the back of the police car that she usually applies it in her fictional stories. Gus Moran, the detective friend of Nick Curran, then responds "suspension of disbelief! I like that!"

These examples can be seen as breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

, in the sense that the film blatantly admits to the viewer that it is a work of fiction where the narrative principle of suspension of disbelief is used (by the writer) and required (by the viewer). Of course, at first such an action creates disbelief rather than suspending it, but paradoxically it may actually inspire the viewer to immerse themself in the narrative premise of the story.

Use in psychology

Suspension of disbelief has also been used within a mental health context by Frank DeFulgentis in his book Flux. It is an attempt to describe the phenomenon of forgetting irrational thoughts associated with cases of OCD. In the book, the author suggests 'suspending disbelief' as opposed to forcing ourselves to forget; similar to how one would put a virus in quarantine. We can thereby allow ourselves to be absorbed in the activities around us until these irrationalities vanish on their own accord.

Criticism of the theory

As in the examples of Superman's powers and Gary Larson's cartoon, it is unclear that suspension of disbelief correctly describes an audience's perception of art. If the theory were to be true, the individual events of suspension would appear to be highly selective. (It would appear that one chooses to suspend disbelief for the ability to fly, but not to suspend it for myopic co-workers.)

Aesthetic philosophers
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

 generally reject claims that suspension of disbelief accurately characterizes the relationship between people and "fictions." Kendall Walton notes that, if viewers were to truly suspend disbelief at a horror movie and accept its images as true, they would have a true-to-life set of reactions. For instance, audience members would cry out, "Look behind you!" to an endangered on-screen character or call the police when they witnessed an on-screen murder.

However, many of these criticisms simply fail to notice that Coleridge's original statement came in a restrictive clause. The formulation "...that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment which constitutes poetic faith," of necessity implies that there are different sorts of suspension of disbelief and specifies that poetic faith is one instance of a larger class. One need not choose to believe that a character in a horror film is a real person in order, for example, to choose to believe that the character is looking at the building seen in the following reverse-shot. More often than not, both beliefs would be equally false.

Not all authors believe that suspension of the disbelief adequately characterizes the audience's relationship to imaginative works of art. J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

 challenges this concept in his essay "On Fairy-Stories
On Fairy-Stories
"On Fairy-Stories" is an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien which discusses the fairy-story as a literary form. It was initially written for presentation by Tolkien as the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 1939. It first appeared in print, with some enhancement, in 1947, in...

", choosing instead the paradigm of secondary belief based on inner consistency
Consistency
Consistency can refer to:* Consistency , the psychological need to be consistent with prior acts and statements* "Consistency", an 1887 speech by Mark Twain...

 of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...

. Tolkien says that, in order for the narrative to work, the reader must believe that what he reads is true within the secondary reality of the fictional world. By focusing on creating an internally consistent fictional world, the author makes secondary belief possible. Tolkien argues that suspension of disbelief is only necessary when the work has failed to create secondary belief. From that point the spell is broken, and the reader ceases to be immersed in the story and must make a conscious effort to suspend disbelief or else give up on it entirely.

Problems the theory presents

The theory would seem to create several other problems.

Self-reference: One problem the theory suggests is apparent in characters' self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...

 — when a character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 addresses the audience directly
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

 or otherwise realizes that he is a character in a work of fiction. This action would seem to challenge the audience's suspension of disbelief, which would according to the theory make the audience unable to enjoy the fiction. But in fact, self-referential moments, such as those in Urinetown
Urinetown
Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics...

, or Saved By The Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...

 do sometimes entertain audiences.

Canonical Worlds: Suspension of disbelief can also become problematic for long-running series and franchises with a well-known fictional world, wherein the geography, chronology and dramatis personae (and even natural laws) are established and remain internally consistent across multiple episodes, and even multiple programs (for instance, in spinoffs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

). This is really a very strong form of suspension of disbelief, particularly common in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and gaming, where dedicated fans of the franchise immerse themselves in the fictional world to an exceptional degree. A good example of this is Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

.

When this happens, several problems can occur:
When such franchises indulge in crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...

s, where characters or events from one series appear, or are even just acknowledged to exist, in another, there is potential for mistakes, leading to inconsistencies in one or both fictional worlds. For instance, a character in one series might have previously referred to characters in another as being fictional, then have to interact with one of those characters in a crossover appearance. The phenomenon is not only seen in TV and film but also in Gaming, where it is known as canon-puncturing.

Inconsistencies or plot hole
Plot hole
A plot hole, or plothole, is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot...

s that violate the premises, plot-lines or chronology of the established canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

 can be viewed as breaking the so-called "Suspension of Disbelief Agreement". For particularly loyal fans, these lapses can be deeply resented.

For instance, in one episode of Step by Step, Cody acknowledges Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...

as a fictional TV show. The character of Steve Urkel
Steve Urkel
Steven Quincy Urkel, generally known as Steve Urkel or simply Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...

 guest-starred in an episode of Full House as well as an episode of Step by Step. This creates a contradiction, since if Urkel was a real person in the Step by Step world — a world in which Full House was fiction — he wouldn't be able to get into the fictional Full House world.

An early episode of Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...

featured Paul's old bachelor pad, which was subsequently seen as Kramer's (a character from Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

) new apartment. This would mean Mad About You and Seinfeld occur in the same in-universe New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. However, in a latter episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza and his fianceé are seen watching an episode of Mad About You, thus a fictional program in their version of current-day Manhattan.

Problems are also noticeable in Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

where celebrities such as Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...

 and Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

 are mentioned by name and later appear guest-starring as characters other than themselves. It would seem obvious that the characters in the shows would recognize these celebrities, therefore making suspension of disbelief impossible or at least illogical. However, one could ostensibly make the argument any "resemblance" is merely coincidental, which is sometimes suggested to the audience as a plausible explanation. This often succeeds, as long as it is raised early enough and convincingly in the storyline. Unusual disguises are another fix employed to quickly work around this problem, to clearly delineate that the character really is a separate person to the other characters and audience.

In the movie Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve is a 2004 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Like its predecessor, which was a remake of the 1960 film Ocean's 11, the film used a celebrity ensemble cast. It was released in the United States on December 10, 2004. A third film, Ocean's Thirteen, was...

, Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...

' character is made-up to be mistaken for the real actress and even briefly interacts with "herself" in the following scene. This is done deliberately for comedic effect, but it can then be difficult for one to re-suspend disbelief while watching Roberts throughout the rest of the film.

The same problem appeared in the movie "Any Given Sunday", in which Charlton Heston is seen in "Ben Hur" in a TV and later he is seen playing the owner of a football team, perhaps as a gag. The age difference between the "Hur" Heston and the "Sunday" Heston also provides slight separation, except for those quick enough to catch the apparently intentional lack of continuity.

The novels of Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...

 toy with disrupting a reader's ability to suspend disbelief. For example, in Glamorama
Glamorama
Glamorama is a novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1998. Unlike Ellis' previous novels, Glamorama is set in and satirizes the 1990s, specifically celebrity culture and consumerism...

(1998), the character Patrick Bateman
Patrick Bateman
Patrick Bateman is a fictional character, the antihero and narrator of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and its film adaptation. He has also briefly appeared in other Ellis novels.-Biography and profile:...

 (played by Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....

 in the then-forthcoming film American Psycho
American Psycho (film)
American Psycho is a 2000 cult thriller film directed by Mary Harron based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name. Though predominantly a psycho thriller, the film also blends elements of horror, satire, and black comedy...

) appears, as does the actor Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....

 and a character who is repeatedly described as looking identical to him. Later, this character Russell imitates Christian Bale perfectly in order to escape a difficult encounter, leaving narrator Victor Ward wondering whether he had in fact been Bale. In Lunar Park
Lunar Park
Lunar Park is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis with elements of faux autobiography and pastiche. It was released by Knopf on August 16, 2005. It is notable for being the first book written by Ellis to use past tense narrative.-Plot summary:...

, the novelist Bret Easton Ellis lives an alternate life as a family man. Bret notices a pattern of American Psycho-inspired murders, and recognises his student Clayton has a similar name to, and resembles, the main character of his debut novel Less Than Zero. But throughout, Bret continuously does not notice other intentional problems: he does not realise that the detective who interviews him (Donald Kimball) is from American Psycho, or that his neighbour (Mitch Allen) is from The Rules of Attraction, and in his narration he refers to Blair (from Less Than Zero) and Paul (from Rules) in reminiscence. These kinds of metafictional coincidences cohere with a Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

-inspired ghost story
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...

 narrative to create a surreal and discomfiting effect. Those problems which get resolved come in twists belonging to many other genres; for example, a thriller
Thriller
Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. A common subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the political thriller and the paranoid thriller film became very popular...

-style twist is brought out to explain Kimball, but it leaves Bret unconvinced, a supernatural entity explains the Clayton being, and increasingly the book draws attention its own status both as fiction, metafiction and personal exorcism to minimise or shed light on the nature of its other suspension-of-disbelief dilemmas.

In the "View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...

" movies of Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

, repeat casting in a shared continuity creates the logical problem of a number of doppelgangers in the fictional world. In each of his films, the characters of Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....

 appear and interact with the numerous recurring cast doppelgangers. For example, Clerks
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...

(1994) introduces Brian O'Halloran
Brian O'Halloran
Brian Christopher O'Halloran is an American actor best known for his roles in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse films, notably as Dante Hicks in Smith's debut film Clerks and its 2006 sequel, Clerks II...

's character Dante Hicks. In Mallrats
Mallrats
Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

(1995), Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

(1997) and Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

(1999), O'Halloran portrays Gill Hicks, Jim Hicks, and Grant Hicks respectively, suggesting a family of eerily-similar looking Hicks men. In Mallrats (1995), actor Jason Lee
Jason Lee (actor)
Jason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...

 plays comic book geek Brodie Bruce, and later closeted Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy; in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American action adventure comedy film written, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...

(2001), the two appear in a spit-screen phone conversation, poking fun at the problem. In Mallrats, a younger Ben Affleck portrays Shannon Hamilton, and later is the lead character Holden McNeil in Chasing Amy, and will portray both Holden and a caricatured version of himself in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The tone of this latter film is more surreal than the others, possibly because of its stoner
Stoner
-People:* Stoner , bass guitarist* Alyson Stoner , American actress and dancer* Andrew Stoner , Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and the Leader of the New South Wales National Party...

 main characters; such surreal moments include a lightsaber
Lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...

 battle against a character portrayed by Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

 actor Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...

. Though Clerks is ostensibly "realistic", and hailed for its low-budget and gritty film style, the film Dogma is apocalyptic, focuses on fallen angels, and stars Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...

 as God.

In the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 comedy-drama Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

, in one episode J.D. (the main character) recognises the Janitor (another character played by Neil Flynn
Neil Flynn
Neil Richard Flynn is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Janitor in the medical comedy-drama Scrubs. He currently portrays Mike Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.-Early life:...

) to be an actor in the film The Fugitive
The Fugitive (1993 film)
The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the television series of the same name. The film was directed by Andrew Davis and stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was one of the few movies associated with a television series to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best...

(in which Neil Flynn did appear).

The character of Cass Winthrop, played by Stephen Schnetzer
Stephen Schnetzer
Stephen Schnetzer is an American actor.After playing the role of Julie Olson Williams' brother, Steven Olson on the California-based serial Days of our Lives, he joined the cast of ABC soap opera One Life to Live as fitness expert Marcello Salta. He later played attorney Cass Winthrop on Another...

, appeared in both As The World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

 and Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...

. In one of the final episodes of Guiding Light, Buzz Cooper
Buzz Cooper
Frank Achilles "Buzz" Cooper Sr. is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light.The character of Buzz was originated by Justin Deas in February 1993 and he has been with the show to its final airdate which was September 18, 2009...

 visits the CBS Studios in New York and mentions As The World Turns is shot at the studio.

Another circle of fiction was created by Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

 when Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...

appeared as a television show on The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

and vice versa.

In the classic show The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....

, there were episodes that used flashbacks to explain the evolution and escapades of Felix and Oscar's friendship. In one such flashback, Oscar (who was in the military at the time) and Blanche get married. Felix was best man. No mention of Felix's wife Gloria is ever made. However, in another episode, reference to Felix and Gloria's marriage has a single Oscar in it. Since their marriages overlapped – both ending in divorce – there is an obvious contradiction about who got married first.

In many long running adventure series, the main characters progress in age, rank, status and prestige, yet continue to perform activities that are more suitable to younger, lower ranking characters of lesser importance. This trend is seen in many space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...

 franchises, especially those in which the characters are part of a quasi-military organization. Frequently, the main characters, despite achieving legendary status and promotions to higher ranks of leadership and responsibility, often find excuses to become embroiled in exciting adventures. This is in sharp contrast to reality where senior officers are supposed to remain behind the frontlines out of danger and act as instructors, administrators, strategists and issue orders to lower ranking personnel. This is frequently found in the Star Trek, Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

and Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...

franchises where main characters, even after being promoted to higher ranks such as admirals or generals, continue to go on hazardous missions as spies, commandos, combat pilots, or elite operative squads. Conversely, main characters may deliberately and continuously turn down promotions so that they may remain where the action is; a practice not commonly seen in the real world where not only is it considered a bad career move, but physical age (typically no later than age 40) dictates eventual mandatory retirement from field missions. The rationale for this trend may simply be audience attachment to a character or family of characters. Additionally, many long running action-adventure characters often implausibly lack any lasting medical or physical difficulties due to either aging or serious injuries that they may have suffered in previous adventures.

Long running comic book series by companies such as Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 have operated on the principle that their stories are set in modern Earth where all of the real world events also occur concurrently with the existence of superheroes and supervillains. However, the attitudes and lives of normal, non superpowered humans is for the most part unaffected by the existence of these superbeings. And despite the large number of costumed heroes and villains in both universes, the average person may never encounter any of them.

See also

  • Aestheticization of violence
    Aestheticization of violence
    The aestheticization of violence in high culture art or mass media is the depiction of or references to violence in what Indiana University film studies professor Margaret Bruder calls a "stylistically excessive," "significant and sustained way." When violence is depicted in this fashion in films,...

  • Deus ex machina
    Deus ex machina
    A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...

  • Dramatic convention
    Dramatic convention
    Dramatic Conventions are the specific actions or techniques the actor, writer or director has employed to create a desired dramatic effect/style....

  • 555 (telephone number)
  • Fourth wall
    Fourth wall
    The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

  • Suspension of judgment
    Suspension of judgment
    Suspension of judgment is a cognitive process and a rational state of mind in which one withholds judgments, particularly on the drawing of moral or ethical conclusions. The opposite of suspension of judgment is premature judgment, usually shortened to prejudice...

  • The Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis
    Tommy Westphall
    Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. Elsewhere, which ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. Westphall, who is autistic, took on major significance in St. Elsewheres final episode, "The Last One," where the common...

  • Verisimilitude (literature)
    Verisimilitude (literature)
    Verisimilitude, with the meaning "of being true or real" is a likeness or resemblance of the truth, reality or a fact's probability. It comes from Latin verum meaning truth and similis meaning similar.-Original roots:...


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