QaR
October 2007 
The Grisly Murder of Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Posted on Sep 7th, 2007
by 
OddMott
OddMott
If you're like me, you seek distraction and relaxation from a number of entertainment media; books, music, tv and movies.
I just thought it could be fun to make a list of the quirky little things that strike viewers as being disconnected from reality in today's films... things that hinder your willing suspension of disbelief.
Now, i do mean 'quirky' and 'little'. I'm not looking for rants about excessive and unbelievable action sequences, a la Die Hard. I'm looking more for things like:
- The fact that RARELY do characters ever talk OVER each other... everyone waits their turn to deliver their carefully manicured script no matter how intense the situation in which they find themselves may be. Bullets can be flying, walls collapsing and pigs flying... and still all we get is a back and forth rally of one liners. I don't know about you, but I'd be screaming like a lunatic in that situation and I'm sure many others would too! The only time you ever find characters talking at the same time is in cutesy love scenes where it's used to portray ackwardness and bumbling love. C'mon! I probably run into several situations a day when I talk over someone else or vice versa and the conversation grinds to a halt until one of us invites the other to continue.
- Inconsistencies in prop/food placement. A perfect example can be found in Hot Fuzz. There's a scene where the two main characters (Angel & Dany) are sitting in a car watching townsfolk and discussing who could be a danger. As the camera cuts back and forth between Angel & Dany, you'll notice Dany is eating an ice-cream drumstick. The drumstick will go from being half eaten, to nearly full, to almost totally eaten and back to half eaten again. Not drastic by any means, and most people might not even notice it... but i do.
- Slightly 'off' accents. Ed Norton in The Illusionist is a good example. What the heck was the accent he was going for?
- Poor setting choice. This is hard to explain and could cover a lot of different problems. But one example that comes to mind is anytime a movie is SET on the west coast but FILMED on the east coast or vice versa. Not much of an issue during day or night... but at dawn and dusk the sun rises over the ocean when it should be over land and sets over land when it should be over the ocean!
Anyhoo... that's all i have time to put down for now. But please, add as many more as you like!
I just thought it could be fun to make a list of the quirky little things that strike viewers as being disconnected from reality in today's films... things that hinder your willing suspension of disbelief.
Now, i do mean 'quirky' and 'little'. I'm not looking for rants about excessive and unbelievable action sequences, a la Die Hard. I'm looking more for things like:
- The fact that RARELY do characters ever talk OVER each other... everyone waits their turn to deliver their carefully manicured script no matter how intense the situation in which they find themselves may be. Bullets can be flying, walls collapsing and pigs flying... and still all we get is a back and forth rally of one liners. I don't know about you, but I'd be screaming like a lunatic in that situation and I'm sure many others would too! The only time you ever find characters talking at the same time is in cutesy love scenes where it's used to portray ackwardness and bumbling love. C'mon! I probably run into several situations a day when I talk over someone else or vice versa and the conversation grinds to a halt until one of us invites the other to continue.
- Inconsistencies in prop/food placement. A perfect example can be found in Hot Fuzz. There's a scene where the two main characters (Angel & Dany) are sitting in a car watching townsfolk and discussing who could be a danger. As the camera cuts back and forth between Angel & Dany, you'll notice Dany is eating an ice-cream drumstick. The drumstick will go from being half eaten, to nearly full, to almost totally eaten and back to half eaten again. Not drastic by any means, and most people might not even notice it... but i do.
- Slightly 'off' accents. Ed Norton in The Illusionist is a good example. What the heck was the accent he was going for?
- Poor setting choice. This is hard to explain and could cover a lot of different problems. But one example that comes to mind is anytime a movie is SET on the west coast but FILMED on the east coast or vice versa. Not much of an issue during day or night... but at dawn and dusk the sun rises over the ocean when it should be over land and sets over land when it should be over the ocean!
Anyhoo... that's all i have time to put down for now. But please, add as many more as you like!
Access: Public
I love to notice continuity errors in movies or TV shows. It's like a little treat for paying close attention.
I am so unnerved by IM chat, text messages and cell phones in movies. Yes, they are part of real life and if real life is portrayed in a movie, it makes sense for them to be there, but I cannot describe the level of boredom I feel watching someone in a movie type on IM. Good gravy, if I wanted the thrill of IM I'd do it myself– can't they think of a better way to get their stories told? It just feels like a rip off to me.
Great topic!