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Suspension of disbelief is an aesthetic theory intended to characterize people's relationships to art. It refers to the alleged willingness of a reader or viewer to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction, even if they are fantastic, impossible, or contradictory. It also refers 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. According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo: the audience agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment.

Further, inconsistencies or plot holes that violate the initial premises, established canon, continuity, or common sense, are often viewed as breaking this agreement. For particularly loyal fans, these dealbreakers are usually accompanied by a sense of betrayal. However, the extent to which the suspension can be called compromised is often dependent on the beholder. A physicist, for example, may be more likely to question a fantastical breach of known physics, while an architect's suspension of disbelief may be damaged by being introduced to a building of unrealistic proportions. Similarly, 'common sense' is a relative term, and so the same piece of fiction may stand up or not, depending on the particular audience.

Though, as a theory, suspended disbelief is pervasive amongst critics — particularly film critics — most aesthetic philosophers reject it.

Contents 1 Examples in literature 2 Examples in modern forms of entertainment 2.1 Superman and other examples 3 Actual use in film 4 Criticism of the theory 5 Problems the theory presents 6 See also 7 External links

Suspension of disbelief is sometimes said to be an essential component of live theatre, where it was recognised by Shakespeare, who refers to it in the Prologue to Henry V:

"(...) make imaginary puissance (...) 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings (...) turning th'accomplishment of many years into an hourglass."

However, not all authors believe that suspension of the disbelief characterizes the audience's relationship to their works. Tolkien challenges this concept in his essay "On Fairy-Stories", choosing instead the paradigm of subcreation.

See also dramatic convention.

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

Suspension of disbelief is also supposed to be essential for the enjoyment of many movies and TV shows involving complex stunts and special effects. The theory professes to explain why action movie fans are willing to accept the idea that the good guy can get away with shooting guns in public places or that cars will explode with a well-placed shot to the gas tank.

One of the most-well known examples of suspension of disbelief is the audience's acceptance that Superman hides his identity from the world by simply donning a pair of glasses, wearing 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, this absurdity was carried to an extreme. Lois and Jimmy constantly suspected Clark 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 and Jack Larson, in DVD commentary, said their standard answer when questioned about this was, "We wanted to keep our jobs!")

Strangely, 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. One defending suspension of disbelief might say that flying, along with the rest of Superman's abilities, is a foundational premise regarding the character, which the audience accepted as part of the deal at the beginning. On the other hand, the audience did not sign on for obtuseness bordering on mental deficiency by a half-dozen main characters and therefore this violates the original deal.

Video games are also said to require suspension of disbelief. Often, realism is compromised even in games set out to be realistic either intentionally to not overcomplicate game mechanics or due to technical limitations. Some games based on Spider-Man have the comic hero swinging around a city with his webs sticking to nothing but the sky. Another example is of Solid Snake's performance of near impossible acrobatic stunts (such as back flipping over a piece of a ceiling that was sliced off by a Cyborg Ninja and then kicked at him, dodging sword slashes, and even jumping on a missile and then firing a Stinger Missile in mid-air at the attacking helicoptor after jumping off of the fired missile) in the remake The Twin Snakes as opposed to his more down to earth style of combat (due to graphical limitations during the time) in the original Metal Gear Solid. Others feature instant death upon falling into water instead of giving the player a chance to swim out before drowning. Also, in many video games, a character will say the same phrase over and over indefinitely when repeatedly talked to. Some video games begin with a tutorial in which the player is taught how to play. These are often woven into the story, so a character in the game might say to the hero, "Press the triangle button to jump! Walk up to a crystal to save your game!" and so forth. In the fictional context of the game world, such sequences make no sense — the hero 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. According to the proponent of the theory, it's up to the player to reconcile this problem by suspending his or her disbelief.

Yet another example where suspended disbelief is said to be necessary is kayfabe in professional wrestling.

Gary Larson discussed the question with regard to his comic strip, The Far Side; he noted that readers wrote him to complain that a male mosquito 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 live in houses, wear clothes, and speak English.

In the 1994 Touchstone Pictures release of the film Ed Wood, the main character Ed Wood, played by Johnny Depp, uses the term in the dialogue. He is on set of Grave Robbers from Outer Space, which was eventually released as Plan 9 from Outer Space. He 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 Ed replies "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! Haven't you ever heard of 'suspension of disbelief?!'"

See (script at IMSDB.com)

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 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. (See Walton, "Fearing Fictions")

The theory would seem to create several other problems, were it to be true.

Issues with self-reference: One problem the theory suggests is apparent in characters' self-awareness — when a character addresses the audience directly or otherwise realises 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 do sometimes entertain audiences.

"Canon-puncturing": Suspension of disbelief would also appear to present problems in pan-canon role-playing games or intercompany crossover. When a number of characters from various different sources are brought together, the characters could potentially recognize others as being fictional.

For instance, in one episode of Step by Step, Cody acknowledges Full House as a fictional TV show. The character of Steve Urkel guest-starred in an episode of Full House as well as an episode of Step by Step. Obviously this would present a contradiction to someone suspending disbelief, 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.

Problems are also noticable in Friends where celebrities such as Winona Ryder and Bruce Willis are mentioned by name and later appear playing characters other than themselves. It would seem that the characters in the shows would recognize the celebrities, therefore making suspension of disbelief impossible or at least illogical.

• Suspension of judgment
• Deus ex machina

• Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, Chapter XIV, containing the term