Suspension of disbelief?

When I talk about this phrase, maybe its actual meaning is a bit unclear. It describes the intentional act of temporarily disregarding logic and critical thinking. Still not clear? Basically, you are choosing to accept something as possible, even though common sense says that it is not. Now you most often hear this phrase uttered when talking about some fictional story, written or visual, that takes place outside the realms of reality. Dragons, wizards, superpowers, and anything fantasy are examples of where you kind of turn your brain off to the reality of something in order to enjoy the story. And it can be a wonderful reprieve, to slip into some fantasy world for a while and pretend. But it has a dark side and it is here that I want to spend a little time.

It seems to me almost everything we entertain ourselves with is no longer grounded in reality. And this concerns me because we are actively training our brains to suspend our disbelief over and over again until we are numb to it. Till everything is treated with this kind of dissociated approach. Think about it. If every day you bombard yourself with things that are not grounded in logic and critical thinking, where do you think your brain will go when “real” things come into your life? Do you think you are getting better at logic and critical thinking if almost everything you consume requires you to do the opposite? 

I got onto this line of thinking the other night watching a show called “The Rookie”(Don’t judge). It is a network television show about cops on patrol and is supposed to be, at least superficially, grounded in reality. Now before you go off on that, I get it. TV shows are just entertainment. I don’t have the expectation that it is actually real. But, if a show has good writing, it can at least give you the illusion of reality and keep you engaged. This means the characters should look and feel real and behave or interact in ways that deal with how an actual person might behave. They obey the laws of physics for example. In this particularly egregious case, a rookie female officer was tasked with subduing a suspect wanted for murder. The suspect was probably 40 years old, 6’, and 260 lbs. who had multiple priors for fighting and other crimes. The officer, who I looked up online is 5’2” and probably weighs 120 lbs. (with gear) was able to take multiple punches from this man, tackle him to the ground, out wrestle him on the ground, and subdue him. She then tells her training officer that she is a badass. Huh? Completely took me out of the plausibility of the moment, the plot, and now even the show in general. I could no longer suspend my disbelief because what I just witnessed was ridiculous.

As a personal trainer for 30 years, do you know the difference in strength between those two individuals? I have trained with people who are big and they move weights I can only dream about (and I am relatively fit). Technique? Nothing demonstrated that would suggest she was some MMA-like fighter. And even those participants have weight classes to make the competition fair. Nope, what we witnessed was a strength-on-strength battle. Utterly ridiculous. Now you may think of me as sexist. Nope. Would have the same problem if the officer was a 5’2” 120 lb. guy. Gender is irrelevant. The writer clearly wants us to see this female officer as capable (a badass). We are to suspend our disbelief so they can make a point that women deserve to be cops too. The problem? Nobody watching the show is questioning whether women can be police officers. There are female cops doing the job (in reality) all over the world. And my guess is not one cop would watch that situation and think what she did was reasonable or would result in that outcome. There is nothing logical about that approach. Call for backup. Use a taser. Use a baton. Pull your gun. Run away. Virtually anything would be a smarter, more realistic approach and would make us, the audience, buy into the character. But no, total fantasy.  

Here is the more objective question: what good is this kind of suspension doing? Should my daughter think that is a possibility? No. Would any reasonable cop do that? No. Do you like the show or characters more when they do something ridiculous? No. It destroys the illusion. There is no way to suspend your disbelief. It’s bad writing. Now comes the hardest question. Is the writer intentionally ruining their story or do they actually think what they wrote is plausible? It is this last point that really grinds at me. Are writers so disconnected from reality because they have spent a lifetime suspending their disbelief that they are no longer capable of logic and critical thinking? Do they even care? Is this why you hear so many pundits of modern entertainment rail on writers only being concerned about their “message” rather than writing a good, believable story? It’s like suspension of disbelief is this magical thing they trot out anytime they want to defend their bad writing. And we let them. Because it is only entertainment.

I am here to tell you, that you are a product of what you consume. You might not think that is the case but tons of psychology studies suggest otherwise. Especially when you are young. We are impressionable by the media we consume. Otherwise, why would advertising be a billion-dollar industry? What you put into your body, physically or mentally, affects you. Escapism, like fantasy stories, can be a great catharsis but spend too much time down the rabbit hole, and your grasp of reality slips. Here is my call to arms. Don’t suspend your disbelief. Bring back logic and critical thinking. Watch your shows/movies but don’t just accept everything they give you. My wife and I make a point to talk about all the egregious things modern writing tries to pass off as plausible. This is not a call to be negative about everything but a call to wake up and become aware. Sharpen your logic and critical thinking. Hold writers accountable for their bad writing. Reconnect with the real world so that when the media turns to things like politics or government, you are not suspending your disbelief there too.