suspending one's disbelief
Embracing narrative impossibilities
Suspending one's disbelief is the willful choice to accept the premises of a fictional world, setting aside awareness that it isn't real.
The phrase comes from literary criticism but applies broadly to entertainment: You have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy superhero movies.
The reverse—failing to suspend disbelief—describes when implausibility breaks the spell: The plot holes made it impossible to suspend my disbelief.
- imaginationFaculty for forming ideas
- leap of faithTrust without verification
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- wonderAmazement or curiosity
- world-buildingCreating fictional universes
fictional world · magic system · plot armor · storytelling · attention · empathy · fourth wall · dramatic irony · allegory · verisimilitude · speculative fiction · escapism · genre conventions · curiosity · mental flexibility · abstraction · catharsis · reasoning
suspending one's disbeliefnitpicking
Excessive focus on trivialities
suspending one's disbeliefdisbelief
Rejection of truth claims
skepticism · incredulity · doubt · cynicism · distrust
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