suspension of disbelief
Accepting fictional impossibilities
Suspension of disbelief is the willingness to accept impossible or implausible elements in fiction for the sake of enjoyment.
Audiences suspend disbelief when they engage with stories involving magic, time travel, or talking animals—setting aside skepticism to participate emotionally in the narrative.
The movie's poor special effects broke my suspension of disbelief.
The concept acknowledges that fiction requires a kind of collaborative agreement between creator and audience.
- leap of faithTrust without verification
- credulityUncritical acceptance of claims
- literatureBody of written works
- immersionState of being submerged
- fictional worldsImagined settings for stories
storytelling · mimesis · fourth wall · acceptance · narrative · theatre · theatrical illusion · imagination · genre conventions · plot armor · mental simulation · deus ex machina · world-building · magic system · unreliable narrator · verisimilitude · illusion · authenticity
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
- actingacting, act, performing, playacting, actor
- theaterplays, stage, play, onstage, acting
- theatre termsdirector, stage director, artistic director, musical director, resident director
- dramaturgydramaturgy, dramaturg, dramatic structure, dramatic technique, dramatic form
- narratologynarrative, narrator, plot, story, character
suspension of disbeliefcritical analysis
Evaluative examination of work
skepticism · disbelief · nitpicking · detachment · breaking the fourth wall
suspension, suspend, suspended, suspending, suspends, suspense, suspenseful, disbelief, disbelieve