Hey, Angelica! Thank you for getting back to me! I will be printing out your response, later, today. I have to save your words. I will be referring to the concept in my writing. My new project is a book -- a short book -- that I will self-publish. My first book, separate from Tumblr. If you want to check out my pieces at Tumblr, put this in your search engine: neilthemessenger.tumblr.com.

Suspension of disbelief is what people do when they observe a work of fiction; it requires abandoning the rules of the normal world and adopting the rules of the world in the work. TV Tropes has a really great article on this subject if you’re interested in reading more about it:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief

The purpose of this is for the observer to willingly accept the story as is because they know they’re viewing a work of fiction, but it still has to make sense in some way. The observer works within the confines of the plot and the world, so even they know when something does not make sense. They learn this through the world-building and setting in the beginning. Think about J.R.R. Tolkien’s extensive world-building; he didn’t do it just to talk all about trees! The livelier the world is, and the more rules and norms are demonstrated, the more believable and engrossing the world is.

Plots must make sense and must avoid cheap tricks because they threaten the suspension of disbelief. Creators must not take this willingness to forget the rules of the normal world for granted; the best works rely on this suspension the least. Audiences can be very generous with unlikely events, but not so much with plot holes or cheap tricks because those make the work look sloppy or too unbelievable.

If you’re watching a movie, you politely ignore the little errors that made it into the final cut because you don’t want to be distracted from the rest of the story. Think about horror movies; there is so much foreshadowing involved and yet the characters all seem SO OBLIVIOUS! That’s because the audience sometimes knows more than the characters do; this is known as dramatic irony. This and suspension of disbelief can sometimes work together and sometimes against each other. Irony adds drama to a story, but too much of it looks like it’s added for the sake of drama and not for the story.

In other works, sometimes situational irony threatens that suspension of disbelief. Situational irony is when events turn out in ways that the audience and characters did not expect. The old story “The Gift of the Magi” is often used as an example of this. The story’s ending is believable, which makes the suspension of disbelief possible. When films, or other works, have very improbable endings or turns of events, then they threaten that suspension because audience members would find themselves wondering how on earth they’re supposed to reconcile these events within the story’s context.

That TV Tropes article also talks about Fridge Logic, which is another name for plot holes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic

Sometimes, after observing a work of fiction, it takes some time for a plot hole to become clear to you. Maybe you go into the fridge for a snack and you’re mulling the film over in your mind, and then you have that, “Hey wait a minute,” moment. The best works must avoid these moments afterwards because then they retroactively make the story less enjoyable. Think about movies that are near and dear to your heart; you probably go back and watch them multiple times, right? Well, imagine if you watch a movie for the first time and then have this Fridge Logic moment, and then go back and watch the movie later. You might find it less enjoyable the second time!

Plot holes are so frustrating because they compromise even the best works. They threaten the suspension of disbelief because they rely on the audience looking past these mistakes. But plot holes make the story harder to follow (and thus harder to believe). Plot holes can look like characters suddenly making decisions that are way out of character (looking at you, The Office), completely impractical and improbable ideas work (looking at you, Pokémon), etc. In other words, plot holes do not make sense within the context of the story and detract from the believability.

If you watch a lot of films, you recognize the limits of film and the magic of it. You know how it differs from stage plays or books or even TV shows. The differences extend beyond costume and set designs; they extend to character development and conflict resolution because all of the aforementioned works have different limits on pacing. In other words, films need a resolution by the end, which could take 1-3 hours of film time. A TV show needs to resolve it within 22 minutes and then the audience tunes in next week for another round. A book has only so many pages to resolve a conflict.

The luxury of visual media is that a lot can be communicated at once; textual media must spell everything out while visual media can show setting, mood, and first impressions of characters all at once.

Some of the best ways to avoid taking suspension of disbelief for granted is to make plots make sense, flesh out characters so they don’t make decisions or say things out of character, and establish the norms of the world early on. For films in particular, quality set design, cinematography, and costume design all add to the audience’s ability to suspend their disbelief. Really, the biggest goal of a work of fiction is to draw the audience into the story. Make them believe it, make them get attached to the characters and events of the story, make them care when characters fail or succeed (Looking at you, Game of Thrones). Even the most fantastical of stories or films can be great when they’re believable and make sense.

This was a really great ask; feel free to keep sending more of these in! While I studied literature in college, I did get to study some film.

Socially-distanced hugs,

Angelica Barile