by Materia-Blade » Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:03 pm
Will someone do me a favor and Define: "Suspension of Disbelief?"
This retarded phrase has been annoying me for ages.
Suspension of Disbelief. I'm gonna try and break that down.
Suspend: to cause to cease or bring to a stop or stay, usually for a time
Suspension: The act of suspending. The act of a ceace. Making Longer.
Disbelief: Not to be believed. Untrustworthy.
Therefore Suspension of disbelief should be the "Temporary ceace or stop of a period of disbelief." Or in more normal turns. "A believable moment."
Now... in my oppinion. A story shouldn't have one of these. Period. As "A believable moment" indicates that the rest of the story would be "Unbelievable."
Now, to "Shatter" or "destroy" a suspension of disbelief would probably mean to make it unbelievable, again. (The key word here is again. Meaning that it should have already been unbelievable before.)
I first heard the phrase mentioned by Obsidian-Fox and as I go I'm more and more annoyed by it because having one in a story is pointless in the first place and having one to "Shatter" is even more pointless! The story should be believable! Period!
Now as to this story, it doesn't have a "Suspension of Disbelief." As those here seem to think. It has a unbelievable plot. What it kills in the first four paragraphs is practicality. Logicallity. Plausibility. It makes events that are crude or unlikely, happen. Now While they are a little unlikely, i don't find them completely impossible. Nor do i feel like the credibility of the story was destroyed by unlikely events. (Ex. Ranma saving the moon kingdom when he didn't have the power to save nerima from several hundred demons. Not to mention why only HE had the ability and power to take on the powers of "Sailor Sun?)
I do agree that they are rather implausible. But that wouldn't stop me from reading, as he may put a "two cents" in later explaining why these things are.
Perhaps (The easy way here) Ranma is a direct decendent. Or perhaps it has something to do with the Pheonix Pill? Or the kinjaken? Maybe ranma's contact with it gave him a connector to the sun?
Just because it's implausible in the beginning, does not necessarily mean that it won't be plausible later. Now as far as I know, he has said nothing like that and I can think of no way for him to "explain away" ranma's inability to protect his friends, while having the ability to stop the destruction of the moon kingdom. But what I can see is a pretty cool flashback scene on it's way, that might lighten the implausibility.
Another example (off the top of my head) would be my own story. In it I had Usagi recover a memory, suddenly, and right as it was needed. Someone accused me of Deus Ex Machina. Then in the next chapter I told how that memory was planted in her by someone else, directly to suit that persons own purposes. Thus, deus ex machina, averted. Implausibility, destroyed.
Though there was no "Suspension of disbelief..." (sneer)
Thus do I end my rant against the phrase "Suspension of Disbelief."
Feel free to debate me. It's been a while since I excersized my wit.
"I killed the world and you can too, if you try hard."
-- Lews Therin Kinslayer