Friend 1: “I was watching old reruns of Batman the other day and saw the one where he uses Shark Repellant.”
Friend 2: “Yea, I’ve seen that one. I want to see the little pocket on his utility belt that he pulled that from.”
Friend 1: “Right? I was thinking the same thing. But who cares, it was a cool idea.”
Now, let’s put those two friends in a different situation and see how the conversation goes:
Friend 1: “I was just over at Junk Mart and they had a sale so I picked up a couple of items.”
Friend 2: “That’s cool, what all did you get and, most importantly, did you get anything for me?
Friend 1: “Not unless you want this can of Shark Repellant that I bought, you go out on the water more often than I do.
Friend 2: “I’m sorry, did you say Shark Repellant? What the hell is that?”
Friend 1: “You know, like in the old Batman TV show. Shark Repellant.”
Friend 2: “Yeah, but that’s a stupid TV show, I didn’t think they made it in real life.”
Friend 1: “Apparently they do."
Friend 2: “So, what’s in it? What’s it made of? When sprayed do the sharks swim away or die?” It’s important that I know what happens when I spray them.”
Friend 1: “I don’t know. Come to think of it, would this pollute the water? What effect would it have on other fish?”
Our brains are hard wired to suspend belief at certain times at not at others. It has even been found that we suspend belief in one area so that other areas make more sense to us. Here’s an example:
The upcoming release of the movie Batman vs. Superman, if you think about it, is somewhat of a joke. Sure, all the Batman fans can think whatever they want, but it would be a very short movie if they were both allowed to go all out. We can argue forever on this, but let’s talk about selective suspension of belief.
First, if you were walking down the street in your hometown and a person dressed as a bat jumped out of a tree and said they were there to protect you and fight crime, how would you react? Disbelief? Maybe you’re scared or maybe you want to laugh because of the costume? Maybe you even call the police. What you probably would NOT do is take them seriously.
Second, if you were walking down that same street and a man flew out of the sky and landed before you and said he was there to protect you and fight crime, how would you react? My guess is you would say, “Y-y-y-y-you f-f-f-f-f-flew. How did you do that? Can I do that? Can you show me how? What else can you do? Can you show me? Chances are you would overwhelm Superman to the point where he would just up and leave.
But we suspend all that belief to make movies make sense. It’s an incredible ability we have and it’s all unconscious.
Let’s take it a step further. Let’s say that you became friends with Superman and he told you the story of his birth on Krypton and the reasons he is super strong and vulnerable to kryptonite, your head would be swimming. You wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend things for days. Frankly, the whole thing might be a little scary.
Frankly, if you know the history of Superman you know that he didn’t have the ability to fly, only to leap talk buildings in a single bound. Now, not only can he fly, but he can fly faster than the Flash can run. As Daniel Tosh said, how does he actually fly faster? He just “Pushes Harder” and it makes him fly faster? I’ve never questioned him flying faster, but it’s another area where I need to suspend belief.
Anyway, back to the movie. We as comic lovers have become so caught up in the movies that suspending belief has become totally unconscious and a no-brainer.
-We no longer question how Batman came in possession of kryptonite, we just agree that he has some
-We no longer question how the Justice League got a satellite headquarters in space, we just know they have one.
-We no longer question that it will be an even battle between Batman and Superman, as a matter of fact we expect it.
We actually suspend belief to the point where we argue about which of these fictional characters would win in an actual head-to-head fight. Frankly, I can’t imagine anything Batman could do to beat Superman. Batman fans feel the exact opposite way and I can’t blame them.
Our ability to suspend belief is the foundation for many things we do nowadays including watching a James Bond film, reading comic books and watching superhero movies, among other things.
It goes in reverse as well, however.
Many believe in things easier when they are in writing, one such instance is Jesus walking the earth and gathering disciples many many moons ago. It’s easy to see a powerful book like the Bible eschewing facts as it’s written down. We go by the “it’s in writing, it must be true” theory. (please don’t write to me and argue that the Bible is, or isn’t, true. It’s not relevant. It’s just an example and I didn’t think Hansel and Gretel would have the same punch). However, if you had someone walking down the street of New York City dressed in a white robe claiming they were Jesus and they were gathering disciples, there would be few who take him seriously. But why not? Isn’t it just as likely that Jesus’ rebirth happened today? People are awaiting the rebirth, but few ask them how they would verify it’s him.
I don’t want to get into a religious argument, I have respect for whatever belief systems people have. What I do want to point out is that there are very few areas we can touch on today in which we don’t suspend belief to some degree. We sometimes need to suspend belief to make everything fit together the right way. After all, isn’t politics just a suspension of belief. The mouth of the politician moves, and we know they are lying or just saying what we want to hear, but we suspend belief and vote for them hoping they will do good anyway.
So, let’s get back to the conversations had by our friends with some “belief suspension” taking place.
Friend 1: “I was just over at Junk Mart and they had a sale so I picked up a couple of items.”
Friend 2: “That’s cool, what all did you get and, most importantly, did you get anything for me?
Friend 1: “Not unless you want this can of Shark Repellant that I bought, you go out on the water more often than I do.
Friend 2: “Shark Repellant? Awesome! Just like that old Batman show."
Friend 1: “Yea, you remember that scene on the surfboard where he pulled it out?"
Friend 2: “I thought that was so cool and now I have a can of my own! Does it actually spray anything or does it just spray compressed air? In other words, is it supposed to work or is it just a prop?"
Friend 1: “I think it’s just a prop. Read the can."
Friend 2: “It claims that it works and that it’s not a prop. I’m taking it with me the next time I go Kayaking. What could it hurt? I have nothing else to use. Thanks man!"
Friend 1: “No problem! I figured for $1.50 why not. Let me know how it works!”
Let’s face it, without belief suspension superhero movies and movies like Jurassic Park would never get off the ground.
What makes me laugh is when people can suspend belief enough to watch the movies, but then write articles as to why the movie had it’s “facts” wrong or why certain things “didn’t make sense”. Ahem, you suspended belief to watch the movie, why are you viewing some things as though they should make sense?
As an ending to this article let me review a couple of “Problems” people had with Jurassic World. Apparently they could suspend their beliefs to enjoy the movie, but then had to find fault with the science in a FICTION movie acting like they are facts.
For your enjoyment, here are the main faults people have found with Jurassic World:
1.) Why didn’t the Gyrospheres have a kill switchs or a way to call them back during an
emergency?
One reviewer called it “infuriating”. So, you’re OK with huge dinosaurs walking around a park, and the fact that people can ride in a bubble right next to them, but no killswitch or override in the gyrosphere has your knickers in a knot? You’re kidding right?
2.) Why was there no evacuation procedure for emergencies like the one in the movie?
Really? How does one develop a procedure for dinosaurs running amok? Further, would the film look better if people filed out in an orderly fashion versus running, screaming and trampling one another? An evacuation procedure? Come on...
3.) How did the Mosasaurus Dino-Ex-Machina in at the end? (this is exactly how it was written, I have NO idea what ‘Dino-Ex-Machina’ means. I guessed.)
The question here, dear reader, is how was the Mosasaurus able to leap out of its tank to devour another dinosaur at the end. If it could do that why couldn’t it have just jumped out and eaten a person viewing in one of the front row seats. Weren’t there any safety measure taken? Some kind of moat or fence? This, to me, is a ridiculous question. You suspend belief enough that you can understand how they get a huge dinosaur, put it in a water tank, and feed it the exact nutrient it needs to survive; but you worry about how it selectively left the tank. Frankly, when it jumped out of the water to eat another dinosaur at the end of the movie it was quite a surprise. My first thought was NOT “why didn’t it jump out before this”? Maybe I’m just not smart enough to watch these movies.
None of this is meant to criticize anyone and their views. OK, maybe a little. But it’s meant to say why suspend certain levels of belief (a park filled with living breathing dinosaurs) to focus on something that wouldn’t even be in existence (no escape plans, no emergency buttons in the gyrosphere, etc.) if not for the park filled with living breathing dinosaurs. Just sit and watch the friggin’ movie, willya?
We are funny creatures and I’m glad we are. Life wouldn’t be quite as much fun without our bizarre tendencies to suspend belief here and stick to belief there...all in the same story.
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