Cinerant

They Did WHAT!

"I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put it down" is a huge compliment to a novelist. It's a signal that you were so caught up in the diegetic world the writer was creating that you were able to extricate yourself from reality for long enough to go along with what was happening to the characters on the page.

Sounds like a simple enough concept, but suspension of disbelief is a very fickle thing. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another person. Even still, what works for someone today might not work for them tomorrow because he/she will have an entirely different set of stimuli that affected them, therefore tainting their reception of a story line.

Personally, I'm always pre-disposed to not believing horror films. I just can't get caught up in the concept of other-world specters. It doesn't make sense to me and I don't buy it. So spending two hours on The Amityville Horror a couple of weeks ago was about as much fun as sitting through a math class. I could do it, but it's not at the top of my Netflix queue. So that's why when a film like The Others comes along that makes me suspend my disbelief, I'm all the more excited about it. (It's been a while since a horror film's worked for me. Maybe Schrader's prequel to The Exorcist might.)

On the other hand, serialized disbelief is something I can believe hook, line, and sinker. There's very little that happens on 24 that I don't go--"WOW! That's so cool!" Americans declaring war on the Chinese consulate! OF COURSE that makes sense. They were harboring someone who could stop the end of the world! Jack bursts into surgery, holds a doctor at gunpoint and demands that he stop saving the life of his girlfriend's estranged husband in order to stop the internal bleeding of said Chinese nuclear scientist--wouldn't you?

I once read that the fun thing about 24 (and I would argue this goes for Alias too when it's hitting), is that it sounds like it's a story being made up by a seven year old. In the grand scheme of things, very little of it would make complete sense, but when you get it going, watch it and there's no stopping the fun. I just wish I could sit down and watch it all once in one big 24 hour marathon.

I think that's high praise indeed. I just wish I had the ability to take that attitude to every television program and movie I saw. I'd probably enjoy myself a lot more instead of banging my head against the seat saying, "I'm supposed to believe that's who Charlie was?"

posted by cinegod @ 9:15 AM