Internal consistency is required

Internal consistency is required to enjoy books & movies—you have to be able to suspend your disbelief, obviously.

As such, I got a real kick out of reading "The Science of Consistency: On fictional universes and the fans who rationalize them."

Alan: you'll especially enjoy it too I suspect. Jeff: I can only imagine what type of discussion this will spawn for you at work. (Ben, Matt & Natalie: my apologies in advance. ;-)


—Michael A. Cleverly
Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 23:38

Comments:

  1. Cade Hoff wrote (at Wed, 01 Jun 2005, 12:15):

Great article. My favorite is the last section. I wonder if there are any kids still out there that have not seen at least one episode of star wars. I guess we can take any child born after the release of episode III and try the experiment.

  1. Alan wrote (at Wed, 01 Jun 2005, 13:45):

I must have watched too many Gilligan's Island episodes as a kid. I have given up trying to rationalize contradictions in shows that I like and just accept them as a mistake by the writers.

  1. Lin Richardson wrote (at Sun, 05 Jun 2005, 16:22):

According to my highschool English teacher, the infallable Donna Parker, Suspension of Disbelief is required for most fiction.

Yes, even for your high quality ultra-consistant spacewar-scifi-everything-really-works movies. The skill of an individual at employing the suspension of disbelief is directly related to that individual's ability to enjoy / enjoyment of a particular work. Case in point: my dad hates ALL scifi... because those films are not real.

So go ahead, bicker about the details and pass me the popcorn.

Oh, but on a similar note, I've never heard of a 'suspension of the ability to notice really stupid stuff'... so do me a favor and leave Jar Jar home... alright.

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