WotD: Suspension of disbelief

In honour of Halloween, I created a lesson called The Joy of Fear, discussing why people enjoy being scared and seek out scary experiences.

One question some students asked is how someone can be afraid of zombies.

Or Dracula?

Or any of the main characters portrayed in classical horror movies?

None of those creatures are real, and they never existed.

Well, the answer is the suspension of disbelief.

It means to allow yourself to believe something is true or real even though you know it is impossible.

The suspension of disbelief is what makes all kinds of stories enjoyable.

There’s nothing humans enjoy more than a good story, but to be able to enjoy that story, you have to suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to be immersed in the situation created by that story.

Movies such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or even Amazon Prime’s new show The Peripheral would all seem foolish without the suspension of disbelief.

When we read a great fantasy novel or spend a few hours watching a science fiction movie, we allow ourselves to be immersed in the story while letting our real-world worries slip away.

It’s almost magical.

It also makes Halloween and Christmas so enjoyable for so many people.

Of course, we know Santa Claus will not visit our houses this Christmas, but that will not stop adults from decorating their homes with images of the jolly old elf.

Everyone needs to step out of this world once in a while.

They need to suspend their disbelief and live in a world where the unbelievable comes to life.

It’s how we cope with real life.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 67.

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.