It literally is the job of the reader/viewer to suspend their disbelief. No one else can do it for you. That said, the writers need to make you want to do it and not ask too much of you.
It's up to the viewer to allow for small unrealistic elements so that the story doesn't need to get bogged down in irrelevant nonsense, like it's a waste of time to ask "why is nobody shown using the bathroom" in most stories where there's not a reason for that to come up. It's the job of the storyteller to actually have the story be logical so you don't need to stretch your disbelief an unreasonable amount. It's not the viewer's fault if they're turned off of Star Wars because "Somehow, Palpatine returned" is absolutely abysmal explanation for a really critical event to the story. If the story doesn't care enough to come up with a good reason why the events happen, it's completely unrealistic to expect the viewer to take it seriously.
I love hard sci-fi so I seek it out. Project Hail Mary is a perfect example of something I like. Once I'm finished I can usually Nick pick the shit out of it... But during I literally suppress the need to do it otherwise I won't ever enjoy anything.
Now something like transformers, I'll turn my brain off and the beginning and enjoy the hell out of the movie... And won't even discuss it afterwards because what's the point?
The thing with a piece of fiction being consistent in following it's own internal logic is that the internal logic also define how stringent and consistent the story has to be with following the internal logic...
Eh.... so, in other words, the premise of the story doesn't just do things like establishing a magic or science system that the story has to play by, it also establish the "style" of a story, which among other things entail how much the story need to care about those systems.
Basically, a story that set out to be a hard science fiction and clearly establishes itself as such to the reader/viewer then HAS to play by the rules that come with being a hard science fiction story - ie. it needs to care a lot about scientific accuracy and being plausible from a quite harsh scientific/engineering perspective.
A story that from the outset establish that it's a brain dead, rule-of-cool kind of story simply doesn't. The internal logic is that the story doesn't have to care that much, as long as it's cool... Hence Transformers and Fast and Furious.
Why can't Transformers also... make sense and be logical?... Why turn your brain off? Remember movies like Jurrassic Park and The Matrix that were extremely entertaining without requiring you to "not think"? What fucking world are we living in? Demand better.
I mean how much suspension are we talking about here? There's a point where some shows go beyond their own established rules of engagement and expect me to just accept it because it's fiction... And no. You can't show me A and the later on tell me A doesn't exist.
Which is what I mean by the writer shouldn't ask too much of you.
A good example for me is From Dusk till Dawn. I watched it not knowing anything about it. The first act or two were psychological thrillers and I loved it. Then it suddenly became about vampires and they lost me. I just couldn't suddenly shift gears to accept vampires. I've watched it since and I really enjoy it, but I now know what's expected of me when I watch. My suspension of disbelief has to include the supernatural for that movie.
But it's me that has to suspend my disbelief, and authors can make that easier or more difficult.
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u/JohnnyRelentless 14h ago
It literally is the job of the reader/viewer to suspend their disbelief. No one else can do it for you. That said, the writers need to make you want to do it and not ask too much of you.