Breaking the suspension of disbelief

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#1

Hi all,

Writing in the realms of science fiction & fantasy has it’s own difficulties i.e. stringing words and sentences that convey the “other-worldness” of fantastical settings, without referencing our current popular culture.

For example, in shows like “Rome” and “Spartacus”, the dialogue sounds stilted but it’s actually a transliteration in English of how people would have spoken in ancient Latin/ Greek.

In the re-imagined BSG, Ron Moore had repeatedly pointed out at Colonial culture is analogous to ours. This is a world where you would see pianos and guitars and cassette players, as well basketball-type game called “Pyramid”, as well as a football field in “Caprica”

One thing that struck me was a beat in Blood & Chrome, where young Adama yells, “This is what we do! This is what we do!”

I’ve often wondered where that trope started from : right now I’m watching an episode of Friends where Brad Pitt cameos for thanksgiving. When Monica questions Joey on whether he can finish a whole turkey by himself, he says, “I’m a Tribbiani! This is what we do!”

Do you know of other film clips that similarly break the suspension of disbelief?

#2

I believe what you’re talking about is anachronism. The best example of it that I can think of off the top of my head is “A Knight’s Tale” (which isn’t science fiction but is a fun movie, and it’s got Wash AND the Joker in it!).

In that movie, the characters act in ways that they never would in medieval England, up to the point of the crowd drumming to the tune of “We Will Rock You.”

#3

Happens all the time. I remember when I was first watching the Dune miniseries, and Chani as somebody if they want coffee. It seemed really out of place. In the book it actually makes more sense, and is not the one and only mention of coffee. But in miniseries we are looking at a group of people that live in the desert, live in caves or small huts, and have a society that wastes nothing and water is life. Also they are on another planet in the distant future. To have somebody casually offer coffee the way they would today seemed really odd and out of place.

#4

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Almost 25 years ago now. :slight_smile:

It might have originated with the Green Berets or earlier Army Airborne, maybe a variation on their formal creed “in all that I am, in all that I do.” Sylvester Stallone used it in Rambo (whose character was in Special Forces in Vietnam). It also appears as an Airborne slogan in the videogame Company of Heroes, crammed with historically accurate doodads like period appropriate profanity even. Or maybe not, I have yet to see it in context in any history book.