thank you @missvictrix! i believe having 'poetic faith' is an unspoken practice that many of us drama fans (as a whole, even across other languages) uphold or subscribe to internally, but has just never been as articulated well enough until now. when i immerse myself into a drama, i immerse myself into its world and its possibilities; i.e. as i watch, i believe it is possible that a world like Memorist's exists; and even that of A Piece of Your Mind, and many others.

yes - i also find myself questioning some details (the fingernail backstory being one), some decisions (e.g. in Find Me In Your Memory, the police turned on their sirens as they approached the location of an escaped criminal. why not... turn it off so as not to alert him? the only reason he didn't run was cos he wanted to fulfil something). but for the most part, i'll laugh about it, keep it at the back of my head and move on.

may we all continue to keep the poetic faith and truly enjoy the many, many more stories that are soon to unfold on our screens!

So i'm willing to suspend my belief for loads of things. I really am -- but it's my hugest pet peeve when a drama makes me suspend my belief that this people actress is plain or her character gained weight.

There. I said it.

I think there can be 2 planes of discussion here.

First, on the "macro" level of the story's premise and setting. If the "macro" story is about time travel, parallel worlds, communicating with ppl frm different time periods etc, this is a fictitious world / setting built up on the "macro" level. Often, I don't think there is much controversy in relation to such broad macro premises.

But there is also a different plane of discussion on the "micro" level, and this is where I think invites more controversy and discussion about "suspension of belief". Whilst there can be fictitious settings, there needs to be a lot of careful thought to build these up in a way that is "logical" even in that fictitious world. Or even in such fictitious settings, these are, after all, human beings in such fictitious worlds, so viewers would perhaps have subconscious "expectations" of what should be logical for something to happen or not happen, what a human being would usually do or react in those situations, even in those fictitious settings.

This leads me to think - on this "micro" level, isn't "suspension of belief" then often a sign of weak writing, or to a lesser extent, acting?

Hi @missvictrix I love what you write but this did make me pause. I do think almost all the avid drama watchers do know there is suspension of disbelief. Every drama carries that, in fact I almost would say, that is exactly why we enjoy watching entertainment. At least to me, I am a bit less inclined to watch 16 episode - real drama Vs a 16 episode of fantasy, supernatural, scifi and perhaps melodrama.

But I do think even the suspension of disbelief requires basic logic, few rules so within that universe, things make sense and more importantly, great characters that feel real that can make you really smile or giggle or make you feel warm and just make you cry ...

I think dramas get flack not for suspension of disbelief but for illogical storytelling.

You gave an example of when love blooms, I actually love the college characters so much that I would not even notice that. I would happily swoon. But if I did not like those characters much, I felt actors were not bringing in the feeling, then yes, i would roll my eyes at the nail.

I am inclined to believe it more to do with story telling & characters than anything else.

Beautiful writeup @missvictrix!

I want to enjoy a drama as is. My trouble is I need a story to make narrative sense and told in a manner that makes sense. I can accept fantasy as long as the story is cohesive and the world building does not collapse on itself. My favourite dramas include Perfume, Go Back Spouses and The Last Empress while my favourite books are the Harry Potter series. All of the dramas have a fantasy element but also all of them imo made narrative sense and the characters were fledge out well to make the fantasy work. I readily accept everything because of how the drama was told made sense and it was consistent. The fantasy elements just worked in them.

On the other hand...I disliked MoA because it was inconsistent. The world building was solid until a character suddenly died with no explanation until the end. To make it worse, the lead survive a fall from the top floor, his body slammed on the stair railings and slammend on the cold tile floor. That irked me. And unfortunately it was never told why and how some died while the main lead always survive.

The same is happening with Eternal Monarch. The world building is so loose, it's hard to even suspend my belief when watching. Loopholes will always be there, but too many loopholes is hard to cover up. Despite that, I'm enjoying EM, I still want to watch future eps, with hopes it gets better and better.

Great write-up! @missvictrix

This is something I struggle with a lot, because I'm watching the show to relax or as a distraction, I'm unable to overlook issues with the writing or acting and so I stop watching. I do try hard to go into a new show with low expectations and give the writer time to set up the story and characters. Sometimes I feel like we are given too much information before the drama airs and by then I've already got an idea of how the story will go.

One common trope is the childhood lovers, I know it's a ruse to get the main couple together in spite of all the obstacles in their way and I try hard to accept and enjoy the show. But, a 30+ adult losing their mind over a first encounter that happened at 6? I just don't get it.
I can only think of just between lovers and 30 but 17 where the childhood connection was introduced in the beginning and I was able to accept that easily.

Another thing I have realised recently is that I struggle with romantic dramas set in parallel worlds, different countries, between aliens and humans. I start with an open mind and the first few episodes are great, but then as the main leads realise the obstacle is too great, I'm unable to deal with the angst that follows and grow less confident that the writer will be able to resolve this.
One exception is Queen In-Hyun's man which I enjoyed a lot and I wanted to believe that somehow the artefacts left behind in the past could be used to leave a message in the future.

One drama I've started recently is Good Casting and whilst I love the cast, I'm trying hard to have faith and keep going. I just can't help but think, these people are the worst spies in the world, have they seen a 007 movie before?

Thanks for this article on suspension of disbelief & poetic faith. It helped solidify my rating & feelings for APOYM.
__I feel like I'll be able to enjoy some dramas more from now on.

Re When My Love Blooms - I currently have a bruised nail from over a year ago & have a discernible shadow of a bruise that my foot fell victim to in a bicycle wheel 15 years ago, so when the show had that moment I found it so relatable. My usual cynicism didn't show up lol. I didn't catch the beauty of the metaphor of him recognizing her by her scars, I was just relieved finally oxidation seemed to exist somewhere in dramaland.

Nice write up @missvictrix!

To go back to J.R.R Tolkien's essay on fairy stories, the reason why we turn to fantasy (and I'd argue this applies to any story), is because it offers Escape, Consolation, and Recovery, if I remember correctly. This means that we can escape to a different world, console ourselves by dreaming of things we don't have (usually), and come back to the "real world" with fresh perspectives.

If I apply this to dramas, they generally offer Escape and Consolation very well, but falter at Recovery. If I can't relate to the characters or I can't find logic that is applicable in my world, then I don't get to Recovery, and I finish the drama with that unsatisfied feeling.

I put my poetic faith on a Piece of your Memory.
I decided I was watching a poem.
Lots of things didn't make sense to my rational brain.
Even so, I enjoyed the poetry.

My equivalent of MissVictix's bruise moment came in A Piece of Your Mind.

I could (just about) accept that they'd created that AI.

But - then they balanced the device on its edge on the railing of the bridge over the motorway and my mind exploded! (even though it was a super-cute moment with our leads sharing the headphones) I thought: you wouldn't do that! You spend months working on that and now you're not even holding it? It's going to fall and break and erase what you've created! For a short second I thought that was going to be the point of that moment and waited for the device to topple over (which it didn't).

It completely took me out of the moment.

We like stories because it shows us how people behave under unusual circumstances. Therefore we suspend disbelief and accept the unusual set-up that the writer has created. But if it's the people's subsequent behaviour that's weird (unless that's part of the set-up) and it's full of coincidences and stupid actions, we feel cheated.

1/
Hmmm we have to be careful not to excuse blatant writing flaws in the name of poetic faith though.
Then it becomes what I call Viewer Roadside Maintenance; ignoring or excusing the flaws in canon by coming up with your own reasoning of why or how something works, a reason not justified by canon.
There’s a few steps in between that ofc, as not all poetic faith is VRM, nor leads to it, but let’s break this down a bit farther.

Your story, both in fantasy worlds and “modern” worlds, has to obey the rules of that world.
Of course, different “worlds” or genres, demand different rules.
If your story is deliberately nonsense or satire, then you can get away with more, but this is rarely the case.
In fantasy, your fantastical elements, both big and small still need to make sense within your realm.
If they don’t, your worldbuilding breaks down and people are drawn out of the story; not because they didn’t have enough poetic faith, but because your worldbuilding broke down.

It’s not the job of the viewer to fix the holes in canon. And I would argue it’s not the job of the viewer to immerse themselves; it’s the job of the story to do the immersing.

Take action for example.
Our brains know when a human action is implausible, or impossible. It recognises when an action is unnatural, and when the consequences of the action are unnatural. And the more unnatural an action is, the less stakes there are.
If there are no stakes, then we don’t care about what is happening on screen. And if we don’t care about what is happening on screen, well… why keep watching? And well… why do it that way in the first place?
There are exceptions to this rule, and also certain styles of directing action, specifically in SE Asia, that rely on the fantastical: that is not what I’m talking about.
What I’m talking about is why should I care about Dal Geon’s character or motivation in Vagabond at all, about his mission, about the stakes of that mission or the gravity of any situation in that show, if the action is so absurd, so unnatural, he should be dead three times over before the end of the first episode?
There are supposed to be stakes to that drama. There are supposed to be serious motivations and consequences. But you just end up not caring, because he falls three stories onto a truck, gets dragged by said truck for many miles, and then gets thrown out of the truck’s windscreen and down another two stories, and then gets up and walks away.
Now if that was a comedy, satirical action show, it might be a different case; but it’s not. It’s a show that very much takes itself seriously and asks us to take it seriously too.
But how can I?
There are no stakes, and no tension, and therefore no immersion. I have no reason now to be invested at all.

I haven’t seen When My Love Blooms, and I know that it wasn’t nearly as immersion breaking for everyone, but to me that’s a perfect example of- if this thing is going to break immersion- why not...

Thank you @missvictrix for a lovely piece of writing.

It made me wonder sometimes, why I couldn't enjoy some stories while other Beanies seemed to be enjoying it so much, but at the same time enjoyed stories that others didn't enjoy that much. I thought it was about different preferences at that moment in time, and I still think that is partly true.

However, I just came to my own quite abrupt conclusion a moment ago after I finished reading your piece. I think I understand your points and for the most parts agree on those. However, I think my take is a bit different.

The way I have been enjoying the King, I think, is that same way I enjoyed Chocolate, Live Up to Your Name, etc. Some of these shows are classified as melodrama, fantasy, slice-of-life, etc. That being said, I recognized that there is one thing that had been shared in common while I was watching them - and it was on me not on them: it's not about the suspension of disbelief per se or even poetic faith, for me it's 'giving that (though) very little possibility a chance that it might happen in real life' sort of thing. We all, I think, second-guess many things we did in the past. I always wonder what could have happened had I made different choices. The truth is that it might have been better, as well as it might have been worse. It's true that it's easy to think of other people's grass as greener than ours, but it's also true that theirs might be less green too. Though the possibility was very little, it's still possible that in Chocolate, Cha-young would still be able to nail the dishes regardless of her lost sense of smell and taste. Even with the possibility less than 0.000000000000001, there might still be a chance that the story between Cha-young and Dr. Lee Kang in Chocolate might have really happened there, as well as in real life, and now they're living happily ever after somewhere only they know. It's not the belief in the author or poetic faith for me per se, but the fact that though the chance is extremely little, that thing might still be true/ exist sometime/somewhere.

I think I have been trough a lot in life. Regardless of that, it doesn't mean (and it's quite mean) to assume that everything that hasn't happened to me, hadn't had happened - isn't happening - or won't happen to me or to anyone else. (Give me that door portal between universes!) Let's just say that I think it's nice to give these 'plot holes' 'the benefit of doubt' (Eternal King: Why oh why do you have to be that much so in love with Tae-Eun in front of everyone, and why did you always use those cheesy lines everyone was so uncomfortable with but me LoL?), not because they're illogical and we just want to enjoy everything, but because though there is slim chance that that sort of thing may happen or be able to happen, there is still a chance.

Beautiful said, and Ive been thinking about this a lot lately. I am willing to accept the story, but how far do I have to accept the elements of the story? Am I watching because my favorite actress is in this drama (Chocolate - I just could not get into it, Ha Ji-won) or is it because the story is interesting and keep me going (Itaewon Class - well, the first 8 episodes)?

But there is another thing too. It seems like every drama theses days is about this clues and we have to fill the gaps in the end. It seems that it is really hard to find a simple drama these days , one that I dont have to wait 16 episodes to put the pieces together (Melo is my nature). As a viewer, I dont want every drama to be about finding the answers in the last episode (Watcher).

I have no issue with fantasy (time travel, pararel worlds, aliens, angel, grimp reaper, ghosts, etc.) or SF (AI, game, etc.) because the story is clear from the beginning, it takes place in an imaginary world. After I need the rules to be clear and not changing to fit bad writing.

Now, sometimes I have no problem to immerse myself in the imaginary world because of how the story is told, the characters's development, the cinematography, the OST, the acting, etc. and sometimes it doesn't work at all because one of these things or I imagine the drama will be about something and the writer was thinking about something else. For example, what @wishfultoki said about Extraordinary You. For me, this drama never had for goal to be a parody but a story about changing fate (with a lot of reference as Heidegger’s “Being and Time"). The first episodes were there to set the scene of the manhwa and yes played with the famous clichés but for me, at the end, it was Danoh's story and how she will be able to change her fate. So I wasn't disapointed by the story. In the contrary, Welcome was about loneliness, pets, etc. and I couldn't see that because my mind was focused about the fact the FL was falling in love with her cat (so I dropped it).

Now, dramas ask a lot with all the coincidences, truck of doom, etc. sometimes it's details and viewers react differently and sometimes is very big and you really wonder what the writers are smoking.

Interesting. In the early days of my drama watching, I accepted everything and let the drama take me wherever that may be. However, times have changed and whenever that suspension of disbelief has been challenged, I tend to drop the drama.

Maybe it's time to take the poetic faith, hoping that I'll enjoy the drama more with this route.

First of all, I had these kind of conflicts from time to time while watching a drama in depth. Through this article,I came to know about Poetic Faith and I'm so grateful for it.

What I believe is difference betweem poems and stories is; poems have a side which could be called is its freedom.  Because while reading poems, the readers tend to try to understand the meaning first because poems are more compact and we tend to read without paraphrasing the words which it is the essence of reading poems, in my opinion. And what happen after this is just a matter of perspective and how we react to the poems. But for me, reading a poem in the first place means that I'm trying to accept the thoughts from the poet's perspective regardless of how it is not relevant or realistic to my real life. This is how I understand the poetic faith from my point of view.

 Nevertheless, I believe we all live our lives with rational opinions to some extent.  Things are meant to get complicated if we infuse rational opinions in a story, in my opinion. As @missvictrix says in this piece, all we need is to accept what a story is trying to exhibit us as we do while reading poems. But here in movies or dramas , there are casts, actions and scenes which I can see with my eyes, too, together with the voices to some extent. So, I tend to have disbalance between what I should see according to the writer's purpose and what I am actually seeing since there is a whole lot of presence for trying to understand with our imagination. Which is why acting, chemistry between casts, directing, scripts, background music and many other things in the production are also sharing important duties to make a story stay true in accordance with the purpose.  But, to be honest, the conflicts only happen when I invest deeply trying to understand the meaning since many dramas don't even try to make me invest thoughts by just being light and fluffy or even blatantly silly for me. No disregards.

When I feel partial to a drama, I tend to hope that the logical errors and inconsistencies are cleared up later and it was just a fake out on the writer's part. I can't think of a particular drama at the moment, but sometimes the "error" has a backstory and it makes sense through flashbacks later on. When I fell REALLY partial to a drama this helps me forget the inconsistency as the show goes on, even though there is no explanation given whatsoever.

What a great write-up! I think it's important to remind ourselves why and how we enjoy the content we consume, as well as how it was intended to be enjoyed. It's easy for someone with a rational brain to get so wrapped up in elements that seem unrealistic, that you miss or fail to enjoy other parts of a story that are wonderful.

I do think writers need to be careful whenand why they include elements that may request such "poetic faith", as they need to take into account some aspects of their story will overshadow others depending on how they present it, although of course they can never account for all viewers. But as a kdrama writer, the viewing experience and the ride you take your viewer on is important. You need to build trust with the viewer that they will come out at the other end unscathed.

You won't convince someone to hop on that magic carpet ride if the carpet has a bunch of holes in it to begin with.

That said, I'm usually very forgiving when it comes to poetic faith. I can enjoy a drama even when it defies the laws of physics in order to make a point, or when people behave in ways that I wouldnt. I can even put up with stories that rely on countless coincidences to induce drama, though when they go too far I might accuse the writer of getting lazy with her writing.

My biggest pet peeve, however, is character inconsistency. If a character is irrational and behaves in ways that I can't imagine any rational person would, I am willing to accept that this is their personality. However, if a character is consistent throughout the first half of the drama and then suddenly starts behaving inexplicably in order to move the Plot along, I get frustrated. Poetic faith is acceptable for external circumstances because we understand the need for certai metaphors. But when poetic faith messes with the characters we are supposed to follow, it becomes more of an issue. The story becomes so unrelatable that a barrier gets set up between the viewer and the characters and you get ejected from the story. It becomes much harder to get immersed again when the people no longer feel like people, because then why would we care?

Of course, everything depends on the storytelling. If something unrealistic or outrageous feels like it was included intentionally to convey a certain situation, a joke, an issue, a state of mind or emotion, or to elicit a specific reaction from the viewer, it is a lot easier to be forgiving than when the writer asks for poetic faith that doesn't make narrative sense simply because they have written themselves into a corner.

I’ll happily accept almost any scenario - like, okay, you’ve been in a coma for 13 years but you’ve suddenly made a full recovery, ten seconds of physio and you’re fine, sure why not? That drama isn’t telling a medical story, so all it needs to do is give us the set up and away we go.

On the other hand, if a drama is trying to tell me that a character is (for instance) super smart or deeply in love or whatever but I see no evidence of that in the way they behave - e.g I am supposed to be a gifted prosecutor and I know a Very Bad Man is trying to kill me so I’ll just go for a walk down this secluded dark road by myself without telling anyone because I feel like going for a walk - then that really takes me out of the story.

So, basically like everyone else has said - bad storytelling interferes with my ability to keep the faith!

This is beautifully written, @missvictrix!
Really like the concept of poetic faith. The human mind needs stories to make sense of life - books, tales, movies, dramas, videogames, even reality shows. All of them tell us stories in different formats, and most people are more than happy to embrace them.
As you say, the question is not about having to shut off your brain to accept fantastic elements, it's about the story being consisten with its' premise.
Personally, I love fantasy, and I can even deal with loads of inconsistencies, deus ex-machina and over the topness, if from the start my expectations about the drama are adequately set. But I tend to overreact and hate a drama if it falls short to my expectations. It's unfair, but there it is

Suspension of disbelief works for the stated premise of a series, but the story and the world the writer creates musts fully support the premise. For example, in an afterlife drama, Hotel De Luna created its own world with clear rules and consistent enforcement of them. In Hi, Bye Mama, there was the premise but a story filled with so many plot holes that in the end had viewers having more questions than answers.

My main issue with many kdramas is not issue like the fingernail scar, but the fact that far too often the drama has people doing or saying things that real people simply don't do or say. Those "who in hell would ever actually do that" moments.

Beautifully written. I love the fantasy genre. It makes even more invested in the story as we dont know the rules of those worlds.We dont what would happen next and always keep us on the edge of the seat. Most of the times we just wave off the illogical things hapenning and enjoy the show. But when the scenes plays
,somewhere back in our mind we do question how did all of this started, how the characters gonna be affected by this etc and can we get all of the answers at the end of the drama.

I used to be kinder when it came to suspending my disbelief over a climactic moment in Korean dramas. As long as I liked the leads, I would close an eye to the implausibility of a scene. But, lately it is beginning to grate on me...

Take Forest, for instance. It tested my patience beyond the limits of human endurance. I was in a perpetual state of suspension of disbelief episode after episode, week after week. At the end of 16 episodes, the inevitable happened, my mind snapped, and I have never been the same.

To have suspension of disbelief work in a drama, you need a strong, charismatic lead, someone who narrows his eyes at the world and sneers, "So what? I'm over the top, but I'm so good at it you can't help but adore me!" Lee Hyuk! Who else can make me watch a crazy, wacko, bizarre story week after week, and still come back for more?

But if the lead is weak, bland and insipid, it's not going to work. You need ATTITUDE to carry off that sass. Think Lee Hyuk snarling and breathing fire and smoking hot in his brown leather coat, bursting out of the shadows with guns blazing. Hyun bin, his face weary and bloodied, desperately wielding his sword against an enemy that only he can see. You scream for them, you root for them, you cry for them, because they make it so real. SSR and Hyun bin. Two terrific actors with presence and that undefinable IT factor, that sets them apart from other mediocre actors. And if you have IT, you can make me believe just about anything. I want to believe. Make me believe.

this just might be your best article yet! i so agree with you that it is ok to suspend your belief and just go with the story and love it! my everyday life is quite difficult so i welcome things that help me get away from it and into a lovely world different than mine. thank you so much for putting all this into words!

I believe that a mark in the nail bed that doesn't go away is a sign of cancer (I think skin cancer)
so they could have really gone to town and added the big C plot. (tho I'm assuming they didn't since it wasn't mentioned here. i've not seen it. )
so you can just imagine that as the sequel :)

I just want to point out:
Plotholes ≠ Audience unwillingness to suspend the disbelief or maintain poetic faith.

We as Kdrama audience are extremely generous when it comes to suspending the disbelief. It's just when the plot absolutely makes no sense is when you question the drama's (and your own) sanity.

Also, if anyone wants to get a good laugh at "suspension of disbelief", watch drama on Viki with comments turned on. It hilarious! Some recent gems I read are, "Peripheral vision does not exist in kdrama" or "How much lawyers make? Why are you asking it someone? Search the internet!" or "New kdrama phenomenon: bookcase earthquake. Be prepared! Store Jinyoung in you emergency trunk kit at all times!"

My favorite Viki quote has nothing to do with suspension of disbelief, but actually quite the opposite, "Is someone cutting onions here!?!?"

I havent read a non-disease related article in a long time and this was so refreshing! 💜

I really don't have anything smart to add. But this piece of writing was so beautiful I was actually touched at the end. Damn right I fall in love with k-dramas at the end. And yes a little poetic faith can really lead us to enjoying a drama better, because instead of using our time questioning specific moments (which might make us feel smarter than the story) we could use it to notice tiny things that spark a little joy the show just did beautifully. So thank you :)

Have you ever watched a sci-fi movie with someone who sits happily watching monsters and flying saucers and magical powers, then in one small scene they blurt out "That would never happen!" Its always the small stuff that gets you. Sharing universes with manhua characters - no problem with that. Noticing that nobody paid for the restaurant meal - What are they doing?????!!!!!