Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
> It is alleged that David Williams claimed:
> 
> 
>>The wife couldn't understand why I would "nit-pick" THAT
detail, when the 
>>commercial featured a cow doing stunts on the roof of a moving car.  And 
>>that started the whole... "discussion" about SoD, and its
rules and 
>>limitations.  She eventually decided she had serious Disbelief that she was 
>>having this discussion and went to bed.  (She has to get up much earlier 
>>than I.)
> 
> 
> What makes this even funnier to me is that I can see myself nitpicking
> the exact same detail.
> 
It's funny what breaks the suspension.  I can accept the fact that 
Spider-Man can swing through Manhattan; I can't accept that his shoulder 
socket can tolerate an abrupt stop from terminal velocity.  I can accept 
that someone isn't knocked over by the concussion of an explosion; I 
can't accept that they can outrun the fireball (which probably doesn't 
exist either).

I'm usually willing to accept a major "you must be joking" moment if 
everything else hangs together and retains its own internal logic.  Case 
in point--"National Treasure".  If you're willing to accept the opening 
scene, you're good for the rest of the film (yeah, the caverns below New 
York are a bit over the top, but you've gone this far...).  I realized 
after seeing it that if I hadn't been in the mood to accept the 
beginning, I would not have enjoyed the rest of the film (and I did).

I haven't seen the Chick-fil-A commercial in question, but I can 
definitely see the points raised here.  Semiliterate cows? Sure. 
Dancing semiliterate cows? Sure.  Not eating in the car? Of course. 
Putting the bag in the back seat?  No (putting the bag on the empty 
passenger seat is ok).

And then there's the ability to disbelieve as driven by your own areas 
of expertise.  I recall a discussion on this group in which the improper 
depiction of thrusters became an issue.  It made no difference to me, 
but it sure as heck caused some problems with some other folks 
here--especially because it was something that was easily caught (if 
someone had been paying attention) and just as easily fixed (just change 
  *that* code *there*).  My point was always that in terms of story, it 
didn't matter, but I did come to realize that--because it took other 
people completely out of the story--it did matter.

Blair
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32