The willing suspension of disbelief

[potioncat]

Carol:
 Some of us are in
> a state of permanent belief suspension if that makes any sense.

Potioncat:
That would be me, in more ways than one and in fields afar from 
Hogwarts.


Carol:
> The moment we accept that Wizards and magic exist, that a green-lit
> spell can kill anyone it hits except the Boy who Lived, we've
> suspended our disbelief, whether we like the way the series ended or
> not. Just discussing the WW and Dumbledore as if they were real (all
> the while knowing in some part of our minds that it's all just words
> on paper and the result of readers' minds interacting with the
> author's imagination in its paper incarnation) involves the willing
> suspension of disbelief, as does admiring or liking or criticizing 
the
> characters as people (as opposed to analyzing them as, say, 
variations
> on character types established in the Gothic novel or Snape as 
Byronic
> hero or something of that sort).

Potioncat:
For me it was before DD even showed up, when Harry was even able to 
string words into a sentence in spite of his treatment by the 
Dursleys. I wasn't able to do that on my first attempt at HP, but 
once I did at a second attempt, I enjoyed the ride. 

I can't think of any other place in the HP saga that's jerked me out 
of the disbelief. Now, there have been Flints, or there have been 
disappointments. But I can't think of anything that just seem out-of-
the-question given the world we're reading about.

> 
> Carol, not sure whether Coleridge and his sometime-friend Wordsworth
> belonged on the main list or not and deciding it was best to post
> about them here

Potioncat:
So suspended is my disbelief, that I thought you wrote that you 
didn't know if they belonged "to" the main list, so you posted here 
so they would see it.

I guess I'm easy.
(No, I know this last example isn't the same as suspended disbelief 
at all. But I did think it for just a moment.)