One of the ,most common criticisms we hear about certain movies is "nobody would do that in real ife", or "nobody would be that stupid/crazy/whatever". It´s quite common for genres such as comedy or action, where characters and situations tend to be exaggerated for comedic/thilling effect. Then I find out a guy announced on Facebook he was going to murder his wife, and as he arrived home to do so, unsurprisingly, the police was there waiting for him. I thought to myself, "if that situation had been written for a movie or TV show, critics would have considered it ludicrous and implausible and said nobody would do that in real life". In this era of no privacy and cameras everywhere, we´re witnesses every single day of the levels of quirkiness, insanity and stupidity the human being is capable of. Which are apparently limitless. It boggles the mind to think that, with the stuff you see on the official internet, there yet needs to be a deep web for stuff that´s too much for the regular web. Truth of the matter is, if anything is possible to do, even remotely, there´s some human being on the planet who´s done it, is doing it or will do it, regardless of its degree of absurdity. The complaint regarding movie characters, of course, comes from the famous quote, "the difference between fiction and real life is fiction has to make sense". That is, we demand fiction to provide us with suspension of disbelief, with plausibility, even when it deals with the more fantastic subjects. As for life, it just is what it is, and it clearly doesn´t give a rat´s ass about any of that. Still, if a critic wants to say, "this stretches credibility" or "this is highly implausible", be my guest. But if you´re gonna tell me, "nobody would do that in real life", all it´s gonna take is a day of Youtube or Facebook to change your mind. What you guys think?
Screenwriting : Nobody does that in real life... really? by Alex Winck
Nobody does that in real life... really?
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I know what you mean, I think of myself as an ordinary guy, but my life has had some pretty incredible twists and turns.
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My two cents: people are fine with something nutty if it's what kicks off your script. A guy posts on the Internet that he's going to murder his wife, and that's your first act... fine. If that's what your story is ABOUT. It's when you use something far-fetched to solve a story problem in the second or third act. THEN you've made a mistake. Make your first act as implausible as you want, but from that point forward assiduously follow the rules of the universe you've created. You'll be fine.
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I agree with Kerry. I think people will buy a character doing something most wouldn't in real life as long as you have set up that in YOUR world, your CHARACTER might just do that. If there's set up, execution and payoff for that strange thing they are doing, then audience will believe it. Bit if its random and doesn't feel natural to your character, then it will make us realize its not genuine to how people act.
Go check out the CinemaSins channel on YouTube. There Everything Wrong With series tears apart bad logic and unlikely events in movies. It's fun to watch through them but you quickly come to realise how little it all matters and how much you'll forgive when you're enjoying a good compelling movie.
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When you read multiple stories of people climbing into Komodo dragon cages for a photograph, or calling 911 to complain that someone stole their weed, I refuse to believe that "No one is that stupid".