Very often, when one speaks of literature or writing - especially creative writing - the term "suspension of disbelief" or "willing suspension of disbelief" is wont to come up. In a fictional story, we are told, one must suspend his or her disbelief and enter the world of the narrative. The term is stupid and you shouldn't use it.
End of article.
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Just kidding! The term is still stupid, but there is an excellent alternative, posited by the illustrious JRR Tolkien, no less! In his paper, "On Fairy Stories," Tolkien goes through an in-depth discussion of what Faerie is, what fairies are and are not, and various other topics related to the genre. Important for us are his thoughts on story-crafting in general.
"The moment disbelief aries, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside," Tolkien notes.
Rather than staying immersed in the narrative, you are ejected to the "real world." As Tolkien stated earlier in the paper, good writers are able to evoke "literary belief" in the reader. Only by becoming what Tolkien has termed a "sub creator" can an artist truly create a world to which a reader can ascribe any appreciable level of "Secondary Belief."
For instance, the sign of a good movie is being able to walk out of the theatre, discussing the movie in the terms and lingo of the characters themselves - and giving no thoughts such as "Well, this is a fictive universe, but..." Because the script writer did his or her job well, the viewer is not forced to consider the poor writing and be drawn out of the secondary world.
The idea of secondary belief is especially important to the genre of fantasy. As opposed to the "realistic" literature of the recent century, fantasy literature seeks to create a whole world of its own. Or, as in the case of Star Wars, an entire galaxy of its own. Walking out of the most recent Star Wars movie, my first thoughts were not "Who wrote that," but were decidedly more story based. In-universe, secondary belief type thoughts and conversations (I had gone with family) were the focus that day.
To truly enjoy literature, one must throw away the idea of merely accepting the "inaccuracies" of a fictional world. Instead, by holding a secondary belief, the literature, movie or TV show become alive for us.
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Work cited: "On Fairy Stories," by JRR Tolkien
But then, how would you define those moments that break that suspension of disbelief? Because they exist. I happened to come here looking for examples of broken suspension of disbelief in books for a blog post I'm writing - my fave one is in the Ender saga by O.S.Card, when religion keeps on existing (unchanged, at that) after they migrate to other galaxies and solar systems. In comics, the fact that no one recognizes Superman as Clark Kent. In movies, that the nerdy programmer in Tron is a freaking hunk instead of a four-eyed git. Etcetera.
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