Sanjaya Malakar

Suspension Of Disbelief And American Idol's Sanjaya Malakar

"Suspension of disbelief is an aesthetic theory intended to characterize people's relationships to art. It refers to the alleged willingness of a reader or viewer to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction, even if they are fantastic, impossible, or contradictory. It also refers to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo: the audience agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment."

Suspension of disbelief is not just an arcane theory we employ so we won't feel cheated for paying a small fortune to see an action thriller with a weak plot, insipid dialogue and horrible acting; it's an everyday coping mechanism.

A spouse will sometimes employ suspension of disbelief to preserve a marriage. Wife comes home with no underwear, hickeys on her neck and reeking of men's cologne? Sugarplum has a solid explanation: She's absentminded, allergic to the new soap she just bought and dabbed on her husband's cologne by mistake.

A Christian prays for his terminally ill child, but yet the innocent still dies? God answered prayer in His own way, the child is now physically and spiritually whole in heaven. Praise the Lord; He answered prayer again.

Which brings us to Sanjaya Malakar and American Idol; the vocally-challenged teenybopper is critically trying our faith in suspension of disbelief. Idol became a pop culture phenomenon because Americans felt they were entrusted with choosing the next pop superstar. But now it appears that Howard Stern and the Web site "votefortheworst.com" are manipulating the results with the catastrophic consequence that Sanjaya may become the next American Idol.

We have seen the man behind the curtain; American Idol has been revealed as a slick merchandising behemoth. If Sanjaya wins the American Idol competition that will be the final blow; it will mean the end of American Idol and perhaps of Western Civilization.