life is full of plot holes

I like some movies that maybe weren't popular in their genres and probably scored low or moderate on Rotten Tomatoes. I think about reviewers saying how bad the plot holes are, plot holes that I tend to overlook that really aren't too obvious, or a deus ex machina.

Some movies and books make me hate them for the plot holes, but then there are usually so many problems with the characters and plots in general that I can't overlook them because nothing works.

And then I realized something--some things that seem like plot holes really are not. In fact, they are more true to life than a perfectly explained and wrapped up logical plot. Let me explain...

Something looks like a plot hole because it isn't explained or not foreshadowed or contradicts what has been established. Entertainment is about drama and luring us in with emotions, allowing us to see and feel something other than our own daily routine. But entertainment comes from certain perspectives. Books allow us into characters minds but is still a limited perspective. It is based on a character's interpretations of events and other characters, or even the writer's/director's perspective (what the writer or director wants the reader to think). They are limited, just like our real-life experiences are limited.

Not all plot holes are plot holes but are, rather, simply misdirection, lack of information, or wrong interpretation. Unless we're omniscient or telepathic, we can't know everything--thoughts, purposes, emotions, plots, etc.--all of the time. That's what a story is about. It's the not knowing that keeps us reading/watching with these stories, continuing to find out what happens and where it all leads (climax and denouement).

And a clever writer/director can play with that.

In real life, we can't anticipate everything. There are certain predictable factors, but not always and not everything. Sometimes, something isn't what it appears to be or something happens that we didn't know could happen. For that factor, life is full of plot holes. It doesn't make sense, but when something happens to us without any explanation, we can't deny it, because we lived through it.

Ever experience something that fits the phrase "too crazy to be real" or something like it? Sometimes that's how life works--unexplained phenomena that totally don't make sense given our unique experiences or anything established previously.

Well, I say life is full of plot holes and surprises, and I think that's why so many of us can overlook the minor issues in fictional stories. And there really is a "God in the Machine" (Deus Ex Machina).