From fiction
Anime & Manga
Shouta: How come nobody else notices all your crazy feats!?
Lucoa: Because I have casted a fuzzy spell on them. They have a notion that I'm here, but they can't really grasp what I'm doing.
Lucoa: Because I have casted a fuzzy spell on them. They have a notion that I'm here, but they can't really grasp what I'm doing.
Film - Animated
Tiana: Stella just talked to me! A dog! Just talked to me!
Naveen: You know, if you are going to let every little thing bother you, it's going to be a long night.
Naveen: You know, if you are going to let every little thing bother you, it's going to be a long night.
Literature
"We're ostriches, and the whole world is sand. Newbies who are just learning about the world of wizards and the unpleasant side of the supernatural always think there's this huge conspiracy to hide it from everyone. There isn't. There's no need for one, beyond preventing actual parades down Main Street. Hell's bells, from where I'm standing, it's a miracle anyone ever notices."
— Harry Dresden, The Dresden Files
"Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face..."
— Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
"The technology involved in making something properly invisible is so mind-bogglingly complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it's simpler just to take the thing away and do without it... The 'Somebody Else's Problem field' is much simpler, more effective, and "can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery."
Like any incognizant, the manager refused to acknowledge that he was talking to a paper man. Monster sometimes wondered how that worked, how the incogs perceived the universe. Did the manager substitute an easier image, like making Chester into a really, short, very thin guy? Or did he just glance over the details and not even bother subconsciously making excuses? Even the cognizant weren't sure how it worked - not exactly.
"Sometimes I wonder why I was ever so concerned about betraying the existence of the monstrous world to humanity. It seems like no one believes the evidence of their own eyes."
— Dominic De Luca, InCryptid
Live-Action TV
"Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself."
— The Seventh Doctor, Doctor Who, "Remembrance of the Daleks"
Mickey Smith: (after the Doctor explains why the TARDIS resembles a Police Box) But that's what I meant, there's no police boxes any more, so doesn't it get noticed?
The Doctor: Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now stop your nagging. Let's go and explore.
The Doctor: Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now stop your nagging. Let's go and explore.
— Doctor Who, "Boom Town"
Duke of Forgill: Tell me, I imagine the whole business caused quite a stir.
The Brigadier: No, the Cabinet's accepted my report and the whole affair's now completely closed.
Duke: You mean it never happened.
Brigadier: Well, a fifty foot monster can't swim up the Thames and attack a large building without some people noticing, but you know what politicians are like.
"First defense against evil: Open your damn eyes."
"What makes more sense: that a gas main exploded, or that a monster trashed a science lab? If I hadn't planted your lighter, some other pink-skinned Normal would have come up with a rational explanation. People want to believe that reality's normal. The ones who don't are freaks, and nobody believes them anyway."
Video Games
Ah yes, "Reapers". The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. We have dismissed that claim.
— Turian councillor, Mass Effect 2
C-Sec customs: After the Geth attack there was a review of security protocol. A few minor changes were made to reduce the risk of Geth infiltration. We apologise for the inconvenience.
Legion (a Geth): Geth do not infiltrate.
C-Sec customs: You should leave your personal synthetic assistant at home, they're not allowed in shuttles any more.
Legion: Geth do not intentionally infiltrate.
Visual Novels
That's your guys' problem. Anything that doesn't fit into your preconceived reality, you label it a lie.
— Byakuya Tōgami, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Jeez... You guys sure are a skeptical bunch...
If something doesn't fit within your narrow notions of common sense, you just deny it outright...
How stupid. Ignorant cavemen are better than you all!
— Monokuma, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Western Animation
There's a phantom in the basement, the janitor's a spy, the principal's a rhino and no-one's asking why! Dinosaurs are everywhere, a twister's in the sky! It's just another day at Flying Rhino Junior High!
Mayor: None of us really understand what just happened and none of us want to. That's why I'm passing the "Never Mind All That" act. Now if anyone goes asking around about the "events" of the last few days, what do we say?
Townspeople: NEVER MIND ALL THAT!
Townspeople: NEVER MIND ALL THAT!
"Something dangerous is coming. Strange things happen in out town. We all know it! Pets go missing, people go missing. There's something alien amongst us. But we bury our heads in the sand and ignore it."
— Claire, Trollhunters, "The Eternal Knight Pt. 1"
Grimes: And earlier today, I saw [Homer] asleep inside a radiation suit. Can you imagine that? H-He was hanging from a coat hook!
Lenny: Heh, he had three beers at lunch. That would make anybody sleepy.
Grimes: I've never seen him do any work around here. What is his job?
Lenny: Safety inspector.
Grimes: That irresponsible oaf? A man who, by all rights, should have been killed dozens of times by now?!
Lenny: 316 times, by my count.
Grimes: That's the man who's in charge of our safety? I-It boggles the mind!
Carl: It's best not to think about it.
Real Life:
"Reality is something the human race doesn't handle very well."
"If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it."
— Wendell Castle
"Picnic on the head of the Sphinx, hang out with the minute hand on Big Ben as if you were Mary Poppins...and, here's the thing: Nobody notices."
— Roger Ebert, review of Jumper
Man: Dragons are burning down the city!
Dennis Franz: You think I give a damn if some Chinese kids hopped up on angel dust start dropping fireworks off their kites?!
Man: What? No, actual giant legendary monsters! Look!
Dennis Franz: I'm Homicide, kid. Let that pack of drunk fighter pilots under a parade float have their fun.
Man: How is that less crazy than "dragon"?
Dennis Franz: I hope your dickhole likes fists, funny man!
"When you’re telling a story that involves fantastic things happening in the real world, or at least something that resembles the real world, sooner or later you have to address the question of how the fantastic elements are perceived. I usually lead toward some flavor of this approach: the people who care, care, and everyone else ignores the weird stuff and gets on with their lives. In my experience, this is pretty much the way it works in reality anyway."
— Shaenon K. Garrity on her use of this trope in Narbonic
"I hate to argue with such a dramatic display, but if someone were going to ask questions about a mysterious plane's mysterious landing, I'm not sure an ensuing mysterious explosion would get them to go about their day like nothing happened. But I could be overestimating people's average intelligence and curiosity."
David: Yes, there are apparently visible green brainwaves flying towards Riddler's gigantic aquarium blender like Lifestream in Final Fantasy VII. Why nobody finds this at all suspicious, well — this is the same city that believed Batman turned on them because of an umbrella full of bats and a hijacked Batmobile.
Chris: When will these stinkin’ people realize that they’re getting played?
David: Like a HARP from HELL!
—Chris Sims and David Uzumeri on
Batman Forever
Batman Forever"Clark shows up at the Lex mansion, takes Lex, and with one hand throws Lex thirty feet through the air and through a table.
Lex's response (And I swear, I didn't make this up. This is the real character response.) is: 'Clark! You've been hypnotized, how else could you throw me across a room like that?'
Nah, Lex. That's PCP that makes you do that."
Lex's response (And I swear, I didn't make this up. This is the real character response.) is: 'Clark! You've been hypnotized, how else could you throw me across a room like that?'
Nah, Lex. That's PCP that makes you do that."
—Neal Bailey on Smallville ("Hypnotic")
Smallville ("Hypnotic") People would enter the elevator every once in a while.
They found a six-year-old boy sticking a screwdriver into a CD player and a stuffed tiger with a magazine sitting in the corner.
They chose not to do anything about it.
— Calvin & Hobbes: The Series, "Department Store Horrors"
