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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Spoilers
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I hate spoilers. Movies plays and books.
But worse, what I consider a spoiler is far beyond the surprise ending or plot shifts. If it does not happen in the 5 minutes, I don't wish to know. And saying something has a surprise ending or plot twist is, in itself, a spoiler. Talking about how an actor/character deals with x, if x is not the nominal premise, is a spoiler.
I go to the cinema, theatre or read to relax and just let things happen. To just be. The more I know, the less that happens. Seriously, most plots are fairly predictible and don't take much to work out. So the smallest hint stops my suspension of thought and lessens my enjoyment.
Judging by discussions, I am in the minority.
That I am odd is simply a fact. So I am wondering how you lot feel about spoilers.
I'd rather avoid actual examples, because spoilers are of the devil and those that reveal them are his agents.
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Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
People can and do post spoilers that are based solely on rumour rather than fact. You can choose to believe what you read on the internet, or what someone tells you.
Being told whodunnit in a book isn't going to cover the next 200 pages with the plot twists and turns and all the build-up to precisely why the character did it.
It doesn't really bother me. I'll keep a secret if needed, but if a television programme's been broadcast, discussing it's fair game as far as I'm concerned. It's your decision to watch it on the night or not, it's your responsibility to avoid discussion thereafter, not other people's. IMO.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
I'm ambivalent. I used to be fairly fierce about them in my early-ish days online. But then I realised that:
a) I was complaining about things that would have previously been in trailers or previews. I managed to live my life for 30ish years not minding seeing "Next week on Blah TV show", so why was I suddenly so defensive?
b) I love to re-read/re-watch great books and movies. A book/movie whose only strength is a great surprise (and there are some very enjoyable surprises) isn't going to be fun to re-watch/re-read, and therefore isn't truly great. So you can only truly spoil a one-trick pony of a movie/book.
c) You can't control other people. Sometimes jerkishly, sometimes innocently, people will spoil things.
So I'm a lot more relaxed about it these days.
However since we're on the subject: one of my most annoying experiences was with a famous movie with a twist - let's call it Movie X. I'd just seen it and was recounting to a work colleague how much I'd enjoyed it, enjoyed the twist and how I hadn't even suspect there was a twist. He replied something along the lines of:
quote:
Well, I figured it out but then again I've seen Movie Y.
Movie Y was from several years earlier, was on my personal I've-heard-it's-good-so-I'll-watch-one-day list, and, apparently had the same twist as Movie X.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
I love to re-read/re-watch great books and movies. A book/movie whose only strength is a great surprise (and there are some very enjoyable surprises) isn't going to be fun to re-watch/re-read, and therefore isn't truly great. So you can only truly spoil a one-trick pony of a movie/book.
This.
In fact, I'm so far the opposite of the OP that I will deliberately read the last bit first, just so I know how things turn out (broadly) and can relax and concentrate on the characters, dialogue, etc.
I think it's because of my PTSD. Way too many unpleasant surprises in my life already. I can only relax and enjoy the story if I know more or less how things are going to turn out.
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Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
I hate spoilers. Movies plays and books.
Same here - especially all the trailers, which seen to be everywhere. They show the best bits, leaving nothing much for suspense/surprise/interest/excitement etc. I mute them when I can and close my eyes. Even 'Bake Off' run it all as trailer before the programme. The fun is in the crazy mistakes, which need to be fresh, not already re-hashed!
But I am also blessed with a poor memory, so I can read a book again (and again!) having completely forgotten almost everything about it!
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I do dislike trailers and spoilers that give it all away, rather than just teasers to the real fun. Sometimes I know that film trailers show all of the good parts of the film. I think those, when I can spot them, are great, because I don't have to go and see the film.
I think the biggest problem is when a film trailer, when it is made from a book, gives away too much of the story of the book (the trailers for The Martian gave away too much).
So yes, teasers are good, but when you know too much about what is going to happen, it takes away the excitement of the film/programme/whatever. The point is, for the story, you shouldn't know this at the start,and you need to not know this, until it is revealed in context. Assuming it is a properly written story.
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
It doesn't really bother me. I'll keep a secret if needed, but if a television programme's been broadcast, discussing it's fair game as far as I'm concerned. It's your decision to watch it on the night or not, it's your responsibility to avoid discussion thereafter, not other people's. IMO.
See, this is a weird, relatively new phenomenon. Pre-internet, really pre-social media, one could more easily avoid discussion if they did not want to know. In these days of share everything now and everywhere, it is more difficult to avoid. On SOF, I go rarely and carefully. But in non-virtual space, it is difficult to interact socially without hearing discussions of the latest books, movies and shows on the telly.
Well, I've told my mates my objections and are fairly respectful. Except when they wish to tease me.
But I am not telling anyone how they should approach spoilers.
Paul. & Lamb Chopped,
I re-read and rewatch as well. I prefer the first experience to be as clean as possible because it is a different experience. If the work is worth it, I will then read/view it again and admire the craft for itself.
[ 10. September 2015, 20:09: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I think I agree about letting the audience know there is a twist is a spoiler. I picked up on the twists in "The Sixth Sense" and "Beautiful Mind" pretty early, but only because I knew there were things to be deduced. I was well ahead of the people I was with, which was satisfying, but I think I would have enjoyed them more if I had not known they were puzzles.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
Ooh, I was indignant when Radio Scotland (I trusted them!) broadcast the clanger of a spoiler to The Shepherd's Crown just as I was turning into my home village with my freshly delivered copy on the passenger seat, still in its cardboard delivery package. I still enjoyed the book, but really.
Cattyish, off to create something nobody has ever seen or heard of before just to thumb the nose at spoiling people everywhere.
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Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
This thread is not going to end well...
Oops!
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
The butler did it.
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Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Last night I went to a special theatrical showing of the two-part season finale of Doctor Who from last year (the "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven" episodes). They combined them into a movie length feature and added 3D.
Okay, so you are showing a movie that is likely only going to attract Who fans, who almost certainly have already seen the episodes. I get that. But, still...I got to the theater about 20 minutes early. To keep us occupied, the theater put up on the screen a selection of Doctor Who trivia questions, giving the answers after a pause of about 5 seconds. That was all fine. Except that the trivia questions were almost all about events that would be happening in the movie we were about to see! It was almost pure spoilers just prior to the movie!
Like I said: I get that the only people likely to be watching were people who had already seen the episodes in question, but that still struck me as a bit much.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
If it does not happen in the 5 minutes, I don't wish to know.
I'd heard that in a hole in the ground there lived a ... no, I'd better not.
I only recently read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, having seen a good half dozen movie versions over the years. And I realised partway through that every single movie of the story is one great big spoiler. The movies tend to put the first transformation scene somewhere near the beginning, and tell the story in a frankly rather dull linear way. But in the book, you're not supposed to realise till near the end that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. It's supposed to be a shock "reveal" - and the movie versions get it wrong every time. (Unless someone knows a movie version I don't know, which is entirely likely as there have to be dozens out there.)
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Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Adeodatus:
I only recently read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, having seen a good half dozen movie versions over the years. And I realised partway through that every single movie of the story is one great big spoiler. The movies tend to put the first transformation scene somewhere near the beginning, and tell the story in a frankly rather dull linear way. But in the book, you're not supposed to realise till near the end that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. It's supposed to be a shock "reveal" - and the movie versions get it wrong every time. (Unless someone knows a movie version I don't know, which is entirely likely as there have to be dozens out there.)
Try Fight Club - often regarded as the best adaptation of the story. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
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Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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ThunderBunk
Stone cold idiot
# 15579
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Posted
I'm at very least agnostic about these things. Plot is not for me the primary attraction of 98% of films, plays and TV dramas. The question of how they handle the material, the acting etc., are all at least as interesting as the plot.
Therefore, spoilers spoil about 20% of the enjoyment of anything I'd actually want to watch.
Does this make me a heretic? I do hope so
![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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Currently mostly furious, and occasionally foolish. Normal service may resume eventually. Or it may not. And remember children, "feiern ist wichtig".
Foolish, potentially deranged witterings
Posts: 2208 | From: Norwich | Registered: Apr 2010
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I had never quite make the connection between Fight Club and Jekyll and Hyde, but it is there, without a doubt.
I realised that I am slightly at odds with myself on this, because sometimes when watching a film (especially something deep and complex that I might not be following properly), I will look up the plot on Wikipedia, not to get spoilers, but just to be sure I have a clear understanding of what is actually going on. I will normally read the plot to the point at which I have watched and no further, but this doesn't always work.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
SC, try looking up the plot on Yahoo. That is where people who do not understand the plot post. It's good for a laugh.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The demands of the movie form are quite different from those of the book, so there are always problems with the translation. At this late point in time it probably is not a surprise to many customers that Jekyll = Hyde and so the movie directors don't cater to them.
In my opinion a really good book or movie can endure a spoiler. In other words, the surprise of the ending or the revelation of the villain is not the only reason to read it. Think about the pleasures of re-reading. When you re-read Pride & Prejudice you are not on tenterhooks about whether Lydia will be found. When you view the movie for a second time it doesn't weigh upon you that you know who Mr. Collins will marry.
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Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I should have expected spoilers to be posted on this thread. So, a final note before I quit reading it.
Regarding movies or books being around long enough that "everybody knows" what it is about: not everyone is the same age. Since no one cares about the people who "should" know, think about those who have not had the opportunity to experience them. Every work is new to successive audiences.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
...In my opinion a really good book or movie can endure a spoiler. In other words, the surprise of the ending or the revelation of the villain is not the only reason to read it. Think about the pleasures of re-reading. When you re-read Pride & Prejudice you are not on tenterhooks about whether Lydia will be found. When you view the movie for a second time it doesn't weigh upon you that you know who Mr. Collins will marry.
Re-watching/reading films and books certainly has it's own pleasure, and I wouldn't avoid a spoiled film or book entirely, but spoilers deprive me of a true first reaction to events. Would I have worked out the twist, or figured out the murderer or been as upset about a death?
I find spoilers of US TV programmes more of a problem. The plot point can be whole series in the future by the time it reaches the UK and it colours how you watch what's in front of you. (This opinion is in no way coloured by finding out 2 years too early who the Cylons were in new Battlestar Galactica. Nope, definitely not)
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