Spoiler Discussion - (spoiler free)

[andrewducker]

In the last couple of days I've been in discussion with a couple of different people about spoilers. One of them about BSG season 2 (now two years old) and the other about HP:Half Blood Prince (now four years old), with them considering that as they'd experienced them years ago, they couldn't possibly be considered spoilers.

Which is the exact opposite of how I feel about it. Because there are movies I still haven't seen fronm the 1950s, where discussion of the twist in the tale would spoil the movie for me. And I'm very aware that the majority of people who go to see the new HP movie won't have read the book.

To me, spoilers are all about politeness. If you tell someone the end/twist of something they didn't know, and will possibly experience in the future, when they didn't want to know, then you've spoiled that experience for them. I remember the feeling of watching Empire Strikes Back and discovering that Han and Chewied were lovers. The shock and surprise at the moment of reveal was an integral part of the experience for me, and taking it away from people that haven't seen the movie yet is just plain rude.

Now, you can argue that it being years old, the chances that people on your friends list haven't seen Empire Strikes Back is low. Which is true if you're posting friends-only and have nobody under the age of 20 on your friends list. But it's not like the olden days, when a movie would appear, and then vanish again, when TV that had made the rounds was lost. Nowadays I can go out and buy box sets for TV made before I was born, and watch it entirely fresh. There are more hours of TV and movies out there than I have time to watch in my whole life, and the chances are that some will be watched years out of synch with their original release. And I'd really appreciate you not telling me the details before I do!

Obviously I consider all of the following to be spoilers. I'm curious whether you do too. If you don't then I'd love to know why...

[Poll #1430090]

Also: NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS!

Comments

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

I agree, to a point, but then it gets to the place where you can't read anything for fear of being spoiled, and that can ruin your search for discussion/speculation/whatever, which is part of the fun of watching new media and stuff. I think putting spoiler warnings for things is just polite, and not that much of a hassle, so why not?

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

If you go searching for discussion and speculation and get spoiled, I reckon that's pretty much your own fault hehe. You must *hide* hide from these things if you want to remain unspoiled hehe.

You certainly shouldn't be reading reviews and things if you don't want to be spoiled - just seems like the easiest way to spoil yourself.

[cdave]

I'd hope not. I'd hope that someone writing a review would refrain from mentioning a major twist as far as possible.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

It depends what the review is for really. If it's of a new film that most people who are reading would want to see then yes. If it's of anything else then frankly no - If I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's for example, I would feel fine talking about any plot twists there were. Although I often find reviews that simply recount things terrible, and so would concentrate more on my feelings/ideas surrounding the plot twists.

All reviews should pretty much be avoided if you don't want to be spoiled. It's your own fault really if you go looking.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

You need to be very careful. Reviewers of new movies avoid spoiling -- but they all avoid it in different ways. It's not uncommon to read through three or four reviews of a new movie and deduce what the spoiler must be through triangulation. (especially true where the twist occurs part way through rather than at the very end).

There was a film a couple of years ago of a much-loved children's book, Bridge to Terabithia. Only time I think that I can recall a massive outcry about not spoiling -- lots and lots of parents would have liked to have known the massive twist in advance and picked another movie for their sensitive darlings to see. Personally, neither I nor my sensitive darlings were much troubled by the twist but would have liked to picked a better movie to see.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

I was wondering whether to mention Bridge to Terebithia. IMO (which I recognise is stricter than some), just saying that it has a major twist and that it's something arguably unsuitable for sensitive darlings is more of a spoiler than I'd have wanted to encounter before seeing it. It's the kind of film where you almost can't have a meta-discussion about spoilers without spoiling it.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

...reviews really shouldn't mention spoilers... what's the point of wanting to find out if a movie is any good before you go see it and getting spoiled for it by the review? I guess it's one thing if it's just someone writing it up on their journal, but even then I'd hope they would cut the spoiler-y bits so as not to spoil everyone else's fun.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

...reviews really shouldn't mention spoilers...

I think if they need to discuss the spoiler-y part to explain a good deal of why they felt that way about the film then they *have* to mention them.

If it's something in a magazine aimed at getting people to go and see the film then I agree, but most reviews I read are not that, they are the personal opinion of others, for which they may have to mention this kind of stuff.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

I think if they need to discuss the spoiler-y part to explain a good deal of why they felt that way about the film then they *have* to mention them.

Indeed, but there are ways of mentioning spoilers without actually giving them away so that people who have seen the film know exactly what you are talking about and people who haven't won't get spoiled. Or just stick it behind a cut if it's that spoilerrific. It's just courtesy, and makes it easier for the people who are actively trying to avoid being spoiled to do so.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

I think cuts are easy to do, no argument there, but what I would say is that if that person clicks on a link marked 'xyz' if they are trying to avoid xyz spoilers, it's kind of counter productive. Even if it doesn't say spoilers, I wouldn't click it.