andrewducker (
andrewducker) wrote2009-07-15 10:49 am
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Spoiler Discussion - (spoiler free)
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!
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!
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I'm very happy to respond to your comment, if you put it back without the spoiler in it...
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I would not do that to you, I'd at least give you a chance to edit your bloody comment, but I see that although you're whining about how selfless you are and how everyone should walk on cotton wool around you because you get all emo when you get films spoiled, you don't have the common decency to allow me the same privilege.
This is way below what I expect of such an intelligent person.
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I will email you your comment if you like.
And I'm not being rude here - I haven't sworn, and I'm trying to be as helpful as possible.
Now, would you like your comment emailed to you?
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Never mind.
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???
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Quite frankly, would it have hurt you to have screened the comment? Deleting the comment was a bad call, and I expected better of you.
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And I don't see a problem deleting a comment - especially when I expected him to get a copy of it in my reply, and I offered to email it to him.
Also, I don't care about "common knowledge". I care whether people who read something will be upset by it. I know, for instance, several people who are looking forward to seeing the movie of Harry Potter who do not know the ending. The fact that to some people the end of the movie is common knowledge that what happens at the end is beside the point - these people are looking forward to seeing the movie, enjoying it, and being surprised by its twists and turns. Telling them the ending is simply rude.
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Movies, books, tv are all a form of craft. Telling me what happens halfway through something I've not yet seen is changing the experience. Some people don't care, others do. Andy specifically asked for no spoilers in the comments and removed whatever it was that you put here that broke that "rule". His LJ, his decision, and it's not rude. If you're incensed by this then you need to chill out, mate.
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