Life in the age of spoilers

One thing that has been more and more prevalent in recent years is the rise of the spoiler. We see it everywhere. Facebook, Twitter, reddit, here. There is no stopping someone spoiling an experience for you. Whether it be Game of Thrones, Wrestlemania, the new Star Wars films, someone wants you to know something you don't wanna know.

How important is it that you are in the dark about a project?

 

For me personally, I tend to read the spoilers the second they hit, mostly for media that I'm initially reluctant about. There are some things that I do want to go into with a fresh mind, but I'm finding more and more that it isn't the case. A lot of times I'll find certain elements of a story off putting to the point where I'll just back off entirely (See Suicide Squad).

 

I try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but also think that if something is "ruined" because you heard a spoiler, then it probably wasn't that good to begin with.

 

It depends on the nature of the spoiler, if it's a twist that spoiling it takes away the nature of surprise that's bad, but I think some things considered spoiling isn't really

 

I prefer to avoid spoilers as much as possible and I find the "it's been scientifically proven spoilers do not affect your enjoyment of a movie/show/narrative work!!" crowd to be really inconsiderate. Personally if I'm worried I'm gonna be spoiled I'll do my best to either watch the thing at earliest possible convenience and ignore internet threads on it as yeah, most of it is on you yourself to keep things unknown if you care. That said, on sites like this one in particular I appreciate when people use spoiler tags here for plot details until a couple weeks after something is out - it's so simple to do and such a huge portion of people aren't going to be able to see everything they want to on opening night or while it airs live. To expect every thread about a movie to go from 100% "can't wait to see this!" to totally fair game to discuss plot details the day after it comes out is pretty weak.

I've seen plenty of things spoiled for me that I still thought were very enjoyable but the recent trend of knocking people for caring is whack.

 

I spoil everything for myself and I tend to get more excited about it when I do. Sometimes I'll just read a big twist and then watch it to see how it plays out and sometimes I'll read the whole plot. It depends on what the project is and how interested I was to begin with. Sometimes spoilers make me more interested. I even spoil concerts by reading the set list and my friends when I was younger thought that was annoying. It's about the journey not the destination? Idk.

 

I don't get upset upon stumbling across a spoiler. I don't do twitter, have most feeds hidden on Facebook. My fandoms lurk on forums like this, reddit, etc: platforms where I can easily filter by interest so I can shield myself from things I don't want to know yet. So 99% of the spoilers I do see are born out of moments of weakness.

I've cut out movie trailers entirely. So many great films I've seen without knowing a thing about it. Moonrise Kingdom and The Witch are two examples... I didn't even know Moonrise was an Anderson flick before sitting down in the theater. It made them exponentially more enjoyable. I have grown to enjoy most all media more this way. Reviews have been all but cut out as well, and I love that because if I sit down and watch something with an open mind, love it, then come online and am baffled to see people hate it or vice versa, I usually have more to bring to the conversation because I went in without the impressions of others skewing how I viewed things.

 

Totally agree. I don't watch trailers anymore either unless I'm completely unsure if I want to see something, and even then, I'll probably just read a brief synopsis. Totally agree that with film it's better to go in blind.

I often times will spoil concert setlists though. Especially if it's a show that I'm on the fence about going to.

 

fuuuuuuck spoilers.

 

Oh man, I'm the worst with setlists too. However a lot of shows are a four hour trip to NYC for me so it's often worth looking and weighing the effort.

 

Exactly. And I don't feel like knowing the set list spoils a show for me at all.

 

setlists are the one thing I do like knowing beforehand.

 

I had ZERO interest in Split until I read about the plot twist.

 

Haha see, I'm interested in Split because I know there is a plot twist. The Visit's twist was splendid so I'm seeing it in good faith.

 

Split is one of those movies where I want to know the twist, which I do, without seeing it

 

I'm pretty similar, but maybe to a lesser extent. If it's something I know I want to see, I'll often not watch the trailer as there's something about going in blind. Same with books, I'd basically never read the back cover (and I'm pretty much never gonna be looking for a random book, so there's no need to see if something piques my interest). I try to do the avoiding reviews/discussion until I've seen or heard something for myself, but I'm less good with that. In these days where I'm generally waiting for apple music/spotify to hear something, oftentimes so much discussion exists before I get to it that I can't help but read some of it.

For setlists, I hate knowing ahead of time if it's a band I'm definitely seeing, as the surprise of hearing something I really wanted to is pretty great. Seeing Radiohead in high school two nights in a row and having them close night 2 with the rarely played The Tourist (still pretty much my favorite Radiohead song) gives me chills thinking about 11 years later. On the other hand, I too have looked ahead of time at the setlist for shows I've been on the fence about and have seen some pretty spectacular shows as a result, so it's a mixed bag for sure.

 

I always want to know setlists ahead of time as much as possible, like if I'm on the fence and it's an unexciting setlist I may not go

 

Spoilers only "spoil" things that were bad to begin with. Are you going to get less out of Moby Dick when it is common knowledge that Ahab dies fighting the whale?

 

You bastard!

 

This is just a ridiculous thing to say. What about mystery stories?

 

There are people around that will get mad about people talking about a fifty year old movie. It is peak entitlement to expect everyone to walk around your very specific desired way of consuming mass culture.

 

What about them? Knowing the ending can give you a whole new perspective on the plot. It is also makes it easier to ignore the more ludicrous ones.

 

Yes, which is perfect... for a second viewing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be along for the ride. Being fooled by a good script can be immensely satisfying. Being okay with knowing the ending is fine as a personal preference, but come on.

 

I am never going to rewatch or reread 95% of these things ever again. Every rewatch or reread means I am not trying out something new. A great twist, like The Sixth Sense, works whether or not you know the ending because of how strong the construction of the film is. Knowing the ending to something like Sunshine makes it easy to laugh and not waste your time.

I don't understand your last sentence. This whole conversation is about personal preference.