"He was dead the whole time!""She was a 30-year-old midget!"
Yes, we've all experienced it. The moment someone lets slip, deliberately or by accident, the end of the film, an all encompassing part of the plot. They've ruined the entire experience for you haven't they? Good lord, they've spoiled it. Haven't they?
I recently ran a poll asking what you thought about spoilers. Did you hate them for perhaps obvious reasons or did you like them, even seek them out? I joked that maybe you wanted to seem as though you had worked out who the killer was so that your friends could be in ore of your greatness.
I can understand why people dislike them. The result of the pole made your thoughts quite clear; you didn't want them. Surely the whole point of watching a new film or reading a new book is to experience it for the first time? Have those scares or surprises first hand, as it happens. But really why are spoilers so popular?
I know my poll says different but take a quick look on the Internet and you'll see there are tons of websites dedicated to films, books and soaps, revealing all over the freaking place. I must say I'm in two minds. I want to be surprised. I want that exciting shock of the new in real time. But there is still a part of me that wants all the info right here right now. Maybe just so I can't ever be disappointed?
So, you voted yes or no. Care to elaborate?
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ReplyDeleteI'm okay with spoilers if you TELL me you're going to deal them, but I think it's a true sin to spoil a film with no warning whatsoever. I have two experiences that realllllly made my blood boil on this issue:
ReplyDeleteOh! Before I go, I should issue a SPOILER warning for Fight Club and The Dark Knight. So here:
1. In high school, I took a philosophy class where we once discussed something about the different sides of our personalities. A kid then raised his hand to say "Oh, like in Fight Club, where you find out that Brad Pitt is actually the other guy the entire time and it's only one character." Note this is 1999 when very few people had seen the film. I chided him for it and his replay was "Oh, well it's not that important to the movie." Can't wait to beat him up at the upcoming reunion.
2.I used to listen to a certain movie podcast that I won't out here (I actually think they recently retired) where one of the hosts was discussing his anger at how a woman at a baseball game once gave away the ending of The Dark Knight and he proceeded to argue with her. This discussion would have been fine if the host didn't then say "She was like, I couldn't believe Two-Face dies!" at which point the other host said "You just gave it away too!" and the spoiler tried to justify it by saying the film had been out for awhile. No dude. No. I unsubscribed and eventually saw the film (which was still in the theaters at the time of the podcast's discussion). GRrrrrrr
I am the WORST at spoiling things for myself- but myself only! I couldn't take not knowing what everyone was talking about after seeing Orphan so I looked it up and thought it was dumb- which hindered my viewing experience when I actually saw it- but still enjoyed the movie!
ReplyDeleteI guess I only like spoilers when I seek them out myself but as Emily says it's frickin lame cakes when someone just blurts things out without warning. Granted I would probably end up listening anyways but still. That's just me : )
I ma not a fan of spoilers at all so I appreciate a heads up. If I spoil things in my reviews, I usually hide them and let the reader decide if they want to look at them or not. I only add spoilers and hide them for those who have sent he film and would like to compare notes.
ReplyDeleteMost sites that are most often guilty of publishing spoilers in the reviews are doing little more than recapping the events of the movie. It's the blogging version of book reports we'd have to write in elementary school. It's usualy a sign of lazy and uninteresting writing.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm apathetic towards the movie, spoilers don't bother me in the least--I welcome them really.
ReplyDeleteBut when it comes to the movies I want to see, I despise people who spoil them for me. Craig Kilborn spoiled The Sixth Sense on his late night show when the film hit theaters, and I considered hitchhiking to L.A. to punch him in the nose.