posted
I avoid them at all costs, which is a behavior I have in response to years online having things spoiled for me (going back to a major Legion Lost spoiler in a thread title on the DCMB's).
People love them though.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I actually like spoilers. I only go to the CBS every other week, so I usually can't avoid them anyway.
This may also explain why I dislike mystery novels--the whole point is to figure out what happened.
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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I have never once been able to predict how an Agatha Christie murder mystery would go in advance, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm too much in awe of how she, as a writer, thinks, and the incredible way she put together such complex puzzles where every piece fits so perfectly.
I go out of my way to avoid knowing what's coming. In the case of DOCTOR WHO on the Sci-Fi Channel, I had to shut off the sound and avert my eyes because at every single commercial break they ran promos for next week's episode during THIS week's. Idiots. I may have been the only person in the US who was actually surprised when, at the cliffhanger halfway thru David Tennant's 1st season finale... Click Here For A SpoilerTHE DALEKS showed up. Hah.
[ August 14, 2011, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: profh0011 ]
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I love spoilers. When I got the last Harry Potter book, the first thing I did was open the book to the last page. I have a hard time understanding why others don't want to be spoiled, it is fiction.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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posted
This article is making the rounds as a link, but I'm disappointed that it make no distinction between genuine surprises and basic plot structure.
There's Suspense, where-- as in Columbo-- the audience knows whodunit, and the story is in how the characters figure it out. Then there's Mystery, as in Agatha Christie, where the audience doesn't know the answer but at least knows the question, and tries to figure it out with the characters.
And then there are Surprises, things that happen totally unexpected, or a twist on what you were expecting.
The article seems to think most people prefer suspense over mystery, but I think that's ridiculous. Some prefer suspense, some mystery, and the article only explains why those who prefer suspense may happen to do so. Spoilers simply turn a mystery into suspense, so sure, SOME people will then prefer it.
That they don't delineate the idea of spoiling genuine surprises and shocks within the plot to simply knowing the ending is very clumsy way of making their way-too-overgeneralized-to-begin-with point. Or very clumsy thinking if they don't see the difference themselves.
Myself, I generally don't mind plot spoilers, but I'd rather big surprises actually surprise me.
From: Manhattan, NY | Registered: May 2011
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posted
For me, sometimes knowing what is going to happen in the movie takes me right out of it. Instead of watching the movie and seeing what happens and how the characters act, I am thinking "Ok X is about to happen." or I am checking off a list of things that I know should be happening.
I do think an occassional spoiler here and there is ok. BUt too many of them do spoil a movie. there is a tipping point when you seen so many spoilers there is nothing new to see when you do go to see the whole movie.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
My opinion is that a genuinely well-written story should pay to re-read/re-watch/re-whatever, so that, even knowing exactly what is going to happen in it, the story should still be enjoyable.
That said, there are spoilers and then there are spoilers. It's always difficult trying to decide how much information about a particular work is acceptable going into it without spoiling one's enjoyment, and it seems to be largely an individual thing. I've known some people who won't even watch the next episode previews for a TV show. For me, knowing stuff like, for example, "there's a death coming up" heightens the anticipation, but I'd rather not know the identity of the death ahead of time until it happens.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Well said EDE. Spoilers are a tricky thing. What really constitutes a spoiler? Reveals like a blurb, or solicit that "someone dies next issue" can be construed as some as a spoiler...but it's also marketing to generate interest.
There can be a fine line between spoilers and teasers, and that line varies from person to person.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
"a genuinely well-written story should pay to re-read/re-watch/re-whatever, so that, even knowing exactly what is going to happen in it, the story should still be enjoyable."
Classic example for me: DEATH ON THE NILE (1978). I had NO IDEA where it was going, who did it or why. But it was so well-told, that by the end of the movie, I was not only STUNNED, I was able to follow every single plot point, and remember them. 2 weeks later-- my Dad (who enjoyed it as much as I had) and me went to see it AGAIN-- and enjoyed it JUST as much. It was an entirely different experience, and has been ever since (I must have seen it a dozen times by now). But in cases like this, you ONLY get ONE chance to see it "cold"-- not knowing in advance. I consider it downright CRIMINAL for anyone to blow the surprises on a thing like that.
And I've had it happen more than once.
"He was on Earth ALL THE TIME!"
"The bad guy is REALLY HIS FATHER!"
"It's the only murder mystery where EVERYBODY DID IT!"
And then there's the one I came up with myself...
"The killer is the ONLY ONE who COULDN'T POSSIBLY have done it."
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Prof, serious question. Do you like movies that are historical in nature...ones that you know the outcome, because it actually happened? Gettysburg, Titanic, Apollo 13 to name a few, not saying that they are all great movies, but wondering if knowing the ending to these movies ruins them for you?
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I loved APOLLO 13. A lot of that had to do with being very much interested in the space program since a very young age.
I do think "historical" films are in a genre of their own. Similar to Biblical films. I doubt anyone watches something like THE LAST DAYS OF SODAM AND GOMORRAH and is surprised by what happens to the city at the end.
However, many stories are designed to have surprised. In those cases, I cannot fathom why ANYONE would want to know details in advance. In the case of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, my best friend BLEW THE ENDING for me before I ever got a chance to see it. As a result, I never got the chance to see it "cold", and will never know if KNOWING the ending in advance is why I wound up not liking it in the long run.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I loved watching Sherlock Holmes movie (played by Robert Downey)...amazing...I tried to figure out who did it...perfect ending just like what it was written in Sherlock Holmes books! no ruin or no spoiler surprise. I enjoyed it. I loved reading Agatha Christie (only Hercule Poirot in it...ah...)
I love spoilers as well as because it makes me wanting to see the movie or read the book, instead of ruining it.
so I like either way - spoiler or no spoiler. thats what the entertainment is about.
From: Hayward, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I like spoilers, hate surprises unless they're very very good. surprises are usually disappointing.
In general, I think no matter what the spoiler is that you know the journey getting there is the mark of a good writer.
I tend to like mysteries even if I know what's going to happen. If it's good, the big reveal at the end is only part of the story.
I think a spoiler or knowing what happens can help me want to read the book, or if the ending/spoiler is not to my liking i'm not going to invest the effort or time into reading 300-500 pages.
There are a few exceptions to my love of spoilers though ... where the ride is worth it. Mostly because I trusted the writers.
Those two exceptions are George RR Martin books ... after 11 or so, I know I'm going to like it, (the surprises) I don't need to test the waters by reading the spoiler or ending. and Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men when Colossus returns to life ... I gasped out loud. Y the Last Man is also gasp worthy as is Jack Knight's Star Man.
Funny story I flipped through Y the Last Man one time and thought I had seen a spoiler (a character dying) when in actuality the next issue the character was reveled to have survived. Now that's a gooood writer. haha
My grandpa and I both do the same thing, read the last page first, unrelated ... it must be genetic.
The last page often dosn't reveal much ... even whose alive but I find it a very good litmus test for the style of the book ... or a 'cheese' metric.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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