Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyLinda
Just think, let's say in the case of the movie, "The Sixth Sense", the ending would not have had the same impact if you knew it ahead of time.
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I knew it ahead of time. I didn't enjoy the movie.
lumi brings up The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. When it came out, I knew absolutely nothing about the series. I went with my father and brother and watched it without any idea of where it was going. And I was enthralled. Each time a character was in peril, I truly believed that that character could die. And when it all spun out of control and the movie ended, I was left stunned. It was possibly one of the most amazing movies I'd ever seen.
When Return of the King came out, it was different. Not only had I read the book already, but I also read lots of reviews and comments about the movie on the internet because I was so excited. So when I went to theaters, I knew exactly what was going to happen, point by point. I could barely form my own thoughts about what I was seeing because every time I saw anything good in the movie it reminded me of what other people had said. It took a few years for me to get over the movie as fodder for debates and appreciate the movie as a movie.
When big things happen in comics, I typically stumble into comments about those twists online before I get to read the comics. So when I see the twist, I barely care anymore because I've already taken that for granted.
I don't even know what Citizen Kane's
about, but I know about Rosebud! I've heard
that twist spoiled over and over and over, in casual blogs and director commentaries for other movies and even a frakkin' episode of The Sopranos! Every time it's spoiled I tell myself, I'll just wait fifty years and
then watch Citizen Kane. By
that point, I'll have forgotten all about the surprise and be able to enjoy the movie. But it's a lie, made more blatant by each new time it's spoiled for me.
I couldn't even read the blogs I usually read without finding out exactly how The Sopranos ended. I haven't started watching the final season yet, and yet I already know the big idea for the end. I don't have any idea what my experience would have been like if I'd reached that ending myself, and now I'll
never know. When I get to the surprise ending, I'll be so ready for it, with so many precooked opinions on it, that I expect it'll have close to no impact at all.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer prided itself on shocking status quo changes, but there were no surprises for me. Even before buying the DVDs (before which I'd never seen the show), I knew almost
exactly how the last episode of the entire series was going to end because I'd read articles about the new Season Eight comic! And after watching the pilot of the show, I made the mistake of listening to the audio commentary, in which Joss Whedon said how proud he was of making sure viewers never knew what was going to happen next (bringing very specific examples from later on in the show which ensured that I'd know exactly what was going to happen next). More than half the special features on the whole series had significant spoilers! It took me a while to realize that I couldn't trust them, but even
after that the DVD makers managed to spoil something!: there's a huge twist in one of the seasons, where an important villain at the end is a big surprise. That villain's photo was printed onto the
disc itself for the
first disc of the season!
Now, I loved Buffy anyway, because taken on their own the episodes are great and I didn't know how most of those individual episodes went. But I never had the chance to speculate where the series was going. Or to come to a brilliant episode like Once More, With Feeling and be blown away by the sheer audacity, rather than knowing from the very start that it would be coming up. Spoilers significantly detracted from my appreciation of the series, and I didn't even have any way to get away from them!
On Saturday, I stayed away from all potential sources of spoilers for Harry Potter. There was one guy I was chatting with who had already
finished reading it, having gotten it off the internet days early. I refused to allow him to even bring the topic up. Then, when I got the book, I kept my distance from the idiots in the store who immediately ran to the back of the book, so that I wouldn't overhear them saying anything. Then I started reading and didn't go into a web browser, or glance at a newspaper, or check my e-mail, or talk to anyone at all until I'd finished the book (this morning). And it was a great experience. I was pretty scared at who might die, and when chapters ended with fake shockers, I fell for them. I was thrilled by each character, place and thing they brought back because I hadn't been expecting it. The emotional parts really got me because I didn't expect them. The big twist blew me away.
Are spoilers bad? You betcha. But it's not always possible to stay away from them, because people are idiots who don't know how to
keep their big mouths shut!
