Do Spoilers Really Ruin The Experience?
When you have people thinking lives should be ruined for producing them, I'm not sure it matters if they ruin it or not.
Spoiler alert.
Really, no two words dominate online discourse, at least in the sphere of scripted entertainment, than those. Everyone wants the pristine experience watching their medium of choice. It’s not a new thing. The Simpsons lampooned it in the early ‘90s.
Granted, it’s a lot easier now to spoil media. Blogs, social media, YouTube videos, all of them have instant feedback at the ready. They’ll give screeners to anyone these days too, so it’s not like you have to mute Gene Shalit or whatever to keep your cone of silence maintained. In fact, if avoiding spoilers is your bag, logging off might be your only option. Film buffs and nerds may not be the ones you have to worry about spoiling things for you:
Ahh Athlete Twitter, an endless source of consternation AND humor. But I digress. The tension point of spoilers on the Internet is perhaps the most contentious because few people can agree on the boundaries. For a show like Game of Thrones or, in the now, Succession, when can one log onto Twitter and freely discuss? Is it “immediately after the show ends” or do you give DVR/on-demand watchers some time to catch up? For movies, how long after the theatrical debut before you can freely drop critical plot points is acceptable? It’s gotten so out of control that people try to enforce spoiler rules on live sporting events. Obviously, those freaks are outliers; sports are like news events. You can’t be spoiled on the Super Bowl anymore than you can be spoiled on an invasion or a congressperson’s latest scandal.
The real heart of the debate lies in the question “does the spoiler ruin your enjoyment of the piece of media being spoiled?” As much as some people in the industry or who are too far gone into obsession over these kinds of things insist otherwise, the question is not one size fits all. For example, spoiling that Harry Styles is playing Eros in The Eternals is not really a spoiler altogether outside of the minor revelation of a small, structural element in the movie. There’s no light shone on his role in the plot. There’s no real deconstruction of a narrative element from the movie from gleaning that bit of news alone. That revelation should be met more with curiosity than rage. “Oh, Eros is in the movie? I wonder how he’s going to play in it” should be the reaction, mainly because the plot of the movie has been shrouded in secrecy outside of the character names and the barebones plot that these immortal beings do battle with enemies known as Deviants. Everything else is mysterious by design, to absurd degrees even.
Then there are spoilers that give away crucial plot points. Take for example M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 film The Sixth Sense. Basically, the plot twist, which even though the movie would be old enough to drink if it were a human, I am not going to reveal here, is the soul of the entire movie. Hiding it and then blindsiding the viewer with it, which then makes the viewer want to go back and watch it with what they know in mind, is the goal. There’s a case to be made for any story told to be enjoyed whether or not any plot twists are spoiled ahead of time. However, I would give credence to the idea that for movies/shows like The Sixth Sense, The Crying Game, Looper, or anything where the twist is essential for the first-time viewer, keeping unknown the full plot before a first-time viewing for a prolonged period of time should be mandatory. It’s in this case where maybe those who have seen these things first-run are courteous to those who aren’t able to do the same.
But then I see guys like this.
Then I realize that really, no spoiler really matters that much. The culture that mostly the big studios have cultivated is so toxic you have people who believe a critic’s livelihood should be wrecked if they reveal any detail, however anodyne, from a big box studio’s latest profit agglomerator. I agree, it’s a dick move if you go up to your friend and spoil the latest twist in a movie they haven’t seen yet, but I can tell you from firsthand experience1, you move on, and you probably enjoy the movie that was spoiled for you in the first place. The alternative is a landscape where you can’t discuss shit with anyone without someone moving goalposts and getting pissed off that they got a context-free spoiler.
The truth is that few people if any at all can do justice verbally to a scene in a movie that would satisfy the urge of anyone — cinephile, fanatic, parent trying to keep their kids occupied — to see how it played out. Filmmakers who can’t frame shots or tell stories satisfactorily aren’t worth spoiling. Those who are masters of their craft, no matter what level, are bulletproof when it comes to that sort of thing. Even The Sixth Sense isn’t a movie that is its own plot twist and no more. Whatever you think of Shyamalan as a director and his entire body of work, I can’t agree with any assailing of that particular movie as based off a shock twist and nothing else. It’s a great story regardless, suspenseful and emotional.
The point is, if The Eternals or whatever, is going to fall apart with any leak of information, no matter how complex, it’s not a movie worth watching. Given that Chloe Zhao has a critically acclaimed ledger, and that for those who don’t care about awards, will get the distinct brand of action the MCU provides, I doubt anything that comes out will ruin their enjoyment of this movie. I think courtesy is nice, and we as a species don’t practice it nearly enough. That being said, is seeing a spoiler for anything the end of the world? Is not the journey to getting to that spoiler the thing that matters? I think the fact that this John Campea loon is far from the only person who thinks the death penalty should be on the table for those who leak details shows that everything is out of whack. Calm the fuck down. Spoilers don’t matter in the long run. Fuck.
Someone on Facebook posted a grainy screenshot of Han Solo with a red lightsaber through his gut on the exact same day that Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens opened, and they did so with malice as well. I can tell you it didn’t affect me, and judging by that movie’s gross box office numbers, it probably didn’t affect anyone else either.