The politics of online spoilers

[matgb]

One of the things that always bugs me online is different peoples reactions to plot 'spoilers' for media things—unpredictable and at times downright weird, as Nick Mamatas demonstrated last month. Now me, I tend to seek them out for shows I like—before the internet I had a subscription to SFX partially for the spoiler zone section, I loved reading about shows way in advance and knowing what would happen. But then I tend to rewatch stuff I like a lot anyway. So, inspired by this old poll at nmg's, I thought I'd update it a bit.

Warning though, below the fold are some minor spoilers for recent films such as Iron Man, Harry Potter 5 and Spiderman, and also endings/character reveals for Hamlet, Sixth Sense, Citizen Kane, the Star Wars trilogy, Soylent Green and Fight Club. Nothing is revealed that isn't on this classic t-shirt but if you really are that averse, just scroll to the last question...

[Poll #1199471]

Obviously some things, like the end of a genuine mystery, are worth hiding if that's how it's written—knowing who did it never seemed to hurt my enjoyment of Columbo though, and a chunk of my reading is always history books where, y'know, I normally know the ending. It's not what happens that matters to me, it's how—I'm there for the ride, not the big splash at the bottom. You?

Comments

[tyrell.livejournal.com]

The only two I'd complain about are Sixth Sense and Fight Club. For them the spoiler is the entire point, and while you and me are hip young things in tune with pop culture, it's highly possible many people haven't seen them before.

If you haven't seen some of the others before, chances are you know the spoiler anyway if you've ever watched tv.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

I expect that in ten year's time the twists in those will be treated in exactly the same way as the ones in Psycho and Star Wars are today- turning up as in-jokes in children's films to keep the parents entertained, etc.

For instance, I think it was a combination of Colombo and Looney Tunes that revealed the "Rosebud" thing in Citizen Kane to me.