Spoilers and You

It's not them, it's me. They distract me. I don't want them in my head if I can help it, because in the back of my head I'll be thinking about them while watching.

I generally don't care if I have no intention of seeing the film, but if I do, I don't find it terribly difficult to avoid reading something as I normally don't gorge on reviews and whatnot before I see a film I'm interested in.

As far as this being a "recent" trend, I would like to point you to Ebert's original review of American Gigolo. It's fresh in my mind because of a recent, albeit brief, fascination with the film, but holy shit, Ebert really laid out some huge chunks of plot like it was nothing.

Same here. I actually go easier on a film that isn't spoiled by trailers more often than not. Example: I really, really liked Unbreakable when it first came out, mainly because the trailer gives away nothing other than the first 15 minutes.

Generally I dislike looking at anything remotely related to a new film I want to see. I want to walk into the theater with a completely blank slate, like the movie was recommended to me by my eccentric friend and I was humoring him. It's not so much that I'm a purist for plot, I just want to have my own thoughts come through without being influenced by others.

I'll admit that it's hard to get rid of spoilers after you've encountered them. It doesn't bother me all that much, though.

Let's say you watch a movie based on someone's life -- you'll know the general outline before you see it. Or a book based on a movie that you've read; it's the same situation.

The audience showing up to the first showing of Oedipus Tyrannus totally knew the general outline; the thing was how is Sophocles going to do it. So I think those that do not care about spoilers have a valid point.

The problem is, not everything is like Oedipus Tyrannus nor should it be.

I think it's nice to warn about spoilers, but the "no spoilers" thing has gotten REALLY out of hand. Spoilers just for the sake of one-upping someone is asinine, but to a certain extent spoilers are to be expected if you're going to talk about any type of narrative art form.

Spoiling the twist in a suspense, mystery story or something is an asshole move, though, I have to say.

Schwartz, I...Love, Spoilers! I watch as many trailers and clips that are shown online for, films I want to see. I like to know the ending as well.

For me it depends on the film.

I just read the Harry Potter Deathly Hollows Post release thread for example. Will probably see it anyway, and not bothered by spoilers, because I have no strong investment in the film, series or books. For me the films offer good spectacle, some good acting and dialogue, and that's about it.

I would avoid spoilers for any martin Scorcese movie at all costs, because I love his work and like to be surprised by him.

And that's that.

I think people are so used to having the internet spoil things for them that they've forgotten how great it can be to see a film with completely fresh eyes.

All I know is that hands-down my most fulfilling filmgoing experiences in the past few years have been to movies that I hadn't even seen trailers for. I don't care what anyone says, there's something magical about being transported by a movie that you've literally only ever seen a poster for.

I'm with Schwartz. I don't try TOO hard to avoid spoilers, but if I sense one is coming (or am so warned) for a movie I'm looking forward to, I'll stop reading. A viewing of something great with fresh eyes is a really special thing that's hard to stumble onto.

I have, unfortunately, spoiled a few sweet movie moment carelessly on the boards. Inglorious Basterds, particularly. Once someone pointed it out to me, I felt terrible to have taken that away from that person (and whoever else). It was a really lunkheaded move and I've tried to be better about that ever since.

Spoilers for movies, with the exception of those that have the hype of mystery, don't really bother me.

TV Show spoilers irritate me to the nth degree, however. Recent example is a major guest star on this season's Eastbound and Down. I would have lost my shit to see that apperance cold.

Spoilers don't bother me in the slightest.

It's not exactly a bother. If knowing what was to happen ruined a movie you wouldn't be able to enjoy it multiple times. But it kind of takes from the filmmaker the control of the storytelling, which is crucial for the first viewing. Knowing about a plot point that's coming up I can't help but start second guessing everything that happens in the movie. "So X did Y, therefore if W is supposed to happen, Z must do A." That's no fun. For example, it's my biggest problem with The Walking Dead.

I watch the trailers in the theater, but I rarely watch any online. I avoid all TV spots and clips. I really don't care how much I know about a movie beforehand, I just don't want to have seen a huge chuck of it out of context.

Devin just wrote a whole editorial about them, and my comment was this:

If a film depends on a twist, having that twist spoiled affects my enjoyment of the film. Generally, I'm not so much concerned with spoilers in the sense of plot points, but rather information that will sway my perception of the film or a character in someway. So I tend to avoid reading interviews that try and sell me on a character's motivations or reviews that try and interpret what things mean.
Other than obtaining a general sense of what a film is about either through a trailer or blurb online, I don't read interviews or reviews before seeing it.

It's not just about plot though. I know Phil agrees with me about this, but I loved the fact that I didn't know how the gunbarrel was going to play out in Casino Royale. When it happened, it was exciting and I'm confident in saying it would not have been as so if I'd already known about it going in.

I couldn't help but read a little bit about the opening of Scott Pilgrim (8-bit Universal) before it was released. I should've held back.

Yeah, Devin's point about knowing the ending of a film enhancing your viewing because you are trying to pin point when it will happen, is exactly why I hate them. I don't want to spend the whole time trying to predict when the bits of info I know are going to happen; I just want to experience the film as it happens. That is made infinitely more difficult when I have knowledge of events beforehand.

Yes and yes. I hate knowing details like those ahead of time. It's not that something is "ruined"; it's just such a pleasure to have them happen "clean". You experience the full emotion of those seemingly tiny moments, rather than acknowledge them with a knowing nod and smirk. I spend my whole fucking day smirking and nodding knowingly; it's nice to take a break from that for 90 minutes.

That probably has a lot to do with the way I go back to the theater on the chance that I see something with a receptive audience. Sticking around CHUD and knowing more about a movie prior to release more often than I should, I admit to getting a vicarious thrill from seeing the movie with an audience less likely to have kept up with the minutiae about a film.

I agree with Phil on this. I want to stay clean in order to stay focused or being surprised if the author intended to pull some trick. First example that came to my mind:The prestige, from the first frame you know there's some odd stuff within the narrative but I don't want to know where to look in advance.

I'm not going to be following tons of production stories about a film like Winter's Bone, and I have my go-to reviewers that will lead me to watching it, so i'm not going to be wading through a lot of write-ups and reviews until after I've seen it. I can thankfully experience it pretty much clean.

It's the geekier stuff that is going to have every detail of pre and post production reported on the sites I frequent, and my geekery that is going to lead me to read it. I can't think of a single comic book movie that I've sat down to watch that I wasn't already aware of every single easter egg, cameo, and plot point. But I'm not upset by knowing it. Most of that shit is ruined by official press releases from the studio.

I'd have been upset if I knew too much about Winter's Bone before seeing it. But if I had, I really would have no one to blame but myself. Basically, I utilize more restraint in how much I read about a film according to what film it is.

I long for a simpler time when I could watch a movie and have no idea where it's going, what's going to happen and who's going to make it out alive. To just let the story carry me and take me wherever its going to go with me being none the wiser as to the events that are going to transpire.

...In short, I get high before I watch movies now, because if I DID know any spoilers going in, I completely forget them as I watch it.

True stories and stories based on books are immune, in my opinion, to spoilers. It's original films, seen for the first time, that shouldn't be spoiled.

Spoilers I avoid are deaths and/or cameos. I don't mind knowing stuff like, say, a set piece in a big movie or whatever. However, there have been cases were I've been psyched into staying clean of 3rd act spoilers when critics or bloggers have raved about how "cool", "great", etc. something is.

I had Danny McBride's "condition" in Due Date spoiled, which kinda bummed me out, but I didn't read A THING about the Scott Pilgrim cameos (Jane and Collins Jr.) and was jumping out my seat.

Kinda going along with Schwartz's point... one of the problems with spoilers these days is that they're for movies where the story isn't the point so what ends up getting spoiled is indeed HOW it is told.

I think Catfish is a good example of that.

Even people telling you "don't let anyone spoil the end of *Insert Movie* for you" can greatly affect the way you watch a movie, particularly if there's a tone shift that you're not supposed to see coming. You end up wondering the whole time how things are not what they seem.

That being said, I've seen a lot of people trying to avoid spoilers in Post-Release threads, and that shit can kill any chances of real discussion. That's why we have Pre and Post-Release threads, y'all. Don't be afraid of mentioning details.

That's me. The radar goes up, and it colors everything. I tend to stay out of most discussions until I've seen the movie as a result.

Movies are about discovery, so why would you want any of that taken away from you? I don't get it.

I usually read the first and last paragraph (or so) and the score when I read a review here.

I think that's just the hazards of posting on a message board. If you're going to take part in a conversation that is, by all accounts, built on spoilers, you can't go complaining when someone mentions a movie you haven't seen yet.

Simple solution: spoiler tags. They are used in seemingly every movie forum online except here. Conversation can be free-flowing and spoilers can be avoided by using them. Works beautifully.

The problem with the Pre and Post-Release threads here are that if someone wants to get some word on the overall quality of the film before seeing it, they really can't check the Post-Release threads for fear of getting spoilers all up in their grill. On that same note, the Pre-Release threads are all but abandoned after each respective film is out in theaters.

I'm not complaining, and I know tradition is tradition here, so rock on. I also know just to not bother with even peeking in the Post-Release threads for any general vibes on the films in question.

If you want to remain spoiler free keep out of the post-release threads. Spoiler tags, turning text black and the such are really unnecessary that way.

That's silly. People shouldn't have to avoid it just because they haven't seen every single film that's come out. We're not all that privileged. I for one would love to take part, but a lot of films haven't even been released here yet so I'm too afraid to click on the thread.

Well, that was all understood from the beginning.

CHUD seems to be the one of the few movie forums online that has pre/post-release threads, and which seems phobic about using spoilers tags in general.

Which is fine. My point being is that it limits involvement from members who just want to hear their peers overall reactions to a film, without being spoiled in the process. CHUD is missing that interaction that other forums enjoy.

Again though, keep on rolling your roll. There are other forums out there too.

I hate it when trailers give away the whole story, but then it's perfectly understandable why they do it. Movie trailers are mostly used as advertising for people who aren't geeks. These guys will forget most if not all images in the trailer in the following minutes, while guys like us memorize every bit and keep it.

I think tests even showed that many people love to see the whole story in a trailer, to minimize disappointment. For example CAST AWAY (SPOILER): if the trailer only showed Hanks crashing and staying on an island, maybe it would have alienated everyone who instead is more interesting in the solution of his love life - which is only possible by revealing he makes it back.

When I was younger I loved seeing trailers before movies, but nowadays I mostly try to avoid them unless it's a movie that is light fare. I have a damn good memory for movie images and even subtle spoilers in trailer kill surprises. For example if you remember character X did something specific in the trailer and in the movie itself that character seemingly dies at the 70 minute mark without having done it yet... his return is no surprise.

Yeah, that study was weird.  Thing is... even if it's true, I can get this supposed 'greater enjoyment' after I give a story an opportunity to speak for itself the first time.  Don't take that first time away from me!

I agree that reviewers who try to be coy about something they won't reveal are the worst. But as noted above, the best storytelling doesn't suffer at all from the audience knowing the ending; I would argue that stagings of 'Oedipus' actually depend on the audience knowing stuff ahead of time. As Hitchcock pointed out, a surprise only works once, while suspense can be indefinitely effective.

 

Where it's a killer is in the short run. Most serialized television is based on the principle of confounding audience expectations-- if we're not being flummoxed, we're not being entertained. And unlike movies or books, we're all watching the latest installments at roughly the same time so there's a communal aspect to the surprises.

I think this goes hand-in-hand with a discussion about re-watching movies. Like most of you, I re-watch movies all the time, but most movies don't engage me as much on subsequent viewings as they did the first time through. Knowing outcomes can't ruin an experience, but it definitely contributes to diminishing returns. For me, it boils down to this: if you're someone who values experiencing tension, spoilers have a net negative impact.

 

This also helps explain why I generally don't like prequels.

 

There are, of course, plenty of exceptions. For example, with Malick movies, I like being able to completely ignore the narrative and sink my teeth entirely into the image. Dense stuff from people like Kieslowski also begs for multiple viewings. I don't think you could effectively "spoil" a Malick or Kieslowski film, not only because they don't rely on twists, but because they're not traditional narrative entertainment.

Same here. Although I admit they do inform my experience of viewing a movie, I don't really set out to avoid them. I don't know if it's that they don't bother me in the slightest, or if I just have no willpower. I like to think the former. I just don't care enough to really stop myself from hearing or reading spoilers. 

 

Oddly, I do hate it when my friends learn about something ahead of time. I enjoy watching reactions when something unexpected happens. Maybe there's some deep-seated control issues at play here. 

MEEEE!!!

On the topic of spoilers, I've come to realize that it's not really even about the plot.  When it comes to films, it's those memorable moments that often get spoiled by people.  

 

In my giddiness after seeing Inglorious Basterds, I posted about the gory death of a certain fascist dictator in a thread (a surprising deaths thread, I think).  Someone who was rightfully pissed off by this rightfully took me to task for it. 

 

I still feel like shit about it.  I took away from someone's first experience of seeing Basterds.  It might not ruin the film (since it's so great!), but it's just one of the film's sweetest pleasures.  I'd have been pissed if someone spoiled that for me.  Since then, I'm tried my best to be sensitive about that.

 

Another example: the gunbarrel opening of Casino Royale

 

Phil will back me up on this one.  I had NO idea moment was coming and seeing it play for the first time was a legitimate thrill.  If someone had told me about it, I doubt it would've had as much impact.  Nothing to do with the story/plot, obviously.  It's just that first time experience.

 

EDIT:  And I just realized that I repeated everything I've already said on this thread last year.  Dammit!