My love of spoilers is a constant source of consternation for my friends. I have a tendency to look up the synopsis of movies before I go to the cinemas and I would flick to the back of a comic book to scan the last few pages before I start reading it from the beginning. I refrain from verbalising any spoilers but my peers find it inconceivable that I would want to ruin endings for myself. Am I the only one who can’t help themselves when it comes to spoilers?
Image: An accurate depiction of what happens when you dish out spoilers on the new Star Wars movie.
The effort to stop the spread of spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has reached a point where even mentioning that you liked the movie on Twitter could land you in hot water. It is apparently sacrilege to discuss the movie in public lest you want a rain of hate fire to descent upon you. I personally can’t relate to all the people who are freaking out about a spoiler ruining an entire movie. For me, what matters most is the quality of the movie: the cinematography, the acting, the story-telling, and so on.
If learning about the crucial bits of the story can ruin the entire thing for you, then maybe it wasn’t a good movie in the first place. I know this line of thought is uncommon and unpopular, but if a movie is well-made and can transport me to another world then I can’t give two shits if I knew that *insert major Star Wars spoiler here* beforehand. In fact, I welcome it. Knowing the major plot points lets me concentrate on taking in the rest of the film rather than obsess about one part of the story.
Of course, I will continue to be considerate and avoid discussing the movie in public (I value my life) but I still think people should just chill out a bit on the whole “Oh my god you ruined the movie for me and now you must die!” attitude.
Does anybody else share my love of spoilers? Let me know in the comments.
Comments
90 responses to “Am I The Only One Who Loves Spoilers?”
No.
But this is partially coming off the back of me waiting to enter the cinema on Saturday night and a woman loudly pronouncing a major plot of Force Awakens to her son as they were walking out. As a usually cool, calm and collected person that really, really, really ticked me off.
This. Some people have been waiting 32 years for the next decent installment of this story, so having the experience even slightly ruined after such a long wait is pretty hard to take.
That is literally like Homer walking out of star wars, just no….. no.
I saw it the 2nd time on monday with some friends. On the way out my friend said “I CANT BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” out loud (actually insert the incident you know what I’m talking about…).
It was a total real life replay of the fucking Simpsons. I couldn’t believe it. I was astounded. When I saw it with my son on opening day, we both agreed, walk through the cinema quietly, get to the car THEN WE GEEK OUT. Jesus christ, I couldn’t believe it when she blurted it out at the cinema foyer. There was a father with his kid who looked *SO* pissed off. I can’t blame him.
People need to stop asking “Am I the only one who…”.
I thought I was the only one who thought that.
I see what you did there.
I thought I was the only one that saw what he did there …
I know, right?
I thought I was the only one who knew.
😀
This is coming off the back of that Totilo “Fuck You” to the people spoiling stuff in comments… http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/12/20/kotaku-famous-for-spoiling-games-complains-about-star-wars-spoilers/
So funny that Kotaku has been guilty of spoiling stuff, complains about spoiling stuff, tries to buy a Star Wars script ahead of the film’s release, now puts up an article about how spoilers are great… I can’t even…
Never change, Kotaku 🙂
Beat me to it!!! Ha its so true – as usual Kotaku is the pot calling the kettle black
I agree, never change Kotaku. Your double standards are brilliant
Its almost as if there are multiple authors who hold differing views on things.
While I understand you are attempting to be clever using sarcasm, in this situation most people dont care that a media entity has ‘multiple authors’ – its gets lumped under one organisation/one opinion – for example we know that News Limited outlets are all mouthpieces of Rupert Murdoch and have particular far right stance, no one really cares if one of their ‘journalists’ has a different opinion, its really only the opinion of the editor/owner that becomes the norm ie they deny climate change so if one of their authors talks about the reality of climate change, the common response is “hold on, News Ltd says its not real”
In that situation, Kotaku’s stance has been spoil games and spoil often for the sake of page clicks, but don’t spoil things the editor likes
More like most people choose to when it suits them.
Folks who are willing to focus on Kotaku as a singular entity will just as quickly focus on a particular writer.
However, when that ‘particular writer’ is the main site editor, its hard not to assume that it is the stance of the site as a whole (again, see the News Limited example)
So we should give up and assume all black people eat fried chicken because a few people hold outdated views?
What a ridiculous and offensive statement. I can’t believe someone would actually write a statement like that and hope to be taken seriously.
Extreme maybe, but the point is clear.
Putting people in the same box is stupid, regardless of the example.
But fried chicken is awesome. All black and white people should like it.
A few points though. 1. This is the aus version of the site and an aus writer, with a different editorial team.
2. They aren’t journalists, they are bloggers.
3. You’re complaining that an organisation has varying views, (kotaku in this instance), then compare them with news Ltd, which tend to hold a singular political view. Aren’t those two different things??
To be fair, Totilo is some chump from the US while Spandas is one of the Australian staff.
Having said that, the contrast is still pretty funny.
Cool, didn’t know that Spandas was on the Australian site. Hopefully we see more articles from her as they are pretty good reads (even when I disagree).
I had star wars ruined for me yesterday by some twat on imgur. The amount of hate they received was totally justified. 😛
Reason I went and saw it at midnight. I knew there would be spoilers about online.
no your not, i dont “love” them but i also dont hate them either. i will still watch the movie/play the game/read the book even if everything has been spoiled because i stgill want to experience the media.
Its about the Journey, not the end.
There are 7.3 Billion people in this world. There is a high chance that the answer would be a no.
I’ve been known to load up the TV Tropes page for TV shows while I’m halfway through the pilot.
Sometimes it’s about the joy of discovery. Sometimes it’s about being shocked by a twist or revelation. Most of the time it’s about enjoying the ride.
I haven’t been spoiled on Star Wars yet. I wouldn’t care if I was. It’s simply not a series where spoilers matter to me. And yes, I do realise that I’m going to see some replies to comment with fake and/or real spoilers.
It’s a pretty crummy spoiler if you see it.
I’m half and half. There are times I hate spoilers, but one thing I really can’t stand is people who say “spoiler alert” in conversation…
I do not have time to rush out for midnight launches, so spoilers are bound to happen. That being said I do not mind them as for the most part people miss out much of the information/story around relaying the spoilers and that makes them more interesting.
Knowing that Luke is Vaders son is a tiny bit of info until you really know who Vader and Luke are and the way its told from the build up to the reveal. I can still find myself surprised in shows like GoT or Walking Dead knowing that X character is going to die, but what I know/have built up in my head compared to what I see can be vastly different and still keeps it enjoyable.
No. The human race has no shortage of monsters. 🙁
lol
I can’t imagine wanting to have the story, or major plot points or suprises ruined by finding them out ahead of time. It would be like not wrapping the presents under the tree. Much of the anticipation, the joy of discovery and for me personally, the suspension of disbelief is ruined by spoilers.
For me, knowing the major plot point ahead of time ruins not only the surprise, but also the revelation that happens when the plot point is revealed in the movie, the “Oh, that was why he didn’t pack his lunch in that earlier scene, he was planning to jump off the building” (tried to make the most inane example that couldn’t ruin any movie ever made).
it also ruins the building tension, the misdirection, the pondering about how the situation is unfolding, in short, the storytelling. Books don’t have the ending at the beginning for a reason, the storyteller wants to be able to spin their web, perhaps catch you unawares at times, or lead you down some paths along the way, and much of this art is ruined by knowing the story ahead of time.
A great story, yes is still a great story, even when you already know it, and you can watch it or read it or listen to it again and again, but that great story is never quite as wonderful again as it was that first time, when you didn’t know what to expect, slipped your hand into the story-teller’s palm and with total trust, let them lead you on that journey.
your link to the layout of books is spot on, it is the art of storytelling that lets you get lost in the story.
I read that a scientific study found that people who love spoilers are statistically more likely to murder puppies for sport. True fact, don’t bother looking it up.
That explains a lot…
I think people just want to experience things on their own terms. If your own terms is actively seeking out spoilers, that’s more than fine. I got spoiled with Star Wars and still absolutely loved it. I can appreciate the craft of the production and all that good stuff, but it did take a little something away. It was minor and I’ll get over it, but I would have preferred to experience the entire production (story and all) as a clean slate. 🙂 There’s a whole spoiler culture on film/tv websites that I don’t get. People scrambling to leak every detail from set. I know this comes from a place of passion and enthusiasm, but I like to be surprised. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No! You, and everyone like you is a complete and utter monster and you need to learn to keep your mouths shut.
To be fair he did say he keeps his mouth shut.
He’s not one of those people who love spoiling a Book/Game/Movie for people. The Spoiler Troll if you will.
My Brother on the other hand does love spoiling Games and Movies, but it’s more as an Excited Idiot than a Malicious Troll.
Enjoying spoilers does not equal enjoying spoiling. I love spoilers, but when someone tells me they don’t want spoilers, then I won’t spoil. Prettt sure plenty of people think like that.
im eh about spoilers, its annoying to hear them, and id rather not spoil things for others, but sometimes it kind of adds to the enjoyment. game of thrones is a great example, ive read the books, and watching the show knowing whats about to happen, and still being suprised is kind of nice.
the only time a spoiler has really upset me is when i overheard the Ultrasound tech tell her trainee “it was difficult to do measurements because she is pretty active in the womb” we had them write the sex out on a piece of paper so we could plan a dinner out to find out ourselves.
No my missus is also fucked up like some of you.
She hates watching sports live, for example the excellent Arsenal-Man City game this morning, she wouldn’t watch any of it live, only wanting me to save it to watch once she knew the result. What’s up with that?
I’ve heard that a bit with sports, some people find matches too stressful or too intense, and can’t watch unless they know the outcome.
@spandaslui there is something not right with you. please dont evangelise your love for spoilers…..
i love being surprised by plot sequences and characters and that sort of stuff, as well as the cinematography and visuals and all that technical stuff.
What’s the point of even seeing something if you know the major plot points?
Like she mentions in the article, literally everything else about the movie.
yeah but it should be the movie as a whole package, including the major plot points.
I think she’s taking it to the extreme where she says that she doesn’t want to be worrying over only the major plot points in the movie when watching it.
Some how for her, not knowing the major plot points detracts from her enjoyment for the film.
You know how when you watch something for a second time, you notice things you missed the first time? You catch those things earlier when you’re not focused on the main plot.
If the movie is good, it’s still good when you know what’s coming. After that it’s all about what part of the package entertains you the most.
I’d argue that noticing things you missed the first time is a lot of fun, but a radically different experience to watching a movie the first time. You only get to have that pleasure once.
You can always go back and watch a movie a second time if you want that experience, but you can’t see it again for the first time.
If someone had spoiled the Sixth Sense, it would’ve
ruined the moviediminished the impact of the reveal for me, lessening the impact of the movie.If someone spoils, oh… I don’t know, God of War, who gives a fuck?
I was JUST thinking today, as I have some time on my hands, that I might be a little weird in that when it comes to looking at popcorny ensemble shows for shit like superheroes, I’d rather grab an episode utterly out of context and watch that to see how the characters are playing against each other, than sit through another tiresome ‘set up’ intro episode and get introduced to all the dynamics the way the creators seem to feel is necessary.
I mean, I’ll still go back and watch those so I know what the hell is going on, but if I’m trying to see if a show is worth investing several hours into, the first ep isn’t a great place to get your judgement on.
But yeah. If movies are critically panned, I like to watch HISHE, Cinemasins, and Honest Trailers to get a good idea of what the criticisms are, and go into the movie better informed. I’m pretty convinced that out of all the emotions people feel, disappointment is something closest to betrayal, and hurts more keenly than simply watching something bad that you knew was going to be bad. Missed expectations generate more negativity than simply something bad. So I like to spoil myself in advance and go in with expectations appropriately lowered.
It really does end up with a more enjoyable experience, usually.
Yeah, this is pretty much it for me. Someone tells me the twist in Fight Club, its annoying because its so crucial for the impact, but if someone tells me what killed what at the end of Jurassic World, I couldnt care less.
For me personally, its not my job to protect other peoples decisions, so I couldnt care less about whether someone wants to remain spoiler free. That doesnt mean I’m going to blurt out the twist, but as I’ve said elsewhere I’m sure as hell going to talk about the rest of the movie.
I saw The Force Awakens last night, and casually mentioned that at work today. Instant question from half a dozen people was whether it was any good. My answer was that I enjoyed it but felt like I was watching A New Hope all over again.
Is that spoiling it or not? Its true, but its not giving away the twists or key points.
I like this movie because it was like watching the first Star Wars film for the first time isn’t exactly a Spoiler.
I would consider saying things like “I love how they used practical effects again” isn’t a spoiler, it tells you they had props rather than CGI and has nothing to do with the plot.
I really am loving that Practical Effects are coming back.
Sixth Sense was probably the first movie I ever had properly spoiled. Hell, I actively avoided seeing it for years purely because I felt I’d been robbed of the best part. I still appreciated the cinematography and the subtlety in the way they kept the rest of the film consistent with *spoiler*, but I never got the chance to experience the reveal firsthand, like I did with, say, Shutter Island or Identity, (consequently) two of my favourite movies of all time.
Made sure to go into Star Wars as blind as possible, and had a blast overanalysing and guessing what would happen next, feeling validated when I guessed right and pleasantly surprised when I guessed wrong. Save the critical, reflective analysis for subsequent views. If it’s worth avoiding spoilers for, it’s usually worth reflecting on and re-examining at a later date to take in the spectacle, and appreciate the cinematography and subtle foreshadowing that makes it great.
I loved I made so many wrong calls in that movie.
I love spoilers only because if I’m going to invest my time into a movie/game/book/adult magazine I want to know that the journey is worth it. That and I hate surprises!
I like being the guy who sits back in his chair, stroking his beard, while muttering “Interesting”
We need to start a club for us spoiler lovers.
would this club also accept gingers?
Can we get sweet hats?
But everyone would just give away all the interesting parts of the meetings ahead of time, and you would never end up meeting.
Do you also hate being surprised Spandas Lui? My wife is a bit like that. She’d rather know about stuff like surprise parties/outings/gifts in advance. I think it is a control thing.
Depends on the surprise! haha
Maybe it is a control thing. I just can’t help myself when it comes to TV shows, movies, games and comic books. I want to know EVERYTHING. I read the backstory for each character, the plot, the lore, etc.
Did you find that you started doing it when jumping into established worlds and universes? I really started spoiling myself by researching before experiencing things for things like comics where I wanted to read a new author/artist’s run, but had no idea what the hell that particular comic universe was up to, and what the context was. And having that context suddenly made everything better, because I understood where those characters were coming from, and how their history coloured not only their motivations but what they would be feeling in these new circumstances.
But it’s also a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I’ll read wikis of books to make sure I know what’s going to happen to the characters I’m growing to love, so that I don’t feel the pain of their passing. So there’s where ‘control’ starts popping in… It’s maybe damage control, for me.
That, and wanting to make sure I don’t get my hopes up about something that’s probably pretty crap.
Think about any customer service role you’ve ever had in your life… you’ll probably have found that people are happy to tolerate a really surprising amount of crap, provided they’re given plenty of warning to set their expectations appropriately. It’s usually only when that crap comes as a surprise or there’s no warning, that people usually start to get nasty about it. Spoilers are like giving yourself that prior warning so that you can better tolerate crap.
Exaaaaaactly
Only for stuff like GoT and Walking Dead which are locked behind expensive paywalls. I don’t want to obtain them via ‘other’ means, so once they’ve aired I’ll usually just read plot summaries online to satisfy my interest in what happens, then perhaps buy them months/years later if I can get them cheap.
But if I know I can legitimately access stuff within hours or days of it being aired in the US then I’ll usually stay spoiler free until then.
I don’t actively seek them out, but if something is “spoiled” for me I usually don’t mind. I mentioned this on facebook just the other day:
As an aside, we need a better word to describe hearing about the plot of a film or tv show before you’ve seen it. “Spoiled” literally means damaged, which is a gross misrepresentation of what’s happening.
I understand preserving the element of surprise, but I generally think people put waaaaaay too much value on plot these days. Maybe it has to do with the rise of quality episodic tv using plot cliffhangers to string viewers along?
If I tell you what a cake tastes like before you eat it, is the cake now worthless? Hell no! The experience of eating said cake (and ideally its moist deliciousness) is what you’re here for.
The sanctity of the first-time viewing experience is fine, but there’s more to a film than moving from a state of “not knowing what happens” to “now I know what happened”. Hell, sometimes knowing things ahead of time can give you a chance to take in all the other stuff going on, like an actor’s performance or the staging of a great set-piece.
I’m not saying we should all seek to find out what happens in films before we see them, but it’d be nice to be able to candidly talk about the things we’ve seen without fear of being mauled to death by otherwise close personal friends!
My experience would have been “damaged” had I read the SW spoiler(s).
Not a big fan of spoilers, the kind of movies I like rely on not knowing the twists.. it’s the bits where you go, “Oh.. I didn’t expect that.”, which keep me on the edge of my seat.
The movie is a remake of Episode 4. All the spoilers are in Episode 4.
I am sure there are other freaks out there like you, but personally no. Knowing what is going to happen before going in completely changes how you engage with a story.
the reasons people fear spoilers is the same reason why people fear science/history destroying myth and legends. Some people crave mystery, they like to believe in things that cant be explained ahead of time. Some people see season finales (etc) as exciting, a mystery of how all these dangling threads all come together. In a world where there is no mysteries left I love when shows transport me away. Imagine reading an Agatha Christie knowing at the start who the murderer is, whats the point in reading then? beyond see all the threads come together, there is nothing.
I agree 100%, except that personally, I find the world and the universe to be nothing but frustrating mysteries, and am annoyed that I won’t live long enough to see them all revealed.
If I was going to die before the end of the movie, I’d be okay with spoilers, but otherwise, yeah, they spoil the first viewing.
I used to go to the last pages of goosebumps books and read them first when I was younger, now I’m all about the intrigue
If i mention a movie, book or TV show to my girlfriend, she will look up how it ends and then not bother to watch/read it.
This goes for sport too. If I can’t watch a game live and have to watch it on delay or the next day, I don’t want to know the result. I want to experience the highs and lows as it was intended.
Otherwise you’re just waiting for the key moments to happen and everything else is just “filler” and you know is not important.
In this day and age. If you stumble across spoilers online. You only have yourself to blame.
You’ve got a damn good idea of places that can spoil you. So avoid them like the plague.
And if you really don’t want to know anything about whatever it is you are avoiding, you will stay away from everything online media related until you do so. Otherwise, you wanted to be spoiled so you can then whinge about it.
Interestingly I’ve been trying to find Star Wars spoilers as I don’t care about the movie so I figure I might as well know what happens.
I have yet to come across a single spoiler for the film. People are carrying on like spoilers are everywhere, but I am yet to see one. This makes me wonder if people are actively looking for them or if they are as pervasive as people are making them out to be.
Bit of both. A lot of places I frequent have cracked down hard on any spoilers and users are patrolling like the neighbourhood watch for the spoilers too. Which is awesome.
Not really, sometimes they sneak them in on you. There are plenty of articles that will talk about a game or movie without spoiling it, and I like to read them before seeing or playing the move/game. Kind of builds the hype a bit, and gets me ready for whether I’ll love it or hate it
People like to yell out Spoilers in Multiplayer games. I don’t do Twitter or Facebook and I avoided most places that would talk about it, but the night after I saw the movie there was some jackass in WoW blowing the plot.
These Spoiler Trolls are making an effort to reveal a movies key points to people.
Definitely. But that is the risk people run who don’t see it right off the bat and they all know it. It sucks, but it happens.
Yeah I shut down public chat channels in Games the day or so before the movie comes out.
“but the night after I saw the movie there was some jackass in WoW blowing the plot.”
Happened to me the night BEFORE I saw it!
The first spoiler still managed to, and I think the cinematography of the second spoiler gave away what was going to happen, but when that first one was confirmed to be real I was pretty sure the second was real too.
A shame, really. Good thing I don’t really care for Star Wars. (Force Awakens is pretty good though!)
I want to go to a movie that no one knows about. I want to watch a movie for the first time, and be surprised by what happens. Spoilers in video games anyone me. I don’t care if its a story spoiler, or a secret to find spoiler. I want to find out for my god dam self. I do NOT want someone telling me where to go, or what to do. I do not like people who think they need to tell everyone. If you know it, there keep it to your fucking self, because I want to find out when I play/watch the game/movie, not before I play it.
Don’t give a shit either way when it comes to stories. Sport is annoying, though; once you know the outcome (unless it’s one of those truly classic and timeless games) it’s no longer worth watching except the highlight reel.
I hate spoilers, but I don’t mind teasers that kind of hint at, or give you vague details. Nothing I hate more then spoilers though, in fact I didn’t even read the article in fear that it might have contained a spoiler lol
It did not.
I went through a phase of a couple of years or so where I’d read the first chapter of a book, learn the characters, then jump to the end and read the last few pages before continuing.
For some reason I really liked knowing who was still alive/around by the end of the book. Can’t fathom doing it now.
My current rule: Never spoil a story without sufficient warning. Especially in public.
I think the problem is on a site like this its so easy to mark an article as contains spoilers so when its not done its really frustrating
Nah, see that’s different. “oh my god you ruined the movie for yourself by looking up the important plot points before watching it!” – fair enough, you only spoiled it for yourself, and by the sound of things you don’t actually consider that “spoiling” the movie at all. In fact it sounds like it makes the movie better for you.
But “oh my god you ruined the movie for me” is very different from “oh my god you ruined the movie for yourself”.
Quite frankly, you are a monster.
Actually, I love spoilers. I want to know what I’m getting myself into; what if my favorite character dies, or a plot twist that I will hate is gonna happen? I don’t want to waste time, and I love the feeling if anticipation of, for example, waiting for someone to show a hidden ability, or tell someone something important. It allows me to understand the little signs beforehand, which I really like.