A Minor Rant

[JEB]

I do not personally experience any loss of anything at all from spoilers, and I don’t really grok what it’s like, though.

You can only be surprised by a plot twist once. Spoilers prevent you from having that unique experience.

 

[Umbran]

I do not personally experience any loss of anything at all from spoilers, and I don’t really grok what it’s like, though.

There is a form of dramatic tension that comes from not knowing what happens next. Properly crafted, release of that tension by experiencing the resolution is part of the emotional experience of engaging with the work.

Spoilers rob the person of experiencing that release.

If you, as an audience member, don't become invested in how the work will resolve, you also won't experience the emotional effect.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You can only be surprised by a plot twist once. Spoilers prevent you from having that unique experience.

Like….in theory I get what you’re saying, it just doesn’t…make sense to me. Idk maybe it’s just that none of my favorite movies surprised me or maybe being surprised by a story development just doesn’t have the same impact on me as it does on others.

It’s obvious to you what value surprise has, and to me it’s quite obscure.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

There is a form of dramatic tension that comes from not knowing what happens next. Properly crafted, release of that tension by experiencing the resolution is part of the emotional experience of engaging with the work.

Spoilers rob the person of experiencing that release.

If you, as an audience member, don't become invested in how the work will resolve, you also won't experience the emotional effect.

Well, no. That last part is completely false, because you are falsely equating your experience to a universal. I’m quite engaged in how the work will play out, and experience the release of tension regardless of whether I know what comes next.

I can assure you, knowing the how Han dies in The Force Awakens beforehand did not make seeing it any less upsetting for me, nor did it make Kylo Ren's subsequent defeat less cathartically satisfying.

No one in the theater when I saw Hamilton was unaware that Burr eventually shoots Hamilton. It’s given away in the first song, even if an audience member didn’t know it going in.

There were very few people unaffected by it, however.

 

[Reynard]

Well, no. That last part is completely false, because you are falsely equating your experience to a universal. I’m quite engaged in how the work will play out, and experience the release of tension regardless of whether I know what comes next.

I can assure you, knowing the how Han dies in The Force Awakens beforehand did not make seeing it any less upsetting for me, nor did it make Kylo Ren's subsequent defeat less cathartically satisfying.

No one in the theater when I saw Hamilton was unaware that Burr eventually shoots Hamilton. It’s given away in the first song, even if an audience member didn’t know it going in.

There were very few people unaffected by it, however.

I think @Umbran explaining,not stating an immutable truth.

I get that you don't have a negative reaction to spoilers, but surely you can understand why other people might.

 

[Umbran]

Well, no. That last part is completely false, because you are falsely equating your experience to a universal. I’m quite engaged in how the work will play out, and experience the release of tension regardless of whether I know what comes next.

Dude, I am explicitly speaking about differences in experience - so clearly, I am not saying it is universal. You are barking up the wrong tree there.

You may have a critique about my claim as to WHY there is a difference. I'm leaning on my collegiate studies of film and fiction there, in which we discussed it - for example, there's a difference in putting on a brand new play, and putting on a revival or reworking - which is important for, say, performances of Shakespeare, in which large portions of the audience know not just the story, but often most of the relevant lines.

That there is a difference, your own question allows for. In your reaction here, you sure seem to be insisting that YOUR experience is universal, when I claim it isn't. You experience A release of the tension, and that's fine - consider my point a little overstated and inaccurate there. I'll accept that.

However, are you absolutely sure that your experience is the same as what others feel? If you are sure, then your question is not really in good faith. If you are not, then don't accuse me of universalizing experiences yet, okay?

I can assure you, knowing the how Han dies in The Force Awakens beforehand did not make seeing it any less upsetting for me

Well, yes, that's the point. I'm saying that, for some folks, there is a qualitatively different experience in the release of dramatic tension for some moments between when they do, and don't, know what is going to happen. You, by your own admission above, do not experience a difference. I often do.

I was (thankfully) unspoiled for that moment you speak of, and it was different the first and second times I saw it. That first experience cannot be relived in the same film, unless I completely forget that it happens (which is unlikely in the extreme, barring memory loss in old age).

We are not well-situated to describe subjective emotional experiences (indeed, this is part of why we have poets, I think). There was a shock, confusion, and uncertainty to it that is not there in the same way when you know it is coming.

The human mind processes emotions, and you can't stop it from doing so - when you know the result, you've already had time to think about it, have formed opinions, and preprocess the information. For some, unspoiled, they have an experience of feeling the moments before processing, and feeling the process of processing, if you will, which the spoiled cannot..

I've got a friend who finds those moments... distinctly unpleasant - she likens it to an anxiety attack. She almost never goes out to a movie without first reading a complete plot synopsis for that reason. When we discuss afterwards, there is very clearly a difference in the emotional experience of the film.

So, no, I am not universalizing anything.

 

[Hex08]

Spoilers are frustrating. Generally, they don't bother me, but I like to avoid them because on rare occasions they do ruin the movie. There is an ever-growing list of pop-culture sites that no longer show up in my Google newsfeed because I have blocked them because of spoilers.

I just saw the new Spider-Man movie and a minor plot point was spoiled for me two days ago. It didn't ruin the movie, but it did ruin the emotional impact if that particular scene. It was especially annoying because it was a scene I probably would have had a big reaction to.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have to say that the only spoilers I KNOW I’ve encountered are the ones I’ve sought out.

I can’t say I’ve noticed anything of the kind on YouTube, for instance. Perhaps between skipping ads whenever possible and my viewing pattern messing with their algorithms, I’m simply not getting targeted with them.

 

[pming]

I am really fed up with the fact that you basically can't both have a presence online -- social media, watching YouTube, visiting Reddit -- and not be able to wait 2 or 3 days to watch a movie or show without being spoiled on the big reveal or whatever. After 6 hours or less, your YouTube feed is filled with videos announcing the thing in the title or on the image. When did this become acceptable? When did the spoiler warning disappear and the waiting period to shout out secrets and endings go away?

When did this happen? I haven't noticed...oh, wait. I'm not on social media and I don't have a cell phone. Well, other than on Youtube, but just avoid anything movie/show related until I want to get informed/spoiled.

Like the Wheel of Time series. I've avoided everything about it. Just binge watched it the other day (23rd/24th). Just like I said I would. Best way for me to enjoy a series. Sometimes I have to wait a year or two though. I'm cool with that.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Dausuul]

You can only be surprised by a plot twist once. Spoilers prevent you from having that unique experience.

Exactly. There is another pleasure in knowing what will happen and watching it come together; but I like to be able to have both. And that second type of enjoyment is heightened by remembering the experience of seeing it for the first time.