Open Forum Friday: Is There Anything Wrong With Spoilers?
So here’s a topic we’ve touched on in the past, but it recently came to light again with the theft of photos from the set of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Before the internet, it wasn’t all that hard to keep secrets from the public… the only way that information spread was through controlled broadcast mediums, newspapers or word of mouth. How crazy is it to think that when The Empire Strikes Back was released, no one had a clue that Darth Vader was Luke’s father? Nowadays, not only would it have been posted on message boards like months ahead of time, they probably would also have blurry photos of the scene in which it happens, if not a YouTube video of it too. I can totally understand the struggle that filmmakers now face in trying to protect their secrets.
Here’s the thing though… there are benefits to learning about a movie ahead of time. Not only can spoilers help you decide if you want to pay your hard-earned money to see a movie, but they also help create buzz about a movie and generate publicity. Obviously there are tons of people in the world who find spoilers fascinating, as there are all kinds of popular websites out there dedicated to them. So if someone wants to spoil a movie for themselves, is there anything wrong with it? If the information is out there, and someone absolutely needs to know, should we stop them? Do bloggers have a responsibility to protect the secrets of filmmakers? On a related note, Steven Spielberg recently treated a bunch of movie websites to an exclusive Indiana Jones set visit as a way of saying thanks for refusing to post any of the leaked photos. Hey maybe the world’s not such a bad place after all! How do you feel about spoilers? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (18)
Spoilers are fine, as long as they are easily avoidable. If someone really wants to know what happens then who cares. I personally don’t want to know what happens in most I watch. I’ve even avoided watching trailers for to not ruin any suprises. I didn’t even know Smith was in the Matrix Reloaded until I saw it in theaters. Although, I do feel really bad for a filmaker who wants to keep his movie a secret, he should just be proud that there is enough interest in the movie that they actually make the effort to steal a script or pictures etc…
Posted by mike on October 12th, 2007I think the prevalence of spoilers goes right along with the uber-cynical blog generation today. How can you be cynical about a plot twist if you are genuinely surprised by it? How can you shit on a filmmaker’s idea in an online rant unless you have it before hand. I steer clear of spoilers, not because of faithfulness to filmmakers, but to be more engrossed when I see a film. I’ll decide if it is shit after I see it, not before.
Posted by Jon Rocks on October 12th, 2007It’s a horrible idea. Going to a film-related school now, I constantly bite my tongue about movies, and I tell people to do the same when talking to them. The best way to watch a movie is not knowing ANYTHING, ANYTHING! in advance. Only then are you completely in the hands of the filmmaker, which is where you want to be if you like movies. Spoilers on the internet exist for one thing - hits. And people who don’t know anything love to know something to show off their knowledge.
Posted by Henrik on October 12th, 2007So Henrik, if you don’t want to know “ANYTHING, ANYTHING” about movies before you see them, are you opposed to trailers?
The debate over spoilers comes right down to the fact that you can personally avoid them if you want to by not reading them or pursuing websites and other venues which contain them. It’s true that most film blogs drop spoilers now and again, but I think that the general common sense of the people running said blogs tends to lead them to warn people of potential spoilers. As long as this is true, I don’t see a problem. If your own curiosity gets the better of you, don’t be pissed at some guy you don’t know for writing about something on his site that you have no obligation to look at.
Posted by Rian on October 12th, 2007I agree with Henrik on this line, “The best way to watch a movie is not knowing ANYTHING, ANYTHING! in advance.” And i remember watching Fight CLub and already knowing the ending, and thinking to myself, “Wow, this movie must’ve been great to the people who didn’t know…” (it was still great) I guess I was thinking about in a selfish way. With an attitude of, “As long as I don’t read the spoilers, I don’t really care,” but it really isn’t right. I can’t imagine what Hitchcock would have done if somebody ruined Psycho.
Posted by mike on October 12th, 2007I agree with Henrik to a certain extent. All of us on here are internet users and we all, intentional or not, spoil some movie/movie moments because of our curiousity I think. Rian, even trailers, but not all, are spoilers. The trailers that give you whole story and all the best moments are worst kind.
You know what I hate? When I’m watching a movie and hear the whole theater laugh because it got a big reaction from the trailer months before. I actually prefer to watch movies in a semi-empty theater at times. The one crowd that I did love this year was when I saw the midnight showing of Grindhouse. The more the better for those kind of movies
Posted by Primal on October 12th, 2007I don’t watch trailers for movies I know I want to see. I sometimes watch trailers because I want to see where Sean is coming from when commenting them, but only if the movies seems Watchable to Shitty. I have pretty much decided that any movie that seems to be a good one, I won’t watch the trailer for. There’s a few of them out there! Mark Wahlbergs movie ‘The Happening’ for example.
Posted by Henrik on October 12th, 2007Yeah this is rough. Some people love ‘em and so that’s cool I’m not going to tell people what to do BUT I’m thinking of what people did with the recent Harry Potter thing. I don’t care about that book but as a person that enjoys stupid stuff like movies and cartoons I think it’s super lame that some people have noting better to do than force spoilers on fans. This is of course a different thing than what happens on the net but it seems like it could start to blend since plenty of lame people also use the net.
Posted by Ian on October 12th, 2007I really don’t consider trailers spoilers at all. I go into watching a trailer assuming that what I’ll be watching is what the studio wants me to see to make me want to see the actual movie. I can’t recall a time when I’ve ever felt that a trailer spoiled something drastic for me. Not even drastic. I’m having trouble thinking of a single instance when a trailer spoiled anything for me.
I’ve had friends inadvertently spoil things in movies for me before, and I’ve even read the description on the back of a DVD box or two that has told me a little more than I needed to know, but as far as blogs, magazines, trailers, or anything else are concerned, I’ve never read/heard/saw a spoiler that I didn’t make a conscious effort to see.
Posted by Rian on October 12th, 2007Spoilers always piss me off. I can think of no exceptions right now.
Although luckily I had read the book, I was furious watching the trailer for The Kite Runner recently which blatantly had a huge, huge, huge, HUGE spoiler in it. Ugh.
Posted by Jonathan on October 13th, 2007My favourite film watching experiences are when I don’t see the trailers beforehand. That doesn’t happen much nowadays. I keep telling myself to ignore the trailers, but when word gets out about a new one and blogs start raving about them, it is difficult to resist.
Action movie trailers are usually the worst for showing too much. I remember watching Casino Royale and thinking how every setpiece appears in the trailer at some point. There were no surprises.
But I can’t blame the trailers because I have a choice not to watch; I’m just a sucker for that sneak preview.
Posted by TheSnowLeopard on October 13th, 2007The unfortunate thing is that you usually need to know *something* about a movie before you can decide if you want to go see it. Exactly how much you need to know varies wildly from person to person and movie to movie. I do agree that it’s sometimes a more “pure” experience if you go into a movie knowing nothing about it. On the other hand, none of us live in a vacuum, and I think you can sometimes get more out of a movie if you know a little bit beforehand. (Again, it depends on the movie though.)
Posted by Sean on October 14th, 2007the words kind of spoilers for me are animated DVD menus where they often show clips of key scenes, or sometimes the back of the showbox. Too many companies assume the person holding the DVD has already seen the movie.
Posted by Goon on October 14th, 2007Kurt at MoviePatron was saying on the latest podcast theres a movie he lends people that he has to hand them in a white envelope because the cover itself gives too much away.
xrumer is the best tool for advertisement!
It’s have CAPTCHA recognizer, email verificator, and a lot of other functions…
But. I forgot link to it
Can you give me URL to the xrumer description? screenshots, etc.
Thanks
Posted by XRumakTheBest on November 3rd, 2007xrumer is the perfect tool for promotion!
It’s have CAPTCHA recognizer, email verificator, and a lot of other functions…
But. I forgot link to it
Can you give me link to the XRumer description? screenshots, etc.
Thanks
Posted by XRumakTheBest on November 3rd, 2007Where you wanted?
Hehe
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Posted by MariaTheresePetermann on October 2nd, 2008Leave a Reply