“Spoiler is slang for any element of any summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot element which will give away the outcome of a dramatic episode within the work of fiction, or the conclusion of the entire work.” — Wikipedia.

We have an obsession with finding out the ending before the beginning, then telling everyone about it.
For the most part, I avoid movie spoilers as much as possible, though I love watching trailers. When figuring out whether to see a movie or not I often start with the trailer, the cast, director and a brief synopsis and how it’s been received from my friends and those who’s opinion I regard — what I do not want is to ever have the plot, twist or ending revealed to me before I see it — and whether or not I have seen a film should never be taken for granted.

Film critic Roger Ebert has said, “What I sometimes try to do is, refer to an event in a movie in a way that means one thing if you’ve seen it but another thing, although making sense, if you haven’t.”

Blocking out information can be difficult, what with the myriad of social networks we use. And everyone keen to reveal results of the latest pop humiliation or TV series/soap gossip. For most things on TV I don’t see a problem with this. In my opinion, the same thing applies to sports — I know that some people wait for the highlights or record it on sky+ if they’re not able to the watch the match/race/game/event, you can’t watch them all, just get the result. In the case of films, however, this is very different.

Vince from Movies.ie told me that they avoid spoilers at all costs unless clearly marking with a “spoiler warning”, he went on to say:

The current trailer for Kick-Ass shows the very last scene (which I won’t reveal) but once you see the movie, you’re going to be watching out for that scene. The radio adverts for ‘Shutter Island’ tell us ‘You won’t believe the twist that’s coming’, but once you’re aware of the twice, that’s all you’re watching out for, and you’ll no doubt figure it out within five minutes.

John Maguire, film critic for the Sunday Business Post newspaper and the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show believes that:

I agree that spoilers are terrible, and especially if revealed to make some snarky joke or just for spite. But one’s reaction to a big reveal, a twist or a cliff-hanger is not only based on the moment but also on how skilfully the filmmakers bring you to that point. It’s probably worth seeing the film anyway, even if some asshole has told you how it turns out.

I like Vic, Cork’s RedFM DJ and blogger at The Movie Bit, because he doesn’t like people who spoil movies:

Do I avoid spoilers at all costs? Absolutely! Spoilers come in many guises, but they are still spoilers. If I read something, be it a review / blog or forum post that gives away a pivotal plot point without using the “spoiler warning”, it infuriates me to the point where I would take great pleasure in feeding the author’s legs to a few hungry badgers.

Like Darren Mooney, who writes at the m0vie blog, I am often conscious of making someone aware that a twist exists, “And that changes the way the person watches the movie – they’re alert and looking for it.”

Nicola Timmins blogs at Average Film Reviews and told me:

I think it’s possible to write about aspects of a film without actually telling people what happened and the idea of revealing a twist in particular horrifies me. I assume a film maker wants the audience to see the film unfold as he or she tells it. To me, to reveal the plot or twist is to ruin the film maker’s art.

David Sztypuljak, Founder of HeyUGuys told me

For me, I’ll watch trailers but i make a point of not watching clips and featurettes as they give too much of the story away. It’s personal choice whether to watch or listen to a vodcast or podcast that contains spoilers bit whenever we do a review, we’ll pretty much always announce the spoiler before we get there so the user can skip it.

In a nutshell, I think spoilers are fine as long as they’re announced beforehand.

I don’t like the idea that I can’t use the internet for fear of seeing some aspect of plot revealed. I don’t want my Facebook or Twitter feeds to include such things. I know I’m not alone in this. Though some others may disagree.

Darren Byrne, Culch.ie:

Overall, I don’t have any major issue with knowing the twist. As long as the movie stands up to repeated viewing anyway, then it really shouldn’t matter. But when the enjoyment of the film depends on that big reveal, the big secret – why would any ignorant bastard blurt it out.

That said I was born post Star Wars and I knew the twist going into The Empire Strikes Back, but it still remains one of my favourite movies, as do Fight Club, Psycho and The Sixth Sense.

Just like Scannain‘s Niall Murphy I too “rejoice in learning plot-twists for myself.”

Yes, everyone knows Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father (does everyone know ‘vader’ is Dutch for father?) (highlight to reveal) but that’s not to say that there is a time limit on ruining films for those who have not seen the classics — they are called classics for a reason.

#btsurprise

The Queen’s Film Theatre, Northern Ireland’s foremost independent cinema ran a campaign last week with its longstanding primary sponsor, BT, and Bluecube Interactive in attempting to create buzz and hype around the the cinema itself and the BT Surprise screening which took place on Saturday. The screening, the title of which was not revealed until it started, was The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans.

The campaign was based around the QFT’s Facebook group page (not fan page?) asking people to “post your favourite ‘nice or nasty’ film twist.” Not only implying spoiling films for others but giving examples themselves on occasions.

I like the QFT, tell all my friends to go there and frequent it often, though the act of revealing twists to movies is not something I expect a cinema to do.

I’ll leave the last words to Vic Barry:

“At the end of the day, it’s all very well to know the ending of a movie, but it’s the journey to that final point, that’s what makes the overall movie going experience what it is. To put it another way, it’s like sex. You’re humping away for 90 seconds and then it’s over. But it’s the groping, the fumbling, the saliva dripping and clothes removal that makes the whole thing so epic!”

Cheers to everyone who gave me their thoughts

Tagged: Film | 7 comments »