What’s your general feeling on when you should use the spoiler box (or say ‘spoilers’ in the thread title) when discussing movies. Especially those that hinge upon one key plot point. I notice every once in a while here threads wherein someone gets upset because they haven’t seen a movie yet but the surprise or twist is posted by someone.
Just curious - I specifically went to see ‘Signs’ the Saturday it opened because I didn’t want to accidentally read anything (not just here) about the supposed surprises in it. As another example, I have heard many times that the Dutch film ‘The Vanishing’ has a terrifying ending, and someday I will rent it, and hope that I don’t find out anything about the ending before that day comes.
To make life simpler, here are some scenarios - how would you handle the spoiler issue if you are posting/starting the thread?
[ul]
[li]Thread entirely devoted to one recent film (e.g. ‘Signs’)[/li][li]Thread entirely devoted to one older but popular film (e.g. ‘The Sixth Sense’)[/li][li]Thread entirely devoted to an older but relatively unknown film (e.g. 'The Vanishing)[/li][li]Thread about one film wherein you post about a different film (e.g. in a ‘Signs’ thread you post about the ending to ‘The Sixth Sense’)[/li][li]Thread about movie endings/surprises[/li][li]etc.[/li][/ul]
I guess partially it comes down to this - is there some point where one can safely assume that the ‘surprise plot twist’ is public knowledge?
Well, as I just complained about in another thread, someone gave away what I gather to be the crux of The Usual Suspects. For various reasons I haven’t had a chance to rent it yet, even though it’s been highly recommended. So I was irritated. Given that there are people of all levels of cultural development on the board, I think it should be a general principle to avoid revealing plot points or twists that a movie depends on, even if it’s as old as Rosebud was his sled. .
Especially now when we have the very neat spoiler box.
I think if a movie is more than, say, five years old, you don’t have much of a right to be outraged if someone spoils the ending. If it was that important to you, you should have seen it sooner.
MEBuckner, now don’t be smart, it’s a serious question!
I too, Finagle, was a little shocked at the Usual Suspects spoiler when I came across it. I’ve seen the movie, and would never, unless the context was perfectly clear (ie, warning, spoilers!), have mentioned what was mentioned.
But, it is a tough question. Can we assume it’s ok to spoil the original three Star Wars films? Citizen Kane? The Illiad?
I think full spoiler warning should be given whenever the thread title does not give advance warning. Have you really seen every film and read every book you want to that is more than 5 years old?
Finagle, you can’t care too much about the Usual Suspects if you haven’t got round to watching it in the near-decade it’s been out.
I agree if it’s within, say, the proposed statute of limitations, but one can’t protect everyone who hasn’t seen a very popular movie. Otherwise there would have to be spoiler warnings on pretty much all artistic discussion.
The 1812 Overture has cannons in it!
I mean, I only saw Casablanca for the first time a couple of years ago. I don’t think I’d bitch too much if someone gave it away. And my brother was complaining about the spoiler in The Importance of Being Earnest summary…!
Yeah, I think after a certain point (and I’d argue it’s far LESS than five years) you give up your “right” to experience the true surprise and instead you see the movie to appreciate how the film executed that surprise. I mean, you can’t expect everyone to protect you from the knowledge of what happens. If you want to surprise, see it ASAP.
For me it is more about context. I just assume that any thread with a movie title in it is going to completely spoil that movie; even if it doesn’t explicitly say so in the title.
If a thread is about movies in general, I go into it with a wary eye, ready to abort if I catch sight of a title I don’t want to know anything about (for example, I have a Marilyn Monroe period coming up on my Netflix queue, so I am avoiding all discussion of her or her movies so that I can go into them with as innocent an eye as possible).
I only am really bothered by spoilers (even for recent movies) when they come out of nowhere. Such as a GQ thread on variable gravitational constants over time and if someone posted “to me, this is as shocking as the end of The Maltese Falcon where it turns out the falcon was a former member of the Rockettes!”
Well, thank you very much. Yes, it is a 60 year old movie. Yes, it is one that most people have seen. Yes, it is one I consider important. Yes, I probably could have found time to see it before last month. But I didn’t. A little thought would be appreciated.
This excludes (in my opinion) those spoilers that become part of the collective conscience. To not know that darth Vader is Luke’s father not only requires not seeing The Empire Strikes Back but also to have not seen (or comprehended) the hundreds of other cinematic references to this scene.
I wish people would take a little more care with book threads too. I was upset to recently come across a thread on Harry potter IV titled:
" I can’t believe I cried over a book character’s death! (harry potter and the goblet of fire)"
because I didn’t pick up the book until it came out in paperback last week. I didn’t even have to open the thread for part of the end to be spoiled for me. It was annoying to read the book knowing that would happen and wondering when and to who. I don’t know if a five year rule should apply, but until a book is out in paperback, anyway, a lot of people won’t have read it yet.
For movies that are fairly old (I like the five-year rule mentioned here), I agree that it’s OK to discuss most aspects of the movie without posting big spoiler warnings. If you don’t want to know anything at all about the movie before seeing it, then yeah, you should have seen it sometime in the five years since it was released.
However, I still feel that for major mind-bending plot twists, you should use spoiler warnings. The ending of The Usual Suspects counts, I think. I do, however, agree that any thread that has the movie name in the title of the thread can be assumed to contain major spoilers, and if I don’t want to be spoiled, I will simply stay out of that thread.
And I will now post my usual plaintive request, which is that if you’re going to use the spoiler tag, will you please post, in REGULAR TEXT BEFORE THE SPOILER TAG, which movie you are spoiling? Otherwise the spoiler tag is completely useless. Thank you.
Bite me. I rented it once – circumstances prevented me from watching it. Other circumstances (a major house renovation) have prevented me from watching very many movies at all in the past 2-3 years. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to enjoy the movie some day. And it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other people on the boards who haven’t seen that movie yet – I’m not claiming an exclusive right to be protected from spoilers.
I can’t say I agree with the five year rule. There’s plenty of movies that are over five years old that I haven’t seen nor do I know anything about them. Whenever I find myself talking about a plot point, if I decide that maybe someone hasn’t seen it, I’ll use the spoiler tag - it takes all of ten seconds. Or, if you don’t want to do that, why not just say “like what happened at the end of Usual Suspects” - everyone will know what you mean.
Of course, I could be biased b/c the same thing that happened to Finagle happened to me in this thread…
I like how the video/DVD release of Planet Of The Apes (1968) completely spoils the twist at the end, on the front of the box cover. I know the ending, you know the ending, but I, for one, wish I could experience it without knowing the end, and I begrudge the fact that they give it away to anyone that picks up the box. I’m sure there are many people who don’t know the ending, and any shock or surprise they might get from it is gone before they even watch it.
I also wish I could watch the Star Wars trilogy again, for the first time, as it were, since I’ve seen them multiple times from the time I was a young child. I’d like to see them anew with an adult’s eyes. Of course, I’d probably hate them, heh. I guess I have something to look forward to if I ever become senile.
Finagle, I bit you and it tasted reasonable (though I’d probably go for a bit of garlic and white wine sauce next time).
I’m very annoyed that someone spoiled Titanic for me. I thought it was going to get to New York!
Seriously though, I am all in favour of a statute of limitations. I do feel your pain, but on the other hand I do think that it’s not our fault that personal circumstances got in the way of you seeing the movie over the course of seven years. There are plenty of great movies I have never got round to watching, too, but I guess I’ll put up with a five-year rule if people adopt it. I am going to adopt this code voluntarily, anyway.
Though the whole discussion puts me in mind of The Mousetrap in London, the world’s longest-running play. There is a code of honour that you never reveal who did the murder. It isn’t often broken. I’ve seen the play, and can reveal thatIt was such a shit play that I have totally forgotten whodunnit. Someone in the thread in question is now complaining about A Beautiful Mind being spoiled for them: the information in that “spoiler” was in the TV previews, goddamit.
Well, sometimes you start a thread with no intentions of putting spoilers in it (as I did with my Goldmember thread), therefore you don’t put a spoiler warning in the thread title. Then someone comes along and posts a spoiler!
Some things are unavoidable, I guess. If you really wanna be safe, don’t log on to the internet.
