12 Reasons Why Spoilers Are the Worst

Some people don’t care about spoilers, but those people are wrong. Spoilers are the worst! (For the record, I’m mostly going to mention books, but this applies to movies and TV shows too.)

Spoilers Are the Worst

1. I can only read something for the first time once. That feeling of discovery, that I can’t consume pages (or watch it) fast enough is a magical feeling, like falling in love.
2. Trying to figure it out is half the fun. I love reading a mystery or thriller and looking at clues to try to figure out whodunnit or what’s going to happen in the end. I’m more engaged in the reading experience than I would be if I already knew what happened.
3. I want to experience it as it happens. If I didn’t care about the experience of reading, I’d just go to Wikipedia and read the summary. (I’ve actually done this occasionally on sequels where I was curious enough to want to know what happened, but not so curious that I wanted to invest time in the next book.) For me, it’s like the difference between enjoying a gourmet meal and being fed glucose intravenously.
4. Writing an enjoyable story is hard, and spoiling it for someone else makes it so they can’t experience it as the author intended. Writing anything: a book, a movie, a TV show, is an art. Most published authors wrote the story deliberately, in a certain order. Spoiling that is disrespectful. If the author wanted to write just a summary, they’d write a summary.
5. Spoiling a story ruins the secondhand discovery. I love discussing stories with people when I know what happens and they don’t. Or when they know what happens and I don’t. It’s so much fun to watch someone enjoy something that I love as it unfolds.
6. We can all use more good surprises. I like opening Christmas (or birthday) gifts and having no idea what I was given ahead of time. I love when someone texts or calls me out of the blue (someone I like, anyway). And I love when a story brings me something I didn’t see coming, yet was inevitable.
7. If I wanted to know what happened in a book, it’s not that hard. It would take me less than 30 seconds on the Internet. Therefore, when people don’t warn spoilers and they’re RIGHT THERE in my face, it makes me crazy. Spoiler alert is twelve letters. Just type it.
8. Most of the spoiler alerts that snipe me seem to be for no good reason. I’m talking about online, now. When you post “OMG, Harry Potter appeared and saved Rick and Michonne!” you’re just posting a fact. (This is a made up fact, BTW. No spoilers here.) You’re not adding to the conversation. Couldn’t you just as easily post, “OMG, can you believe that ending of The Walking Boy Who Lived??” Spoilers that are buried in text or articles can usually be avoided.
9. I’m always behind the times, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired in 1996, and I just started watching it in 2018. In general, I don’t watch TV alone because I’m an addict. Once I get hooked on a story, I can’t stop. A friend insisted I had to watch the show, and I’m now in season 3, loving every moment of it. I’ve actually had a certain plotline spoiled for me because people still love and talk about this show 22 years later. It’s changed how I watch the show, and I’m not happy about it.
10. Anticipation increases enjoyment, and unpredictability increases anticipation, according to a 2015 study reported in Psychology Today. What does that mean? It means that most people enjoy looking forward to things, especially when they don’t know exactly what they’re looking forward to.
11. They make it harder to suspend disbelief. We don’t know what’s going to happen in real life, but when we know what’s going to happen in a story, it makes it harder to get immersed. If I know that a particular storyline is coming up, rather than concentrating on what’s happening now, I’m wondering how the writer is going to get us there, whether I want to or not.
12. It’s the journey, not the destination. Cliche, but it has a lot of truth in it. Why do sports fans watch a game instead of just tuning in afterward for the score? Why don’t booksellers include the ending of the book on the back cover? Why do movie trailers not tell the ending? Because we want to experience it “live,” as it’s happening in that moment for whoever is reading/ watching.

I know there are plenty of people out there who either like or don’t mind spoilers, and I say, to each his own. If you want to know the ending, I’ll tell you. But PLEASE be respectful of my wishes and don’t tell me.

But Doree, don’t you love re-reading and re-watching things? Doesn’t that contradict everything you just said?

Indeed, I do. But no, it doesn’t. Stay tuned. Next week, I’ll explain why not.

Talking Dead

The Walking Dead is one of my favorite TV shows, and the only one I watch sort of live.  We have an iTunes subscription, so the show is available to us on the Monday after it airs on TV.  (Every other show I watch, I wait for the DVD).

One of my favorite bloggers used to do a “chow down” the day after the show, but she doesn’t do it anymore, and I miss it.  So, I decided to start my own.

SPOILER ALERT- Don’t read anymore if you don’t want to see spoilers for the episode that just aired… Just sayin’.

What did you think of Lori dying?  I know a lot of people hated her, but I didn’t.  I thought she was flawed and silly at times, but not a horrible person.  Of course, I yelled at her last season when she got mad a Rick for killing Shane.  “You told him to, you dumb *&^$%!”  But I’m sure she didn’t think he’d actually do it, because Rick isn’t a killer.

I was pretty surprised when Maggie ended up delivering the baby, especially since they managed to save Hershel!  That’s a twist I didn’t see coming.

I cried when Lori died; I admit it.  And I wonder, where’s Carol?  Because with Carol disappeared, they have no “moms.”  Hershel and Rick are fathers, but will either of them know how to handle a newborn? And what are they going to feed that baby?

I’m going to miss T-dog.  I know he wasn’t really a huge character, but he was a steady presence and always helped get the job done.

The scenes with Woodbury are boring me, and I want something to happen.  It’s not much like the Woodbury I know from the graphic novels, and that’s making me twitchy.  I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Andrea has always been one of my least favorite characters, and I keep yelling at her, “Just go with Michonne!  Stop being stupid.”  Though I think being stupid is what Andrea excels at.

The Walking Dead isn’t afraid to be what it is, a great show set in a dystopian future.  They have good writing (even though it drags in the middle at times), interesting settings, and universal themes (love/ hate, hard decisions).  They’re brave to keep killing off both the likable and unlikeable characters.   M0st shows stay away from that.  Just please, don’t kill off Rick or Daryl.  Okay?

So, anyone have thoughts?

Spoilers

Okay, no post by the TV Guy today, but I thought that since I haven’t posted in several days, I would make up for it.  Kevin Smith has a newish show on Hulu Plus called Spoilers.  He takes a bunch of people to the movies and has them review it, then does a celebrity interview.  It’s all done in the irreverent Kevin Smith style I know and love, and Jason Mewes features on the show as well.

If you like talking about movies, like hearing about movies, like discussing and speculating about movies, this is a great show.  Even if you don’t like any of that, it still may be entertaining.  They have a connected Facebook page with more news and info about the show.