spoilers don't matter?

[Temis the Vorta]

Scientists actually bothered to find out.

It turns out that spoilers don't actually ruin your enjoyment of entertainment.

Well, MY hypothesis is that it's all down to the individual. Some people love spoilers, and for others, it really does ruin things.

The press release noted, "The overall findings are consistent with the experience most of us have had: A favorite tale can be re-read multiple times with undiminished pleasure. A beloved movie can be watched again and again."

Not for me. I very rarely re-read books or re-watch movies and TV shows. For the vast majority of stuff, the surprise element the first time around is vital, because most stuff isn't good enough to merit revisiting.

Since this study was based on reading rather than viewing fiction, there's no way to know if one medium is transferrable to another. Also, are those stories of unusually high quality? I only recognize "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," which is a classic. It could be that, for a small percentage of truly well written fiction, spoilers don't count as much because the quality of the storytelling doesn't diminish on re-reading. But I don't see much outta Hollywood that could have been written by Ambrose Bierce.

So to summarize, I'll quote a great comment at that link:

So a group of scientists did a study on a frog. They taught the frog to jump every time someone said jump. So after teaching the frog to jump when someone said jump they cut off one of his legs. With only 3 legs they said jump and the frog jumped. So they cut off another leg and said jump. With only 2 legs he still jumped. They continued this until they had cut off all 4 of the frogs legs. Now when they said jump the frog didn't jump. So the results they learned are if you cut off a frogs legs he goes deaf. That is about as useful a study as this one.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

I try and stay away from them as much as possible. I don't even watch trailers if I can help it. That said, I've had things spoiled and it hasn't completely ruined my experience. And it's almost impossible to avoid spoilers. Like if you haven't started watching a show yet and it's on season 3, and you see a thread with a title like WHAT IS BOB GOING TO DO NOW? *SPOILERS*, well, you now know that Bob makes it to season 3. I'm sure most people wouldn't care about something like that, but what if the season 2 cliffhanger makes it look like Bob really did just get killed?

 

[ChristopherPike]

Not for me. Most TV I grew up watching were US shows, took forever to cross the pond and I'd already read about the surprise someplace before seeing them. It was often completely unavoidable. Maybe I'm used to that.

It's also in the writing, whether you happen to know or not. Is it good enough, so you enjoy the journey anyhow? Watch and look for the clues? If the surprise is all there is going for it, and it makes little sense... then you have every right to be annoyed. But not at the source who let it slip. I think there has to be an element of predictabilty, so the audience can pat themselves on the back for knowing it all along. Time and distance takes care of a spoiler you remember hearing once. For me, I often realised where and when I first heard about a major twist, during or after it unfolded onscreen. I wasn't particularly annoyed by that, because it took me a minute to remember. Or it was structured in such a way, the plot kept misleading me away from the ending I knew.

 

[Myasishchev]

Spoilers have never much mattered for me. I knew the ending of The Sixth Sense and still enjoyed it, whereas for most people the Shyamatwist was everything.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Not for me. The only time where has really affected my enjoyment of a film was "Thor" but I still ended up liking it (I had read the leaked script last year). Otherwise no spoilers only enhance my enjoyment and in some cases decide if I'm going to see something or not. Or read something.

 

[Rarewolf]

Spoilers have never much mattered for me. I knew the ending of The Sixth Sense and still enjoyed it, whereas for most people the Shyamatwist was everything.

Funny enough I was thinking of exactly the same film earlier. I've never seen it, but know the twist. I'm in no rush to see it, though its unlikely I'll forget it!

 

[Kegg]

Spoilers can matter, but if something is actually good knowing what will happen won't ruin it - you merely lack the surprise as scales fall from one's eyes. There's a very specific kind of entertainment the viewing or reading can no longer bring, even if that element is never enough to make something enjoyable, it definitely can be a key component of it.

I do have a tendency to compartmentalize my head, though. When I am spoiled for something, my brain usually pretends it hasn't been spoiled and refuses to acknowledge it has any idea what's coming, which is less suspense and more denial.

 

[Sindatur]

I do enjoy watching things I have enjoyed in the past, such as Babylon 5. So, I still get major enjoyment out of watching Babylon 5, even though I have seen it several times through. However, there can only be a first time of watching something once, so, I prefer that first time, to be full value, without having pre-knowledge of the twists. Little things like Guest stars don't bother me, and even knowing somebody is going to die in an episode, but, I don't want to ruin the surprise the first time by knowing who it is.

There's a certain enjoyment you get out of rewatching something, knowing all the twists, by being able to better see the set up for stuff you is coming, and maybe you ahdn't noticed before, but, there's another certain enjoyment you get being surprised by all the twists the first time.

 

[stj]

No. This is fortunate since plot developments don't usually take me by surprise. This isn't so much the ability to predict a plot, though that's part of it.

It's because most surprises are telegraphed in some fashion. I was fuming through a good part of Sixth Sense because I noticed Willis' scenes with other characters weren't playing right. Then I realized why they played that way. Most stories that have a logical twist forewarn the viewer in similar ways. The satisfaction is not so much the surprise as the fittingness of the twist. Total surprises are often so because they come out of the blue. This is bad writing.

Sometimes spoilers give me the patience to put up with slower developments because I have an idea there's actually going to be a narrative payoff of some kind.

People jumping out often take me by surprise but it's not a very interesting one and spoilers don't hurt it at all. Jokes take me by surprise, but I find that the humor doesn't build the way it did when the jokes were new. I rarely rewatch comedies for that reason.

 

[Harvey]

Theatrical trailers have been more or less spoiling entire movies for decades, and although people have often complained about this practice, it hasn't stopped those same people from seeing these films in droves. In light of this, these findings aren't that surprising.

 

[stj]

It is a bad movie that exhausts all its interest with a detailed trailer.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

From the way most people describe spoilers, it seems most people are talking about "twists" or "surprises." But there's something about going into a movie so completely cold you have no idea what it's about. If it's a good movie, there's something special about every moment because you are being shown exactly what the director/writer/editor team wants you to see and how they go about it can be a lot of fun.

Maybe I'm in the small minority here.

 

[RandyS]

Spoilers don't bother me at all. In fact I find the concept annoying. How many times have we all seen every episode of all the Star Treks? Or Babylon 5 and Farscape? How many MORE times will we watch them? The answer to both questions is thousands.

Plus, I grew up in a time when there was no internet (A concept shocking to our younger members, I'm sure), and I can still remember when The Empire Strikes back first came out. My best friend at the time had seen it before I did, and LOVED talking about it. I knew the entire film a week before I saw it, and you know what? Didn't bother me a bit. Of course, first hearing that Han Solo was frozen had the effect on my (then) ten year old brain as seeing him in my mind as being dropped into a giant ice cube. The point is, I loved the movie, even though I knew the whole plot, and I still love it.

Spoilers are nothing.

 

[Guy Gardener]

First off "SPORTS".

Second, if you can be spoiled, you're a slack witted sucker slow off the mark who deserves everything you get.

When I first got here you weren't allowed to talk about new Voyager or DS9 without a spoiler tag until a year after they had aired in the US because even VHS distribution was faster than how moderately most third word TV Networks took their thumbs out of their asses.

 

[Caliburn24]

The study is interesting, and I would like to see if a similar study done on movies/TV would produce the same results.

But the title of this thread is misleading. According to the results of the study spoilers DO matter. They increase enjoyment. Many of the replies here indicate that spoilers did not bother people, but did those same spoilers increase the entertainment/enjoyment of whatever story is in question?

Just look at the anticipation threads for the next Batman movie or the Avengers where every photo is analyzed, every quote is picked apart. I think that people who like that sort of stuff(and to be honest I am one of them myself) will get more enjoyment out of those movies when they finally are released.

Just look at the die-hards who go to the opening midnight screenings of movies. They are generally far more spoiled than the general audience. And they also enjoy those movies more than the run of the mill audience.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

Overall it might not hurt my enjoyment, but some of my favourite moments in TV are those when your jaw drops and you can't believe what just happened, heart beating, eyes wide, muttering "whaaaa?". Those would be ruined by spoilers. They might still be enjoyed, and overall your appreciation of the show might not be diminished, but those moments wouldn't exist so...

 

[suarezguy]

I try to avoid plot points (pics are OK), the major exceptions have been for Batman Begins, X-Men 3 and Spider-Man 2 (reading the novelization of the latter). Of course, in watching adaptations I have some idea of what will happen but not knowing too much of how helps me identify with the characters as the events happen to them.

 

[Kelthaz]

Yeah, I'm calling bullshit. I can completely refute that "scientific" study with three simple words:

Game of Thrones.

 

[Shurik]

Yeah, I'm calling bullshit. I can completely refute that "scientific" study with three simple words:

Game of Thrones.

I was spoiled about almost all of the twists in the books before I read them, I've read a bit about the books on Wikipedia before reading them, in order to see if I'll enjoy the books. Some of the plot twists are so WTF?!?!?! that you have to read the books just to understand how the story gets there.

So spoilers don't matter to me at all. The only time I tried actively to avoid spoilers was Lost series finale and I regret it. Maybe if I knew what was in the final episode, I would've been better prepared for such a massive disappointment.

 

[Starkers]

I do enjoy watching things I have enjoyed in the past, such as Babylon 5. So, I still get major enjoyment out of watching Babylon 5, even though I have seen it several times through. However, there can only be a first time of watching something once, so, I prefer that first time, to be full value, without having pre-knowledge of the twists. Little things like Guest stars don't bother me, and even knowing somebody is going to die in an episode, but, I don't want to ruin the surprise the first time by knowing who it is.

There's a certain enjoyment you get out of rewatching something, knowing all the twists, by being able to better see the set up for stuff you is coming, and maybe you ahdn't noticed before, but, there's another certain enjoyment you get being surprised by all the twists the first time.

Yeah I'd agree with this. I love posting in the Who forum, but I've really started to shy away when a new episode is due, because you know what, I want to be surprised, and not only that, I don't want my own preconceptions to cloud the episode before I've even seen it. That said spoilers don't always ruin things for me. I might have known what was coming with the revelation about River, but it still managed to send shivers down my spine.

I dodn't understand people who want to be spoiled about everything. UK soaps and the media are especially bad for this. I don't know why anyone watches anymore given how fully plots are discussed days and weeks in advance of episodes actually airing.