Am I the only person who doesn't mind spoilers?

[Recursion]

Seriously, the terror about spoilers out there is weird to me. Am I the only person who prefers to go in knowing the plot ahead of time?

Years ago somebody said about Shallow Hal, of all movies, that she didn't want to spoil the ending for me. I said, "Let me guess: he sees how she really looks, loves her anyways, and then she magically becomes thin the way he's been seeing her despite the fact that he remains a total schlub, and they live happily ever after."

"How did you guess that?"

"Because I've seen a movie before in my life."

But, anyways, going into an episode knowing which characters are going to die at least for me helps me understand the writers' decisions better and look more closely at what the last things they had that character do and say are, and I prefer that to going in blind.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. who knows....you may just be!

I still love surprises!

[madaboutharry]

2. I don't mind spoilers either.

Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2019, 09:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Sometimes if I am watching something on Netflix or Prime, after a bit I will actually go to the last few minutes and watch the ending and then go watch the rest of the movie or program. I am sure some find that weird. But, is that all that different from watching the same movie 10 times? Or reading the same book over again?

It is strange to me that spoilers can result in such strong emotional reactions.

[Recursion]

3. Good writers don't need surprise to build suspense

I forget who said it, but it's a great point: when you're watching Babe, you know he's going to win the shepherding contest. You know this for a fact; there's no other way that movie can end. The suspense is about what it's going to cost him to do that.

[samnsara]

4. I always ask folks if the animal in the film gets stolen, tortured, lost, orphaned or dies.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

6. yes - or any women abused or chased by a killer - I dont do cannibalism either and I dont care how

acclaimed or good its supposed to be.

[BlueTsunami2018]

5. Probably not the only one.

But it really annoys me. I want the true emotional reaction when the event happens, whether it’s a death, a heroic action or a major plot reveal. Going in already knowing what’s going to happen lessens the desired impact. I avoid spoilers like the plague. I don’t even watch trailers before movies or series start, I want to go in cold and let what happens move me if it can.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

7. Yeah -more and more these days I want to know going in whether it will be worth my time

or not. There are a lot of choices and life is short, and I don't have two hours to waste. I even try to avoid the ones that start out promising but then the plot falls apart and the ending is crap. Usually I can get a sense of this from the reviews without too much of it being given away I do appreciate the custom of stating "spoiler alert" if there is one.

The best ones you can watch again and again just to enjoy how well done the story-telling is. I recently watched Apollo 13 for probably the 3rd or 4th time - even the first time I knew how it would end (spoiler alert: they get back) but it was so much fun to see how they did it.

[sarge43]

8. No, you're not.

Like you, I prefer to know the general plot ahead of time and for the same reasons.

I do believe with a new work like Endgame or GoT episodes that the title and spoiler alert should be posted for good manner's sake. The time period is poster's choice. I'd say with a film, once it's gone to DVD/streaming alerts are no longer necessary.

"Because I've seen a movie before ..."

Yeah, according to one of my lit prof, there are only seven basic plots. Especially with movies, the genre generally tells you exactly what you will get.

RomCom: Cute meet, complications, LHEA. Smart ass gay friend of Our Heroine extra.

Action or War: Slomo explosions and a lot of dead guards and extras, Our Hero's buddy or lover gets hurt or killed.

Drama: Not everyone is going to get what they want for Christmas. Suburban or Woody Allen drama: Way too much angst and adultery.

Slasher: A lot of dead teenagers played by actors in their 20's and 30's who were too dumb to live anyway. Even though the one smart teenager, always a girl, stab, shot, sliced him into tiny pieces, burned the remains and threw them in a swamp, Slasher really isn't dead -- sequels yaknow.

Anything by Michael Bay or Mel Gibson: A butt load of noise, anachronisms and cliches

Any film, stage play or book that is over a year old, no alerts necessary. Protester needs to get out more. The Titanic sunk and Jack died. Move on.

[Recursion]

11. My professor for the Iliad loved that

He brought in a compilation VHS of the "suit-up" scene in every single action movie where the hero loads and checks and holsters all his guns, and then read the passage where Achilles puts his armor on.

[Cracklin Charlie]

9. Never bothers me.

I find that if I wanted to see something pre-spoiler...I still want to see it after.

[First Speaker]

10. Soylent Green is people...

[smirkymonkey]

12. I don't mind that much.

It's the quality of the movie that keeps me watching, not the "surprise" at the ending.

[kwassa]

13. 95% of movies are predictable. And suck.

It's how the movie is made rather than the plot line.

This is probably why I watch so few movies, or television shows. I get bored easily with things I've seen so many times before.

[Phentex]

15. I just told my husband that most murders take place in a parking garage...

because that's what the movies will have you believe.

[Phentex]

14. Movies no, sports yes...

don't tell me what happened about an Olympic event I haven't even had a chance to watch because of the time difference. Just don't.

[Coventina]

17. Agree on sports, but to me that's a whole different thing. n/t

[Coventina]

16. I don't mind spoilers either. People are stupid about them.

Did they go see "Titanic"?

Or any war film?

In my opinion, if a story depends on a surprise to be worth watching, it's a pretty weak story.

[hunter]

18. I deliberately seek them out.

It helps me decide if I want to see a movie or not.

I'll also flip to the last chapters of a long book if it begins to irritate me in some way. If it's a stupid ending I don't read the rest of the book.

I'd read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies and my only disappointment was whenever the movie imagery fell short of my own more vivid imagination, or when significant aspects of the story were left out.

I've read the synopsis of the latest Avenger's movie and sought out discussions full of spoilers. It's likely I'll be dragged out of my cave to see it soon by family who have already seen it at least once. So far I've seen about half the movies in this series. Most recently I enjoyed Black Panther and Captain Marvel.

[Recursion]

19. I liked the 20th Century Fox marvel movies more than the MCU ones

So, I've been like "yeah this is interesting but when is Deadpool 3 coming out?"

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Clearly from the responses here you're not the only one, but I prefer not

to have them.

I also never read ahead to the end of a book. Some people do, and often they'll say, it's so I can figure out if it's worth reading all the other pages. I don't really get that, but I enjoy being surprised. I can be somewhat easy to fool, although I am apparently the only person on the planet who knew EXACTLY what Charleton Heston was going to see right before he rounded that curve on the beach, and I knew exactly what the supposed twist was going to be in The Usual Suspects a good half hour before the end. But most of the time I'm fooled, and I sort of like that.

However, if you want a couple of plot spoilers to save you from having to read a book, I've got a couple. Cold Mountain was excellent until the final chapter, and then there is no way on god's green earth that I could buy that ending. Up to the last chapter it's remarkably good. So just don't bother with the final chapter. Oh, and as a consequence I've had zero interest in seeing the movie.

A recent popular book, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides was another that had a very disappointing ending for me. Scroll down for my plot spoiler
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Yet another unreliable narrator. It's a device that is being used a bit too often these days. Or maybe I just read too many novels. Gillian Flynn did it very well in Gone Girl. A lot of others, not so well.

[Apollo Zeus]

21. Gotta love/hate Joseph Campbell

for creating, or at least citing, a formulaic arc that gets used in 95% of movies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

While I agree in general with your post -- movies are so predictable that even the plot twists are predictable -- I do mind spoilers in the context of modern documentaries or a movie that plays the twist especially well on a first viewing like "Fight Club."

[Harker]

22. The butler did it. n/t

[hay rick]

23. I like to read the script before I go to a play.

I don't mind if I already know "the ending" or who gets killed when I go to see a movie. Knowing a little (or a lot) about the story in advance often helps me appreciate nuances that I would otherwise miss.

[Recursion]

30. That's a great way to put it

I don't want to spend brainspace asking "what's going on? what just happened?" I want to use that space appreciating the artistry.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

24. For the night is dark, and full of Game of Thrones spoilers.

[Doc_Technical]

25. "Rosebud" was his sled

or something that belonged
to S. A. Kane

[tblue37]

26. I look for them. Even when I read a book, I jump to the end to see how

things turn out.

I always read recaps of shows like Game of Thrones before watching the episode.

I read recaps of movies before going to them.

So, no, you aren't the only one.

[BeyondGeography]

27. If you're on the Internet you're asking to be spoiled

[Fresh_Start]

28. Don't mind spoilers...even watch the same movie more than one time if I like it

I also reread good books.

[nocoincidences]

29. For those of you who have strong dislikes,

like animals being hurt and certain kind of gore and violence, there is a great site that warns you ahead of time, called:

doesthedogdie.com

It was originally just for animal deaths, but when I looked just now it seems to have expanded to other uncomfortable situations that people would rather not see or at least be expecting.

[Cartoonist]

31. I'm cheap

Go ahead. Tell me all about a movie I will not buy a ticket to. (all of them)