SPOILER ALERT!

By
Elwood J. Blues
 – January 21, 2010Posted in: Books, Comics, Essential Reading, Features, Movies, Pop Culture, Spotlight, TV
SPOILER ALERT!

In this age of the internet, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and all other forms of instant media it becomes harder and harder to avoid spoilers for your favorite TV shows, movies, comics, etc. I’ve been taken to task more than once for blurting out something on any of the above social medias that ruined someone else’s enjoyment of what I was watching. So I’m here today to discuss my thoughts on the matter.

I’ve been around the internet long enough to remember the days of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), and also the long, long ago when you had to watch TV shows the day they aired, or shortly after if you recorded the show on your VCR (Google it, children). Discussions were held live and in person amongst others who had seen it. Trade publications were still running a few days to a week behind on reviews, casting news, and plot points. Spoilers, as they are known now, weren’t really as big an issue.

It’s a different world now. DVRs and “time-shifting” allow the viewer to watch on their own schedule. Websites like Hulu are airing more and more first-run shows everyday, and most of the major networks put new shows up for viewing on their own websites as well. DVD and Blu-Ray sets for entire seasons or complete series are getting progressively less expensive. It’s almost so you don’t need cable anymore to be able to watch anything you want.

So what should the new rules be regarding spoilers? Nevermind the fact that what constitutes a “spoiler” is fluid and subjective, based on the opinion of the person who feels spoiled.

Back in the days of Television Without Pity – a site I used to frequent a lot – their forums were strictly moderated. Spoilers were allowed in certain areas only, and anything else was deleted. Discussion of new TV episodes were allowed only after they had aired live (on the East Coast), and forums were locked down to prevent early chit-chat. The concept was simple, though: Once the show went “live” it was fair game for open discussion. If you didn’t want to hear about it, you didn’t go in those forums.

This is pretty much where I land still. If the show has aired on television, people are going to talk about it. This is common sense. If you don’t want anything ruined for you, that’s YOUR responsibility to avoid arenas where people might be talking about it. Simple, right?

I’m willing to concede in the DVR age that a 24-hour moratorium might be prudent, but anyone who’s spent more than five minutes on the internet knows that 99% of the time that won’t be strictly observed. I get just as frustrated as anyone with reading East Coast tweets on shows I can’t watch for three hours, but they’re there. I can’t fix it, so I accept it.

I read a lot of entertainment/pop culture blogs and websites. I read a lot of trade publications and magazines. I’m on Twitter constantly. Spoilers are simply a fact of life, and it’s the individual’s personal responsibility to find a way to avoid them in whatever manner suits them. However, if I’m watching a show on my DVR that aired four days ago, and I tweet about it in detail? Oh, well. If I’ve waited three years to catch up on a TV show via DVD sets, I not only fully expect to know a great deal about the show and its story prior to viewing, but I’ll not censor my reactions to it either.

The same rules can be applied to movies and comics, too. Not everyone goes to the theater on a regular basis, and I’m one of those people. I tend to wait for DVD on just about everything. It’s safe to say that by the time I get around to watching a movie I’ve heard/read enough about it to know just about everything. I don’t find this takes away from my enjoyment of the film in any way; it just is.

Does this mean I’m going to lash out at anyone who spoils the film as they walk out of the theater? No. They’ve seen it. It’s out in the world. It’s fair game.

Besides, what a spoiler is depends on the movie is. If you get bent out of shape when I tell you that the boat sinks at the end of “Titanic” – something that is historical and documented real-life fact – you’ve got bigger problems than some mouthy douchebag in your twitter stream.

Comics, on the other hand, can be the worst medium for spoilers. They just fly around all day on CBR and Newsarama, usually from the writers and artists themselves. The forums are always lit up with speculation, and constant updates from whatever conventions are going on at the time make avoiding spoilers impossible with anything less than a complete cone of silence. Especially for the readers that “wait for the trade.” As a comic book retailer, I try to stay up on current stories and news about the industry, so spoilers don’t even register with me anymore.

I don’t know what, if any, solution there is to this. My bottom line is, and will remain, that spoiling anything before it is available for the masses is inexcusable. Once the media in question hits the airwaves, big screens, or bookshelves however, it becomes our individual responsibility to avoid spoilers (both giving and receiving).

If you don’t want to know, don’t read about it. That’s what I do.

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About the Author

Elwood J. Blues is both an Editor and Author for Pop Bunker. From his listed residence at 1060 West Addison, Elwood spends a great deal of time and effort getting people addicted to comic books at The Comic Stop (Everett Branch), and is the Media Guest Coordinator for the Emerald City Comicon. Look for Elwood to sound off on all manner of things, from TV to Movies to Comics to Music. He's nothing if not opinionated. You may follow Elwood on Twitter, if you're so inclined. He's On A Mission From God.