Seriously though, people freak out about spoilers. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. There’s this feeling that it’s someone else’s fault that you kept reading after something said “spoiler alert” or that you were on Twitter the night some show aired…
Listen guys, I get it, but it’s 2016. You should know by now that people on social media can’t help themselves. Get off of Twitter until you watch the show. And we have got to come up with some generally agreed upon time frame upon completion of which we all get to talk about it. Like…is it too early to talk about the ending of Titanic?
Has someone already mapped this out? I’d love to know.
4 replies on “Spoilers!”
Spoilers are forever a perplexing topic. This is your spoiler alert to read the rest of this, as I’ll be spoiling new Star Wars.
So one thing I can’t help but wonder is when Han being Kylo Ren’s father is allowed to be stated publicly (or if it’s allowed now). You say it jokingly in the description of this comic, but it’s true: Some Spoilers are so far gone that it’s almost always appropriate. My prototypical example is Vader being Luke’s father. That’s so widely known that you can say it without spoiling it. I was born in 1995, and I think it’s fair to say that I learned Vader was Luke’s father before I saw the movies. I know I’m only one person’s experience, but I wouldn’t say that this tarnished with my experience of the original trilogy. It’s just so widely known that it’s impossible to avoid, and is probably something I would’ve otherwise considered while watching it. I don’t think there’s a legitimate ‘threshold’ to something like that. For example, I think it would be unruly of me to spoil the end of Ender’s Game if you haven’t read [or seen] it. I attribute this to Ender’s Game being not as ‘huge’ a piece of media as Star Wars or Harry Potter (spoiler alert, Snape kills Dumbledore, but you knew that because everyone knows that). The name of a concept or idea that’s so well known, we’re allowed to assume others are aware without first inquiring is called a… Meme. That’s right, the term has been bastardized to be about Internet Inside Jokes, but it’s the same idea. If I call reference to a meme, chances are you’re familiar with it just because it’s one of those things that ‘everyone knows,’ which is the exact same idea behind these Spoilers. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve answered many questions with this wall of text, but I hope I’ve added to the conversation some.
Exactly. Where do we draw the line? DVD release? 5 years? Do we need spoiler warnings on book reports in school about Moby Dick?
Spoilers are forever a perplexing topic. This is your spoiler alert to read the rest of this, as I’ll be spoiling new Star Wars.
So one thing I can’t help but wonder is when Han being Kylo Ren’s father is allowed to be stated publicly (or if it’s allowed now). You say it jokingly in the description of this comic, but it’s true: Some Spoilers are so far gone that it’s almost always appropriate. My prototypical example is Vader being Luke’s father. That’s so widely known that you can say it without spoiling it. I was born in 1995, and I think it’s fair to say that I learned Vader was Luke’s father before I saw the movies. I know I’m only one person’s experience, but I wouldn’t say that this tarnished with my experience of the original trilogy. It’s just so widely known that it’s impossible to avoid, and is probably something I would’ve otherwise considered while watching it. I don’t think there’s a legitimate ‘threshold’ to something like that. For example, I think it would be unruly of me to spoil the end of Ender’s Game if you haven’t read [or seen] it. I attribute this to Ender’s Game being not as ‘huge’ a piece of media as Star Wars or Harry Potter (spoiler alert, Snape kills Dumbledore, but you knew that because everyone knows that). The name of a concept or idea that’s so well known, we’re allowed to assume others are aware without first inquiring is called a… Meme. That’s right, the term has been bastardized to be about Internet Inside Jokes, but it’s the same idea. If I call reference to a meme, chances are you’re familiar with it just because it’s one of those things that ‘everyone knows,’ which is the exact same idea behind these Spoilers. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve answered many questions with this wall of text, but I hope I’ve added to the conversation some.
Exactly. Where do we draw the line? DVD release? 5 years? Do we need spoiler warnings on book reports in school about Moby Dick?