I was reading a message board thread tonight in relation to a film I am highly anticipating (if you know me at all you certainly know to which film I am referring). On that thread one of the posters basically put out there the ending of said film. He put it in spoiler tags, so it wasn't visible unless you clicked on a button to make it so. But it was still there for all to see. Thankfully, said poster deleted this spoiler before I could even have a chance to look at it. I am very glad for that.
I know I have a horrible habit of wanting to know how a film ends or key points of a film long before it is released in theaters. For each film in the Star Wars prequels, I knew pretty much how they went long before their release. I knew Rachel died in The Dark Knight months before seeing it. And I knew all about the top spinning in Inception before plunking down my $10 to see it. The point is I have a problem and I think it is one that many others in fan nation have as well. We are addicted to spoilers.
There are many sites out there that cater to our unique addiction. They function to show and tell us all the important details of the upcoming film we love months in advance. But they do not do so all at once. No, like any good drug dealer they give it to us alittle at a time. A set photo here, movie poster there, tidbit of casting there, and ultimately, at some point, spoilers about the film's story itself. By the time the release date has come the average spoiler addict already knows all the important points of the movie they are excited to see. Despite this or perhaps because of it, they still give Hollywood their hard earned money for said film. But are robbed of the experience of seeing the film fresh.
Now I grant it is not all the web sites faults. Many of these sites are run by addicts just like us, people who love film and enjoy reporting on the development of films. But there is also the question of who truly has the control of information and the ability to exercise it. It is the studios of course. The studios are the ones truly pulling the strings. They are the man behind the curtain. Using the expert skills of highly trained marketing individuals, the studios methodically plan when and how they are gonna release information or images from a film. They plan when they are gonna allow the bloggers from these sites to visit the sets of their films and control what they see and are allowed to talk about after. The studios are like the big boss, to borrow a mob analogy, with the web sites functioning as lieutenants, following orders but also sometimes going off on their own. And when they do, the studios come in with their lawyers and put the sites back in line.
Really, it all comes to down to money. It all comes down to Box Office and the efforts of the studios all boil down to that singular goal. They want to build up buzz for a film and create awareness of the film with John Q. Moviegoer. It is much like politics. You have the diehards of said property, character, or director. These diehards will be there opening day no matter what. I am a diehard when it comes to Batman. There is little that would prevent me from wanting to see a Batman film. Then there are the casual movie goers, these are like the independents in politics. The casual movie goer is just looking to be entertained. They are not, most likely, a fan of the character or film in question. They are just looking for distraction. And then you have the last group, the detractors. The detractors have little interest in the film in question and, in truth, probably won't see it no matter what the studio throws at them. These people can't be won. So the studio does not even try. Their aim is to first relieve the concerns of the diehards and get them fired up about the film. Then, concentrate their efforts on the casual moviegoer and convince them to see the film as well through TV spots and posters.
So you have the pushers, the movie websites, and the big bosses, the studios. Then you come back to us, the film buffs and film geeks who are the addicts. We are truly our own worst enemies sometimes and our own addictive behavior can grow to obsessive levels. Take set photos for example. Someone on the crew of a highly anticipated film snaps a photo of a set, character, costume, or object and posts it online. This photo gets spread like wildfire to all of the film websites. Bloggers on those sites take time to break down the photo and speculate what it may mean individually and generally in relation to the overall plot of said film. We, the addicts, then read into the photo and start making judgements on the film based on that photo and what we "think" it means. These judgments can sometimes lead to us deciding to see or not to see a film.
Now I know that is not truly a tragic thing , not on the scale of poverty or real life tragedy. I do have perspective on this. It is merely unfortunate in that we allow our obsession to drive us to seek out photos and spoiler filled information and then leap to false conclusions on the film those items are related to. Recently someone, who will remain nameless, came on a message board for a particular film. He declared to all on the board that if X character died in the film he would not see it. His comment was a tad overdramatic and this individual was eventually called out for his statement by others on the board. But this gentleman's declaration shows how we film fans can ultimately ruin a movie for ourselves and leap to conclusions that effect our view of that film.
It is foolish for this gentleman to swear off this movie, that he clearly is a fan of, based on the unfounded reports of X character's death. The director of said film has not come out and stated X character was going to be killed. No one involved with the production has come out and said it as well. So this gentleman is basing his judgment on said film off of questionable information. It is a foolish way to operate and is certainly is not what the director of this film would want. He or she would want their film to be judged as a whole, as a complete story, and not based off rumors and snippets of information, taken out of context.
Even though we criticize them for it, I think filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and JJ Abrams are right in their approach to their films. Perhaps it is better to guard the secrets with a lock and key, only allowing a very small amount of them to leak out before your film is released. Maybe they are right to fight so adamantly to keep the plots of their films secret and allow people to be truly surprised at what they see. Directors, like these two, do deserve the right to not have their films spoiled. Sometimes they are successful, often times however they are not.
I remember when I was a kid there was none of this sort of spoiler seeking. When I went to see a film, I only knew what the commercials about the film told me. I did not know what character died or what X character looked like. I didn't know how the film ended or what twists or turns the film had it store for me. I went in pretty unspoiled and probably, to be honest, enjoyed the film more as a result.
But of course when I was young there was no internet, no movie websites, no dedicated bloggers putting out spoilers every day. No, word of mouth was king then. The only way you knew how a film went is if one of your friends or family spoiled it for you. Now just hit google and type up the film in question and the spoilers can be found easily.
Of course, I do readily admit there is a certain level of hypocrisy in me writing this as this very site engages in the same activities as the web sites I kind of admonished above. I am aware of this fact and know I am guilty of playing both sides on this, addict and supplier. The truth is that this is unlikely to change. I am an addict through and through. I enjoy it too much to give it up now. No, I know spoilers are here to stay and the landscape of film reporting will remain this way for some time. I just wanted to write about how strange that landscape is and how being spoiler obsessed is really an addiction. One that leads to the loss of truly be surprised by a film anymore.
I miss being surprised by a film. The feeling of not knowing where it was gonna take you and then being elated, shocked, dumbfounded, when you finally reach your destination. That is what film is really about and is something we have lost in the internet age. That is why as of the date and time of this writing I have decided I will avoid any further spoilers on a film I am very much excited to see. I will no longer visit message boards related to said film, no longer click on links related to this film, and will avoid writing about it on here as well. I want to go into the film knowing as little as I can and see if I can recapture that feeling of genuine surprise. I know too much already and some damage is done. But I also feel the director of this film still has plenty of surprises left for me as well.
This is something I would encourage you, all my fellow addicts, to do. Find a film you are completely, insanely, excited for and avoid all spoilers on it up until its release. Feel free to still seek out and read spoilers on any other film you have an interest in. But avoid at all costs spoilers on your chosen film. Then you can have one film a year that you go into pure and allow yourself to enjoy the ride, good or bad. That might just be the best way to manage our addiction I think. The one film model may be our AA.
What do you think spoiler addicts?
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