Poll: How do you feel about people who intentionally spoil the ending of books/movies/tv shows for others?

Happened to me on the train with HP5. Two girls saw me reading it and then blurted out the ending. I wanted to kill them SO much. Fortunately, I made it through HP6 without being spoiled.

Is it just me, or have people gotten much more spoiler-phobic in the past few years?

I was discussing this phenomenon with a friend and he concluded that it's because the world is just that much more disappointing now and we want to hold on to whatever vestiges of hope we can muster for as long as we can.

I told him that he was being a disaffected dick and he didn't disagree. However, my initial observation still stands.

I think threatening to spoil a book is much more amusing than just spoiling it.� The person gets all panicy and crazy and begging-y but you have the control!� And no matter what you say, however untrue it is, it'll haunt them.

That said, I have never spoiled a book for someone, though I often spoil it for myself.� I don't like to be the person who is constantly paranoid.

You're right, I think people do seem to have gotten more spoiler-phobic in recent years. The only time spoilers have ever bothered me is in Agatha Christie/mystery books when I've read them and only because the real fun is in trying to figure out the puzzle yourself. :) It's rude for people to do but it doesn't really bother me that much.

but that wasn't intentional, was it? I mean, it's one thing to be talking and let something slip. it's quite another to do what this guy did. (yes, that video DOES contain HBP spoilers. don't view it if you haven't yet read the book and care about having it spoiled)

granted, I think the temptation wouldn't have been there for him had there not been so much secrecy and hype about spoilers. I mean, really, if you say 'DON'T SPOIL IT!' you're tempting some asshole to do just that.

so, no one has spoiled a hp book for me yet. but most of my friends treat reading as the ultimate chore, so they wait for the movies to find out what happens to our little wizard friend. which means they are WAY behind on plot twists. the other day, my friend mike calls me and says he was on some web site, innocently looking up unrelated things and someone just blurted it out. all i hear after an outraged pause......."was it true?".......

I ruined the ending of Star War Revenge of the Sith for everyone by pointing out that Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Muhahahahaha!

I'm so bad.

Oh yah, and I ruined Titantic by pointing out the boat sinks! I'm cruel like that.

"Intentionally" is the key here.
If someone lets something slip by accident (even a big thing) I'll cringe, be slightly disappointed, and then move on. To do it intentionally (assuming the recipient does not wish to know what happens) is just mean.

Oh, and since it's already come up a little. The reason I avoid spoilers is because I'll only have once chance to see the book (or movie) with fresh eyes. I like to see how well the author does with false leads and foreshadowing. When possible, I like to be surprised by something unexpected. If I could read the spoilers and then clear them from my mind while I'm reading, I wouldn't mind them, but until that happens, I like having one time when I can read the book with completely fresh eyes.

Dont tell me you gave away spoilers for Passion of the Christ!

Yeah, what he said. when you know the end you lose all the subtlety of clues and plot points. Like on first reading you'll note something but not know how important it'll be. If you're spoiled, you'll be like "oh! that's what makes this happen later" and it's just...it makes the journey have less anticipation.

Well said. I hadn't thought about it from a 'fresh eyes' perspective.� For me, the ending was always about the set-up for the next book, not about what happens in this one.

That does remind me of when Opie and Anthony handed out free t-shirts to a Star Wars Episode 1 line-up, and then proceeded to get the bullhorn out and spoil the entire plot of the movie.� The funny thing was their van got double-parked and they couldn't get out.� They had an army of Star Wars fans banging on their van.

omg is jesus a sled????five???

I've always hated it when people give away the endings to things (hell, I even hate it when authors or directors give away the endings at a point in the plot that I feel is too early for it), and that's true of others, too. If spoiler-phobia has always been there and just become more extreme or more visible in the past few years, perhaps it's because spoilers have become more visible? A few years ago, a lot of people could really only be spoiled by someone they knew personally who had already finished the book or seen the movie in question. But with online forums, journals, etc. becoming more popular, there are lots more opportunities for spoiling lots of people you don't know and for spreading spoilers, so maybe that makes people more defensive.

That's interesting... I remember in one of my lit. classes in college, during a discussion on Faulkner (Absalom, Absalom!), one kid said "any literature that relies on a surprise is flawed." The whole class just stopped - the room was silent for about 15 seconds. I've never been sure if I agreed with that statement, but I've sometimes thought of it as one of many possible criteria for separating entertainment from "serious literature" (if that's even a separation that needs to be made). And, I'll confess, when hanging out with snotty lit. scholars, I've occasionally been a little embarrassed by my taste for books that rely on surprises (and, by extension, of my serious distaste for being spoiled!).

But now your post has reminded me of the obvious - there is a great deal of skill and artistry that goes into creating a surprise, and being able to experience that process authentically is an important part of reading. I need be ashamed no more! :)

Not only that but...it's not strictly about surprises. Because if I'm reading about a couple characters who are in love, maybe. I don't think I'll be all that surprised at the end whether they stay together or not...neither's all that shocking. But if the author has succeeded at all in getting me invested in these characters and their lives...I'll want to know what happens and hold out hope for good things for them (or conversely, bad things for a villain)...Knowing ahead of time takes away from that and lessens my investment.� So...even if there's not a surprise in store, per se...it's wanting to see what happens in the end that draws me forward.

Well, there's a difference between relying on surprise and using surprise. To use movie examples, I didn't care much for The 6th Sense or Unbreakable because both movies were completely based upon their twist endings. Once I figured them out, there wasn't much else to watch for. I actually called the twist for The Village early on, and enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It had an interesting premise, and the surprise served the story, rather than the story serving the surprise.

Shock for the sake of shock never works well, but that doesn't mean that shock can't be good in the right story.

Of course, I'm also fairly outspoken about the complete lack of difference between "literature" and "entertainment". It's all entertainment. It doesn't matter of it's Shakespeare, Faulkner, Rowling, Nora Roberts, Vonnegut, Pynchon, or Jewel.

I'd go on, but we're already pretty far off topic ;-)

*snickers*

When has being off-topic mattered around here? *L* :-)

Yeah, exactly...HP6 was spoiled for me by someone's livejournal icon for crying out loud...I didn't expect that! I'm not going anywhere near the interenet when HP7 comes out.

Spoilphobia is nothing new. I can remember two very funny pop culture spoiler jokes.

In Peanuts Charlie Brown is all excited about seing Citizen Kane for the first time . Lucy says, "Rosebud is a sled."

In the Honeymooners Ralph and Alice have tickets to see the hottest whodunnit on broadway. Everyone is warned to not give away the ending. Alice's mother tells them, she knew right away it wasn't the husband who committed teh murder, it was the uncle.

Nortin said he'd use the ticket if Ralph doesn't want to go. When ralph said, "but you know the ending" Norton said, "I'll see teh show then 10 minutes before t he end I'll get up and walk out."

no, jesus was keyser soze!

D'oh, I know a bunch of people who claim to have figured out the surprise ending...I definitely was surprised but I think I would have liked it either way.� It was nifty.

I purposely asked someone to spoil HP6 for me so I wouldn't have to read it.

I don't mind HP, just not enough of a fan to actually read the next books [I lost interest after #4].. Don't mind knowing the plot, but don't care to go looking for it.

hello? Jesus isn't dead. He lives on the sixth floor of Chestnut Hill College.

That happened to me with Book V.

It was 12 hours after the release.

BookVI - well I went to look at the main spoiler that circulated.
the other spoiler was posted on LJdrama.org

OMG!!! The BOAT SINKS?!?!?!!?!!?!!?!?

O.o

http://www.ozyandmillie.org/

No, but I did ruin the sequel, Dawn of the Dead.