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 Forum index » Meta » Various & Sundry
The cult of spoiling
Moderators: Giskard, imbri, ndemeter
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skilletaudio
Unfettered


Joined: 17 Aug 2004
Posts: 515

 		The cult of spoiling
So I've been thinking.
Remember when that Harry Potter book came out, and every web site you went to, and every livejournal community, had some big ass 72pt text right there screaming "X KILLS Y IN THE HARRY POTTER BOOK"?

People were mad. The people who did the spoiling returned fire: "So? Harry Potter sucks."
People who didnt like the books backed up the spoilers. "So what, you shouldnt care so much about a book. xxx else is happening in the world and you're getting mad about a book"

That was pretty malicious. Now I didnt care that much about harry potter, but I would have liked to read the book. Something kinda bugged me about the whole episode, but I shrugged it off. "After all, it is just a book", I told myself.

Now, Final Fantasy 7 was a landmark game. Of course, in its years since, a group of people have arisen who have decided they dont like fact that a lot of people go nuts about FF7. Here comes a movie directly based on FF7 now. I decided that I wanted to wait until it was released in English to see it. I was sifting through a forum this morning, and BAM, in somebody's sig is a big graphic that says "X DIES IN ADVENT CHILDREN...OH, AND Y DIES IN XENOSAGA III."

Well, it seems its naturally a defense now. I immediately said "Well, I didnt need to enjoy that movie either, I guess." Then it hit me. Whats been bugging me about this cult of spoiling, if you will. I'll take you back 7 or 8 years.

A friend brings over his playstation, and says "You have to play this FF7 game." I start the disc, Im getting into the game, and he says. "Oh, just wait until
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Aeris dies.
."

I forgave him, but I noticed that basically, nothing that happened in that game was neat, or incredible, or moving, because all I was waiting for was the point where that would happen. Which should have been an emotional climax in the story, but instead it was just the fulfillment of a hollow prophecy. "Oh, okay, thats where X dies. Moving on."

Same thing with Advent Children. Same thing with Harry Potter. THe emotional crux of the story is blown away, and the entire exercise of participating in the story becomes a puppet show, hollow performance to fulfill the inevitable. Catharsis is gone.

THere is this growing sort of nihilism in the internet culture. Nothing happens, nothing matters. Hey, its just the internet. THe people on the internet arent real people. Hurt inflicted on the internet is just a joke, and if you arent laughing, then you're "taking it too seriously". People are hewing at the legs of caring and emotion through this digital medium. They are even deciding what you do and do not have a right to enjoy, by removing your right to anticipate. Anticipation took a backseat to acquisition once everything became downloadable months before it was supposed to be released, so if you are anticipating a story, or game, or movie, then you are a chump.

So, what am I getting at? I dont know, a vage feeling of disgust. Its more people than we like to think, actively trying to remove enjoyment from normal means of entertainment: movies, books, games. The goal is to have, to download, to acquire, not to experience. You cant "stay off the internet" to avoid spoilers to a movie, and someone is going to put a spoiler in your breakfast cereal. One more movie down, one more book gone. Hey, I didnt need to actually enjoy it. I still get to read the words, I still get to see the movie, so what if I know exactly what will happen at its emotional peak, right? Its about the acquisition of plot, to know what will happen, not to care about what will happen.

I am glad ARGs cannot be spoiled in such a way. There is no pirating of the ARG. No downloading an ARG screener. There is still an opportunity for true catharsis in ARGs...because Im finding more and more things that I've been looking forward to maliciously spoiled and turned into husks of entertainment.

And if theres any spoiler bandwagoners here who will be keen to tell me to "not take it so seriously, cuz its just a book/movie/whatever". Take your lack of care somewhere else. I dont care what you think of whatever the subject matter is, its not your right to decide what I can and cannot anticipate, and what I can and cannot choose to invest emotions in. We all need release, and the cult of spoiling is removing that, piece by piece. What do we do when there is no more books, movies or games to look forward to enjoying any more? Im finding myself caring less about these things because I know that if I do, someone will spoil the crap out of it.

Some day, you will care about something. You will wait for it. You will plan for it, get excited, and someone will come along and tell you the ending. Or maybe they already did, and you decided to do it to others.

So, what do you guys think? Should we stop caring about entertainment just because "it isnt important"?
What could possibly ever be done about the bullies in the internet sandbox?
Story is more important than people think sometimes. ARGs proved that.
Maybe I should just stay here and play those.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:11 am
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously

 		Re: The cult of spoiling
skilletaudio wrote:
There is this growing sort of nihilism in the internet culture. Nothing happens, nothing matters. Hey, its just the internet. THe people on the internet arent real people. Hurt inflicted on the internet is just a joke, and if you arent laughing, then you're "taking it too seriously". People are hewing at the legs of caring and emotion through this digital medium.


I certainly hope you haven't found that to be the case here. I would say that a community that has so much fun together, that raises money in a heartbeat to get a player who made a crucial difference in a game to the live event he can't afford to fly to on his own, that is delighted in each others' weddings and new jobs and babies and other triumphs, and that tries to be supportive in each others' difficult moments is anything but nihilistic. Smile And I'd say that we view one another very much as "real people."

skilletaudio wrote:
And if theres any spoiler bandwagoners here who will be keen to tell me to "not take it so seriously, cuz its just a book/movie/whatever".


I don't think you'll find anyone here who will tell you that.

There are different opinions and levels of caring about spoilers (and some of us, myself included, may occasionally be careless and say something we shouldn't), but I think everyone respects everyone else's right to enjoy entertainment in their own way, and I very much doubt anyone's going to tell you to stop taking it seriously.

I mean, this is why we have spoiler tags, and why we have an entirely separate chat channel (#ctu) for people who want to talk about TV shows in ways that may spoil them for others to go to, so that people in #unfiction are "safe" from spoilers.

Some day, you will care about something. You will wait for it. You will plan for it, get excited, and someone will come along and tell you the ending. Or maybe they already did, and you decided to do it to others.

skilletaudio wrote:
Maybe I should just stay here and play those.


Maybe you should. Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 2:59 pm
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Ozy_y2k
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 460
Location: Carmel, Indiana
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Dude, it's just entertainment. It doesn't matter.


^^ there, now that I've said it, no one else has to feel obligated to.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:01 pm
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Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where
Ozy_y2k wrote:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Dude, it's just entertainment. It doesn't matter.


^^ there, now that I've said it, no one else has to feel obligated to.


Ozy...I love you.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:25 pm
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Ozy_y2k
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 460
Location: Carmel, Indiana

 		Very Happy

Okay, but so to be serious for a second and attempt to address Mr. Audio's points with something other than my knee-jerk snark, I dunno if any author of entertainment would ever argue with a straight face that the sole enjoyment to be derived from his or her work is, or SHOULD be, that one moment of plot "reveal" which would be subject to spoiling. In fact, I think that if the "cult of spoiling" that you decry actually DOES have one largely positive and unintended aftereffect in today's entertainment culture, it is in teaching authors that overreliance on M. Night Shyamalan-style "twists" upon which an entire plot hinges, is the surest way to spell death for your enterprise.

Of course everyone's tastes are different. But I would rather read a book, or see a play, or play an ARG, which was LIGHT on "spoiler-able twists", and heavy on layered characterization, cumulative emotional resonance, and clever, deep writing, any day. That is the sort of stuff that just can't ever BE "spoilered to death". And, if more art is constructed more solidly, in defense against the spoilering principle, I'd say, all the better.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:35 pm
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Is not Chicago

 		Yes, but there are only so many plot arcs one can write for an ice princess with a soft spot for cabbages.
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Stories and dreams, crossing my palm like silver.

xbl gamertag: krystyn

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:59 pm
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Ozy_y2k
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 460
Location: Carmel, Indiana

 		Whaaaat?!?!? No, there are ENDLESS variations on that theme!! For example, there's the Hemingwayesque approach:

Quote:
She was a girl who was cold. Icy cold. She looked at the ice on the edge of the sea that was forming there. It reminded her of her. She chewed on a piece of cabbage as the lake froze over. Her dad told her she was icy once. Then he died. She never forgot that day. Oh Papa.


...or the Oprah's Book Club approach:

Quote:
The hot, passionate blood boiled close to the surface of her cool-to-the-touch skin as she slowly, sensually ran her hand along the jagged edge of the green leaf, soaking in the organic elements of the cabbage which teasingly drifted through her nostrils and fingertips as she was transported to that one moment in Tuscany, so many years ago, delerious on red vino and wrapped lusciously in the welcoming folds of a mink stole as the first sharp blasts of the autumn sun dappled their way across her alabaster visage.


....or the cyberpunk epic:

Quote:
A cabbage came across the sky, the color of wilted silicon, dead green like an old CRT Screen. IceJane's laser-rotoscoped eyes narrowed to a precision focus as she jacked into LeafSpace, feeling herself slip free from the constraints of her meat casing and reducing her reserved nature to a very tiny, tightly-controlled stream of ones and zeroes.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:06 pm
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Is not Chicago

 		/me send many jars of Nutella for that.

I'm so totally SPOILED for any future ice/cabbage stories, though.

Thanks a LOT.
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Stories and dreams, crossing my palm like silver.

xbl gamertag: krystyn

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:11 pm
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Ozy_y2k
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 460
Location: Carmel, Indiana

 		No, the *REAL* spoiler here is that it's actually...

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
lettuce


PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:14 pm
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ScarpeGrosse
Site Admin


Joined: 30 Nov 2002
Posts: 1678
Location: The Shiny Castle in the Sky, Full of Cotton Candy and Hazelnut Lattes
Ozy_y2k wrote:
No, the *REAL* spoiler here is that it's actually...

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
lettuce



/me cries

please, no! anything but that!
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:19 pm
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Dorkmaster
Unfictologist


Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 1328
Location: The People's Republic of Dork

 		Ozy... I... I... I bow before your comic genius.

Someday, when you're dead. I get your brain. I call dibs.
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"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." - PJ O'Rourke
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:24 pm
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Ozy_y2k
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 460
Location: Carmel, Indiana

 		Actually, if you want, you can have it NOW. I haven't used it in YEARS.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:55 pm
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously

 		*mwa*
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World Champion: Cruel 2B Kind

PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:23 pm
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Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where

 		tears...gimme some tears
Aw...sniffle...gawd...Ozy...you have significantly reduced the burden on my budget for artificial tears. All this laughing has *got* to be good for you.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:23 pm
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urthstripe
Entrenched


Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 1113
Location: Atlanta, GA

 		Oh, but, Ozy, you forgot the Faulkner approach.

Quote:
The cabbage, green like grass covered hills rolling endlessly as the ocean rolls waves towards the shore which is populated with children frolicking playfully with their mothers sitting under the umbrellas, purple and brown and polka-dotted, multicolored like the shells their children collected, which made the sound of the ocean when they put it up to their ears and listened hard like a poor man listens for hope which he can never find, hope that has been lost for ages destined never to be found again no matter how hard one searches, searches for hope like the ice princess, cold like no cold ever felt before in the stiff, hot air of Yoknapatawpha County, where the flowers wilt and the dust rises, where life is as good as death to the Junebug in the garden, glittering green in the harsh sunlight, death is as important as life, as important as the cabbage which the ice princess longs for like a billowing cloud of a smoke from a man's tobacco pipe longs for open air. My mother is a fish.


I'm afraid Ozy wins. I tried hard, though. This was just to vent my frustrations at Absalom, Absalom! Ok, I'm done.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:55 pm
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