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Okay, so I said something in a recent video that annoyed some of you. Now, my offense was spoiling a sitcom that ended over three years ago, and then snarkily implying that spoilers aren’t that big of a deal. And if that little spoiler ruined your enjoyment of it, I think that’s more of a you problem than a me problem. Now, we’ve talked before about why spoilers might not be that bad, specifically in the context of a video on the Clone Wars. It’s also our only video that includes two hosts on screen, and our only video where one of those hosts just slaps the absolute out of the other one. And because you asked, here’s that clip again in slow motion.
So, did hearing that someone was getting slapped before you saw the clip make it any less satisfying to watch Helen absolutely wreck my face? But maybe for some of you, knowing that the slap was going to happen took all the surprise out of it. In other words, I spoiled it.
Today, as spoilers are more of a cultural crime than ever before, we wanted to take a step back and ask: are spoilers actually a thing? Is the term a complete misnomer? What does the concept of a spoiler mean on a philosophical level? Do they really ruin the viewer experience or is good art unspoilable? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Are We Wrong About Spoilers? Spoilers Ahead for our most passionate argument about why your biggest fear is a cultural Boogeyman.
Now, let’s start by defining spoiler. According to one definition, a spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any narrative that reveals plot elements with the implication that the experience of discovering the plot naturally, as the Creator intended it, has been spoiled. Typically, the details of the conclusion of the plot, including the climax and ending, are especially regarded as spoiler material.
In practice, most spoilers look like accidentally telling someone that [insert surprise character] made a surprise appearance in the chickens movie or that [insert plot twist] was actually all along, or that the main character, played by [insert actor], has [insert thing]. The internet seems to get the most upset about are surprises, reveals, and twists, more so than specific plot mechanics, character motivations, or creative filmmaking choices. Because who cares about that stuff anyways?
While spoilers have become a ubiquitous part of modern discourse, it’s actually a recent concept. According to Vox writer Emily St. James, for most of human history, the idea of a spoiler would have felt rather curious. Many of the Great Greek tragedies announced in their opening dialogue exactly what’s going to happen, and Shakespeare’s plays were largely built atop historical tales and famous stories many in his audience would have been familiar with. The great novels of the 18th and 19th centuries often simply stated outright in chapter names what happened in those chapters. Also in the Bible, like when Jesus dies, we know he’s coming back. You know it. We wouldn’t if he didn’t come back. Why would we be at Mass right now? Why would we be doing all this if he didn’t come back? But hey, it’s still a compelling narrative at times, I guess.
In 1976, George Lucas straight up explained the plot of Star Wars to the New York Times a full year before the film came out. Unless you think I’m exaggerating, here’s what he said:
Inevitably, the adventurers fall foul of Governor Tarkin and his Death Star, a huge space station the size of a small moon on which the princess is imprisoned. And just as inevitably, it all comes right in the last reel: the emperor’s secret weapon is destroyed, the princess is rescued, and the forces of evil routed in a final spaceship dogfight conducted along World War II lines. The sinister black knight is allowed to slink away, however, to scheme again another day, thereby keeping the door open for a possible sequel.
Spoiler Alert: Star Wars still became one of the most successful and influential films of all time. And this is all to say nothing of trailers for older films, which would often reveal basically the entire plot.
Arguably, modern spoilers are only a problem because of the way we consume media today. ollywood and the Mind by Michael Mckay which is all about the history of method acting and how it has been used by some of the greatest actors of our time to bring their characters to life and how it’s been used to make some of the greatest films of all time but it seems like the spoiler culture is making it harder and harder for actors to do their jobs and that’s a real shame
Indeed, whether it’s been about Harry Potter movies or Game of Thrones or superhero movies produced by the Walt Disney corporation, that we’ve been worried about spoilers ever since and as Saint James notes, most of the spoiler anxiety is centered around Media made by Disney and other Mega corporations in particular the MCU. She writes, “Most of the time, the biggest conversations around spoilers center on enormous franchises where the range of possible outcomes is incredibly narrow. To preserve an untainted experience is a weird act of faith that the rules of the world you love are still the rules of the world you love.”
The biggest example of this was the massive no spoilers campaign around the release of Avengers Endgame. “Don’t spoil the Endgame” which the filmmakers and cast have begged the public to go an entire weekend without spoiling the movie, which is honestly kind of funny because we all knew more or less what was going to happen and we all knew that all the folks who disappeared in Infinity War were coming back because they were all the most famous ones.
Um and you especially knew this if you read any of the comics but at the same time Marvel Studios was taping Tom Holland’s mouth shut. Actual scientific geniuses were doing research that showed our worries about spoilers were maybe just kinda made up.
Also, shout it out in the comments if one of your kinks would involve duct taping Tom Holland’s mouth shut. One of these folks, UC San Diego psychology professor Nicholas Christenfeld, found that spoiling stories actually helps people enjoy them. In his study, participants were read stories from three genres; literary stories, mystery stories, and ironic twist stories with half of them hearing the stories with no prior context and half having them accidentally spoiled by the researcher.
According to Christenfeld, “What we found remarkably was if you spoil stories they actually enjoy them more.” He went on to say that across all three genres, spoilers actually were enhancers, a term is wrong when reflecting on these results. He points out that of course many of us watch romantic comedies knowing damn well that the unlikely couple is going to end up together or detective movies knowing that the protagonist is definitely going to solve the case.
This led Christenfeld to say that really we’re not watching these things for the ending. People watch these movies more than once happily and often with increasing pleasure. Now personally, I experienced a spoiler recently when I was traveling during a very pivotal episode of Succession and had a paradigm shifting event spoiled for me on Twitter, but then I watched it and by the end I was pretty sure it was one of the best episodes of TV I had seen in years.
If anything, knowing about the thing helped me not worry about mysterious twists and instead just focus on the actors performances and their emotional stakes. But there might be one way that spoilers are making things objectively worse and that’s how they’re affecting the very production of film and television. Our obsession with not being spoiled and consuming content as fast as possible has led studios to try and avoid spoilers at all costs, even if this means modifying scripts or not letting cast and crew know what’s going on while they’re on set.
This is Brie Larson describing what it’s like as an actor in the spoiler adverse MCU ecosystem:
I flew to Atlanta for my first day on Endgame. I had no idea what I was shooting, what the movie was. I didn’t know if anybody else was in a scene with me. I didn’t know anything and it’s not until you show up that you get your pages for the day but you only get your part so it was like a scene that was completely black redacted and then just my one line.
Hearing this quote, I can’t help but think about this book I read recently called The Method on Hollywood and the Mind by Michael Mckay, which is all about the history of method acting and how it has been used by some of the greatest actors of our time to bring their characters to life and how it’s been used to make some of the greatest films of all time. But it seems like the spoiler culture is making it harder and harder for actors to do their jobs and that’s a real shame.