Comment Archives: Stories: Today
Re: “Do Spoilers Really Matter? The Relative Importance of Storytelling in Film”
If you don't care whether you already know what's going to happen in a film you're about to see for the first time, your soul may already be dead.
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
So if it weren't for your job, you wouldn't be here? You need a different job.
Re: “Do Spoilers Really Matter? The Relative Importance of Storytelling in Film”
A good film should be a series of surprises. They can come in several forms, such as jokes we didn't see coming, character choices we didn't expect, clever battle strategy, intellectual insights, or surprising developments in the narrative. Either way, on watching a film, we should not know what will come next, not precisely. Each little surprise in a movie is a moment that absorbs us that much more: when a character unexpectedly does the right (or wrong) thing, we learn that much more about the character and that our preconceptions may have even been wrong; or when a character in a thriller is unexpectedly killed, we realize this cinematic world is more dangerous than we expected. Shoot, I think the Joker in The Dark Knight is such a great character because of all of his little surprises. These little moments make a film more absorbing.
I think the reason that spoilers for major events are not terribly devastating to most film goers is because they only spoil one or two of the surprises held in the plot. Things that are not generally spoiled are the arc of the characters, clever quotes, cool action scenes, or small but pivotal actions. Since any good film (hopefully) has several surprises, it can afford to lose one or two of them, because the rest of the narrative should still be surprising enough to be absorbing.
That said, I despise spoilers. The big twist or surprising development that everyone felt the need to reveal was intended by the filmmakers to communicate an extremely important message within the context of the film. By spoiling that major event outside of the film's context, it seems to remove any invitation to consider the meaning of it. For example, finding out that Darth Vader is Luke's father shatters Luke's (and our's) notion that Luke is absolutely good and infallible. We see that the potential for Luke to turn to the dark side is inside of him (as well as the potential for Vader to turn to the light side). This detail was spoiled for me long before I saw SW:ESB, and it was only recently that I reflected on what the scene meant in the context of what came before and after. I have often found that when a major scene is spoiled for me, I am removed from the narrative of the film and shocked back to reality as I recognize what was spoiled prior. This seems to disrupt my flow of the context of the film and I see the scene outside of the events, and it's later that I have to go back and figure out what the scene is meant to convey (and not just feel shocked by it).
TL;DR: a good film should be a series of surprises. Although any good film should be able to hold up as an absorbing film with one or two of its large surprises spoiled, we are being robbed of the delivery of an important message within the context of the film.
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Re: “Stop Fucking Honking At Me!”
Turn right on reds if pedestrians are not walking.
A hot chick to stare at is no excuse for holding people up to their destination.