Geeks On Film: No Spoilers Please!

Black Widow hates Spoilers too!

A few years ago, I used to enjoy spoilers of shows and movies. It wasn’t out of a need to be the first person to know the ending to a film, or the last five minutes of a tv shows finale. I just liked having the information. It’s not like I went around blurting out crucial plot points that some fans may be patiently waiting for. I just enjoyed them every now and then.

Nowadays it’s a whole different ballgame. Spoiling a films ending, such as the after credits sequence to Iron Man 2 (Don’t worry, no spoiler in the article), or revealing the final crucial minutes of a television show has gotten to the point of being silly. There’s no fun in it. Nobody wins anything, except maybe the satisfaction of being the first person outside of the creators of the show/film to know what’s going to happen next. I think our growing impatience with either waiting for a film’s release, or waiting for a tv show to end its season is ultimately ruining the initial impact of going into a film or show with as little information about it as possible.

More after the jump.

Last season’s Dexter had one of the most incredible, and heartbreaking finales of the shows four years on television. What made it work so well was that you didn’t know how it would end. In fact, that’s been the shows greatest strength. If you walk into the show blind, with no idea where it will take you, it ultimately rewards you for your patience.

Hopefully the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Inception will have the same effect. At this point there has only been two trailers and a couple of interviews here and there with Mr. Nolan. However, there hasn’t been a clear explanation as to what in the world is going on in the footage that’s been released. To be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way  because knowing too much beforehand would lead to me hypothesizing and building up on a story that isn’t mine, culminating in a bunch of disappointment because the end product was nothing how I imagined it.

When it comes to television, the biggest problem people have is a word I’ve used a few times already; patience. You see, now we have TV on DVD, Netflix, Hulu. It gives us the option to watch whatever we want, when we want, anywhere we want. All without that pesky waiting problem. While many people applaud this option, I have to say that I’m very much a fan of watching a show week to week, letting the show unfold as it is intended. This past December and January I watched Lost to catch up to the new season. While it was convenient to have the previous five seasons at my fingertips, I quickly suffered “Lost Fatigue”. Essentially I burned myself out on the show and it took longer to finish than I thought.

When the new season of Lost started, I enjoyed the fact that I got one episode a week, and then had to wait until next week for the next issue. It lets you think about the episode for a bit. Let’s it breathe before moving on to the next chapter of the saga.  As the show enters it’s final four episodes, Lost has entered a territory where there is nobody outside of the creators and actors who know how the show is going to finish up. While there are people who believe wholeheartedly that the show will deliver a satisfying conclusion, there are just as many people who have decided the show will in no way live up to it’s own hype and mythology. From here on out for those watching the show like I am, I think the best thing to do is realize that the creators have an idea of what to do and they’re seeing it to completion. Anything you may have thought or wanted to happen may very well not happen. At the end of the day, it is their show, not ours. No matter how much fan ficiton and online speculation we put into it.

I had made it a personal choice to not actively seek out spoilers for anything from here on out. I’ve found that my overall satisfaction of a show or movie came from my lack of information on it. Recent examples are the aforementioned Dexter, and the sci fi film District 9. I’ve encountered more hits than misses and I’m quite certain you won’t feel so bad dropping 10 bucks at the theater if you don’t watch every clip and read every forum post on the internet before going to the movies.

The question I’d like to leave with you, dear readers, is this; Have you found that knowing as little about a film or TV shows plot proved beneficial to your overall enjoyment? Or do you like to know what you’re getting into before spending your time and money? Also in answering this, please don’t spoil any shows or films for anyone.