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carrobin

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:40 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC

I sometimes get bogus emails "from" my niece or someone I haven't heard from in years, with an ad enclosed. Somehow a name is pulled out of my past email to get me to open and read this "weight loss plan" or whatever is being sold. That could be what's happening.

Joe Vitus

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 10:01 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

Quite possibly. I'm sorry I can't remember Ehle's partner's name. But I thought he had kept the page up as a memorial, and assumed it was somehow related to that. It was just an odd blip and then I forgot about it until I read Billy's comment.

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bartist

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 2:28 pm

Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6945 Location: Black Hills

This weirdness is awfully close to Hallowe'en.

Meanwhile in the Arctic, another case is made against spoilers...

https://www.foxnews.com/world/antarctic-scientist-stabbed-colleague-on-remote-research-station-because-he-kept-tell-him-the-endings-of-books-report

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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.

carrobin

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:44 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC

Stephen Colbert mentioned that on tonight's show. He said his sympathy was with the stabber.

Joe Vitus

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:27 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

I'm all for spoilers. In fact, research shows people enjoy a story more if they know the ending. Even before I knew about that research, I found the issue of spoiler obsessions silly.

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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.

-Topher

billyweeds

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:45 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City

Joe Vitus wrote:

I'm all for spoilers. In fact, research shows people enjoy a story more if they know the ending. Even before I knew about that research, I found the issue of spoiler obsessions silly.

I strenuously disagree. SPOILER ALERTS are necessary. Nothing ruins a story more for me than knowing the ending. Of course, I can enjoy a movie a second time after finding out how it ends, but that's for a totally different reason. Then I can appreciate other things about it. As well as admiring the skill it took to put an intricate story together.

gromit

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:16 am

Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9008 Location: Shanghai

I don't really worry about it because even if I heard what the ending was, I'll have forgotten by the time I see the film or read the book. Plus I enjoy the storytelling process, so i don't try to figure out what will happen next or guess the ending. i like the flow of a story. And the ending isn't too important for me.

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Joe Vitus

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 4:18 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

billyweeds wrote:

Joe Vitus wrote:

I'm all for spoilers. In fact, research shows people enjoy a story more if they know the ending. Even before I knew about that research, I found the issue of spoiler obsessions silly.

I acknowledge you are an exception, but science is science. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797611417007

_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.

-Topher

Joe Vitus

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 4:19 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

gromit wrote:

This happens to me a lot, too. But I'm also talking about those people who are spoiler-phobic about every development of the plot, not just the ending. I find it very silly.

_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.

-Topher

Syd

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:24 pm

Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12892 Location: Norman, Oklahoma

My ex-girlfriend was mad because I mentioned something in Grimm that happened in the first five minutes of the episode. She assumed it was a major spoiler.

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bartist

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:19 pm

Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6945 Location: Black Hills

I generally object to disclosure of a Big Reveal, when it does deprive the viewer of that moment of exquisite shock that's possible if they aren't familiar with a certain type of "reality isn't what you think it is" twist. Planet of the Apes. The Sixth Sense. All those Phil Dick inspired plots, like The Matrix. Occurrence at Owl Creek. Lulu on the Bridge. Unreliable Narrator tropes. Etc. I don't think most viewers, if they like suspenseful genre films, much appreciate having the suspense and mysteriousness tampered with by a spoilery person. Guess I'm voting for the knife here.

Joe, the Sage study you linked has multiple flaws, including a skewed sample population, and choice of literary works (Chekhov, for example) that would be less harmed by spoilers than the film examples I was thinking of.

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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.

Joe Vitus

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:47 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

It passed the peer review and publication stage, so I'm not discounting it.

I still think spoiler-phobia is silly.

_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.

-Topher

bartist

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:19 am

Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6945 Location: Black Hills

As someone with training in cognitive science, I am going to skip a long boring rant on the pitfalls of such studies (even peer-reviewed) and just say that when you are a college student who is going to read Chekhov, you may have some idea where his stories tend to go. When you are not familiar with, to give a concrete example, M. Night Shyamalan, and you watch a movie about a peculiar 18th century village, you may not expect that it's actually a preserve outside of exurban Philadelphia that planes and helicopters have been directed not to fly over. "The Village" is not a great movie, but I think most people who watched it from a more-or-less naive perspective would not have welcomed that information and I wouldn't call their feelings on the matter "obsessive." So, I humbly invite you to consider that example (or substitute a plot twist that you like better, that really blew your mind?) and perhaps not condemn as "silly" everyone of us who declines spoilers.

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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.

Joe Vitus

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:45 pm

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston

The payoff for protecting spoilers is pretty minimal. One viewing of "oh my gosh." It's every viewing after that that proves the most rewarding.

I would agree that there's a spectrum. I was kinda bugged when the AV Club gave away the "surprise" that occurs about mid-way through Laura, specifically because it's a delicious moment that only works if you don't know it's going to happen. But that's pretty small reward considering what you get from movies you already know and ruminate about.

_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.

-Topher

bartist

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:48 pm

Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6945 Location: Black Hills

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/americans-would-feel-safer-if-a-huge-caravan-of-angry-white-men-left-the-country

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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.

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