From NYT
Spoiler alert
Even in today’s low-formality world, one point of basic civility stands unchallenged: You don’t mention pivotal plot points to someone who hasn’t seen a TV show or movie yet. Doing so, the thinking goes, will ruin that person’s enjoyment.
But new research suggests that this may not be true. Researchers found that audiences who knew the outcome of a television show were just as immersed in the narrative as viewers who went in cold, and they reported the same levels of engagement and enjoyment.
That’s perhaps because humans are hard-wired not just to take in facts but also to lose themselves in stories and characters — even when they know the ending. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/o…a072a1fdce011f
May be paywalled.
Where there's a twist, like in The Others, then knowing the twist will spoil it. But for most films, knowing the plot doesn't ruin it for me - if it did, I wouldn't be able to re-watch films.
Bah! It's paywalled and I'm a cheapo...
I think it depends on the individual. I absolutely HATE it if someone gives away even the slightest details of something I've been looking forward to watching or a book I've been looking forward to reading. It does seem to affect my enjoyment of it.
I've had something worse happen than having a book spoiled.
A "friend" of mine saw me reading a book and said "how far are you into it?" "Such and such has just happened" I replied.
"So Secondary Character hasn't been shot by Tertiary Character yet"?
"What, no, ah you've ruined it"
Turns out nobody got shot, I spent the rest of the book waiting for something to happen which didn't happen. Very mean thing to do.
This explains, then, why I always read the last few pages of a book first...then I can relax and enjoy the characters and plot without racing through to the end to find out what happened.
I just got this tape from Blockbuster. What do you mean there's a twist in it???????????
I see your Harry Potter and I one-up you one: the Titanic sinks.
I love reading the endings of stories before reading the whole book. I also do that on EF threads all the time.
Far too many EFers don’t read the first posts.
Pfft, that's nothing!
I heard some folks nail a carpenter to a cross and then a whole religion starts because of it!
i don't really mind as long as it is not an 'unexpected twist' that is spoiled.
And what’s the ending ... ?
The Carpenter Strikes Back!
Yes, it's coming back for a second time.
i think it ends in a musical number
You do continue to stay engaged and enjoy the show/book, but the surprise of the moment it’s just gone when somebody has already spoiled you a pivotal point.
Holy sh**... that's funny.