But I do have to say that I watched last night's finale LOSTRAVAGANZA (as I've been calling it in my head) and while the story itself did not influence my subsequent dreaming, there were very meta elements in my dreams ABOUT watching the finale.
I also want to say that I fully respect people's requests to not openly discuss, or even make telling, even if oblique, references to (either the story itself or the reaction to the story), the finale. I feel the same way about many other Important! Pop Culture! Moments!
But there is a certain kind of entertainment consumer who are total wet blankets on areas where discussion does happen, and those are
the overzealous spoiler police. Mary Elizabeth Williams articulates this phenomenon pretty well in an article over on Salon.com.
Bottom line:
1) It is consummately douchey to intentionally reveal plot points and story elements that are meant to be enjoyed as a surprise to the audience.
2)It is definitely inconsiderate to not take reasonable care when discussing such stories among those who might not have had an opportunity to enjoy such revelations for themselves, within a reasonable period of time.
3) However, it is also very douchey to enter what should be considered "safe spaces" for such discussions and rant about spoilers. It should be assumed that a discussion board with the topic "What did you think about [insert name of story] finale?!?" will, in fact, contain information on the finale, and you are a d-bag if you insert yourself into these conversations to weep and wail about how now everything is ruined for you forever because OMG the story is now spoiled for you.
I think all of the people I associate with abide by this etiquette pretty naturally. I just had to laugh when this morning, imdb.com posted a discussion question on its Facebook page asking what people thought of the LOST finale, obviously inviting commenters to discuss it, and lo and behold, someone a couple dozen responses down cried out "Don't spoil it for me! I haven't seen it yet!" To which the response was mostly "Then why are you reading comments discussing the outcomes, idiot?"
I would be disappointed if somebody spoiled the ending or any plot details for me before I got there. It would not be so much fun to watch the show after that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I did seek out more info last night after I couldn't sleep after seeing the finale, and all I could really find was a lot of speculation that I didn't even agree with. :)
Woops. Didn't mean to delete my previous follow up comment entirely but I did.
ReplyDelete@Sillyliss: You are smart enough to not go to websites where spoilers would be expected unless you actually are seeking them out, though!
I sometimes forget during the day that I'm behind on some shows that are more enjoyable with that element of surprise, and I mindlessly navigate to some of my usual sites. I wrote an email to TWoP requesting (I think previously I said "complaining" but I did try to make it a polite request) last month that they take a little more care in how much information is revealed right on the home page.
Previously, I'd felt comfortable going there to read about some shows even if I was a day or two behind on others, because nothing was revealed right on the home page, but then for a while that changed and I had some unpleasant spoilery surprises. I lodged my suggestion, but also realized that I'm responsible for avoiding information on shows that have already aired, and I'm not entitled to have my time-shifting catered to! However, that does mean that I end up missing posts and articles that I normally would have been reading during the times I avoid those websites. It is a trade off and I have that choice!