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edenfallingI have been thinking about spoilers and my varying reactions to them.
When dealing with books, I am almost always of the opinion that the way a story gets from A to B is more important (and generally more interesting) than having B come as a complete surprise. This doesn't mean I seek spoilers out, though, because I prefer to read a book when I read it, not beforehand, and also because anticipating future plot developments and how they might fit together is not part of my particular approach to being fannish.
There are a few series and/or authors, however, who rely more heavily on plot twists than others, and for them, I do actively avoid reading other people's reviews and reaction posts until I have read the book/s in question myself. (Jim Butcher is one of those authors, for example.) But even then, if I stumble across spoilers by accident, I am not very bothered -- because hey, the book's still there, waiting for me to read. :-)
For visual media, however, I prefer to read lots of reviews and meta before watching. I tend to watch shows years behind everyone else (and to watch movies on DVD rather than in theaters), because I want to know that I am not going to get ambushed by things. I think this is related to my issues with visual media in general -- the inability to skim past upsetting parts, and the way watching "real" people (or even cartoon people) in real time magnifies not only my sympathetic embarrassment squick, but my discomfort at emotional turmoil in general, and also the shaky adrenaline rush I get when characters are in physical peril. I really, really want to know beforehand if anything bad is going to happen, so I can brace for it.
And, you know, even if I know all the plot twists, I still haven't seen and heard the actors deliver the lines and bring the story to life. So as with books, the show's still there, waiting for me to watch. It's just that now I know where the dragons are lurking. And forewarned is forearmed. :-)
...
This post brought to you by episodes 7 and 8 of White Collar ("Free Fall" and "Hard Sell"), which wrung me out even with relatively detailed foreknowledge. I can only imagine what watching them as they aired would have done to me. And this is a fluffy show!
When dealing with books, I am almost always of the opinion that the way a story gets from A to B is more important (and generally more interesting) than having B come as a complete surprise. This doesn't mean I seek spoilers out, though, because I prefer to read a book when I read it, not beforehand, and also because anticipating future plot developments and how they might fit together is not part of my particular approach to being fannish.
There are a few series and/or authors, however, who rely more heavily on plot twists than others, and for them, I do actively avoid reading other people's reviews and reaction posts until I have read the book/s in question myself. (Jim Butcher is one of those authors, for example.) But even then, if I stumble across spoilers by accident, I am not very bothered -- because hey, the book's still there, waiting for me to read. :-)
For visual media, however, I prefer to read lots of reviews and meta before watching. I tend to watch shows years behind everyone else (and to watch movies on DVD rather than in theaters), because I want to know that I am not going to get ambushed by things. I think this is related to my issues with visual media in general -- the inability to skim past upsetting parts, and the way watching "real" people (or even cartoon people) in real time magnifies not only my sympathetic embarrassment squick, but my discomfort at emotional turmoil in general, and also the shaky adrenaline rush I get when characters are in physical peril. I really, really want to know beforehand if anything bad is going to happen, so I can brace for it.
And, you know, even if I know all the plot twists, I still haven't seen and heard the actors deliver the lines and bring the story to life. So as with books, the show's still there, waiting for me to watch. It's just that now I know where the dragons are lurking. And forewarned is forearmed. :-)
...
This post brought to you by episodes 7 and 8 of White Collar ("Free Fall" and "Hard Sell"), which wrung me out even with relatively detailed foreknowledge. I can only imagine what watching them as they aired would have done to me. And this is a fluffy show!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-24 12:34 pm (UTC)<i>I think this is related to my issues with visual media in general -- the inability to skim past upsetting parts, and the way watching "real" people (or even cartoon people) in real time magnifies not only my sympathetic embarrassment squick, but my discomfort at emotional turmoil in general, and also the shaky adrenaline rush I get when characters are in physical peril. I really, really want to know beforehand if anything bad is going to happen, so I can brace for it.</i>
Yes, yes, exactly! I really can't stand watching suspenseful TV or movies, I always need to know what happens ahead of time. I'm so visually-oriented that I get really wound up in visual media and it can get quite overwhelming. I don't see movies in the theatre much because the screens are always huge and the sound is surround. Nice for some, not for me. Mind you, seeing Star Trek in Imax format was cool, but only because I'd seen it twice already and knew what was coming, even if it was many times larger than previously.
On spoilering yourself beforehand, I find that fan-made wikis are really good for this, even better than Wikipedia, which is usually super-vague for TV summaries. I use them for watching Criminal Minds and it works quite well.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-24 12:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-25 04:38 am (UTC)Interestingly, I am really not visually oriented -- I almost never visualize anything from books, my writing is extremely lacking in visual description unless I make a pointed effort, I can hardly ever identify regular customers from my coworkers' visual descriptions of them, etc. -- so it's funny that you and I have such similar reactions to the overwhelming immersive rush of visual media. I wonder why that is?
Ooh, fan wikis! That's a really good thought -- thanks!