I see this a lot on Facebook: "I'm recording insert name of TV show/ballgame here. Please don't post any spoilers." Now, on one hand, I understand that. I hate when I record something and I find out how it ends before I can watch it. But on the other hand, if you don't want spoilers, should you really be ONLINE? Sure, fifteen years ago you could get away with recording a ballgame or TV show and be able to watch it without knowing the outcome (as long as you didn't talk to anyone). But today, with everything from Facebook to Twitter to blogs to smart phones, you could be walking to your car and some 12 year old with an iPhone could announce the outcome of a game you are recording. I thought about that today when I announced to pretty much everyone on the 5th floor of "the big pink building" (what I call my office) that the Rangers had won their game. After I said it, I was like, oops, hope no one was recording it. But everyone in my department knows I'm a Rangers fan (and that I would be following it) so I assumed if they didn't want to know, they would have told me earlier not to announce any score. :) My sweet boss gave me her radio so I could listen to the game at my desk (how cool is that). I had people emailing me all afternoon for updates on the game. Sorry, I really thought I would write a post and not mention the Rangers. One of these days you'll get through a post of mine Rangers free! I promise!
Anyways, back to my topic on spoilers. So, at what point can you stop saying "spoiler alert" for movies? Six month after a movie comes out? A year? Two years? Some friends and I were talking about the movie The Sixth Sense recently and someone in our group mentioned they hadn't seen it (of course they mentioned that AFTER we had ruined the ending). Now, this movie came out in 1999. ELEVEN years ago. Is a "spoiler alert" necessary? I figure if you haven't seen the movie by now, you really have no interest. I know, you are wondering if this train of thought has a caboose (fits in perfectly with my rambling title today, doesn't it?) I'm just curious what other people think. Should you not post the final score of a game or the ending of a TV show on your Facebook page because someone might not have seen it? Should it be their responsibility to just stay offline until they watch it? At what point can you talk about a movie and not feel the need to say, "oh spoiler alert" just in case someone hasn't seen it? Comment, email, tweet. I'm curious what you think! :)
Yes folks, that is what is going through my head today. My mind is a scary place to be sometimes. Actually, most of the time! Oh, real quick, I want to thank everyone for the sweet and encouraging comments, emails, tweets and Facebook messages over the past few days. I am having a better day and hopefully my week is looking up. Y'all make me smile!! **hugs**
**Spoiler Alerts** (just to be on the safe side)
-Darth Vader is Luke's father (The Empire Strikes Back)
-Bruce Willis is dead (The Sixth Sense)
-Dil is a man (The Crying Game)
-The boat sinks (Titanic)
-Soylent Green is people! (Soylent Green)
-He was on earth all along (Planet of the Apes)
-Rosebud is a sled (Citizen Kane)
-They shoot the dog at the end (Old Yeller)
Congrats again to the Rangers! I try not to write spoilers about anything recent, everything else is off the table.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I didn't see the ending of "The Sixth Sense" coming...creepy movie!
ReplyDeleteI personally don't mind a few spoilers...mostly because I'm an impatient person and can't wait to know what happens! My favorite site for a while was "spoiler fix" (I think that was the name of it)! :)
Your spoiler alerts had me cracking up!! I'm glad you're back :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I think I can post whatever I want to. If you don't want to know, don't go online!
I go online LOOKING for spoilers sometimes. I believe that life is too short for sad ending movies. When friends recommend a movie to me I ask questions similar to the following: Does the guy get the girl? Does the dog die? Does anyone die? Are there any young female widows involved? Is there a happy ending? If any of those answers are unfavorable, I skip it.
ReplyDeleteI also like to know if there's a recommended bailout spot. Like Steel Magnolias: turn it off right after the wedding shower with the monster motif. In Old Yeller, turn it off after Yeller saves them from the wolf at the bonfire.
I think, these days, if you don't want to be spoiled on shows, you should pretty much stay offline until you've seen them. This was a huge debate on a friend's facebook page because she posted something about The Biggest Loser while the episode was airing.... you would have thought she had killed the person's dog or something.
ReplyDeleteYes, you're in California and have to wait 3 hours. So either don't read status updates for a few hours or get over it! (That was pretty much my comment to her. Make my friends cry and my mean side comes out. lol)
I've had many games spoiled for me due to facebook or twitter. But, I learned my lesson hard way and now stay clear when I know I want to see the game myself. I figure if it's already happened(games, tv shows, etc.), it's going to be out there and you can't expect others not to talk about it.
ReplyDelete