Spoilers (2 of 2)

In the last article, I said that spoilers don’t spoil a story itself, suggesting that, were that the case, reading a story all the way through would spoil it.

Once we’ve finished reading something, we’ve heard all the secrets and had everything revealed to us. But, judging and reflecting on a story itself (as a whole) is best done after we know the whole thing. If knowing the whole story ruined it, the task of reading would be Sisyphean indeed.

Search your feelings, you know life is boring and repetitive!

This, however, does not mean that only mindless, sensual hedonists object to spoilers. We aren’t just missing out on a thrill. The fact that spoilers don’t ruin stories as objects of consideration doesn’t mean that our engagement of them as dramatic works isn’t diminished by knowing things beforehand.

Spoilers (1 of 2)

So, what exactly am I spoiling when I tell you (presuming you were, until recently, a mountain dwelling hermit or one of the other 7 billion people who might not be familiar with movies made in North America 37 years ago) that Darth Vader is Luke's father? The surprise, obviously. Like letting slip that we didn't forget your birthday, and everyone is waiting at your mom's house to leap out and shout, "Surprise!" when you walk through the door, I have short-circuited the shock of revelation. Rather than being confronted, suddenly, with something that radically alters your view of the situation, kicking your mind into high gear as it scrambles to integrate this new thing you’ve learned into a coherent view of what’s happening right now, I’ve prepared you beforehand. So, when you hear Darth Vader say, “I am your father,” (or everyone shout “Surprise!”) you’re ready for it. You’ve already adjusted to the situation before it happened.

Noooo! I haven't seen that one yet!

In many an area of life, this is rightly considered a good thing, this preparation beforehand.