What exactly is a spoiler to you?

[Darth Palpatine]

How far do you go to avoid any information that could "spoil" they movie for you?

 

For instance, today there is a headline on yahoo about Kylo Ren's backstory being hinted. I don't want to read it because, while it might not be a plot spoiler, I personally want to find it out during the movie. Even what Luke looks like. We haven't seen him, in full costume, yet.... And I want to keep it that way. I'm hoping that my first glimpse of him is at the theater. Which means I need to avoid all star wars articles and images from now on, including the trailers that will come out between now and the release.

[Darth Krawlie]

Anything not officially released by Lucasfilm/Disney.

 

That doesn't mean I won't read it if it's a spoiler. I take each on a case by case basis if I'm gonna spoil myself or not.

[Driver]

I said this over and over when we had this debate recently-- but I still don't get how a spoiler being official or unofficial makes a difference. If you are spoiler free, why would it suddenly be okay if the powers that be give it?

 

I'm personally trying to walk a line. I say spoilers don't effect my enjoyment, and to be honest, there hasn't been a movie to actually surprise me since the Sixth Sense. I don't actively avoid TFA spoilers, but I'm also not seeking them out like a detective. I know I don't have the strength to resist them outright, but I can't think of any way to try and be a kid when this movie comes out without holding something back.

 

THAT said, they've done a pretty good job of keeping a lot of it under wraps. I think almost everything we've seen is from the first act, with maybe a few random glimpses of other parts-- but most of this movie is still pretty shrouded.

[Lucas1138]

Anything not officially released by Lucasfilm/Disney.

 

That doesn't mean I won't read it if it's a spoiler. I take each on a case by case basis if I'm gonna spoil myself or not.

Word for word, really.

[Darth Palpatine]

I guess I think back to tpm. Something as subtle as Maul lighting the double lightsaber in the teaser didn't ruin my "enjoyment" of the flick, but in hindsight I wish I didn't know about it until I saw the movie. I guess I look at it this way. The two trailers so far got me excited, especially seeing Han. So instead of taking in little bits of excitement before the movie, I'd rather get the whole dose at the first viewing.

 

If that makes any sense.

[Zerimar Nyliram]

To use an example outside of Star Wars, many trailers for the game Mortal Kombat X were showing characters' Fatalities, sometimes in their entirety. To me, this is a spoiler given how central Fatalities are to the enjoyment of the Mortal Kombat franchise, even if they have little or nothing to do with the plot. As such, I try to avoid such videos as I would rather discover these things once I play the game for myself.

 

I can't really think of anything for the new Disney Wars films because, as I'm sure you all know, I don't care for the rebooted universe and have no interest in the new films aside from mild idle curiosity, because they aren't canon to me. But to think back on the prequels, I did not care for how Darth Vader was shown in the trailers for The Phantom Menace, even though we all knew where Anakin's story was heading. I would rather have seen them handle the film's marketing in a similar way to how they handled the Palpatine/Darth Sidious issue: we all knew it, and the producers and marketers, as well as all of Lucas Film, knew that we knew. Still, up until the final film was released, Palpatine and Sidious we treated as two different characters in all of Lucas Film's official media, printed and online, and EU writers were forbidden from "revealing" it to us ahead of time (even though we already knew). It was kind of fun pretending not to know what was already known, and anticipating how it would be revealed.

 

If the Vader reveal had been handled the same way, I think it would have been a far more enjoyable marketing campaign.

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

 

Anything not officially released by Lucasfilm/Disney.

 

That doesn't mean I won't read it if it's a spoiler. I take each on a case by case basis if I'm gonna spoil myself or not.

Word for word, really.

 

Thirded.

[Darth Palpatine]

I don't feel that these are "reboot" films, just a continuing story. I never got into the EU stuff, so these are new stories about the characters I enjoy.

 

I completely agree about how Vader was handled in the prequels. I felt all along that Vader should have been introduced as a different character and kept his true identity a "secret" for story telling purposes. As you said, just like the way Palpatine was handled. We all knew he was the emperor, but they kept it hidden most of the movies. Having Anakin put on the suit ruins that element of the original movies, from a story telling point of view.

[Driver]

 

 

 

 

Anything not officially released by Lucasfilm/Disney.

 

That doesn't mean I won't read it if it's a spoiler. I take each on a case by case basis if I'm gonna spoil myself or not.

Word for word, really.

Thirded.

Will one of you please answer my question? I do NOT get it.

[Darth Krawlie]

It's just everyone's own set of personal boundaries, I guess. But if officially announced things are spoilers, how far does that go? Character names? Cast lists? Locations? Episode subtitle? THE VERY EXISTENCE OF THE MOVIE?

[Driver]

But it means you're trusting the marketing of a movie to not spoil your enjoyment... like in the other thread where we mention Qui-Gon's death being spoiled by the soundtrack. That was an official release of information-- but that was a pretty big spoiler.

 

My point is that Lucasfilm can spoil you just as easily as a spy pic. If you want to be surprised when you see the movie, why is their scoop any different?

 

More recent case in point-- the marketing department on the new Terminator movie decide to reveal the big act 2 twist that John Conner was a machine in their freaking trailer. The writers and director were livid.

[Darth Krawlie]

Well, I'm not spoiler free and never intended to be, so I guess I can't answer you satisfactorily.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

Spoilers to me are basically when either a copy of a script is leaked, or when someone who has seen the movie posts plot points. When bits of information are released without context, to me that is more of a teaser.

[Zerimar Nyliram]

I don't feel that these are "reboot" films, just a continuing story. I never got into the EU stuff, so these are new stories about the characters I enjoy.

I'm referring to the films themselves; I am referring to the entire canon. By themselves, of course the films are sequels. But when looking at the entire franchise, the films made up maybe 4% of the canon. Dumping the 96% and replacing it with other stories is big enough to be considered a reboot in my book.

 

But that wasn't the focus of my post, and I've spoken extensively on this many times. If it pleases everyone here, I'd rather the point I made about what I consider to be spoilers be taken into consideration.

[ShadowDog]

To me a "spoiler" is anything that would actually change your viewing experience if you knew it before the movie began. The Sixth Sense is a good example. The Usual Suspects. Fight Club. So to me its the big reveals, not what Luke looks like or a photo of a never before seen droid.

 

Obviously the bar is different for everybody. And I think the other factor is how important the franchise is to you. Personally I fell out of love with Star Wars a while back. It was a passionate love affair back in the day but somewhere along the way we realized we wanted different things, we always argued, etc. When we see each other at a party we don't run the other way, but its only polite small talk. So ... that being the case if I did actually get spoiled that would be okay.

 

If I got spolied on something I'm passionate about I'd lose it. And the bar for what I'd consider a spoiler would be lower.

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

 

 

 

Anything not officially released by Lucasfilm/Disney.

 

That doesn't mean I won't read it if it's a spoiler. I take each on a case by case basis if I'm gonna spoil myself or not.

Word for word, really.

Thirded.

Will one of you please answer my question? I do NOT get it.

 

Frankly, because I trust LFL and Abrams more than random Joes on the internet to know what pieces of information would affect my enjoyment of the film. Yes, there are the occasional fuck ups, but I don't believe they'd be that foolish when it comes to The Force Awakens. They have been way too secretive about it to mess that up with a soundtrack listing.

 

Also, it's just practical. There's no way you're going to be able to avoid officially released information and still be able to look at social media. Even people who are anti-spoiler (like me) were tweeting the EW pics and info like crazy yesterday. I can, however, avoid leaks and rumors by choosing who to follow, turning off Twitter images on my phone, etc. I don't go on Tumblr anymore because it's not safe from idiots not tagging their spoilers.

[Lucas1138]

Mara and I are pretty similar there. I'm giving LFL/Disney/everyone the benefit of the doubt until they screw it up in some way (e.g., soundtrack listing "KYLO REN KILLS LEIA FINN IS OBI-WAN'S GRANDSON").

 

For me, it's the big story beats I try to avoid (often failing at that, I would say I'm pretty spoiled. I know a lot more plot details than I'd like, including a big one, but shit happens).

 

I get your confusion, Seth. It's just one of those things that can be so radically different person to person.

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

I also don't want to read rumors because I still think most of them are full of shit. I'd like to go into the movie without preconceptions of what is/isn't going to happen.

 

Not to mention, reading a scene can be way different than watching one. If I'd heard the second teaser would end with Han saying "Chewie, we're home!" (as was reported on one site), I would have rolled my eyes at how cheesy it sounded. But hearing Harrison-as-Han say it came off much, much differently.

[Driver]

Welp, a pic of Luke is out and it is not official. Good luck dodging it when it's on the front page of every blog. It showed up on my Facebook feed. Turned on my phone, there it was.

[Doze]

Story plots are my line for spoilers. I don't have a problem with the pics. So lets say( and I am making this up, This is not a real rumor or spoiler of any kind) there is a pic of R2 being blown up. That would not not mean anything. That would not mean anything until there is a plot point that puts it in to the right frame of mind.

[Ryn]

"Nein Nunb" was a mail-away for ROTJ without any explanation what his capacity was in the new film. Like the picture leaks (and photos of action figures that popped up) that kinda thing is borderline for me, but are moreso pieces of a puzzle I can't completely put together so I'm not too worried about truly being spoiled. But if key plot points are revealed (soundtrack titles, Rey "Solo" on cards, etc) I'm pretty disappointed.

[monkeygirl]

But it means you're trusting the marketing of a movie to not spoil your enjoyment...

That's why I thought everyone does this-it isn't, Jacob? If Y, are there studios/directors/producers/marketers you trust more than others in this regard?

[DANA-kin Skywalker]

My opinion/concern on the definition spoilers is similar to that of Driver's. A true spoiler constitutes any form of information that either directly or indirectly informs the viewer/listener of any nontrivial plot-point or character info. Basically if it tells you anything specific about the movie it's a spoiler. If it indirectly gives you enough information that you can figure out something about the movie, it's a spoiler. If it yells you something about an intended surprise/plot twist, it's not only a spoiler but a movie ruining event, and the person responsible should be: fired/sued/arrested/punched/be written a firm letter to, as applicable.

 

It doesn't matter who it's confirmed by, Disney or otherwise because like Driver pointed out, you are putting your enjoyment in the hands of a marketing team who decides to release information based on what they think will generate interest to paying customers. Artistic integrity is not their number one priority. Case and point: terminator Genisys trailer. It showed way too much plot-related material, throwing all tension out the window.

 

I realize my definition is broad, so broad in fact that it encompasses pretty much everything. Well, if you want to experience everything in the theatre without any precognition, that's what it is.

[DANA-kin Skywalker]

Story plots are my line for spoilers. I don't have a problem with the pics. So lets say( and I am making this up, This is not a real rumor or spoiler of any kind) there is a pic of R2 being blown up. That would not not mean anything. That would not mean anything until there is a plot point that puts it in to the right frame of mind.

With pictures...it depends with me. In your example it's fine because like you said there's no real context. Let me make one up where it does matter.

 

Suppose we see a picture of Leia with a light saber ignited and at the ready. And it's red. Then we watch the movie and...lo and behold...SHE is the main villain. That picture ruined the big reveal and the surprise plot twist because that picture planted that idea in our minds already. I would HATE to have seen that picture.

 

I guess what it comes down to is how much you want to know. Some people love to know things ahead of time, some like to show off, some like to try to figure things out for themselves before they happen without prior knowledge (me) and others like to turn their brain off and just enjoy the movie.

[Guest]

It seems like I watch trailers for most movies and then never need to watch the movie because I've seen a great 2 minute summary with all the best parts. Given that, I think most studios are trying to ruin my enjoyment.