MsMary wrote:
Orlion wrote:MsMary wrote:What constitutes taking a show too seriously? And what makes you think it's only Americans who do it? I don't see any evidence that Americans are the only ones who wish to avoid spoilers.
When you are worried about "spoilers" from a show like Doctor Who, you are taking it too seriously. I understand that we do not know if the Doctor will succeed... there are times I believe the Daleks will finally gain the upperhand... and we certainly NEVER know when the Doctor is going to regenerate weeks in advance:roll: Doctor Who is fun as Doctor Who, there's no need to pretend that it is this masterpiece of plot development and suspense... because it is not, and one does a disservice to it when they treat it as such.
See, I disagree with you here. Yes, we do know the Doctor will always succeed in the end and the Doctor's regeneration to the next Doctor is always announced well in advance, but we don't know how these things will happen. And frankly, I find it more fun to be surprised by the various plot developments that lead to the ending of the story, whether or not the show is some great masterpiece, so I do avoid spoilers. I like to be surprised when I watch an episode of a show for the first time, and I often am. It adds to my enjoyment.
And this is not strictly an American thing or a thing of any other particular national or ethnic group. I communicate with a lot of people from all over who avoid spoilers for a similar reason that I do. And some who don't (including Americans) because they either don't care or they would rather know in advance what is coming.
In fact, I was amused to read that Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, who have both been show runners and script writers for Doctor Who,
try to avoid spoilers for each others' episodes.
That's interesting, even as it is somewhat incomprehensible to me
Allow me to explain: one of the biggest appeals shows like Dr. Who, Star Trek, Quantum Leap, Keeping up Appearences, Father Ted, etc. have to me is that with the exception of some multi-episode story lines, I can enjoy a random episode (or story, in the Case of Dr. Who) without worrying about missing anything. I don't have to catch up on five seasons, I just have to watch whatever episode I happen to get my mittens on! And why would we want to ruin that with worries about spoilers? Should one watch all the surviving episodes of classic Dr. Who before the new incarnation spoils Daleks, Cybermen, Davros, The Master, etc? Not at all, because it is not necessary! (only the Tom Baker episodes are required viewing
)
But I will stand corrected at assuming this obsession with spoilers is merely American.
Orlion wrote:MsMary wrote:Do you avoid spoilers in a book?
Only because I read books others do not. I knew everything about A Song of Ice and Fire before I read the first three books (those fans don't care who they hurt
) and I still found them enjoyable. Spoilers rarely spoil good pieces of literature.... after all, you never here someone say: spoiler alert! Dr Jekyll is really Mr. Hyde!
Okay, I'll grant you that spoilers won't spoil a good piece of literature. But that doesn't mean I need to go out of my way to find out about the book before I read it. Even if a book is well-known or talked about on the web, I avoid finding out about it or reading spoilers if I think I'm going to read it because, again, I like to be surprised by plot developments.
No issues here.
Even though the details of the Sherlock Holmes stories are well-known, I avoided talk about the BBC Show "Sherlock" till I had seen the episodes, because I didn't know how Moffat and Gatiss would write the episodes to give them a modern twist. And I'm glad I did, because, having re-watched the shows, you don't get the same impact of surprise when you know what's coming.
Funny you should mention that, I walked in on some friends watching the final 15 minutes of the third episode of the third season. Now, keep in mind I haven't watched the second season, so the friends were all like, "No! You can't watch this! It'll spoil it!" To which I replied, "Piss off!" and watched it anyway. For me, it did not ruin the experience, but neither would I mention casually. I do have SOME tact.
I will say I do draw the line at avoiding spoilers in the case of movies and TV shows made from books I am very familiar with, like Ender's Game, Harry Potter, or a Game of Thrones.
Obviously, not everyone cares about spoilers, and you seem to be one of those people. Good for you. I can't quibble with that.
Indeed, good for me!
But don't disparage those who do. And no need to make false generalizations by attributing it to only one group of people when there's actually no evidence that the generalization is accurate.
I do not mind a healthy avoidance of spoilers, say like what you have. What bothers me is when EVERYTHING is considered a spoiler... I won't actively reveal secrets, but if one were to get stressed out that the most recent episode of the Big Bang Theory is going to be spoiled because they can't watch it immediately, I might advise that one take a
Fist wrote:That doesn't mean you get to ruin my first viewing of anything!
Well, with Star Trek I really don't need to a lot of the time... the shows do it just fine on their own
for me. 
