Tuesday 29 January 2013

Review: Les Miserables

A film that may just be longer than the French Revolution itself, Tom Hooper's adaptation of the hit musical is tipped for every award going. Spoilers ahead (but come on the book is over a century old people...)

Poster from here

Friday 25 January 2013

Why I love Spoilers: A response article


A while back our own beloved Daisy penned an article on how much she hates spoilers and ever since then I have been planning my rebuttal because however much I adore her I disagree whole heartedly. Not only do I not mind spoilers I actively seek them out. I flip to the last few pages of a book, I go online and check out synopses of every episode of my favourite TV shows before they’re aired and I love to know every twist and cliff hanger weeks in advance.
But why? Some would argue that the pleasure in watching a film or TV show or reading a book is getting to the end, watching the story unfold in front of you. Who wants to ruin that by know what’s going to happen. Raise your hands fellow spoiler lovers!
For me I think part of it is that really while I’m desperate to know what’s going to happen, seeing how it happens is just as important so I never feel that I’ve lost something by finding out ahead of the movie that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father (sorry to the one person who didn’t know that but if you didn’t know then you probably weren’t interested or you live under a rock and then certainly aren’t able to read this so all is well). Also I have to confess to both extreme nosiness and impatience, which together are a volatile combination that means I don’t deal with suspense very well.
I have tried very hard in the past to be strict with myself. I was a victim of the same Harry Potter spoiler that Daisy mentioned in her article and up until that point (I was about ¾ of the way through the book) I hadn’t so much as skimmed ahead a few pages. Needless to say my self-control was not rewarded.  I do agree with Daisy that spoiling something for someone else isn’t fair because this does boil down to personal choice. I love having everything laid out before me but I wouldn’t go and inform the friend who watches the same shows as I do if she wants to be surprised.
Maybe the reason that so many of us choose to spoil things for ourselves is that really and truly we don’t like surprises. We want to be safe and secure when we watch television because it’s a relaxing pastime and who wants all that tension.
For me the website TV Tropes (which does cover up spoilers so you have to highlight them to see them) and Spoiler TV were my gateway drugs into fictional foresight so if you are on Team “Spoilers Are Ace” I would check them out and find out who gets killed, who gets married, who’s been sleeping with their long lost dog and who changes allegiances two episodes/chapters before the epic battle where that character bites the dust.

Thursday 3 January 2013