PSA: Spoilers Suck, Jerks

The Fault in Our Stars movie came out and somehow the film became an enormous, teenage-pop-culture express. I suppose it's a blend of amazing story and great marketing. Anyway, it was everywhere, even on those supremely irritating twitter accounts that are supposed to be soooo relatable. Anyway, I was pretty much pissed off to see that there were a lot of people spoiling the major twist in A Fault In Our Stars.


This is my not impressed face.


And these people, I think you suck. You're not clever or cool. There is no obligation to read a book before you watch the movie, and I think it's so disrespectful that people think it's fun spoiling someone, and then prefacing it with "they should have read the book". What if they were going to read the book? Or what if they just wanted to watch the movie and enjoy the story firsthand, rather than having everything be ruined?

I absolutely hate spoilers, and frankly, if I hadn't read TFIOS and loved it, I would never watch the movie, especially because everything was "spoiled". What I don't like about TFIOS is that people are spoiling the story and then saying things along the lines of "you should have read the book so it's your fault". Like, what?

For the most part, the book community is very respectful when it comes to spoilers. I'm so thankful that the times I've been spoiled have been very minimal, because if I knew what would happen, I wouldn't read it because one of the biggest parts of the story, the plot, would already be unraveled. And even though I read a lot of books and watch a lot of TV shows, I don't spoil people. I might mention "OMG the twist was insane!" if I really need to say something, but that's it.



And generally, I know I can't tell people what to do. But people can also not tell me what to do, and so I'll say it. You there. Yeah, you. Stop spoiling TFIOS. It's not funny or clever and you're not cool. In fact, if you really enjoy tears and shock, let the person watch the film and explore the twist on their own, and then comfort them later.

Because even if you know something is going to be shocking, you don't get it until you see it. Which pretty much is what I've learned from Game of Thrones.

-P.E.

8 comments:

  1. I agree!! SPOILERS SUCK!! And people thinking they were clever by wearing t-shirts spoiling the ending for those going to see the movie but not having read the book? That's mean, stupid and counterproductive. Unless all they wanted to do was being mean, cause then they succeeded!
    What point were they trying to make? I haven't read the book yet, and now that I have the ending spoiled, I don't want to read it anymore really! When you love a book you might want to talk all the spoilers with other people that HAVE READ the book! I understand sometimes you need to rage about something, but do NOT ruin the book for other people, let them have their own experience!
    Your opinion and your experience is NOT more important than other people's, so please think about how much you wouldn't like to have been subjected to that!

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    1. That's how I feel often when I encounter a spoiler. It makes me feel like I already experienced the story, and I so agree. It's just so rude.

      -P.E.

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  2. Spoilers are the bane of my existence, especially when they're in random places. Like, I'll be commenting on a blog and in the comments will be a spoiler for a TOTALLY DIFFERENT BOOK. What is up with that?!

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    1. That is so weird. I'm always so careful with comments- you never know what other people's spoiler policies are.

      --P.E.

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  3. Seriously? That's so rude. I mean, when I started that book I could sort of guess some possible endings, but to just blurt out what happened is not cool at all.

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    1. Yeah, it's like an awful trend that is going around. I hope it ends soon.

      -P.E.

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  4. Purposely spoiling things for other people is pretty rude... but we also think the spoiler issue has become a bit too heated on both sides. As John Green himself said, knowing that the sun will rise every morning doesn't make it any less beautiful to watch.

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    1. I disagree.

      I can say, "I don't want to be spoiled" and it's not going to affect the other person in any other way. In fact, the only way they can spoil me now is to do it purposefully, which is rude. And to that, I have every reason to be outraged. On the otherhand, if someone wants to know a spoiler, I can give it to them. I don't see why spoiler-loving people would have a lot to be outraged about? Just respect that different people have different preferences, and always ask before you almost ruin someone's experience.

      And the sunrise analogy is flawed to me, because you experience a sunrise: you're never really told that the sun will rise. It's something that you grow with, and so it's not like a big secret that can be spoiled, because odds are you've probably seen a sunrise. I just know that if I'm spoiled, it will stop me from reading/experiencing something.

      -P.E.

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What do you think?