(no subject)

[badstar]

Okay, so I totally get the whole thing about not wanting people to spoil the ending for you...but I am getting a little irritated with seeing constant reminders everywhere of people to warn about spoilers and "you'd better not ruin it for me" and all that, as if people have nothing better to write about and the world will end or something. I actually saw somewhere (no, no one on my friends list) where someone threatened to never again speak to anyone who spoiled the ending for the book or movie (they didn't seem to be joking, though whether they are or not, there are people that would seriously do such a thing.) Maybe it's not the height of politeness to purposely spoil the ending of the story for people, but there are far worse transgressions that one can make. For serious. There's a point where it stops being fun and starts being...I dunno, a bit excessive.

I'm really starting to feel the return of the "I hate the very idea of Harry Potter" sentiment that I felt back when I actively refused to read the books or see the movies. Because I'm just so sick of hearing about it, much like I was then. That whole Lancaster YMCA triathlon making news in Hong Kong debacle just instilled a very active disinterest in me for several years.

Yeah, I like the books and the movies, they're cool. But oh my gawds folks, there are plenty of other books and movies that are just as good and better. Go obsess about some of those for a few minutes.

Ya know, I knew who died at the end of Half Blood Prince before I read it. Ya know what? It didn't ruin the book for me...there was so much more to it than OMG! *name* died! If I happen to inadvertently find out about the ending of Deathly Hallows before I get to read it, it's not gonna spoil it for me and I sure as hell am not going to quit talking to someone over it.

Like I said, I like the books...but maybe now that the last book is coming out, the world can find something else to obsess over.

Comments

[liritsvoice.livejournal.com]

hehe, agreed. One of the radio stations I listen to is going to reveal the book's secret on air at some point, pretty much just to piss people off.

[falnfenix]

that's awesome.

[nofate301.livejournal.com]

the thing is, when you get into something, you don't want things like that ruined for you.

If someone were able to tell that the world what's waiting for them at the end...that would ruin a lot for people.

I didn't want it ruined either but someone did. So I know something that's gonna happen and it's gonna be big. So yea, it really sucks, and takes a lot out of a story. This isn't any different than the sixth sense or any other story that has had a surprise or some ending that was unexpected.

It's human nature to not want the end to come, and worse to have someone tell you what happens before you get there.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

yeah...like I said, I totally understand not wanting stuff to be ruined.

Buuuut I think that some people's reactions are a little extreme, and I've never seen such widespread extreme reaction like this as there is with the Harry Potter thing.

[nofate301.livejournal.com]

I've seen it with people who tape sports games they don't get to see, sitcoms, etc.

I think the fact becomes more pronounced because of the time between books and just how long the end has been out there.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

I think the reason that people are so extreme about it is because there _are_ people out there who get off on ruining it for the others. I think it's perfectly reasonable to explain that you will not take it as a joke if someone does that to you, even by use of exaggeration.

And frankly, I think the only reason someone would purposefully spoil this is to be an ass. Asses deserve to not be spoken to. It's not a question of whether the book itself is worth it, it's about disrespecting someone's requests. For you, it doesn't matter so much - more power to you. For me, it actually doesn't matter if I seek out the spoiler, but it can also really annoy me if I trip upon it by accident. And if someone spoils it, or anything else, _just_ to annoy me and get a reaction, then I'd consider them the sort of person who does things just to make me feel bad. That category does not intersect with the category of people I think of as friends.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Conversely, I think that the main reason that there are some people who go out of their way to spoil it for people is because there are so many people that are that obsessed with it.

I'm not saying it's right and that they should do it. But when people go on and on about how people better not spoil it for them or they're going to be so pissed off, it's as good as a dare. I dare you not to spoil the story for me.

Sure, if there wasn't the massive media hype and all that stuff, there would be a few people who would still do such a thing...but it would be a very small percentage. Look at other fandoms. I was one of many people who were climbing walls for months waiting for Jacqueline Carey's most recent book, she has an extremely popular series going, but it doesn't get the huge media hype that Harry Potter does (it also doesn't have the same age 9-99 appeal, movies and six-squillion-dollar merchandise industry behind it.). Nowhere did I ever see people going on and on and on before hand about how they're going to be sooooo mad if someone posts unwarned spoilers, and I think I *might* have seen one person posting a "spoiler" which turned out to be completely made up anyway. Some people got annoyed because the Barnes and Noble website posted a blurb that included a fairly major plot point which could be construed as a spoiler, but other than some grumbling, people didn't have a massive cow about it.

One feeds the other. Similiarly, I am pretty sure that HP wouldn't get the bookbanning targeting that it does if not for its hype. But everyone and their dog is obsessed with it, so it's a huge target.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Perhaps. But, while I could really do without the hype about a lot of things, from TV shows I don't watch to sports I don't follow, I am never compelled to demonstrate that by making it less fun for others. I dare say, the drive to do that requires a bit of meanness of personality that I don't appreciate. (Threaten to, sure, it can be taken in fun. But to actually do it is pure unadulterated jerkdom.)

As for the banning, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around - there was no hype at first. If it hadn't been banned by someone, it'd have lived the small unnoticed life of the hundreds of other good juvvie fantasy series. A heck of a lot of people picked it up to see what the fuss was about when the ban got on the news. The merchandizing and the movies and the hype happened because enough people wanted it, not vice versa - of all the recent hypes, I dare say this one is the least artificial.

As fond as I might be of Carey, though, I think the fandom-comparison does not quite stand.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Perhaps. But, while I could really do without the hype about a lot of things, from TV shows I don't watch to sports I don't follow, I am never compelled to demonstrate that by making it less fun for others.

I agree, though? I don't know of any TV show/book/movie/otherwise that has he same constant hype as the Harry Potter franchise. It's...incessant. As I said before, I thoroughly believe that there's a point where it departs from fun and becomes a whole lot of not fun for a lot of people. If it was more confined to HP websites and communities and places that I'd have to go looking for it to be exposed to it, it wouldn't be a big deal...but it drives me crazy that I can't join most fantasy communities on LJ because I have no desire to pollute my friends list with fanfic (though fanfic is a separate annoyance for me, it's pretty easy to avoid most of the time, therefore becomes a nonissue.) and everywhere I look are people posting twenty different sorting hat memes, and there are ads on every website that I visit and every store that I walk into, and on every newscast and....

As fond as I might be of Carey, though, I think the fandom-comparison does not quite stand.

One would be hard-pressed to find a fandom that does compare to HP. Other than maybe Lord Of The Rings, I can't think of any, and while LOTR has its obsessives, it's a lot more low-key and not in my face everywhere I turn- even when the movies were being released in the theaters, it wasn't all that bad. Carey was the one example of a book that was widely-anticipated, yet practically no-hype that I follow closely enough to be able to point to it and say "popular book, but people are reasonable about it".

[shockwave.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the whole Harry Potter thing. I love the books and the movies and the whole Harry Potter experience, but it's pretty much the fans that ruin it for me. I was kinda snarled at by a friend who found out that I bought the fifth book a year after it came out at a flea market. Hell, it was almost brand-new, hardcover, and 5 bucks.

I know the ending to the sixth book and I still haven't read it. And no, it won't spoil it for me, because if you're reading it for the end, then what happens to the journey it takes to get there? Read it for the plot, the character development, the writing style. Whatever happened to the actual story?

What is gonna spoil the seventh book for me is if I decide to read it at a later time than the actual release date and I get flak from people. Hell, even if I get it, I don't want to get flak for not reading it in a friggin' day. I like to enjoy what I read, and I can't enjoy a book if I read it all in one sitting. I have to put it down and reflect on it for a bit. :)

[fuego.livejournal.com]

and I can't enjoy a book if I read it all in one sitting.

See, it's a bad sign for me if I can put a book down and not be going crazy to pick it back up again. Put it down and reflect? What's that? Yeah, it really sucks when I read an author's latest book in a single night and have to wait a year or more for the next one to come out- or worse, when it's the end of the series, like two other books that I'm desperately waiting on, one of which might be out in November, one of which should be out next June.

Oh wait...*squeak* There are going to be more books in the Kushiel's Legacy series after the one coming up next year!!!!!It won't be the end of the series!!!!

[shockwave.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, you're cute. :)

[darkfiremoon.livejournal.com]

wow some people need a new hobby...maybe planting trees would be good. I still have never read the books or seen the movies....not sure I will....strange things these humans do....

[aphiorogue.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I hate having the ending of anything ruined. Movies, TV shows, books. ANY book - not just Harry Potter. I know people who are well for lack of a better term, Rat Basterds. They will deliberatly ruin the endings of things. Reading just the ending of books and posting about them. I know Its not THAT big a deal, but I really really want to be surprised. Knowing the ending completly takes emotions out of it for me. I think this is a reason I had issues with the end of Star Wars III (no one ruined the ending for me per say - just knowing star wars lore I knew what was coming).
I get very involved in books I read, emotionaly. So I do get upset when charcters die. If someone had ruined the ending of #4 for me it would not have had near as much of an impact, same with #5 & 6.
Spoilers DO ruin things for me.I won;t read them in magazines - turn off preview shows that are talking about them. Do not read lj posts behind them.
It is so easy to do a cut - why not do one and not ruin someone else's enjoyment of something. I don't ruin things for other people (or try my hardest not to) All I ask is the same respect from my friends.

[corpslave.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer not to have the ending spoiled for me. The timing of this book has me in a tough situation... my book was pre-ordered on amazon, so it arrives tomorrow morning, but I won't be able to read it right away because of my summer class. I have an exam every week and of the 3 days each week I have class, the 2 that aren't exam days have assignments due, not to mention 4 pop quizzes over the 6-week session. I half-jokingly asked the professor for a day off to read Deathly Hallows and she said she sympathizes, but no.

I'm considering avoiding stuff like LJ till I've had a chance to read it. Since fuzzyr gets to read our copy first, I've warned him. If he tells me who dies, then he dies too.

[fuzzyr.livejournal.com]

Fuzzy doesn't get to, because you stole it from him before he got a chance. :)

[fuzzyr.livejournal.com]

There is a reasonable time frame to refrain from spoilers. My thinking is that if a book has been out for two weeks and you haven't read it, you should expect to see details at some point. (Obviously, HP7 has only been out for 5 days.)