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So yesterday when I bitched about overly sensitive spoiler phobia, y'all got that I was in a really bad mood, letting off steam, and not calling for a revolution whereupon we all post every major plot twist in every genre show ever on the front pages of our LJs without a cut tag, right?
Cause I was in a terrible mood that turned out to be mainly hormonally directed and when I got home and conferred with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tzikeh and just_eunice it turned out that I wasn't as spoiled for Dead Like Me as I thought I was. I mean - I am now but the thing that I thought happened that would cause me just not to watch the show didn't happen the way I thought it happened or it does happen but it doesn't mean what I think it means or maybe, just maybe, I should not make leaps of plot assumptions over an off-hand comment conversation between fandom_wankers.
Perhaps, and here is a novel idea, I should abandon the concept of fandom wank altogether? Except... some of that shit is funny. Apparently, I am fascinated by the inner workings of the Harmonians - a group of HP shippers that firmly believe in Harry/Hermione as not just a pairing and not even a life-style choice, but as a higher moral calling. And there is plenty of text dedicated to the analysis of this group and My GOD - it is almost like a great big sociological study with all the human foibles well and clear represented and you can just see history and trends and everything showing up in this one group. Well, that and the HP fandom is nutz, yo.
So, no abandoning fandom_wank. If I get spoiled, thems the lumps and generally people make an effort to not give anything away. Actually, I am much more likely to be spoiled for major plot points in print media or by Comedy Central. I mean, The Daily Show totally spoiled me for "Million Dollar Baby" but the joke was just so great that I didn't care. It also kept me from taking my mother to see that movie, so in this case, The Daily Show did me a favor. It did. Except...the movie we went to see instead was "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and so maybe they just screwed me over? Cause that was a terrible movie. It wasn't even enjoyable terrible. It just sucked.
So, ascereta and I discussed in comments, there is this fine line of what to talk about openly and what to put behind cut tags listing spoiler potential warnings and I think this is just gonna have to be something everyone works out for themselves and that works within their own comfort system.
Here is how it will work on this LJ:
When "The Daily Show" spoiled a MAJOR plot point of Million Dollar Baby for me, I didn't care. The joke was funny and the movie had been out a while and won some Oscars. I didn't watch it - I accept the fact that movie is entering into a greater Pop-Cultural Lexicon and I missed my chance at jumping on board.
When I was 16, I read an article in Newsweek that gave away the "twist" in "The Crying Game" and I immediately talkeddrdawn into taking me and my best friend to Bowling Green to see this movie. Then I watched them both during the big, ahem, reveal. I had a blast. It was fun to see their reactions (which was mainly a triumphant "I KNEW IT!" from Rhonda) and it was also fun to participate in something culturally. Movies with twists are like that - Fight Club, The Sixth Sense - they entertain but they also foster a sense of being in a club. If you walked out of a packed theater in 1999, the larger sense beyond the movie was that you have just shared something with a group of people, an experience. And that is valid and wonderful and also? One of the halmarks of fandom.
So, I can see keeping some things under wraps. Major plot points are probably the thing that we have to keep in mind - however; there also comes a time when these very plot points become re-referenced and cannabalized and become part of something beyond the text. They become part of our everyday lives.
I will not cut for major Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series spoilers. I will not warn before referencing them. I talk about this stuff all the time and I use it to explain other stuff. It is second nature and I am sorry if it is too much of a risk for someone to take while reading my LJ. The DVD sets have been out awhile, and the fandom and fannish bleedover has just been sooo pervasive that I don't feel as if I am stomping on anyone else's good time just by virtue of mentioning how the day I have had working for the man, completely maps to that one time Faith went evil and worked for the Mayor.
Cause, see - that is funny. I forgive almost anything if it brings in the funny. I'd rather laugh any day than be surprised.
Things that are not major plotpoints are not spoilers. Repeat this with me: major plot points are SPOILERS. Finding out, 4 weeks after an episode airs, that Amy Acker was on it? NOT a spoiler.
If I say "Kurt was really funny on last week's ep of Gilmore Girls" or that I liked House's black t-shirt in that one ep or that I think Bruce on the Dead Zone is the worst Physical Therapist alive (but the best and most in love friend eva!) because he lets Johnny get away with using a cane that is obviously NOT NEEDED -- none of these things are spoilers.
Fraser is a mountie, Rube is a reaper, Mulder has issues, Adama is your daddy, and Riddick is freaking hot. NOT A SPOILER.
But at the end of the day - everyone has to find their own comfort level. There are some shows that are better the less you are spoiled because the 180 turns are sooooo 180 turns. I will never try to spoil anyone ever for I-man or Farscape because of this, buuuuut on the other hand I am a vidder. Once text/video has aired it is fair game and I have been recruited to MANY fandoms on the basis of a damn good vid, prior knowledge of something I like happening, and visual spoilers out the whazoo.
One of the things I ADORE aboutvagabondage's Hard Core Logo vid "Monster" is the fact that she fully invests in the concept of the vid, in her character and his first person statement and she does not flinch at all from massively spoiling the end of the movie. Kudos! The vid is driving perfection and the slyness of picking a Henry Rollins song for Joe Dick... well at the time I thought it was interesting but now I know it is just another layer of meta to pick apart. I LOVE SHIT LIKE THIS. Whee!
So, I know where my personal comfort level is and I know where I draw the line - and I know that vids TRUMP ALL. Spoil me, break me, anyway you want me, if it's in a vid, baby, it's alright. If it makes a funny joke - cool. If I'd had plenty of time to watch the original source and just haven't - fine.
So I am cool with me - aren't y'all glad to know? What this means regarding my posts is fairly simple: I'll try to cut tag major plot points on anything that isn't Buffy and Angel, but I can't guarantee that something won't slip out. It won't be from a just aired episode - I still abide by the One Week principle on that, but some things just enter into our greater fannish lexicon and I'll drive myself insane trying to remember to always cut for that.
Likewise, once a movie spoiler has entered the greater pop-culture mentality - I don't feel bad referencing it. Like "Citizen Kane" and Rosebud: Once the SIMPSONS have redone and referenced a major spoiler (on the heels of everyone else) then it isn't the best kept secret anymore. Once a commercial is made mocking the great revelation in The Empire Strikes Back - it becomes moot.
And anyway - secrets don't make friends. Or something - whatever. So - this pretty much where I am at right now and as always the defriending/friending door is always open and no questions will ever be asked. Feel free to use as needed.
Cause I was in a terrible mood that turned out to be mainly hormonally directed and when I got home and conferred with
tzikeh and just_eunice it turned out that I wasn't as spoiled for Dead Like Me as I thought I was. I mean - I am now but the thing that I thought happened that would cause me just not to watch the show didn't happen the way I thought it happened or it does happen but it doesn't mean what I think it means or maybe, just maybe, I should not make leaps of plot assumptions over an off-hand comment conversation between fandom_wankers. Perhaps, and here is a novel idea, I should abandon the concept of fandom wank altogether? Except... some of that shit is funny. Apparently, I am fascinated by the inner workings of the Harmonians - a group of HP shippers that firmly believe in Harry/Hermione as not just a pairing and not even a life-style choice, but as a higher moral calling. And there is plenty of text dedicated to the analysis of this group and My GOD - it is almost like a great big sociological study with all the human foibles well and clear represented and you can just see history and trends and everything showing up in this one group. Well, that and the HP fandom is nutz, yo.
So, no abandoning fandom_wank. If I get spoiled, thems the lumps and generally people make an effort to not give anything away. Actually, I am much more likely to be spoiled for major plot points in print media or by Comedy Central. I mean, The Daily Show totally spoiled me for "Million Dollar Baby" but the joke was just so great that I didn't care. It also kept me from taking my mother to see that movie, so in this case, The Daily Show did me a favor. It did. Except...the movie we went to see instead was "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and so maybe they just screwed me over? Cause that was a terrible movie. It wasn't even enjoyable terrible. It just sucked.
So, as
cereta and I discussed in comments, there is this fine line of what to talk about openly and what to put behind cut tags listing spoiler potential warnings and I think this is just gonna have to be something everyone works out for themselves and that works within their own comfort system. Here is how it will work on this LJ:
When "The Daily Show" spoiled a MAJOR plot point of Million Dollar Baby for me, I didn't care. The joke was funny and the movie had been out a while and won some Oscars. I didn't watch it - I accept the fact that movie is entering into a greater Pop-Cultural Lexicon and I missed my chance at jumping on board.
When I was 16, I read an article in Newsweek that gave away the "twist" in "The Crying Game" and I immediately talked
drdawn into taking me and my best friend to Bowling Green to see this movie. Then I watched them both during the big, ahem, reveal. I had a blast. It was fun to see their reactions (which was mainly a triumphant "I KNEW IT!" from Rhonda) and it was also fun to participate in something culturally. Movies with twists are like that - Fight Club, The Sixth Sense - they entertain but they also foster a sense of being in a club. If you walked out of a packed theater in 1999, the larger sense beyond the movie was that you have just shared something with a group of people, an experience. And that is valid and wonderful and also? One of the halmarks of fandom. So, I can see keeping some things under wraps. Major plot points are probably the thing that we have to keep in mind - however; there also comes a time when these very plot points become re-referenced and cannabalized and become part of something beyond the text. They become part of our everyday lives.
I will not cut for major Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series spoilers. I will not warn before referencing them. I talk about this stuff all the time and I use it to explain other stuff. It is second nature and I am sorry if it is too much of a risk for someone to take while reading my LJ. The DVD sets have been out awhile, and the fandom and fannish bleedover has just been sooo pervasive that I don't feel as if I am stomping on anyone else's good time just by virtue of mentioning how the day I have had working for the man, completely maps to that one time Faith went evil and worked for the Mayor.
Cause, see - that is funny. I forgive almost anything if it brings in the funny. I'd rather laugh any day than be surprised.
Things that are not major plotpoints are not spoilers. Repeat this with me: major plot points are SPOILERS. Finding out, 4 weeks after an episode airs, that Amy Acker was on it? NOT a spoiler.
If I say "Kurt was really funny on last week's ep of Gilmore Girls" or that I liked House's black t-shirt in that one ep or that I think Bruce on the Dead Zone is the worst Physical Therapist alive (but the best and most in love friend eva!) because he lets Johnny get away with using a cane that is obviously NOT NEEDED -- none of these things are spoilers.
Fraser is a mountie, Rube is a reaper, Mulder has issues, Adama is your daddy, and Riddick is freaking hot. NOT A SPOILER.
But at the end of the day - everyone has to find their own comfort level. There are some shows that are better the less you are spoiled because the 180 turns are sooooo 180 turns. I will never try to spoil anyone ever for I-man or Farscape because of this, buuuuut on the other hand I am a vidder. Once text/video has aired it is fair game and I have been recruited to MANY fandoms on the basis of a damn good vid, prior knowledge of something I like happening, and visual spoilers out the whazoo.
One of the things I ADORE about
vagabondage's Hard Core Logo vid "Monster" is the fact that she fully invests in the concept of the vid, in her character and his first person statement and she does not flinch at all from massively spoiling the end of the movie. Kudos! The vid is driving perfection and the slyness of picking a Henry Rollins song for Joe Dick... well at the time I thought it was interesting but now I know it is just another layer of meta to pick apart. I LOVE SHIT LIKE THIS. Whee! So, I know where my personal comfort level is and I know where I draw the line - and I know that vids TRUMP ALL. Spoil me, break me, anyway you want me, if it's in a vid, baby, it's alright. If it makes a funny joke - cool. If I'd had plenty of time to watch the original source and just haven't - fine.
So I am cool with me - aren't y'all glad to know? What this means regarding my posts is fairly simple: I'll try to cut tag major plot points on anything that isn't Buffy and Angel, but I can't guarantee that something won't slip out. It won't be from a just aired episode - I still abide by the One Week principle on that, but some things just enter into our greater fannish lexicon and I'll drive myself insane trying to remember to always cut for that.
Likewise, once a movie spoiler has entered the greater pop-culture mentality - I don't feel bad referencing it. Like "Citizen Kane" and Rosebud: Once the SIMPSONS have redone and referenced a major spoiler (on the heels of everyone else) then it isn't the best kept secret anymore. Once a commercial is made mocking the great revelation in The Empire Strikes Back - it becomes moot.
And anyway - secrets don't make friends. Or something - whatever. So - this pretty much where I am at right now and as always the defriending/friending door is always open and no questions will ever be asked. Feel free to use as needed.
