On Spoilers and Rants and Lifting Depression-Fogs

[sisabet]

Oh wow. I think I just got massively spoiled for "Dead Like Me" Season 2 while I was reading about the Serenity/FF wank over at, um, Fandom wank. I so did not expect that.

But here is the thing - unlike, say a movie that has not yet been released or a television show that has not yet aired I have had more than ample opportunity to catch the fuck up on DLM by now. Seriously. Season 2 aired and I chose to not watch it then and again I chose to to take my time with the episodes because I have issues with shows that deal realistically with the unexpected death of a teenager.

Wait? Was that a spoiler? Because DLM does deal realistically with the implications that George's untimely death wreck on her family. And I need time to process that. And I don't think I should have to worry that the fucking premise of a show is gonna be viewed as a gaspOMPgasp spoiler that I am afraid to talk about it without a cut tag or what-have-you, because really and truly this whole Spoilerphobia thing we have going on here in LJLand is a lot like the monkey bars on the playground.

Remember the cool monkey bars? The ones that were like a MILE off the ground and underneath them there was just concrete covered in broken glass? YEAH! You got on those bars and you felt a real sense of danger, some excitement. You made it across and didn't break a leg and you had accomplished something. There was general respect and it was playground-wide and it was aimed at you.

And now they are gone. As are see-saws and merry-go-rounds and swings that are higher than 8 feet off the ground because kids got hurt on them and yada yada yada life is just not as fun anymore. Wear your helmet.

Not that I am advocating child-endangerment or a neglect of safety standards. Hell - I don't even have kids. I don't really care other than I freaking miss merry-go-rounds and except for the times see saws were used as an instrument of torture by the bigger kids, I also miss seesaws. Not so much the monkey bars as they were not my thing, but my older sister had a ton of playground/recess cachet because of them and just by virtue of being related to her I also got some of the residual gleam. It was nice.

So this thing I know about DLM - was it something I suspected (because I have watched vids with S2 footage) or wanted to know a head of time? Hell no. Am I upset? Not really. I have had ample opportunity to not be spoiled.

So, while I can dig and support this "Go into every fandom as total virgin territory" approach - it can get really annoying at the same time. How can there be Wiseguy Spoilers? Seriously? The show aired almost twenty years ago! I mean, yeah there is the recent influx of DVDs that allow us to all watch anything ever filmed from beginning to end but also? DUDE! Twenty Years. Knowing that Darth Vader is Luke's father is NO LONGER A SPOILER. Rosebud? A SLED! If you get mad at someone for saying that, than you are overly invested in something and should diversify.

And I pick on Wiseguy cause it is on the top of my thoughts because many of my friends are watching (rewatching) it right now and being so careful not spoil me (I have no time) and I do appreciate their thoughtfulness. It does make me think though - about this issue. This OMG CUT EVERYTHING push we seem as a community to feel. Cause it gets annoying to click on something you think is a spoiler and to find out it really isn't and now you had to leave the main browser page and reload another and back out of it to get to your flist and I am in a supremely bitchy mood today - can you tell?

And I don't think if I want to talk about Paul Anka the Dog, I should have to cut! Paul Anka is not a SPOILER! He is adorable, but the fact that he exists does not spoil you for Gilmore Girls. Yes. There is a dog. Get over it. If you are that sensitive to prior knowledge, maybe a fannish LJ is not the place for you?

And again! GOD! I am so bitchy right now. I take this as a positive sign, actually as I have been Miss Doormat Extraordinaire of late, because, let's face it: I'm depressed and it is easier to just put up with people's shit than take up for yourself or say "no" and I am nothing if not All About the Easy. So, this entirely gratuitous rant about nothing in particular is fueled by me waking the fuck up. Cool. Silver lining.

And now I can't decide it I will ever finish Dead Like Me and this... this actually might be a very good thing considering my own personal issues with the show, anyway.

Oh! And for the past week I have been seized the almost uncontrollable desire to quit my job and sell my car and give Sid to Mom and Dad because I am gonna join the Peace Corp.

Maybe I should stay asleep?

Comments

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Wow, you guys are amazing! Avoiding Official DVD spoilers for 4-6 MONTHS???? You guys are, like, saints or something.

Considering the show WAS ON THE AIR and undoubtedly available to download for anybody with the technology or the friends for at least the previous six months . . . or possibly, like Due South, had TWO FULL SERIES RUNS years apart . . . yikes.

My personal "cut for spoilers" extends to a month after the book comes out or two weeks after the episode has been broadcast. I wouldn't even consider cut-tagging something for a tv-show that was broadcast a month or more ago, no matter when the official dvd set came out.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

I've got people on my flist in several different countries, some of which air seasons a year or more later than we tend to get them here, and not all of them have the means to download eps. I don't consider it an unreasonable amount of effort (obviously) to cut-tag stuff, so I do it. I wouldn't tell anyone else they had to cut-tag for, say S4 of QaF, which I've just seen this week, but if it's aired in the past year or two, I'd rather cut-tag than risk spoiling someone's experience. I know if it's been a long time people are likely to have already been spoiled by someone else -- doesn't mean I have to the someone else. I feel better knowing I'm lessening my chances of ruining someone's surprise, so I suppose I'm doing it for me as much as for the nebulous "them."

[claire.livejournal.com]

Two weeks after the episode has been broadcast?

I mean, OK, those of us who don't live in the US, or perhaps Canada are often a season or two behind on our local TV stations. So in order to not be exposed to spoilers we have to either not read our friends list, or somehow, in those two weeks acquire the afore mentioned episode from somewhere.

Now, it's easy to do so, I admit, should you have a decent download speed. But if you don't or if you are me and are extra careful to not torrent too much stuff because then you get C&D letters and negative attention from your ISP. And my career is in IT - so I wanna be extra careful. So my other choice is friends? Most of my local friends also live in Australia, so I'd have to find someone from overseas willing to burn and send each episode to me as it airs? Well I'm sure someone would if I asked, but I don't want to inconvenience anyone.

So, I'm not meaning you should stop your policy, because it obviously works for you. But there are those of us who are not missing watching the episodes due to laziness or disinterest, but rather geography.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

*shrug* Fortunately for my flist, I suppose, I rarely have anything fannish to say. I mean, the last fannish comment I made was about American Gods. That's been out for years. And anybody who hasn't read HBP in English already (should they care to read it at all) is unlikely to be reading my lj. So if you abhor spoilers, you're unlikely to find them there.

Most of the people who have friended my lj seem like the types to seek out spoilers rather than avoid them.

Waiting a year to post uncut comments about a tv episode still seems odd to me, but I should not be amazed that others wish to do something differently than I do. :)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh see, well then. This isn't exactly a driving concern of yours. Pretty much *everything* I post about is fannish in one way or the other. Most of the people therefore following this LJ are fannishly inclined (except for my mom). Spoilers and where to draw the line and what to respect and what to just agree to accept is a real issue.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

I did actually exert myself to think for a while about how difficult it must be to avoid them in the multifannish lj world, though. I mean, I was in DS for four years starting in 2000, and nobody said word one about spoilers, when I'm sure some of my Japanese friends are seeing the full set of RayK episodes -- or possibly any of them -- for the first time, now. They really would have had to stay completely out of the DS fandom arena to avoid them during the mailing list years. Which meant that the people who were on lists were self-selecting as "willingly spoiled."

So after thinking about it, cuts don't seem so unreasonable.

It doesn't help that I'm a spoiler whore myself, or that a good chunk of my job involves searching out other people's reviews for things I've never seen, heard, or read. Perhaps it gives me slanted notions?