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

[claire.livejournal.com]

Rosebud? A SLED!

I actually didn't know that.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

How? Did you fall asleep during "Citizen Kane"? I can see that happening - I almost did. I think, actually, that I saw this movie at the exact wrong point in my life. I was a young teenager and all I knew was this was supposed to be the best film EVER MADE.

And I watched it and was sitting and waiting and waiting and the payoff just didn't come. Not like I thought it would. NOW - of course I know that the movie was groundbreaking on so many fronts and we have mined it so much that what was newly inventive and and an amazing leap in cinema, appeared tired to an uneducated viewer.

But even then I knew that Rosebud was a sled. I think there was a Saturday Night Live Skit... or maybe an episode of Threes Company?

[claire.livejournal.com]

I have never seen Citizen Kane. I also live in Australia, so no Saturday Night Live for me. And if I recall correctly, Threes Company was aired at some time here that made it difficult to watch.

I don't actually watch a lot of TV, so I'm trying to think of where else I might have run across that information. I can't really think of anything, but that could be because it's before 7am and I haven't ahd coffee yet.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well - okay I can see how you are missing SNL (but I am talking classic SNL Jim Belushi-style so that has been out on DVD for a good few years) but what about The Simpsons? And just about any pop culture iconage has included the fact that the Rosebud mentioned at the beginning of the movie is a sled. It is one of those things that anyone who is interested in film the least little bit picks up on - even without seeing the picture.

I mean - fine, you didn't see the movie and you live in Australia. But dude - it was released 65 years ago. You've had opportunity. The secret is no longer sacred.

[claire.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I didn't say it was bad that you told me, or that I was annoyed or it was a spoiler or any of that. But I did actually manage to get to yesterday without ever knowing Rosebud was a sled. Somehow.

And yes, I'm not particularly interested in film. But your point about the DVDs is interesting, because now I'm contemplating DVD releases. I mean, I've never seen SNL because it's not on here, so I'm not sure the DVDs are available for sale in the stores here. I can't recall ever seeing them, anyway. So that's another thing I'd have to totally go out of my way for. I mean somehow I'd have to learn this show was on, then I'd have to determine I want to buy it, and then I'd have to acquire the DVDs from somewhere. And watch them. The watching thing is probably OK now, but until the last couple of years, DVD players sold here only played Region 4 DVDs.

And I stopped watching the Simpsons after the first season. I find Bart's voice really grating.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hey we are fans - we *always* go out of our way for things. I have a multi-region player DVD player because the Sci Fi Series "The Invisible Man" only released Season one DVDs in the UK and I am in the States.

Which means I had to order the Region 2 discs from a UK site, figure out the exchange rate, order it and then figure out how to watch it once I got it. And what I went through was small potatoes considering what a lot of fen will do to obtain source.

So, I'm glad I didn't spoil you for anything that you care about - although I do find it highly interesting that you went all that time with it just never coming up. Even in Australia. It is just ubiquitous here. Like Air. Rosebud... Rosebud...

[vileseagulls.livejournal.com]

Catching up on my flist way after the fact - I've heard "rosebud" a million times over in my life, but I didn't know until I got onto google and typed it in that it was in fact a sled. And it wasn't right there, I had to work out it was something from Citizen Kane, then I had to find the Wikipedia entry for Citizen Kane. And the thing that prompted that? An Atlantis fic that ripped it off, with one of the characters saying something else.

New Zealand hasn't screened season 8 of Stargate SG-1 yet, but the US is halfway through season 9. I'm lucky, I've had someone providing me with episodes, but most of my friends? Not so much.

On the other hand, I'm all for smacking people around for things that completely aren't spoilers - the existence of a new cast member, for example, as has been reiterated all over this post. :)