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]

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?