More spoilers

[jack]

Continuing on from a comment in my last post, what doesn't constitute a spoiler? What examples do you think are so universally known that no-one at all would not know/mind being told? (In the UK, let's say -- obviously these won't have spread everywhere.)

This is *not* lj-cut, that's sort of the point :)

* Pasion of the Christ: Jesus rises from the Dead. Christians have spent 2000 years telling people, I really hope everyone in this culture has heard about this by now. Of course, some people haven't, but I think this tidbit is generally the first not the last thing said -- no-one says "Hey, you're ruining the ending for the Heathens!"

* Dracula: Dracula is a vampire Dracula is so synonymous with vampire I bet reading this it didn't occur to you that he could not be. Does anyone not known this? And also not know all the other hints?

This is an interesting one, actually, because when it was first written, I think this was *not* obvious, and a different and possibly better horror novel for it.

* Romeo and Juliet: They die at the end Quite apart from the bywordity of them, I heard an amusing exchange about this.

A: blah blah blah die at the end blah
B: Hey! Technically that's a spoiler.
A: Yeah, but everyone knows--
B: I know it's 400 years later, but some people haven't seen the play.
A: And also, IT SAYS SO IN THE PROLOGUE, YOU ILLITERATE MONKEY!

:)

Are those the best? Can you think of anything else more universally agreead not to be a spoiler?

PS. And now, some that don't count:

* Titanic sinks, Napoleon loses Waterloo -- I think these are sufficiently well known and intended to be known there's no point not saying them. However, I have heard people exclaim "Oh no, you spoiled it for me."

* How starwars ends, What the "Matrix" is -- You'd think everyone would know, but some people just don't care about the films, haven't seen them, and don't know.

Comments

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

Also see Spoilers for Every Movie Ever Made

I think "Germany and Japan lose World War II" is probably universally known.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you!

I think "Germany and Japan lose World War II" is probably universally known.

You would think so. I'm sure I've heard of people being confused on this point, though...

PS. Gratuitous simpsons quote,

Class: Pelts hell-mell from school at end of year.
Teacher: Come back! You haven't finished learning about WWII!
Class: Pauses, looks back aprehensively.
Teacher: ... We won!
Class: Yay! *runs off chanting* U! S! A! U! S! A!

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

The only two I can think of that I know about despite never having seen the films in question, are the twists in The Crying Game and Soylent Green (which, yes, I did know before your post the other day).

Other spoilers that I knew from assorted popular culture references before seeing the films/plays, but have since seen:
- the idenity of Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects
- that Bruce Willis' character was dead in whatever that film was called with Hayley Joel "I see dead people" Osment... Sixth Sense
- whodunnit in The Mousetrap

That last one in particular probably counts as something that's sufficiently generally well known as not to be a spoiler any more. The first two probably fall under your last bullet point.

OOI I *didn't* know "Luke, I am your father" before I saw the Star Wars trilogy for the first time in the early 90s, or that Luke and Leia were siblings.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know the Mouestrap. I'd certainly avoid mentioning the other two unless I knew everyone in range already knew!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

And the mousetrap performance I saw asked people not to tell. I would *try* to avoid it -- it seems odd people may not know, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone talking about it. OTOH, I guessed early on in the play because I'd seen another book (by now, more) where the clue was almost the same.

Those I think fall into "Maybe known, but still worth trying to keep quiet"

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

I went to see R&J with two Cambridge-educated people who, it turned out, didn't know they died. I think R&J fulfills cultural stereotype "love story" rather than "tragedy". It wouldn't be a spoiler to say they fall in love.

They don't always include the prologue, of course.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oh, apologies! Maybe I am the monkey. You're right, that they fall in love is probably universal, more is not quite so. I assume if I know something it's finally played out :)

It wouldn't be a spoiler to say they fall in love.

Yes, that's probably pretty safe. And wouldn't really spoil it *much* to know -- there's only a brief window where it's not known, right? I guess you could go further, eg. "Spoiler: Young men and women are attracted to each other" :)

[simont]

Well, actually, I didn't know Jesus rose from the dead at the end of PotC[1]. I know he rose from the dead at the end of the source material, obviously, but I had no idea whether PotC was supposed to be on the spectrum between being explicitly supernatural or totally secular. For all I knew it could have ended at the point of his death.

Then again, even so, I still wouldn't call it a spoiler as such.

[1] Hmm, that isn't the film for which I'd normally use that acronym. Arr!

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's room for this acronymic ambiguity to be explored further.

And yes, I expanded PotC as in your [1] and was very confused.

[ptc24.livejournal.com]

Avast! 'tis easier for a seadog to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a scurvy lubber to enter Heaven, sez I!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

OK. Honestly -- neither do I. I was guessing. It's possible there's an ingenious reinterpretation (eg. not rising emphasises how important it is in real life that he supposedly *did*, that could be quite clever).

However, I'm pretty sure. Though maybe I should substitute another film.

[1] Yes, that confused me. I was thinking "Wait, JS is a JC metaphor? Hmm, well?"

[dragonwoodshed.livejournal.com]

Snakes on a Plane: there are snakes on the plane.

Mind you I haven't actually seen it, so that could be a big fat lie.

[saraphale.livejournal.com]

Snakes on a Plane completely delivers on the promise contained in the film's title. I hope that doesn't spoil the film for anyone.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Much effort has gone into debating this question. In fact, there are snakes, and furthermore, they are integral to the plot.

Though in a way, this is a backwards spoiler: at least a bit, the film was reworked *because* people thought the title was truth in advertising :)

[simont]

I saw a one-line review of SoaP the other week which simply said "Does exactly what it says on the tin."

[saraphale.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the end of "The Planet of the Apes" counts?

I'd assumed that everyone knew the basic outline of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but then I watched FotR in the cinema, and the people in front complained that they "can't end the film there! We want to know what happened".

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

I knew nothing of the Lord of the Rings trilogy other than that it was epic high fantasy prior to the release of the first film.

I know nothing at all of Planet of the Apes.

[dragonwoodshed.livejournal.com]

The 40 Year Old Virgin: he's a virgin, and he's 40

I'm enjoying this...

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Yes. Apart from "everyone knows", key components of not-being-a-spoiler include:

* Being mentioned in the first 10 seconds of the film
* Being mentioned in the title
* Being mentioned in the plot summary

However, I'm sure there's someone out there thinking it's about two score of babies.

[minipoppy.livejournal.com]

The whole Seven twist. When it came out everyone kept smirking and saying 'it's in the box!' as though they were totally giving away the ending, whereas in fact that just heightened the twist. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what was in the box by now anyway.

The madwoman in the attic. Maybe even if people don't know which book it is from everyone has heard of her.

And talking about madwomen: Psycho. Is there a person in the world who thinks Mrs Bates and her son have a normal, healthy, both-of-them-are-alive type relationship?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah. As it happens I didn't know anything about it before I saw it. However, it seems like the sort of thing many people think is obvious just from watching, and imply that anyone who didn't is subnormal :(

2. Yeah. This was mum's example. I haven't read the book, but heard about it, and read several books based around it, so very know by now.

3. LOL, yeah. The title is a *bit* of a giveaway, but doesn't spoil it :)

[dragonwoodshed.livejournal.com]

Anything with Hugh Grant in it: His character will have endearing hair and live happily ever after.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Spoiler: Bridget Jones.

[dragonwoodshed.livejournal.com]

City of Angels: LUMBERTRUCK! Hahahaha.

(sorry, couldn't help it, I know that one *is* a spoiler)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Didn't know anything about either!

[senji.livejournal.com]

• The Americans win the American War of Independance.


• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern die.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

* The americans win the american civil war ;)
* I didn't! I saw the film R&G ages ago, before I knew anything about Hamlet. It was very surreal not to know what was going on wrt that (but still funny) but I was disappointed in the ending! :)

Soylent green is [cut]

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

;p Did you read the last post? Well, because I'm arbitrary and capricious I'm going to remove this one :)

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Titanic! The ship sinks.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

That was right there in the post as an example that didn't count ;)

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Titanic sinks, Napoleon loses Waterloo -- I think these are sufficiently well known and intended to be known there's no point not saying them. However, I have heard people exclaim "Oh no, you spoiled it for me."

Is it true that the French still think they won Waterloo though? I got the impression they didn't teach schoolkids that they'd lost...

Does 'Vader is Luke's father' count? I suppose some people really don't care (and some are proud of not caring - stupid people!) ;)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Is it true that the French still think they won Waterloo though? I got the impression they didn't teach schoolkids that they'd lost...

Oh, good point. Oh well, they deserve to have it spoiled, they're French. :)

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Just to report: 'Connor is immortal' doesn't count because it turns out there are some people who haven't seen Highlander (!!!) :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Agh, I can't remember what I already said in the other post. OTOH, I'm sure even before I saw Highlander I had a vague idea it involved (a) immortal people (b) big swords (c) kilts.