Feb 13
19

SPOILER: This post is about Spoilers.

1 Comment

by Jennifer Keegin

Last night something terrible happened in the season 3 finale of Downton Abbey. Like a “Who Shot JR?” size event except that if you didn’t try really hard to avoid the internet – you would have found out about it a long time ago via spoilers. (I mean, this is a show that already broadcast in the UK six months ago.)

It got me thinking. To me, spoilers and the internet are a delicate balance. I was amazed how key elements in the latest James Bond, Skyfall, never seemed to emerge. I was so glad in this instance because I wasn’t steeling myself up for anything in particular.

To return to Downton Abbey for a minute – a major, well loved character was killed off earlier in this same season. I had actually accidentally read a spoiler that gave away this plot point and I was looking for the moment all season. It still didn’t happen when or how I thought and I was still caught up in the emotions – but I admit it was dulled by the fact that I knew it was coming. But there’s the thing – in this case I was glad to know it was going to happen – it gave me a chance to get used to the idea.

Twitter is the hardest for me to avoid. Fans of Downton in the UK were tweeting before the finale last night things like, “Here it comes USA” and “Grab your tissues” and “You can turn off the tv now!!” Ok, so they aren’t exactly giving specifics away – but come on! And the poor fans in other time zones – I hope they avoided looking at the #DowntonPBS feed – or it would totally have been spoiled for them although the “incident” was so terrible that maybe they would want a heads up.

I did not look ahead, I did not read spoilers so I was shocked and appalled as I should have been. I called my mom to yell and scream and…my mom had taped it and was not watching live. So I was going to shut my yapper – but she wanted to know and was glad to find out. So you never know.

Any spoilers ruin a show or movie for you recently? Are you glad you learned plot points from a spoiler? Comment below – but maybe try not spoil things for everyone ok?

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Posted in Social Media Technology by thatkeeginlady 1 Comment

  • smuddles

    Thankfully everything on my twitter feed was just general shock and awe but did not specifically say what happened. A friend ruined it for me in person and I have to admit I am thankful. That ending was enough to put someone in counseling so at least having a heads up made it a bit more bearable. I think we should all wear black in mourning until the new season!

    In general I have found myself checking twitter less the more comfortable people become with “live tweeting” or posting spoilers. I try not to post such things, but also understand that some of what I chose to read is my responsibility as much as what I tweet.