I was off at Cineworld at the weekend to see T2 Trainspotting again. I like the film a great deal, in fact probably more after the second time. As is often the case, as I walked to the car, I turned my phone back on to check what if anything I'd missed.
Checking Twitter, I made the mistake of having a quick scroll down a few tweets. I say mistake as I came across a Tweet that gave plot details away for a film I haven't seen called The Falling. Foolishly I asked if it was a spoiler, to find that it was.
The Falling was a film I missed at the cinema, despite really wanting to see it. Although I bought the Blu-Ray last year, I've not yet had the chance to catch up with it just yet. However when I come across spoilers revealed like this, even by accident, it makes me reconsider if I can watch the film, at least for some time. Which means, the Blu-Ray will sit on the shelf unopened for some time now. In hindsight, I partly blame myself for asking the question about the plot detail.
But what was interesting was that the person said that as it wasn't a new film (it was released in 2015) spoilers will appear. I don't know if this was an attempt to justify giving plot details away or not, but I thought it an odd comment to make; that because the film was older, it was okay to give plot spoilers or details away.
Now, when I review films or write some musings about film on my Blog, if I feel I need to talk spoilers, I will put a spoiler warning on the piece in question. But, I don't think I have given away spoilers on Twitter or Facebook for that matter.
The reason is fairly simple. No matter how popular a film is, not everyone will have seen it. Some will have no interest in seeing them, others will not have caught up with them yet. Certainly that was the case with The Falling for me. I've just never yet caught up with it. But, I respect that people will not have seen particular films and would never knowingly put spoilers online, without a warning.
Of course, to be fair, it's not just people on social media sites that reveal plot spoilers too. Infamously, film critic Mark Kermode when introducing the TV premiere of Japanese horror film, Ringu, gave away the ending. I do think he cringes with embarrassment whenever the subject comes up. But other critics have giving away details in reviews of films, often without a spoiler warning first. Of course it is not just critics who give the ending away. Check out the cover work for the release of The Wicker Man. Or perhaps don't as it gives the ending away!
Of course, when you talk film and older films in this regard, does it make a difference? Most people, even if they have seen it or not, know the plot twist of The Empire Strikes Back for example. Or going further back, the ending of Planet Of The Apes. Does the age of the film partly justify if spoilers are revealed? For me, no. Like I said, there are people who have never seen these films and to spoil it for them would undermine the impact when the reveal happens.
But, spoilers don't always have to give away the plot itself. Consider the work of M. Night Shyamalan. Be honest now; when you read that there is a twist in the film, how many of us spend more time trying to work the twist out, rather than focus on the film itself? Knowing there is a twist coming, would that in itself be considered a spoiler too? Take The Visit. The twist there was fairly obvious, but once that was out the way, I actually enjoyed the film more second time round, because the twist wasn't my main focus, rather the film as a whole.
So, can anything be done to prevent it happening? Sadly, not much these days. You can avoid social media when a film comes out, something I do if a film has opened earlier in the week and I have to wait to see it for example and you can simply avoid reviews until then too. As I said earlier, you can look online for spoilers for pretty much any film these days. If you choose to do that, then of course, that is your choice. But I do wish those who have seen something that others haven't, think carefully before posting on social media about a film.
In the meantime, my Blu-Ray copy of The Falling will sit on the shelf for a good while before I get to it. It is by all accounts a very good film, judging from the reviews it got on release. But now I'll have to wait longer to see it.
A shame.
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