These days there seem to be fewer surprises in media. We consume at such a high rate that studios seem to think they must create hype by spoiling their own projects.
However, in a world where people enjoy a good plot twist and surprise, we are in a constant state of over-sharing by a variety of outlets.
The State of the Plot Twist
There was a time when plot twists were something to be found. Friends would say things like, “You need to go see this movie,” we would ask why, and they would say, “Just go see it.” It was a different time. People knew the actors, the genre, and a general idea of the plot.
After a while, everyone knew the twist, but it took time for it to come out. While some people want to know twists, the majority of individuals are happy to go in relatively blind.
Now, although movies purport to have twists, they are often telegraphed to the point of almost handing the script to people before they enter the theater. They say it is harder to surprise people, but studios are no longer even making an effort.
Who Is Ruining Everything?
One of the worst ways that movies are spoiled is through marketing. With so many tie-ins and preplanning, it is hard to avoid character reveals and key plot points.
Movie trailers, long the lure for getting people to theaters, are rife with twist-breakers. Trailer editors are a breed unto themselves and often throw in full reveals or five-second peeks to create buzz. When a trailer drops, everyone begins to analyze it with a fine-tooth comb hoping to see the shadow of a background character that could hint at something they can then spoil for the public.
A perfect example of the blatant screw-the-audience mentality was the 2023 Adam Driver film 65. It was simple. Adam Driver crashes on a planet, and it has dinosaurs. Great. We all agreed that we love Adam Driver and are always happy to see dinosaurs. The first trailer made it seem like Driver’s character might be in an alternate universe, had gone back in time, or was stuck in a simulation.
There were all kinds of great what-if’s. And then they made it very clear that there was no possibility of any of this. They spelled it out. [Actual spoiler alert unless you watched the trailer] Adam Driver is an alien, his ship has crashed on prehistoric Earth, and he needs to get out before the devastating asteroid hits.
Thanks, trailer.
Toys are also an issue. Lego has been known to spoil movie plot points, and character reveals when they release tie-in sets prior to movies making it to theaters. Just a few examples include spoiling the airport fight in Captain America: Civil War, the trash compactor escape scene from Toy Story 3, and the fact that Poe Dameron and the Resistance were going to be a vital part of The Force Awakens. There are entire websites devoted to Lego’s many spoiler moments.
Franchises are also at fault for taking all the air out of their own projects by announcing their next projects. Marvel has done this multiple times. Most recently, they released the trailer for The Marvels, which prominently features Nick Fury. However, Nick Fury is currently involved in the just-released Secret Invasion, a story where audiences have been told anyone could be a Skrull and that characters would die.
But knowing Fury is in The Marvels means that he will be just fine by the end of Secret Invasion. The studio has so much forward-thinking that they don’t seem to care about projects which exist at the current moment. It is poor planning and a total disregard for their audience.
Is There a Way to Avoid Spoilers?
There seems to be no real way to avoid spoilers these days. Should a plot twist make it to theaters, it will only be a few days before media outlets feel they have waited long enough to give in to their baser urges and spill the beans.
People continue to see films even knowing the spoilers, but that doesn’t mean they are happy about it. In fact, the uproar over some spoilers has been intense. And the fact that people are so happy to spoil is even worse.
When Spider-Man: No Way Home was being made, there was much speculation as to who would make an appearance. We knew it would be a movie about multiverses, but the speculation was rampant. However, while Marvel and Sony were able to keep things mostly under wraps, people watching the trailers realized that the CGI in one scene was messy, and it looked like a character was being punched by dead space. They announced to the world that there must be characters that were edited out for the trailer. As it turns out, they were right.
To show the full range of spoilers, it is important to note that in this article, there are at least four separate spoilers that, although they are for movies that have been out, could still be interesting for some people. This is the state of explaining media to people. We cannot discuss concepts without somehow spoiling them for everyone else.
So if you want a spoiler-free life, try to surround yourself with people who can keep secrets and won't even share theories. We all get our theories from somewhere, and the more we can avoid them, the less we fall down spoiler rabbit holes.