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Spoiler Alert! This Reaserch is Incomplete


fun2novel

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In a recent research study that was done by the UC San Diego psychology professor Nicholas Christenfeld about spoilers he discovered that spoilers do not ruin the enjoyment of the story but in fact makes it more enjoyable. I want to take a better look at these finding and let you, my dear readers, decide if you agree with this research or not. Spoiler alert, in my opinion Prof. Christenfeld's research still needs work because as it is right now it completely misses the mark. It's as if this research aims at a target it doesn't know even exists, it just aims its guns into a forest without aiming at a particular tree not really caring which tree it hits just as long as it hits something.

One of the examples Prof. Christenfeld uses Romeo and Juliet. Let's take a look at some quotes in a prologue: ..."A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life ... The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love". One of the greatest English writers of all time basically spoils everything before the first act even begins. But Prof. Christenfeld seems to completely miss the point. It was not about spoiling the story but the structure the author decided to go for. Let's look at those lines again, ...A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life ... The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, so it's not that the story was spoiled here, it is what the author himself concluded what is the best narrative structure his story demands. Every author has his own idea what and how he should structure his narrative and where to put these kinds of important details. Furthermore, a sentence like "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life" can be as much of a symbolic meaning as it can be a literal. And it could have no literal meaning at all, only a symbolic. In the case of Romeo and Juliet it is literal, but whose to say that it has to be. Who of us watched an anime that had what seemed to spoil the ending right there in the first minute of the first episode but the real ending turned out to be something completely different. That so called spoiler takes a much deeper and more meaningful meaning than it first seemed to present itself. This makes the story seem even more reverent and meaningful on subsequent viewings. Saying that Shakespeare spoiled one of his greatest masterpieces so every writer should spoil his story completely disregards the ability of the art of storytelling craft to exhume meaningful profound themes as well as stimulating the reader on deep emotional and intellectual levels. Every writer strives to elevate the reader's experience by clever movements and subtle construction of the words, sentences, and paragraphs, leading up to the high emotional catharsis.

The main point of the research is that when you are reading something for the first time and have not been spoiled then it's like driving on a road without a sense of directions of where you're going and where you will end up. But if you are spoiled you can see your destination and can enjoy the view along the ride. But the problem is that it entirely misses the point of what is the meaning of reading something for the first time. I do agree that reading something when you know what to expect is much better than going completely blind because when you don't know what to expect from a story you build a perfect image in your mind about how you think the story you're reading should be. In turn you start comparing everything you read and watch to that perfect story you hold onto in your head, the expectations you made up in your mind, but of course nothing is going to be as good as that which only leads to disappointments and makes it difficult to enjoy anything.

This is exactly why this research needs more work. It completely misses the point. Spoilers are not what people need to enjoy what they read, it's that they should set their expectations to the right levels. Spoilers don't add to the enjoyment of first experiencing the story. What this research does show is that rereading a story more than once can be a highly pleasurable experience. After you get your first experience you get a bigger overall picture and now you know where the story is going. Being spoiled before your first reading experience gives you some very similar results but it also prevents you from sense of discovery that the first experience provides.Spoilers ruin the discovery and the surprises the author planned for the reader because there is no more tension anywhere, you already know what's going to happen. You can still enjoy the story if it's well written but you will never have a complete experience, it's already been ruined for you.

If you ever watched the Sixth Sense you know that the story is carefully written in such a way that once you discover the truth it completely changes how you view the story from then on. Nothing can replace that FIRST experience and having been spoiled means you're experiencing the film as if you're watching it for the second time which completely defies the experiences the director intended have. Once you're finished watching it for the first time you'll love to see it again and really get the genius of the narrative. Remember11 is an amazing visual novel but if you're coming from Ever17 you'll probably expect it to have all the answers by the time you reach the true ending. However, the problem here is your expectations and they are bound to disappoint you. This is because Remember11 is an unfinished game, the story never gives you the necessary answers. Knowing that, but still avoiding spoilers, I had my expectations set a the right level, that is not expecting a satisfying ending, allowed me to enjoy the story for what it is and it turned out to be one of my favorite visual novels ever. It's one of those visual novels I can to read over and over anytime. That is how much having expectations at the correct level helps to enjoy a story and avoid any spoilers. What about games like Ace Attorney and Danganronpa? The entire point of these is self discovery, you are the one who needs to solve these mysteries. If you were spoiled on every surprise the writers had in store for you then I don't see the point of playing these games. Oh sure, playing them for a second time is just as fun as the first time, however, if your first playthrough was completely spoiled then it's very doubtful you'll even enjoy playing it for the first time.

Spoilers aren't always a bad thing. If you don't care about a certain show and then get it spoiled this might actually entice your curiosity and get you watch the show or read the book.Some people don't care about spoilers and will even read everything the can before watching a show. Do you think it's a good thing to be spoiled or would you prefer to be surprised? This is choice you'll have to make on your own. But try to set your expectations first before you start reading spoilers because honestly, there are some stories that shouldn't be spoiled no matter what anyone says.

It is not the spoilers that make things more enjoyable, it's the expectations we as readers place on the stories we are reading. Expectations change how we perceive and experience things. Expectations can change what we take from what we are reading and what we are watching. Saying spoilers enhances the experience is, and I'll be absolutely blunt here, a big huge bullshit. The reason you enjoy a story even if you've been spoiled is all due to writer's mastery of the storytelling craft. Not because you were spoiled, and not because spoiler make the story more enjoyable, they just help you to set your expectations to the right levels. If the story is very good in your opinion, you'll probably want to read it again, this time with a completely different perspective, you will see the entire map of the narrative, it will be a completely new journey for you. To read something for a second time is an amazing experience in and of itself, you'll find that the more you read your favorite stories the more you'll love them. But you need to get through that first non-spoiled reading to get there.

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