Back when The Force Awakens was first announced, I decided that I wanted to know absolutely nothing about it before I could see it for myself. That meant no trailers, pictures, leaked imagery or rumours. No talking with people, no searching on the internet, and literally no television for months on end. Everything was fine until, in mid-December when I made the mistake of giving my sister a lift. She gets in the car, clips in her seatbelt and says matter of factly. “Oh, Han dies!”
In that moment, I decided to never share a car with my sister again.
I don’t make it to the cinema as often as I’d like. And when I do, I want to enjoy the film. Also, I’m on a budget. This generally means waiting a few months for the crowds to thin and the prices to drop.
So, I finally scored a couple of tickets to TFA, and spent almost two hours waiting for the inevitable to happen on-screen. From the opening trumpets, to Han’s one-way ticket to the heart of a star (how very Hal Jordan of him), I absolutely loved the film. And once the glow of Kylo/Ben’s lightsaber had faded, I began thinking… In this day and age, is it impossible to avoid spoilers?
Every time a new trailer comes out, the internet descends like so many vultures. Every frame is devoured, poses dissected, and that warped reflection in the background? Clearly that indicates XYZ. Whilst I enjoyed seeing Spider-Man swing into the Civil War trailers, I will now never have that magical moment of movie surprise when watching the film. And with individual TV episodes getting their own trailers now, it’s an issue for your favourite shows, too. Exciting though it was for The Flash to get another speedster, why give “Trajectory” its own trailer in which, literally, all the major plot points are revealed?
I tried everything I could think of to avoid having The Force Awakens spoiled. I took down all my social media, stayed as far off the grid as I could, politely informed friends that I would make their lives an absolute misery if they ruined it for me. In the end, my sister heard from a friend who read an internet rumour, and the biggest plot point of one of the biggest movies of all time was ruined for me.
Have we reached the point that, even if people don’t want to know, they have no choice but to have everything spoiled? Do you like to enter the theater unsullied, or is knowing spoilers okay with you? Tell us what you think on Twitter @getfandom.