Spoiler how do you know

Subscribe to Fig. Each episode explores a groundbreaking idea and the brilliant UC minds behind it. There needs to be a challenge, and the person overcomes the challenge or succumbs to it, and then has learned something at the end. But as he was explaining it, he paused to think. Does fiction really have to work that way? What makes people enjoy or not enjoy a story?

I became curious about what it is about fictional narratives that attracts people. If suspense, surprise and satisfying resolutions are the heroes that save a story, spoilers are the villains that try to, well, spoil everything. Intuitively, killing the surprise seems like it should make a narrative less enjoyable. Yet research has found that having extra information about artworks can make them more satisfying, as can the predictability of an experience.

So Christenfeld decided to put spoilers to the test in the most straightforward way possible: by spoiling stories for people. In the initial experiment , his team had subjects read short stories from various genres.

Send us feedback. See more words from the same century. Accessed 12 Nov. More Definitions for spoiler. See the full definition for spoiler in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of spoiler. Examples of spoiler in a Sentence The review contains a few spoilers , so don't read it if you haven't seen the movie.

Recent Examples on the Web Still, whether soaking wet, soiled, or basking in the sunlight of a train home spoiler : Alex survives! Both knowing and not knowing can be their own tensions, and whether or not you hate or enjoy spoilers may have everything to do with which one you choose to invest in.

Many of the arguments about spoilers come down to a simple question, but a divisive one: Who bears primary responsibility for avoiding spoilers?

Is it the person who has the knowledge, or the person who doesn't? Both sides have their points. Those are the extremes, though. In most cases, the line between being considerate and inconsiderate or reasonable and unreasonable is a fine one, and its position is in the view of the beholder.

From one perspective, discussing spoilers with no warning is an act of huge discourtesy; from another, demanding that people stop their conversations to accommodate your viewing schedule is a bit like holding a light bulb and expecting the world to revolve around you. It all depends on where you're standing. In our own poll, 44 percent said the burden was on people to avoid them, but the majority 56 percent believed that the responsibility lay with those who had the information.

There was also quite a bit of polarization around the edges; between 15 and 22 percent of people said it was acceptable to talk about spoilers the instant that a movie, comic, or television show was released--including shows released as full seasons, like House of Cards or Orange Is the New Black. Dan Kois, a senior editor at Slate, finds the idea that "spoilers are forever" particularly irksome for people who want to discuss entertainment and art.

You're spoiling the fun of talking about art. Expectations varied depending on the medium; people granted more time to books, movies and full season releases shows, while serialized media like comics and weekly scripted television had an overall narrower window.

The biggest exceptions were reality television competitions and sports events. Unlike other forms of entertainment, most people were overwhelmingly fine with the idea of discussing "spoilers" instantly. Almost 58 percent of people said it was OK to openly discuss reality TV after it aired or aired in all time zones , while 53 percent of people agreed that it was acceptable to discuss a sports event the moment it happened.

Why is it acceptable to instantly discuss who scored the winning touchdown but not who killed [redacted]? No reason at all, except that our expectations are different. Regardless of how capricious our rules may be from medium to medium—or whether it's worth getting upset about spoilers at all—ultimately, there's only one thing people agree about: They're definitely going to get upset about spoilers.

There ought to be. It can just be awfully difficult to pin down. But here's my take:. Spoilers should give time-shifted stragglers a window a chance to catch up, but not imprison people in spoiler carbonite indefinitely—particularly if that stifles conversations about art and entertainment exactly when those discussions are likely to be the most engaging.

And so, in the absence of consensus, here are a few humble suggestions--sure to please no one--for how both the pro-spoiler and anti-spoiler contingents could strive to meet in the middle and share the responsibility of this incredibly frustrating burden together:. Don't be a jerk. If you know your friend is reading Harry Potter for the first time, don't tell him what happens in the sixth book. Don't text your buddy who works on Sunday nights and tell her who just died on Game of Thrones.