Do spoilers make you enjoy stories more?

[Scottt]

I was just reading these studies from a few years ago that suggest people enjoy books and films more when they know what happens.

In the initial experiment, his team had subjects read short stories from various genres. One group simply read a story and rated how much they liked it at the end. The other group did the same, but the researchers spoiled the narrative, as if by accident, by giving them a short introduction.

"'In this, the classic story in which the woman murders her husband with a frozen leg of lamb…,'" said Christenfeld nonchalantly as an example.

"What we found, remarkably, was if you spoil stories they actually enjoy them more."

Christensen repeated the experiment with three different genres: mystery stories containing a "whodunit" moment; ironic twist stories, where a surprise ending crystallizes the whole story; and literary fiction with a neat resolution.

"Across all three genres spoilers actually were enhancers," said Christenfeld. "The term is wrong."

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https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-spoilers-make-you-enjoy-stories-more

"When people go to see 'Romeo and Juliet,' they don't think 'Don't tell me how it ends!'" said Christenfeld. "'All's Well That Ends Well'? That one ends well. So there isn't any thought that with these great works of fiction, knowing the ending is going to ruin them."

No one watches a romantic comedy truly wondering if the couple will be happy in the end. With a detective story, you can safely assume the detective will eventually solve the case.

"The point is, really we're not watching these things for the ending," said Christenfeld. "I point out to the skeptics, people watch these movies more than once happily, and often with increasing pleasure."

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One issue with these examples is that they focus on generic formula. Most romantic comedies follow the same story beats, and our enjoyment of them doesn't rely on plot intrigue. But I'm not sure how that would compare to stories that don't adhere to a specific genre.

The second study spoiled things halfway through:

This time, instead of letting readers finish the story, Christenfeld's team stopped people before they reached the spoiled ending and asked them how much they were enjoying the piece. If the benefit of spoilers comes from simply knowing the ending, you wouldn't expect to see any increased enjoyment in the middle of a yarn.

Once again, there was a surprise twist.

"It turns out even halfway through a story, you enjoy a spoiled story more, before you get to that spoiled ending," said Christenfeld.

To Christenfeld, this suggests that spoilers help you know the purpose of the overall narrative, so you're able to better incorporate all of the details and plot points that get you to the end.

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The study also modified the stories themselves to include spoilers about how they end, which had an interesting difference: "Extra knowledge about a work of art makes it more enjoyable; when a spoiler is worked into the story itself, it simply makes for a flawed tale." So how one learns about the spoiler, whether from outside the story or by the story itself, affects whether a person enjoys a story. I guess mystery stories that begin in the present and then flash backwards to build towards how we got there work best when they don't reveal too much right away.

The question might be difficult to answer, since you can't travel back in time after seeing a movie blind and then see it again for the first time not blind.

As an obvious pick, I would probably have been less disappointed by Game of Thrones. Are there movies or books you've experienced that you imagine you might have responded to differently if you had known what would happen? Or are there any that you enjoyed more the second time around after first being disappointed?

 

[EvilChameleon]

Reading a spoiler makes me more excited to actually consume the material, because then I get to see how it actually looks and plays out. For instance, I spoiled all of Infinity War for myself months before I actually watched the film (haven't been to a theater in years), and it made me more excited to actually see it.

 

[icyflamez96]

It depends on the spoiler really. But generally I avoid them.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Fuck no and I'm tired of seeing these studies used to justify shitty behavior on the part of the person spoiling things.

 

[Aranjah]

Mostly it makes me feel like "Well, I already know what happens, no need to bother finding out now" and then just skip whatever the thing is that I was spoiled on, because there is too much other unspoiled media out there.

Edit: I guess I'll edit in a bit more nuance, because of course I have replayed games, rewatched movies, reread books, etc. and I have finished out first runs of things that have been spoiled for me when I was partway through them, and still been able to get some enjoyment out of it.

(This is all assuming we're talking major spoilers. Still applies to minor spoilers to a much lesser extent for me, though.)
The feeling from the first experience for me is generally one of suspense. "I wonder what will happen next!"
The feeling from repeat experiences, I think I'd most closely relate to nostalgia. "Oh yeah, I remember this part, this part was good, I'm enjoying going through it again!"
The feeling from a spoiled first experience, for me, is I guess the "I wonder how they got there" experience that most others in this thread are talking about.

Out of those three experiences, the first one is the one I find most enjoyable and the last one is the one I find the least enjoyable.
The closer you get to the spoiled story beat in question, the easier it is to just naturally work out all the other details of "how they got there" before the story actually gets there, because the story is usually told in a way that it's counting on you not knowing what connects the dots, but if you know the secret then there's a lot of foreshadowing going on (that's what the repeat experience is for, to enjoy noticing all that). So barring some other even-more-major twist, the rest of the story is sorta indirectly spoiled too, taking all of the suspense out of it, and for me the spectacle itself (when it's a visual medium) is, I guess, cool in the moment, but doesn't give me nearly as strong a feeling of enjoyment as the nostalgia or "aha! moments" do.

I'm not really interested in doing a literary/technical analysis of the storytelling devices used, and that sort of thing, so more power to all of you who are like "knowing what happens means I can analyze the details!" but that isn't me. lol

 

[Tuorom]

Sometimes.

Going in blind offers a different experience which can be fantastic.
Repeat viewing offers a quite different one, an experience where you can be more engaged with other aspects.

Like I don't think Dark would be better on first viewing if you're spoiled because half the fun is experiencing the shenanigans and trying to make sense of things, it's going on the journey with the characters. But Dark is for sure very satisfying to watch again because you have a better understanding of things and can make these connections more readily.

Sometimes spoilers can provide interest, like whoa I kinda want to see how that happens. Maybe something you weren't interested in suddenly seems interesting because of the spoiler.

I would say spoilers don't provide enjoyment, but they can provide motivation to engage.

 

[julia crawford]

Yes.

 

[Emperor_El]

If I hate the story/don't care? Yes
If I like the story/care? No

 

[Pharaun]

I don't mind spoilers at all, the journey is as important as the destination. Oftentimes knowing the ending just makes me more excited to see how things get to that point.

 

[Javier]

No.
I care less about stories when I know what's going to happen.

 

[Metalsnakezero]

Depends like if a story is very strong with character development and less on story twist, I'll be happy to read up on where the character changes. If the spoiler going to be about a huge world change, that'll be something I try to avoid till I see/read it.

 

[sfedai0]

I need spoilers to know if the movie is worth watching. Case in point, the last Star Wars movie. Saved me money and time after watching and reading the spoilers.

 

[Lurcharound]

Absolutely not! I'll happily be in the minority on this.

This part did grab my attention though:

"To Christenfeld, this suggests that spoilers help you know the purpose of the overall narrative, so you're able to better incorporate all of the details and plot points that get you to the end."

I vastly prefer to draw my own conclusions and decide the purpose of the narrative myself, which in context to this explains (at least partly) why I disagree completely. I don't want to be given clues or help and I consider myself knowledgable enough in most artistic mediums not to need any anyway.

 

[kai3345]

you can see a movie an infinite number of times knowing what's going to happen but you literally only get one chance to have the experience of seeing it completely blind. why people would willingly rob themselves of that is completely baffling to me

 

[Scottt]

Fuck no and I'm tired of seeing these studies used to justify shitty behavior on the part of the person spoiling things.

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I don't think the study is justifying any behavior, just doing an experiment.

Like when I think about it, there are some movies I probably enjoyed more because I knew the spoilers beforehand. Not always, of course. Some stories rely on a twist. But there are also a lot of movies and books that I've enjoyed more the second time through.

 

[KamenSenshi]

No. If I find out stuff about whatever I'm looking forward to it immediately gets put on the backburner.

 

[DJ_Lae]

No.

I'm less likely to watch something as I know I'll constantly be thinking about the spoiler, ruining everything else.

 

[HustleBun]

No.

Well, maybe when they help shape expectations to avoid disappointment or shock.

Shock: maybe if something is triggering or deeply upsetting, it can help to know that it's coming.
Disappointment: setting expectations so that you aren't distracted or preoccupied by something specific.

Recent example: I know two different people that have been extremely excited for Age of Calamity, assuming that it was a direct prequel to Breath of the Wild. The demo made them worry that it would be more of a FF7-R and less of a Crisis Core. So they want to know if it's a prequel or not, to set expectations so they don't play it and get pissed off or distracted from other elements of the experience that they would otherwise enjoy.

 

[Chubnasty]

I remember being a kid not being able to afford to go to movies and excited to hear spoilers from my friends who could.

 

[RBH]

Fuck no

 

[DreamRunner]

It depends on the spoiler really. But generally I avoid them.

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+1

 

[Tawney Bomb]

Not really. The only time I actively seek out spoilers is if a show or book is starting off particularly poorly, I'll generally read the ending to decide if I want to finish it.

 

[Brinbe]

i don't mind them because i just like to cut to the chase and i enjoy puzzling out how they get to these twists or whatever. if there's coherency there or if it's bullshit.

 

[Deleted member 923]

Nope.

 

[curiouscharles]

I also read these studies, and thoroughly enjoyed them.

I've always enjoyed spoilers, so I found this research quite gratifying.

Good luck getting spoiler-averse people to agree with it though... eek.

 

[SABO.]

no. ruins it for me. If I watch or read something and I like it, I like to really invest my emotions into it. Spoilers ruin that.

 

[Readler]

Surprised by some of the answers here.

It's a definite no from me though. Never. Some of the most crucial emotional beats of stories rely on the element of surprise. Game of Thrones was basically built around this

 

[Burly]

Yes, spoil everything.

 

[djinn]

I can think of only one particular scenario where I spoilers help me enjoy the story more and that's where it's a very long series. If I'm starting a new long series and I've seen a picture of a character and what they look like further into the series, if they've changed some way or grown in power or authority, then I get excited to see how that character got there.

 

[onpoint]

I want to go into things as blind as possible. I want my experience, not someone else's. So I'm on the hate spoilers side.

 

[Nooblet]

Yes and no.

I like spoilers in games, especially long games, because it takes so long to go through the story and I don't have the patience for that. But if I read spoilers then it makes me anticipate how it's going to happen or when it's going to happen. And then totally immerse myself in gameplay rather than thinking of gameplay as chore.

In movies and TV shows? Nope.
Unless the movie is boring. However, if it's a TV show then I actually like reading character wikis and stuff, which indirectly ends up spoiling it for me. This is why I prefer to watch TV shows as they come out rather than wait till they finish.

 

[Scottt]

i don't mind them because i just like to cut to the chase and i enjoy puzzling out how they get to these twists or whatever. if there's coherency there or if it's bullshit.

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This is something the studies had me thinking about too. I wonder how knowing/not knowing something beforehand affects what we consider as "earned" or not.

 

[Eros]

Typically no, but it did with Game of Thrones. I may have quit after season 3.

 

[Azuran]

Never and if I get spoiled on something I don't even bother.

You only get one chance to consume something completely blind so why in the world would I ruin that for myself?

 

[StallionDan]

Try it with shows/movies people are actually invested in rather than something brand new they may not care about.

 

[Kapryov]

Overall it depends on the story and the spoiler, but...

Some of my favourite experiences with TV/movies/games have been spoiler-free, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
On a second viewing you can enjoy it from a different perspective, seeing the lead-up to the ending or twist or whatever.

If you were spoiled beforehand, you only get the second experience, not the first.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

it should really be telling that the people actually making this stuff are typically vehemently against spoilers
but people on the internet are always chomping at the bit to tell creators that they're wrong about their own work

 

[Nepenthe]

The way the article framed the initial set up didn't sound like a spoiler, but more of a set-up or tagline. "A woman who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb" implies that this is not the entirety of the story or even the ending, but that it is set-up for the rest of the plot. Okay, she killed her husband with frozen meat. What then? Surely there must be more, and the more would be the spoiler in my view. But the later part of the article makes a point in that stories are enjoyed for a variety of reasons beyond the ending. Like, of course once you know the basic plot, you're free to rewatch to see the supporting structures or smaller details you missed, and that a spoiler theoretically shouldn't decrease the value of these other components of a narrative, which is true. My favorite films are my favorite films for reasons beyond any twists or endings.

However, the final sentence still rings true: " ...You can only discover once that Kevin Spacey is actually Keyser Söze." There is nothing wrong with wanting to go into works as blind as possible and to have that "first time" experience. So, you know, don't be an asshole. xP

 

[grang]

I do hate spoilers very much, but being spoiled doesn't ruin a piece of media for me either. I can still watch and enjoy, but I very very much prefer and enjoy twists and being surprised.

The only thing I can think of that being spoiled, when I think about it now, slightly elevated the material for me is

Spoiler: The Wire spoilers

Knowing Omar died in the Wire, but not how. So many tense scenes I was expecting this epic moment, but the relative mundanity of his death really resonated with me and what the game and the show were about

 

[Scottt]

The way the article framed the initial set up didn't sound like a spoiler, but more of a set-up or tagline. "A woman who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb" implies that this is not the entirety of the story or even the ending, but that it is set-up for the rest of the plot. Okay, she killed her husband with frozen meat. What then? Surely there must be more, and the more would be the spoiler in my view. But the later part of the article makes a point in that stories are enjoyed for a variety of reasons beyond the ending. Like, of course once you know the basic plot, you're free to rewatch to see the supporting structures or smaller details you missed, and that a spoiler theoretically shouldn't decrease the value of these other components of a narrative, which is true. My favorite films are my favorite films for reasons beyond any twists or endings.

However, the final sentence still rings true: " ...You can only discover once that Kevin Spacey is actually Keyser Söze." There is nothing wrong with wanting to go into works as blind as possible and to have that "first time" experience. So, you know, don't be an asshole. xP

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Mm, that's a good point. I never thought of there being different kinds of spoilers that way, and I wonder if the studies would have had different results if the spoiler gave everything away, like "A woman kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and is then exiled, the end." Knowing only things like the framework or introductory plotlines of a story might help to prepare someone to enjoy it more because it helps them anticipate the most important bits that are left unspoiled.

I also find that I feel differently when it's a book versus a show or movie. I don't mind knowing everything that happens in a novel before I've read it, but I don't like knowing too much before seeing a movie.

 

[Lemony1984]

I often enjoy a movie or book more the second time. So yes?

 

[Contramann]

Yes, I find the journey to getting there more interesting and the anticipation of the supposed spoiler does make a story enjoyable like that too. Better yet, a story where the spoiler is a twist might add a whole new depth to the movie I might not have noticed the first time through.

 

[Kneefoil]

Spoilers can increase the enjoyment and make you more excited for media that you're not already invested in, but they can likewise ruin it if you were already interested and planned to consume that piece of media before hearing the spoilers. That's my experience anyway. Don't think that study accounts for the latter.

 

[Deleted member 1476]

No.

 

[saboar]

I read the endings of books before I do anything else, so spoilers don't mean anything to me. I don't understand spoiler culture.

 

[Kitsunebaby]

Really depends on the genre. Things like horror and comedy usually rely on the unexpected in order to scare/amuse you. But in dramas it can actually ease some unpleasant tension if I know something has a satisfying ending.