Spoiler Alert!

(Don’t worry, there actually aren’t any spoilers in this article.)

The questions everyone asks themselves are: why do certain people like to spoil movies? Should it be allowed? How long should they wait to spoil a character’s death or an important scene in a particular movie? Often, people who tend to spoil movies are characterized as inconsiderate; they disregard the fact that, although they have watched it, others may not have and were planning on finding out the ending of the movie for themselves, WITHOUT people spoiling it for them. They seem to take joy from ruining the experience of a first view for others by spoiling it. Unfortunately, spoilers are everywhere on social media. There are posts and comments all over your feed and sometimes the only way to escape them is to simply disconnect yourself from all your social media accounts and bury yourself under a rock until you finally watch the movie and there will be nothing to spoil anymore.

This issue comes up a lot, especially following the release of a big, franchised movie such as Avengers: Endgame, the last Avengers movie that most fans have anticipated for over a year since the release of Avengers: Infinity War. The film is the culmination of over a decade of plots, characters, and arcs in one final battle, so it shouldn’t come to a surprise that numerous people were lining up in front of theaters to watch it, or even spoil it for others… Although the majority of the fan community has been tight-lipped about what the ending is, with the hashtag #DontSpoilTheEndgame serving as a social media reminder, one Hong Kong man recently decided to throw caution to the wind and spoil the ending outside of a theater, where a crowd was waiting to see the film. This riled up the crowed to the extent to which a few people went over to beat up the man since he had just ruined the excitement of their first-view to their favorite film.

Although the English teacher Ms. Dean refrains from using fists to deal with spoiling students, she did threaten a few seniors with Fs for taunting her with Endgame spoilers before she watched it. Ms. Dean watched the movie later than most people, so she encountered many people who tried to spoil the movie for her. She thinks it’s a “jerk move” to taunt people with spoilers. Freshman Rafaela O. agrees, because it ruins the anticipation and the “excitement” of the movie watching process. Even though she isn’t the biggest Marvel fan, hearing some spoilers would have made the movie less intense. For Rafaela, movie spoilers are worse than book spoilers, because people often already have un-cancelable plans to watch the movie beforehand.

When Endgame was released early on a Wednesday, sophomore Sofia C. was one of the first people to watch the movie in Guangzhou. Her family headed over to the cinema at midnight and the movie finished at 3 on a school night. For her, the main struggle with spoilers for Endgame was not being the one to give spoilers. Of course, being a devoted Marvel fan, she left the cinema brimming with excitement to share and discuss; to avoid spoiling the experience for people who were equally excited for the movie, she spent time ” finding anyone who didn’t care [about Endgame] so [she] could talk about it and it wouldn’t affect them.”

These examples just go to show how much watching a movie can mean to people, and also how rude and inconsiderate it is to spoil the endings of movies, or even books. If you want to discuss the plot of a movie with your friends, then at least make sure that they are willing to discuss it; don’t spoil it on purpose to those that still haven’t watched the film or read the book for your pure evil satisfaction. IT’S JUST NOT COOL.