#i knew that the apollo 13 astronauts survived the mission
maybe this is just because I love spoilers and finding out spoilers, up to and including skipping to the end of a book to know the ending before I get there, but I think the cultural handwringing over spoilers is a mistake.
like, I think most people agree that forbidding actors from so much as knowing what project they’re working on or knowing anything other than their own lines is deranged and excessive. I also think that at this point most people have thoroughly gotten over the allure of ~sHoCkInG tWiStS~ (because anyone having any correct fan theory is a threat to writerly integrity or something).
but like, genuinely: it is okay to learn information about a work before you consume it. it’s okay to know the ending before you consume it! it’s okay to know the entire plot synopsis before you consume it! only very rarely is the existence of a particular plot point what makes the story memorable or interesting. what makes a story memorable or interesting is how you get there. I want to say “it’s the journey, not the destination” is too cliché of a way to put it, but really, truly, that’s what it is.
I knew everyone died at the end of Rogue One well before going in, but I still cried for a solid fifteen minutes at the end because I got emotionally attached to the characters. I know that the team in Leverage is always going to defeat their mark every episode, but what I care about is what new con they use or what heist they pull to make that happen. everyone knows what happens at the end of orpheus and eurydice, but Hadestown is still an incredibly popular musical because of the way the story is told.
a shocking twist only works once. if the writers are good at their jobs, I should be able to know exactly what happens in the story and still feel emotions about it anyway when I see it.
