Spoiler (media)
A spoiler ( English to spoil , "to spoil") is information that summarizes the essential plot elements of a fiction work, a film , a video game , an audio book , a sporting event or episodes of a television series and is therefore suitable for enjoying the entire work or to spoil its outcome.
Demarcation
Mostly the reproduction of action elements of a plot is meant, which play a decisive role for the progress or the resolution of the respective story and whose preliminary knowledge robs the reader, viewer or listener of the tension . For example, if you already know the name of the perpetrator in a whodunit crime thriller, you may only consume such a novel or film with limited enjoyment. For example, visitors to the play The Mousetrap by Agatha Christieasked at London's St Martin's Theater since 1952 not to reveal the killer to the next audience. On the other hand, it is at least questionable whether enjoyment always suffers from such betrayal, at least according to the research results of the US psychologists Jonathan Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld in 2011.
Unsolicited disclosure of spoilers is generally considered gross rudeness. A spoiler can therefore often be found in forums with a rough tone and is mostly used as an attack on fan communities. In this case, the shorter the spoiler, the more effective it is. So z. For example, information about the death of a protagonist can spoil the fun for many fans.
In the case of sources that are informative and are not intended to stimulate media consumption (e.g. scientific treatises or lexicons), however, spoilers are common and essential for the purpose of the sources. A compromise must be found for sources that are promotional and informative (e.g. literary reviews ). The name of the main character who died in the sixth volume of the Harry Potter series was not disclosed by the German media when the English edition was published, but only when the German edition was reviewed.
In the television series sector, the risk of spoilers has increased significantly since the early 2000s due to changed viewing habits. Through media libraries , video-on-demand services and illegal streaming sites like kinox.to viewers have the technical ability to access mostly with the release of a new series on all the consequences. In particular, due to the trend of binge watching , the viewing of several episodes of a series in a row, some viewers have a knowledge advantage about essential plot points of the plot. In contrast, prior to that in linear television, it was almost impossible for most viewers to watch an episode in front of the other viewers and thereby experience content more easily.
Spoiler warnings
In some media it has become common practice that an explanation of important elements of the plot of books, films or computer games is preceded by so-called spoiler warnings . This is particularly common in relevant fan and discussion forums as well as on Usenet . Even in the world's largest film database ( IMDb ), spoiler warnings are mandatory for all reviewers .
In contexts that are not primarily concerned with the media implementation of stories (e.g. lexica), spoiler warnings are unusual. In the German-language Wikipedia , spoiler warnings have been abolished through an opinion poll .
However, they are sometimes transferred to other media with ironic or parodic intent. Outside of certain Internet communities, spoiler warnings have not yet been able to establish themselves permanently.
The spoiler warning, however, is not an original invention of the Internet. Many years ago it was customary for a short time on the First German Television to announce the Bundesliga results only in the form of a text board before the start of the Saturday sports show and to ask viewers interested in maintaining their tension to close their eyes for a moment . The Internet-typical term "spoiler warning" was of course still unknown at that time. Also in the show What am I? the fade-in of the occupation to be advised was announced and ended with a sound of the gong, as was the popular picture puzzle in the WDR program Zimmer frei more recently .
The type of spoiler warnings differs from medium to medium and from milieu to milieu. In texts on the Internet, for example, they are usually handled in such a way that a clearly visible notice (in bold font, different font sizes, color, etc.) is followed by a few blank lines and only then the corresponding content, followed by further blank lines. Sometimes the end of the spoiler is also indicated by a special notice.
In Usenet posts, spoilers are regularly encrypted with ROT13 . Another form of spoiler warning is the so-called highlight to read (" highlight for reading"). After the note “Spoiler - Highlight to Read”, the relevant text parts are written in a font that is identical to the color of the background. The text can only be read if the relevant point is marked with the mouse. This is to avoid unintentional reading of these spoilers. The computer game platform Steam also handles screenshots of games in a similar way , which, if they could reveal important twists or key scenes, are (should) be identified in advance by the person uploading them. There are also text fields that you have to click to read the corresponding text.
In printed publications, texts whose content should not immediately catch the eye are occasionally set in mirror writing or upside down. This technique is most commonly used for puzzle solving. In this case it is de facto a spoiler avoidance.
Similar to spoiler warnings, users of self - help forums use so - called trigger warnings . These are also sometimes referred to as spoilers .
Effect of spoilers
A study by the psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, who works at the University of California, San Diego , came to the conclusion that people who had previously been spoiled the end of a story rated it as better on average. The effect can be seen in all genres.
Examples
- The spoiler “Der Borsche was it”, which the cabaret artist Wolfgang Neuss advertised in 1962, betrayed the murderer of the film Das Halstuch by Francis Durbridge . The Durbridge thriller ran in January 1962 in the new medium of television as a nationwide ARD street sweeper . Neuss became known nationwide as the nation's bogeyman and “traitor to the fatherland” ( picture ) because he tried to use the spoiler to lure viewers of his own film Comrade Münchhausen into the cinema and thus away from the television.
- In the cartoon series The Simpsons (episode 3.12: Looking back into the happiness of marriage ) something similar is parodied: Homer Simpson comes out of a cinema in the 1980s after the film The Empire Strikes Back ; As he passes the upcoming film fans, he chats loudly about "Darth Vader being Luke's father".
- The same gag can be found in the parody Beilight - Bis (s) zum Abendbrot . There the protagonist walks with her friend from the hitherto fictional film adaptation of the book Breaking Dawn past a long line of people waiting at the cash register and talks about how crazy it is to "have a vampire baby" (the obvious content of the Films).
- In the British television series Doctor Who , spoilers are always present in seasons four through seven of the new series. The Doctor often meets a person from his future here. Her diary, her past, contains his future. That's why she prevents him from reading with a regular “spoiler!”
Individual evidence
- ↑ What are 'spoilers'? In: IMDb. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Duncan Leatherdale (BBC News): Lifting the lid on Spoilers. August 21, 2015, accessed September 16, 2015 .
- ^ Leavitt, Christenfeld in: psychologicalscience , August 2011.
- ↑ Francesco Giammarco: Warning! This text contains spoilers. In: Uni Spiegel 1/2016, pp. 20-25
- ↑ Example for a review with spoiler warning: Maze Runner. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
- ↑ rooms available! : Ina Müller (picture puzzle). August 29, 2010, accessed September 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Example of spoiler warning: Life is Strange Test (PC) - A teen plays fate - GameStar. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
- ↑ The trigger warning. In: www.tagblatt.de. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Andy Murdock: Spoiler alert: spoilers make you enjoy stories more. August 20, 2020, accessed on August 23, 2020 .