Comments on: Spoiler Alert!: People Like Spoiler Alerts

By: Sergey

Sergey — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:32:51 +0000

Hello emiliano & Betty
emiliano’s explanation revealed the same aspects I mentioned in my pre-explanation. It means I actually understood the idea like it should be. Thank you for your help.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:11:11 +0000

Dear Betty
Where have you been hiding:)?
Nowadays ,we see lees of you on this very page
I promise I like your well-written posts. unlike my poor-written comments( no patronizing intended), your beautifully done comments are always inspiring and encouraging.
U r the spirit on this blog.
Definitly ,you will be missed when you are a no-show even for a shortwhile

By: Alexey

Alexey — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:43:36 +0000

Hi, Sergio!

))))

I was very upset when my wife read the end of the Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Because in the end there was the high tragedy point of this novel. But it is not so tragic when you don’t know all previous plot.

Well… Now I don’t recommend books for her. It’s more comfortable for me.

By: Betty

Betty — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:19:23 +0000

Thank you very much, Jeff, for alerting us to this “Spoiler Alert” study.

I don’t watch much films, movies, or even books and so I have not been bothered by spoilers. I did not even know there is such a term “Spoiler Alert” until now.

I think it does not matter to me whether I bump into some spoiler just before I watch a film or read a book, it will be indifferent to me. I think I will have forgotten the contents of the “spoiler” even before the film starts or before I open the book.

Thanks again, Jeff, good “Alert” you have given us.

***********************

Hi Sergey, I am glad you raised a question which can be significant for us as English learners.

I read your question a few times, read Jeff’s articles a few times, clicked into the link “new Study” in Jeff’s articles, read the article by Written by TAYA FLORES , and finally read Emiliano’s answer to your question in order to find an answer to your question.

In Taya Flores’s article, I cannot find any concrete figure e.g. how many per cent of people who read the spoiler before reading the actual story enjoyed the story more than those who didn’t get a spoiler.

I don’t know if Jeff read the original research publication in the journal Psychological Science by Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld of the University of California, San Diego, and thus have some extra information which we do not have.

Anyway, I think Emiliano’s explanation is very good, I hope you agree with me as well.

Best Regards

Betty

By: Hamid

Hamid — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:26:51 +0000

Hi Dr. Jeff and ESl team;
In fact I’m disagree with this idea that saying end of a movie, book or something else make make the reader or watcher eager to presude rest of it. Cus all the schemes in through
of movie or book will be ruined.

By: emiliano

emiliano — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:05:23 +0000

“Despite the amount could be small it is enough to show an important meaning”
An example could be “a small amount of arsenic in a bottle of wine it is so significant as to kill a person”

A systematic killer in a big city could be so significant as to have all the citizens absolutely frighten.
Here only a person among thousands could be very significant at the moment.

In the example it seems odd that some people, despite they could be a small group, could be delighted
knowing the end of the plot, that is the reason it is significant.

Sergey, more or less I understand this meaning about the sentence but I could be wrong.

My best dear friend.

emiliano

By: Hilario

Hilario — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:46:02 +0000

MADE SUITS.- We´re maybe facing a cultural difference on this issue. A very common expression “brake yourself” they say in Spanish when someone in a group of friends is commenting about a new released book or movie. He or she is going to be stopped in a sudden and abrupt way by listeners and being said something like “please don´t you go on telling us how it ends, cause you are going us to spoil this”. Other point is that It seems that is easier for storyboard makers, and movie scripting writters to set up complex intrigues and virtualize complicated characters than to figure out credible and congruent conclussions. Usually it is also full of misleading and inconsistencies around of the thing. For other reasons not many of the final versions are brilliant endings, there´s not usually much of a surprise because most of them are taylor-made to fit what some people call financial censorship or a marketing mix values of moral, political and social ingredients that editors or studio producers consider essential and suitable to satisfy a demand as of broadest scope as possible of final viewers or readers. YOU TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.

By: Sergey

Sergey — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:05:35 +0000

Hello ESLPod team,
reading the blog article I found out a rare expression “By a small but significant amount”. I consider it like there is small amount of people but their opinion is very important, worth considering.
Is it so?

Nobody can explain me…?

By: Sergio

Sergio — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:53:12 +0000

Hi, Alexey!
My wife does the same your wife does!
That makes me angry because I tell her: “You must respect the intention of the author!”
But she replies: “No, the book is mine and I do what I like to do!”
This is a misterious for me like other female misteriouses… Only one time –
reading a novel by Agota Kristof (an Hungarian-French writer) –
doing what she’s used to do, she… spoiled herself the taste of reading that.
I smiled – but with a very much caution!

By: Avilla

Avilla — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:38:57 +0000

Hi! I don’t think a spoiler can make you decrease your enjoyment of reading a book or watching a movie. In general, we know how a movie ends, because friends or even the media tell us that. I agreed with the point of view that sometimes a spoiler might increase our interesting. When I know how the story ends, I try to observe the details and ultimately I like it even more. It’s true that a little of mystery is good as well. It depends on the moment.

Regards,