The Truth About Emotional Spoilers For Books and Movies

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMOTIONAL SPOILERS FOR BOOKS AND MOVIES

When Avengers: Endgame premiered in theatres throughout the country, there was a huge uproar about people spoiling a major plot twist. Those who were not able to see the movie on the night it premiered felt like they were cheated when the death of a certain well-loved hero was revealed by their friends on social media.

Spoilers like this are a common thing when it comes to popular books, movies, and T.V. shows. And many avid fans go to great lengths to avoid seeing or hearing anything that may give away and “spoil” crucial dramatic themes in their favorite books or shows.

After all, if those dramatic themes are discovered ahead of time, it may ruin —or, at the very least, lessen— the experience of reading or watching them for the first time.

Or, will it?

Surprisingly, studies have found that people who have been exposed to a “spoiler” can actually end up enjoying the book or movie more than those who go into it without prior knowledge of what is going to happen.

It turns out that emotional spoilers allow people to better process what they are about to read or watch and, in turn, help them to be prepared for those sensitive moments.

While this may seem strange to those who insist that spoilers make things less enjoyable, there are actually quite a few people who want to know what is going to happen ahead of time. So many, in fact, that there is an entire website dedicated to giving emotional spoilers for books, movies, and T.V. shows.

And it does not stop there! Doesthedogdie.com also provides crowdsourced spoilers for video games, blogs, and podcasts, among other things. So, next time you are going to start reading an emotionally charged novel, check out this website ahead of time, and let us know if the spoilers make the book more enjoyable!