The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **Timbales** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:38 pm

..has affected your enjoyment of movies, comics and television? The build-up, the spoilers, the trailers, the fan communities and speculations, etc?

by **Thunderstorm** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:40 pm

It did for me for a while, but I try to avoid as much as possible.

by **outsider** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:42 pm

It depends on the property for me. I had zero interest in Inception and the mysterious un-revealing trailers, yet the positive buzz around its release made me interested enough to see it within the first week of release.

All the negative buzz around Green Lantern kept me from seeing it (still haven't, but I hope to eventually).

by **CountD** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:42 pm

helps me a little, but I still form my own opinion.

that said, i quit Entertainment Weekly

by **Potter Who** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:52 pm

I remember Hickman talking about this when he discussed the end of the Fantastic Four run and the beginning of the FF run. As a storyteller, he'd much rather everyone be surprised that someone died and the title just end. But as someone in a business, he understood that you need to get people to read the title first. He'd rather 100,000 people be moderately surprised and enjoy the story than have 35,000 people totally SHOCKed and LOVE the story.

I think in the comic book industry, the creative talent want to not give too much of the story away. They totally understand where the feeling in this thread comes from. But the marketing people that actually have a better idea how information proliferation affects interest seem to think potential readers - whether they know it or not - want to know pretty much everything before they read something. At least that's what consumer purchasing behavior seems to heavily indicate.

by **Timbales** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:56 pm

I think that the culture of entertainment has changed so much. Before the ease of the ease of media, you'd see trailers for a movie and maybe read an article or two about it. Now, we know who is cast in it, when it goes into production, the effects, the story, when the sequel is coming out, etc.

by **False Prophet** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:00 pm

I think the overreliance of spoilers and pre-release buzz underlines a lack of traditional storytelling and marketing expertise, in the comics field at least. The smaller the market gets, the more companies seem to rely on giving fans an early start to wasting their money.

Me, I still like to be surprised.

by **Potter Who** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:00 pm

The strange thing I notice at movie theaters is that often the jokes that get the loudest laughs are the scenes from the trailers or commercials. Not because they're that much funnier, but because I think people embrace a certain level of familiarity.

by **False Prophet** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:02 pm

I hate it that I can almost expect a movie to be nowhere near the quality of its trailer. The one or two good scenes are spoiled months in advance.

by **Royal Nonesuch** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:03 pm

Timbales wrote:I think that the culture of entertainment has changed so much. Before the ease of the ease of media, you'd see trailers for a movie and maybe read an article or two about it. Now, we know who is cast in it, when it goes into production, the effects, the story, when the sequel is coming out, etc.

Information has changed entertainment. The fact that we have access to more info makes us want more info. I do feel like people have gotten conditioned to want to know as much about a movie/tv/comic/etc. before they experience it for themselves. We don't give ourselves over to art anymore, we want to almost be a part of it by knowing everything about it.

Me personally, I've been working harder to avoid as much of that stuff as I can. I'm trying to roll back the other way. I do, however, love the "behind the scenes" and "making of" stuff, since I'm such a process geek, but I tend to check all that out after I've experienced something, rather than before.

by **Lord Ice** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:22 pm

I'd probably like Lady Gaga and greatly anticipate any new singles or albums she has but the oversaturation of her and her work just deadens my feelings for it. The musical artists I tend to like the most are the ones that, while popular, don't drown us with their existence.

by **covalesky** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:25 pm

Yes it did. I try to keep away from previews, trailers, pro reviews and likewise, but sometimes its impossible not to see or catch a glimpse of the marketing machine. Most of the times it only serves to build up my expectations that usually get destroyed down the road and thus making me enjoy less of whatever it is I'm watching.

In the last couple of years something new seems to be happening, the marketing machines are starting sooner and sooner, and the byproduct of it is that when I'm on my high point of expectation for the movie / book / whatever, its still months away and my frustration takes the best of my curiosity most of the times.

by **Timbales** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:27 pm

I think we've become so accustomed to it that when it isn't done or information is intentionally withheld - like JJ Abrams does - people get pissed and there's backlash.

by **Cat-Scratch** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:28 pm

Timbales wrote:..has affected your enjoyment of movies, comics and television? The build-up, the spoilers, the trailers, the fan communities and speculations, etc?

Nope. I tend to ignore it or not depending on my interest to begin with. Even then, I some times forget about it all anyway until after I see the movie or comic or whatever.

by **Strict31** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:30 pm

Royal Nonesuch wrote:
Information has changed entertainment. The fact that we have access to more info makes us want more info. I do feel like people have gotten conditioned to want to know as much about a movie/tv/comic/etc. before they experience it for themselves. We don't give ourselves over to art anymore, we want to almost be a part of it by knowing everything about it.

Me personally, I've been working harder to avoid as much of that stuff as I can. I'm trying to roll back the other way. I do, however, love the "behind the scenes" and "making of" stuff, since I'm such a process geek, but I tend to check all that out after I've experienced something, rather than before.

It's been that way since at least the 70s, though. Back then, instead of websites dropping a scoop on some upcoming movie, it was magazines like Starlog or Fangoria or even Omni. I mean, I knew so much about Alien before I ever saw the movie...if the Internet had existed back then, I don't think I could have possibly learned more or had access to more spoilers.

Sure, there's much, much more info available about movies these days, especially with outlets like comic-con being mined to death. I mean, I like looking at Emmy Rossum's jiggling titties and all, but does her show "Shameless" really need a panel at comic-con? But the modern information outlets are just the most recent expression of it.