A spoiler is a piece of information about a movie, game or other media that could ruin the impact on that media for another person.

In the past people could only really connect in person or by what was presented to them, like propaganda at wartime. In the wars people always wanted their side to win so the news given to the public was often positive to keep up morale, like false spoilers that made the story better.

Rumours are different. Rumours are a fan-bases way of discussing what they would like to see. Rumours can be a beautiful part of the hype surrounding a piece of media. Pretty much everyone saw some sort of movie about Spider-Man No Way Home (NWH) about the villains or heroes or even side characters. I’ll admit that what I heard had me excited. The thing is that rumours are based on speculation and are unconfirmed.

I haven’t seen NWH yet. I don’t intend to see it until it’s on streaming either. Yes, I have to wait a long while but I can still look forward to it. I could also look forward to the time when I decide to watch classic films or westerns because that’s something I plan to do at some point in future.

That brings me onto the reason for writing. I read an article about the history of spoilers which started off as an interesting read. The writer made points about Hitchcock and how he had put heavy effort into ensuring Psycho didn’t have any spoilers but in the writing there was a major spoiler for Psycho. There are things about Psycho that everyone knows about as it’s a part of movie culture now but I have never seen it, I now also know about a major and seemingly impressive plot point. My Dad said it’s sixty years old so it can be spoiled, to me it would have been as good as new.

Because of Facebook randomly showing me things NWH isn’t likely to surprise me anymore because strangers aren’t willing to go to specific forums to discuss what they love. I don’t mind when I’ve asked a family member about something and they give me an answer that’s also a spoiler but an algorithm throwing a meme at me isn’t fair play.

Just be considerate when on the internet or talking to friends in public because I had a major moment in Avengers Endgame spoiled for me because a group of girls sat near me were talking too loudly. Spoilers can be good when someone wants them, but you should make the effort to see if this is the case.