Stop Ruining Movies for Your Friends!

After waiting months for the new Star Wars movie and doing her best to avoid spoilers, today my
daughter went online and was reading comments to a Youtube video she follows when, sure enough, some jerk revealed a major spoiler. A significant plot point was ruined for her. Avoiding plot points is a major challenge these days with the presence of social media. I remember when The Empire Strikes Back came out I couldn't see the movie for nearly two months after its release. And guess what? I was SHOCKED to learn that Vader was Luke's father!  That's right, back in 1981 folks were much better at keeping their mouths shut. Without social media you didn't have the jerks running ramped who just can't stand being silent when they know something you don't. But sometimes we can be the ones who ruin a movie for somebody else without intentionally doing so. Well meaning friends just making a nice post about a movie or TV show on Facebook have been known to destroy my viewing experience before I've had the pleasure of sitting down to watch the movie or show.  This is the exact reason I'm signing off of Facebook for the next few days until I've seen the new Star Wars.

People may be thinking, "What's the big deal. It's just a movie." Okay. go tell some football fans or basketball fans how their game ends before they've seen it and see how they react.  "What's the big deal?  It's only a game!"  What you don't understand is some of us are true movie buffs. We actually view movies and story telling (like in good TV shows) as an art. Just like the sports fan likes to enjoy the game and analyze what is happening, we're no different.

So I'd like to lay out some ways the casual movie and TV show viewer can avoid spoiling things for others. Hopefully this will show you how you're ruining the experience for others although that is not your intent.  These are the rules my family follows when we see a movie. I call these "The Rosser Rules of Viewing."

1. After seeing the movie DO NOT SAY A WORD ABOUT IT when you're leaving the theater until you are sitting in your car. People heading into the theater may overhear your comments. Star Trek Generations was ruined for me after standing in line for an hour waiting to enter the theater because one person exiting the theater turned to his friend and said, "I can't believe Kirk died!"  Thanks dude!

2. If you're going to post about it on social media ONLY state your short simple opinion then shut up.  That means acceptable comments are statements like, "It was good."  "I hated it."  "It was slow." "Exciting!"

3. Avoid observations that can cause the viewer to know something is going to happen in advance. This is the way well intentioned viewers ruin movies and shows more than any other. Statements like these are NOT acceptable:

"It has a surprise ending!" or "There's a twist!" You just told me to look for the unexpected so now it is no long unexpected. I had a Beautiful Mind ruined for me because of this statement. I figured out the twist a third of the way into the movie simply because I knew there would be one.

"It's really sad."  RUINED!  One of the main characters is going to die. If there's a dog in the movie it's going to die. If their is a fawn in the movie his mother is going to die. You get the point.  Use the word "emotional" instead of "sad" when describing the movie.

4. Do not exclaim things about characters on social media.  Typing, "Oh no Luke!" is not expectable. You just told me something bad is going to happen to this character.  Now I'm watching and ready for it.  I had a significant episode of "The Walking Dead" ruined for me because somebody exclaimed on Facebook while watching the show, "OH NO (insert character's name) !!!" Well, no rush to play that episode.

5. Use realistic time frames before making statements.  For TV shows say nothing about an episode for at least three days. We don't live in a 9 to 5 world anymore. Give people time to catch up on their favorite programs.  For movies, you really should say nothing until it has been on DVD for at least one month.

If you follow these rules your friends are certain to not have their movie and TV viewing experiences ruined.