[HPforGrownups] Do spoilers really "ruin" things? Or make things more interesting?

[Janette]

No: HPFGUIDX 168754

On 5/15/07, leslie41 <leslie41 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I've been thinking about the latest DH related story, in which
> Rowling is pleading with those that have knowledge of the plot not to
> reveal it, lest that revelation "diminish (the readers') pleasure in
> the book".
>
> Avoiding spoilers may be hard--from what I hear the audiobook is
> coming out the very same day as the hardback. Doubtless it will take
> weeks for that to be recorded and got to "press".  That's a whole
> other level of people who are going to know what happens.
>
> But I say:  so what?  My philosophy about spoilers is that they can
> only "ruin" things if the novel/movie is otherwise relatively
> uninteresting.  If the facts of the plot are the main thing that
> matters to the audience. That's not the case with Rowling's work.
>
> The next generation of Potter readers are probably going to go into
> the first novel with knowledge of how the series will end. My
> daughter (who's four) will probably know when she starts Sorcerer's
> Stone whether or not Harry dies.  The books and movies are so
> popular, she'll likely know that Sirius is a good guy at the
> beginning of reading PoA, and she'll know from the first mention of
> him that he's doomed as well.


montims:
I like reading mystery books, and when I was younger I would always read the
last few pages to see who survived.  I stopped doing that when I realised it
was more fun to follow the author's misdirection, and be surprised at the
end.  If the book was good, I would then reread it with the knowledge of the
murderer and victims in mind, and this reading would be richer in some ways,
flat in others.   When watching an exciting film or play, I don't want to
know the end...  I watched "The usual suspects" on dvd with a friend who
kept asking me if I wanted to know who the main character was - I didn't.  I
wanted the film to play out as the writer had intended.

Yes, future readers will know what happens at the end as they read the
beginning.  Which makes it all the more special for us - the only readers of
the Harry Potter series who will NOT know what happens at the end.  I should
like to keep it that way.  It has been a long journey, lasting years, and I
don't want the carpet pulled from under me at the last few steps...


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