Story Talk or: How to Stop Crying and Appreciate the Spoilers
I’ve never cared for spoilers due to the simple mindset that a good story always holds up despite the element of surprise being stripped away. When I tell people this, I get one of two responses: (A) my opinion is received relatively well in a genuine manner and I witness some innocent fire within their eyes extinguish as a result of me speaking, or (B) the person in front of me emits their best statement of false agreeance and I am vindicated in my regular assumption of believing that I am simply boring for my own good Christ, that was a mouthful. Allow me to transition into something more interesting while making my case here. Oh, and just so I’m clear, don’t be a dick and recklessly spoil things just to ruin other people’s day. I mean this to be within the context of civil discussion of the internet (that might as well be theoretical but I’m trying here anyways). There is value in spoiling a story, both literally and figuratively. The best personal example I have of this comes from a few days ago when a couple of friends of mine came across a rather high-profile leak of the screenplay for the last (for now) Star Wars film—and it was bad. Quite plainly, it was a textbook example of what not to do from a creative standpoint: writing without direction, writing to respond to criticism, writing to appease critics, etc. Everyone within my close circle of homies knew that this thing was an absolute disaster and that was before I realized that a crucial story detail to The Rise of Skywalker was exclusive to some in-game event in Fortnite. I will reiterate: the ominous and completely bullshit message from beyond the grave that J.J. Abrams and the dude who wrote Zack Snyder’s DC films which serves as the catalyst for the events of the final Star Wars film was shown exclusively in Fortnite We studied that damned script and realized that it was special in its own way, kind of like a suspiciously human turd steaming under seedy streetlights at 3 AM. And so, instead of leaving things as is after ridiculing the script, we made a better decision and chose to get drunk and watch that thing in theaters. To the surprise of nobody in our group, not only was the movie bad but it was exactly as bad as that leaked script showed it to be (it managed to sober up the gentleman sitting next to me who reeked of cheap weed and mid-grade gas when Rey decided to heal a space worm out of nowhere). Needless to say, it was a great time for the reasons that the filmmakers probably weren’t expecting. My point here is to go sifting through the sand in the expanding desert of media, go and enjoy the good and bad, ponder on both, and then go ahead and talk about it freely—just don’t come crying about the story being “ruined” just because you know more about it. Instead, invest those tears in the realization that the story might not have been as great as you expected it to be in the first place. Thank you for reading this edition of The Morning Owl. If you liked what you saw here, please leave a like, subscribe, leave a comment, and share this newsletter. Until we meet again, do take care. If you liked this post from The Morning Owl, why not share it? |
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Crisis
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Hey Alexa... Call 9-1-1.
On Fitness
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Hey Alexa... Play "Pumping Iron" by SilverHawk.
What I Liked in Q1
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Hey Alexa... Play "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper.
Writer's Roadmap: Making Adjustments + Published Poetry
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Hey Alexa... Play "The Intro About Nothing" by Wale & Usher.
What Happens During the Rest of Your Life
Sunday, March 6, 2022
I don't know what this is supposed to be.
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