…which, seriously, is a cool thing. Wes and I have talked about spoilers before (via the CP forums, if I recall correctly), and I totally support his feelings on them. And more specifically, I take absolutely no offense that he doesn’t listen to RandomChatter, as we do often discuss things he considers spoilers. Just want to point that out.

“The problem is that this fine line you have defined is nebulous for any other person.”

EXACTLY. Which is why I’ve generally stopped recommending people visit websites like Ain’t It Cool News, Dark Horizons, io9, and others. I used to endorse those all the time. Now I don’t.

As you point out, not only is everyone’s line different, for some people it’s not even clearly defined. And the best way to define it is through trial-and-error — which means you’re gonna get burned a few times.

So for those of us who have already gone through that and who know where to get info that doesn’t cross their own lines, that’s great. For everyone else, better they don’t attempt it.

But in today’s society, we’re constantly bombarded with marketing. So to some extent, the line is drawn for us, whether we want it to be or not.

Frankly, I don’t think the crappy trailer designs are the fault of people like me as much as they’re a result of the sensationalism and one-upping by the studios. The idea for a comedy, for example, is that if you’re laughing that hard during the trailer, just think about how awesome it must be to have an hour and a half of that! Of course, comedies are the worst example of trailers spoiling movies.

This didn’t used to be such a problem with trailers. If you look back to the 70′s and 80′s, trailers weren’t like they are today. It seemed to get really bad during the 90′s, and these days, as much as I like to poke at Wes about it, I can TOTALLY understand how people don’t want to watch movie trailers anymore.

That last Terminator trailer for example. Sure, the reveal in that trailer makes me want to see the movie, because it’s cool they’re taking that approach with the story. On the other hand, I would have seen the movie anyway, and I REALLY wish I’d seen that for the first time in the film instead of in the trailer.

Wes, I agree that trailers are way too spoilery now. I still think it’s not as much a result of the Internet spoiler crowd (which wasn’t very prominent back in the 90′s when this really started ramping up) as it is other factors, but I otherwise support your stance 100%.

Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve had more fun robbed from me by movie trailers than I have by online spoilers. Interesting…

I can typically tell a lot about a movie from the people who made it, the visual style, and the opening premise. Often it helps to know what genre the film will fall into, but it’s often better not to know that as well. I watched From Dusk till Dawn with someone who had no idea what the movie was about, and I will forever envy that reveal moment when she finally saw the pieces fall into place. We don’t get that any more. I thought Disney had it right by just showing the very beginning of their new Pixar film, Up… but even they have delved fully into the meat of the movie with their new previews. Previews are designed to get you into the theater, not make you enjoy the movie once you get there.