Entertainment Weekly has dedicated a big swath of its summer preview this week to Indiana Jones, and specifically letting Spielberg sound worried about the way spoilers are leaking out of his movie faster than Indiana Jones running away from a rolling boulder. He probably doesn’t need to worry, people are going to see this puppy pretty much no matter what, but you do have to wonder what motivates people to read this stuff.
I’m not talking about minor spoilers or the occasional vague plot synopsis. That I get. It makes sense for instance, that people might be curious to know in general terms what the heck this new X-Files movie is going to be about, and it seems a little ridiculous that Chris Carter and Fox are going through so much trouble to keep anyone from even knowing whether Mulder and Scully are actually starring in it. What I don’t get is why people would want the entire film broken down for them ahead of time, blow by blow, the way some of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull spoilers being run over at AICN the past few weeks and at places like this one have been.
Blogs like that are taking spoilers to a whole new level. That particular site even goes so far as to detail the number of snakes appearing in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Why? Why are fans so desperate to know that?
I don’t fault bloggers for running spoilers if they’ve got them, their job is to deliver to their readers whatever information they have. I get that. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to read it. Why would anyone click on that little link I left above, after I’ve just told them the entire movie is laid out for them there? Where’s the fun in that? Don’t you actually want to see it, or is it somehow more fun to be able to brag to your friends that you already know all about the movie before it’s into the projector? Especially if you’re a fan, the way most of the people reading these spoilers claim to be; isn’t it your duty as a fan to see the movie before you’ve watched the whole thing in your head? Shouldn’t that be the real fan’s job one? Cool it folks, avoid all these insane spoilers. Just sit back and watch Indy crack his whip.
