Just short of three months until the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter installment and J.K. Rowling is pleading for fans to keep it to themselves. But, despite the author’s appeal, spoiler sites are 
popping up everywhere.
Some authors would die for Potter-like buzz, and even Rowlings admits it won’t stop devotees from reading the book. On Monday, at her official website, the author wrote:
Some, perhaps, will read this and take the view that all publicity is good publicity, that spoilers are part of hype, and that I am trying to protect sales rather than my readership. However, spoilers won’t stop people buying the book, they never have — all it will do is diminish their pleasure in the book.
I’m not sure I “get” the spoiler thing. Why? Because, “spoilers won’t stop people buying the book.” Rowlings has already hinted that two major characters will die. So in a way, some of the buzz is her own. Besides, if someone is interested enough to mine out spoilers, they’re probably already a fan.
When Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby came out, I had my mind made up to see it. Nevertheless, there was significant chatter about a “surprise twist.” While I didn’t actively seek out the scoop, I got the drift that. . .
* * SPOILER ALERT * *
. . .she gets paralyzed and her trainer is faced with a difficult ethical decision. Okay, so that’s probably not a huge revelation. The film’s been out a while, won Academy Awards, and proved that spoilers ultimately can’t destroy a good product. I went into the movie pretty much knowing how it would end. . . and still liked it.
Perhaps the real issue is expressed in Rowling’s concern that spoilers will only “diminish their pleasure in the book.” Melissa Anelli, webmaster of Potter fansite, Leaky Cauldron, echoes a similar sentiment:
If Harry dies, we don’t want to know about it until J.K. Rowling decides to tell us. And if you decide to tell us before that, you’ll incur the wrath of a staff of almost 200, most of whom have been waiting almost 10 years for these final revelations and can NEVER get back the moment you rob by spoiling them.
It’s unclear what said “wrath” might involve, but a flying broomstick in the right spot could be remarkably persuasive. In both statements, the appeal is not to “protect sales” but to not rob loyal readers of drama. And you gotta respect that.
Either way, it’s further illustrated the delicate balance between the free flow of information — unleashed largely by the internet — the rules (stated and unstated) of proper journalism, privacy and artistic rights. In one sense, the internet is an author’s best friend, creating buzz, platform, and a vital connection between writers and readers. But it also spawns sites that hail the Best Movie Twists (w/ Spoilers). Unless we’re going to outlaw spoiler sites and incarcerate quasi-journalists who piggy-back off of others’ success, it becomes a matter of ethics and etiquette. And if that’s the case, season finales and secret plot twists will never be safe.
So here’s my own spoiler, sans the ** alert ** — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be a huge smash, two lead characters will die, and in another year no one will care about these spoilers. Sorry for the “diminished drama.”
it is very hard not to be spoiled by a plot you really want to see for yourself. my ex would/probably still does, go see new movies the moment they come out so no one spoils it for him … it really is much more fun that way!
I recently bought the first HP book (got it used at Good Will.) It’s sitting on my shelf waiting with all my other books. Can you believe that after all this time, I’ve managed to stay clueless enough that I don’t know what happens in the first book? So, um, be more like me:)
I should have known that you would like Million dollar Baby.
It’s one of the best made worst movies of all time. It’s in a tie with the Pledge. Great acting. (with Morgan Freeman how can you go wrong) Great direction – Clint Eastwood is darn good. But what a depressing, horrible, hopeless, story. An absolute waste of my mental and emotional energy.
I know life is not all happy endings. My life has been one tragedy after another. But I still hope. And I don’t want to see a movie devoid of it. When I finished watching that movie, I was angry. Angry that I had trusted my heart to Clint and he stomped all over it.
I am normally against spoilers, but in the case of Million Dollar Baby and The Pledge — I Highly Recommend them.
-dayle
There were several things I really liked about Million Dollar Baby, dayle. You’re right, Freeman and Eastwood have great chemistry. This was their best since Unforgiven. Hillary Swank was really good — quite believable as a boxer — and I thought her relationship with Eastwood, as her surrogate father, was realistic enough to sustain what was to follow.
I’ll admit, the film’s ending was disturbing, and I think that was intentional. Eastwood’s character was a man with a conscience, as seen by his church attendance and incessant questioning of the parish priest. He was forced into a moral dilemma and it was his love for Swank’s character along his traditional / religious values that created the conundrum. This was not, from my perspective, a pro-euthanasia movie, but one that attempted to put the issue in a human context. We can rail against the decision to end her life but, however much we disagree with it, we cannot slight the film’s excellence on other levels. If it was a blatant propaganda piece, that’s one thing. But I didn’t feel manipulated toward that end.
The final shot of Eastwood at the diner, where he once sat with Swank, eating “the best pie around”, may have been the summation of the film. . .and the real message. Her life / zeal / passion had drawn him out of the malaise of the broken relationship with his REAL daughter. He left boxing and settled down, full circle.
P.S.
dayle, I hear rumor that you’re starting a website.
You’re right Mike,
It was an excellent film. But…
I once heard Ebert & Roeper discuss the difference between European and American films. The jist: Europeans embrace dark endings for their artistic value. They are comfortable with defeatism. American can’t stomach this concept. The good guys have to win. They don’t have to be unscathed, but they should win or tie. (see Rocky)
Ebert correctly predicted that American audiences would not like The Pledge because of its “unhappy” ending, despite the fact that it was so well done. (I think its one of Nicholson’s best performances, but I tell everyone I know to avoid it like the plague.)
Ebert is right. Compared to the rest of the world, America is the epitome of optimism. Some may say that this attitude is short-sided or misplaced, but I would hate to imagine the world without it. I know we have our faults, but we are the shining city on the hill. Although our light has dimmed lately.
** And yes, the dayle media juggernaut is about to roll. daylemania is about to sweep the na– well, a very small portion of the internet.
Are you trying to tell me to stop using your comment windows as my blog?
Actually I won’t start a website until I’m published. (how’s that for positive thinking)
But I do plan to start blogging within a month.
-dayle