(no subject)

[owl]

The Potterdämmerung approaches...

Ten years of narrative pressure are about to be released. The people who produced a hundred BANGy theories will probably find the ending too simplistic, because no one solution can live up to the complexity of some of the things I've seen posted; people whose ships sink or favourite characters die are going to be furious, and if Snape turns out to have been evil all along his wives on the astral plane will be very unhappy.
Personally I'll be happy with it if the body count spares my favourites. I'm very anxious about Harry, Ginny and Neville, and to a lesser degree Ron, Hermione and Luna. I'm resigned to one Weasley at least dying, and some of the Hogwarts staff. I don't want to be spoiled though. It's going to be hard not to turn to the last chapter and start looking for who's still walking around.



[Poll #1024487]

Comments

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I really don't know. I read the ends of books first a lot and look up the plots of movies and stuff -- as spoilers go, I'm closer to phile than phobe. I get pleasure out of finding out what happens and out of the execution, and for me these don't necessarily have to be simultaneous. (Also, there are some stories that seem to be better in summary....)

I'm afraid I'm one of Those People who respond to anti-spoiler hysteria and invective about why people would want to ruin others' enjoyment with "As much fuss as you're making, by this point I'm halfway tempted to spoil you!" I realize that it's unkind and discourteous to tell somebody the end of a story when they're in the process of discovering it, but I think the idea that you have to go into something completely blind in order to enjoy it is getting bizarrely widespread and in some cases tyrannical.

On the other hand, a lot of the time my reading ahead or asking for summaries or whatever is to decide whether to buy a book or even just check it out of the library. If I've already bought it and decided to read it, perhaps I might as well go straight through.

[owl]

With me, it's my last chance to go in spoiler-free, and I think if I knew beforehand that a character I love dies, I would have difficulty reading it at all.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I can understand that. I have previously abandoned a series after reaching a point where I didn't like what was going on. (In one case I later found out that wasn't actually the last book, so I might go back to it sometime.)

I should probably have clarified that I'm not actually planning to spoil anybody. :)

But I do think that most people who spoil out of malice wouldn't have thought about it if there had been less of a production made. If accidentally finding something out early were treated as the nuisance it usually is rather than a total destruction, the reaction wouldn't be worth the trouble. If the focus were more on "Some people like to be surprised, so even though you're eager to discuss the story, please try to keep it down in public" rather than the accusatory "I can't understand why anybody would want to ruin the experience for readers," I think fewer people would feel contrary about it. Maybe this has been successful in terms of marketing, and maybe JKR honestly thinks that it makes no difference to marketing and is an important way to protect her readers, but I think some of her efforts and the publishers' have been a little counterproductive.

On the other hand, where less fuss is made, apparently you have headlines blaring Captain America's death before the issue comes out, with no thought that it might annoy anybody who matters. So maybe I'm wrong.