Whoops. Mel tries the "la-la-la" thing as Jono Coleman "gives away" the end of Deathly Hallows. Picture courtesy Channel Seven Source: Supplied
Really, there are more important things in life. Source: icanhascheezburger Source: news.com.au
- Do spoilers ruin a good story?
- Readers overwhelmingly say opposite
- "Plot is (almost) irrelevant"
HERE'S one twist you never saw coming - spoilers are actually enhancers.
So let's get started - Bruce Willis is dead all the way through Sixth Sense. Dumbledore dies on page 596. Katrina wins this series of The Block.
If you're the type that sticks your fingers in your ears and says "la-la-la-la-la" when someone's trying to tell you Samuel L Jackson's the bomber in Unbreakable, you're probably getting a little steamed up at the moment.
But honestly, it's not worth it. Researchers at the University of California in San Diego say it's not only okay to read the last chapter first, they recommend it.
A long time ago... the biggest spoiler ever was given away
?Plots are just excuses for great writing," says study author Nicholas Christenfeld, a professor of social psychology at UC.
"What the plot is is (almost) irrelevant. The pleasure is in the writing.
?Monet?s paintings aren?t really about water lilies."
To prove it that it's okay to know Megan is actually the housewife Angela in Catfish, Prof Christenfeld and his colleague Jonathan Leavitt ran three experiments on 12 short stories read by at least 30 people.
The stories were divided into ironic twist, mystery and literary categories, and included works by surprise specialists such as Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, Raymond Carver and John Updike.
Some of the subjects were given the stories to read as they were intended. Others were given versions with a spoiler paragraph at the start of the story or a spoiler paragraph inserted well before the pay-off.
They were then asked how much they enjoyed the stories and their answers ranked as hedonic ratings.
Here's the result:
Source: UC San Diego
Source: news.com.au
Only Anton Chekhov's The Bet - a short story written in 1889 about a banker who offers two million rubles to a lawyer if he can spend 15 years in solitary confinement - comes off worse when you know the lawyer leaves prison five minutes early.
Some spoilers aren't ever going to be welcome. The result of a football game, for instance. Or a text message from a workmate warning you of the bollocking your boss plans on giving you when you get in this morning.
But when it comes to artistic works, Christenfeld and Leavitt say it may be easier to appreciate Star Wars without all that stuff about Darth Vader being Luke's dad soiling the purity of George Lucas's vision.
?So it could be that once you know how it turns out, it?s cognitively easier," Prof Leavitt says.
"You?re more comfortable processing the information ? and can focus on a deeper understanding of the story.?
That news may come as some small relief for anyone who's accidentally "ruined" the ending of someone else's next book on the must-read list - or pretended to for a laugh.
Jono Coleman of The Jono & Dano radio show did just that on Sunrise a few years ago, cracking wise about Harry Potter moving to the suburbs at the end of Deathly Hallows, and earning himself a temporary TV suspension in the process.
"Mel and Kochie got upset because they thought I was actually giving out the real ending," he told news.com.au.
"I hadn?t even read any of the Harry Potter books. It was hilarious because I had no idea what the ending of the movie was or the book."
However Coleman - who doesn't mind spoilers as a viewer - said that even back then, a supposed spoiler wasn't exactly punishable by death.
"I met J.K. Rowling at one of the movie premieres in London and she wasn't mad at me, that's for sure," he said.
"She?d heard about it and so had Daniel Radcliffe, and Radcliffe thought it was hilarious."
Here's some more spoilers to enhance those classic twist movies you haven't got around to seeing yet:
FIGHT CLUB is better when you know ED NORTON AND BRAD PITT ARE THE SAME GUY
PYSCHO is better when you know NORMAN'S MOTHER IS NORMAN IN DRAG
PLANET OF THE APES is better when you know THE PLANET IS A FUTURE EARTH
THE CRYING GAME is better when you know THAT CHICK IS ACTUALLY A GUY
THE OTHERS is better when you know THE WHOLE FAMILY ARE GHOSTS
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