Be Excellent To Each Other

I was going to post this in the CODBLOPS thread but I feel it deserves its own.

Does anybody else think that announcing the fact that a game/book/movie/TV show/whatever "has a twist" is a spoiler? It seems most people have no problem at all freely talking about the fact that something has a twist, just as long as they aren't specific.

IF I KNOW THERE'S A TWIST COMING UP, I LOOK OUT FOR IT, AND ACTIVELY TRY TO GUESS WHAT IT MIGHT BE. THIS SPOILS THE SURPRISE FOR ME. Or at least, it spoils the part where you go "oh, I can see a twist coming", which is a moment people were straining to point out about their CODBLOPS playthroughs. And I'm not just talking about this forum, just generally across the internets. In fact, I think a CODBLOPS review I read revealed there was a twist in the plot, so whilst I see the irony of complaining about it and doing it myself, it's pretty much common knowledge anyway at this point. See also: BioShock.

Anyone else?

You are Roy in that episode of the IT Crowd.

Damn! I thought this had been brought up somewhere before! Which episode is this again? Might stick the DVD in.

Do they make films that don't have a twist? Because surely you'd be walking in the door knowing how it was going to end...

I assumed somebody would come up with this one! And a good point it is too. But, I'm talking about a Sixth Sense/Fight Club/BioShock sort of twist. Most story arcs follow the whole status quo, conflict, resolution (with the main characters going through a "change" possibly) path, so no, most don't have a "twist" per se.

edit:

I'm the same, except I actively try to be disappointed for some reason.

This thread has a twist ending.

See, that one falls under Craster's definition of a "twist".

FFS spoilers!

Zactly!

I failed to find the twist in Twister.

Bill Paxton was a spy

We should twist again, like we did last summer

The twist didn't stop me wanking through The Crying Game.

It's 2x02, Moss and the German.

Generally, you can tell theres a twist coming in most works.

Like in CODBLOPS, its practically there straight from when you boot the game up. I mean, the menu screen has you tied up in an interrogation room. Theres got to be a twist coming at some point in the proceedings. In CODBLOPS theres about 5 or six twists.



Yeah, most of them are minor, but its a conspiracy based thing, its going to be twistier than a twisty thing.

I tend to find that it doesn't matter if you know theres a twist, if its good enough, you'll probably jump to the wrong conclusions anyway. If its poorly executed you'll work it out. In the case of CODBLOPS, the only reason I worked out the 'big' twist is that there were too many coincidences. The actual writing and set up is incredibly clever indeed.

And it was his SLED! WHATATWIST!

I agree on the CODBLOPS malarky, but that was just the most recent example of twist-spoilering I could think of!

I trust you did so in one of the specialist cinemas. After all, that didn't go down very well when you watched Pokémon: The First Movie. What a twist, though: the audience weren't expecting that when they went to the cinema.

I agree with WTB's original point.

Also, even when I know there's a twist, I actively try to immerse myself in whatever I'm watching/doing and try not to think of what the twist might be.

Doesn't always work, but, meh...

I find huge "ZOMG WTF!" plot twists really fucking annoying, as it means I can't rewatch a film.

Also ace, though.

A well-structured WTF twist should be set up so you can enjoy watching the pieces fall into place on the second viewing.

Kern, you think? I spend the whole time thinking ahead to what's coming.

That said, Usual Suspects is one I like rewatching, as the very nature of the story itself is never 100% settled, so you can interpret it differently every time you watch it.

Depends on the film of course. But if you the twist, you can enjoy the ride and note how shots, lines, and other parts of film set up the film.



I like films and books like that - there are some Ambrose Bierce stories where I've yet to finally settle on a decision about just what happens ( Parker Adderson, Philosopher is a great example and very short)

I agree with Kern. Rewatching a twisty film can fill in the blanks and make you 'oh-ho, you clever buggers' at subtle foreshadowing.

It's not a good idea to do this when watching with someone who hasn't seen the film though.

You can, but in a good film/book (and tbh, I'm thinking more about books than films at the mo') you can look for the subtle hints and clues, and it becomes a different, equally good film that time knowing ahead of time that X is a baddie, or Y is an imaginary friend, etc.

Except for Primer.

True, to both you and Kern. I should be more positive next time I rewatch one of these.


ZOMG SPOLIERS!

A good illustration of this is the scene in 'Casablanca' where Rick enters the bar, hears Sam playing 'As Time Goes By,' and tries to reprimand him before seeing Ingrid Bergman. Rick's reactions make so much more sense once you know the story, and it becomes far more enjoyable as a result.

Heh. I've watched Primer three times now, and I'm still not entirely sure I've followed it properly.

I agree with WTB! I'm usually late to the party but if in the instance of CoD, once I finished it I splinters anything about the story. Then someone else mentioned the twist and I agreed with them because no one else seemed to bother so I thought I was just over the top about it. Glad I'm not a nutter

If you've got a twist in it, I recommend a trip to the doctors.

I absolutely agree with this, I ruined Sixth Sense for mysel because, every man and his dog screaming "ooooh you'll love the twist!" at me I went in looking for it and I can't believe I felt the need to spoiler that

So yeah, the best plot twists are always ones you haven't seen coming, so if you know there's a twist on the way then it is automatically spoiled to some extent.

The best twist at the end of a story I ever heard was "HE WASN'T EVEN OUT OF CREDIT AFTER ALL! THE PHONE WAS JUST SWITCHED OFF!"

Yeah, who was that weaselly guy who played the liar in that?

Like a cross between Jedward and Rick Moranis.