Do Theories Ruin Movies?
Entering a movie theater, someone sits down on the chair and they watch they watch the movie and they enjoy what they see. They laugh and cry, and feel a mix of emotions as the movies passes. Then in a moment as they watch a scene in the movie the fun, and excitement is sucked from their soul as they had seen this scene before. They hadn’t seen it in fact, it was something they had envisioned when they were curious and listened to a theory on the movie they were watching beforehand. The theory that had spoiled the surprise for them. As everyone stares in shock and surprise and whisper to another, the person is in shock for another reason. They had known and can’t find joy in knowing that they knew beforehand. They now leave the theater disappointed with the movie once it ends knowing theories ruin movies.
Articles like The Tufts Daily written that the pressure of the the theories that the creators might feeled pressured to give in on what the fans want and demand that they would change what they had planned to satisfy the fans. They also had said that the theories would set expectations too high and would disappoint fans that it didn’t happen. Another site, CBR mentions that the writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed off Sherlock and the fandom had became angry over that and made theories on how Sherlock could’ve survived and the pressure had made Sir Doyle bring him back. The Cord made an article called “Could Spider-Man: No Way Home Fan Theories Ruin the Film’s Enjoyment?” it discusses how the theories that they made could inevitably ruin the movie for hard-core fans if they turned out to be false and untrue. The Insider goes into how theories spoils the movie or shows in the article and that it takes away the surprise of the reveal when the theory turns out to be true.
Joshua Frazier (11th Grade) shared his thoughts on the matter that theories don’t ruin movies, “I have watched theories, the most recent one I watched was Matpat’s theory on which Disney movie has the highest kill count. Iv’e watched some that became true technically. A theory haven’t ruined a movie because one I’ve watched the movie before the theory or I don’t care about the movie and watching theories are fun and enjoyable. I feel like theories don’t ruin because they’re not confirmed in fact and won’t technically be count as spoilers since it’s not confirmed to be a fact.” Kiara Spades (11th Grade) on the other end have spoken that certain types of theories can ruin movies, “I haven’t watched a theory before a movie come out but I have watched a theory on a movie and it was on Coraline and it was about The Beldam which is the name of the antagonist. I don’t remember a theory that I know of to be true. If I had watched a theory that turned out to be true then I’d feel like it would ruin the experience for me if I watched it beforehand because it would kinda be spoiling it for but if it was after then it’d be fine. If it was a theory on a sequel then it’d be fine. Sometimes theories do ruin movies but it depends on what the theory is about specifically. If it has something to do with the ending or any kind aspect of the movie that hasn’t been revealed yet then yes it would be ruining the movie.” Coach Davis (US History Teacher) doesn’t believe that theories ruin movies but sees the other side of the story, “I have seen theory videos, one that i’ve watched was if Jack could fit on the door Rose was floating on and shared it with him. I’ve watched a theory before the movie came out and yeah one might’ve become true. It didn’t ruin the movie experience for me because spoilers don’t bother me. I xan watch to the end of the movie and still enjoy it. I don’t think theories ruin movies. There’s more to the movie than just the storyline. The cinematography, the acting, things like that you can enjoy. I can see how it might ruin things for others but there’s more reason to enjoy it than that.”
Do theories ruin movies? The sites say that the pressure from the fans, the high set expectations, and the take away from the surprise of the reveal are enough to ruin movies for the fans. While others say that theories don’t ruin movies because of the other things you cn enjoy and that it’s not factual while other say some can ruin movies it just depends on what the type of theory it is and when you watch it.
Lily Francois is a senior and a third year journalist at Wheeler High School. She is from Trinidad, an island in the Southern Caribbean close to the continent...