Quote:
Originally Posted by Critteranne
"Why did you tell me the ship sank? You spoiled the end of the movie!" 
In a discussion about spoilers years ago, somebody claimed that in a review of historical novels, you shouldn't spoil the ending of the American Civil War in a book because readers from other countries might not know how it ended.
Of course, people laughed at that. They also pointed out that was insulting to people from other countries. And there is a difference between "spoiling" the plot of a novel and spoiling the end of a very well-known historical event.
A gray area might be a lesser-known historical event. Some people were upset that the end of the miniseries Masada was spoiled for them when someone revealed . Is that a spoiler because fewer people would be familiar with the events? |
Interesting question.
Similarly, what about fiction that is old but obscure? Sure, most people probably know how Romeo & Juliet or Jane Eyre turned out. But what about other fiction from those eras that is less widely known?
Also, in the case of older books in general, how old would a book have to be before it was old enough for spoilers to not be necessary?