The recently renewed craze around Star Wars brought a fresh round of rage for those who troll-fully engage in the art of the spoiler. The very idea of a spoiler is summed up in its name; it implies that you have spoiled or ruined the experience for another person. Generally speaking, no one likes a spoiler, especially if it is delivered in a public forum that is unforgiving, like scrolling social media where the user can’t anticipate what will come across the feed next. So there is this understanding, this code of social decency that says that you are a(n) –insert expletive here-, to violate this social contract of leaving the magic in the movie for each consumer to discover on his or her own. It’s the little niceties that we extend to one another that define civilization itself, one might argue. Or is it something more?
I would argue that the recent vehemence and even violence that has emerged against those who “spoiled” the newest Star Wars is indicative of a larger problem in our society. In the past, the life of adults was caught up in the business of being an adult, and entertainment had its place within that, but it was relegated to a much smaller compartment than we accommodate it today. One hundred years ago, the concept of childhood being a special and magical time reserved for recreation and leisure was a brand new concept. For good or for ill, before that time, children were simply considered adults in training. Childhood was used to prepare the next generation to take on the serious business of becoming a spouse, a parent, and a productive member of society. The focus was to create a generation worthy and capable of taking over when the present generation was ready to retire- not to golf courses and the “Salt Life”, but to the venerable position of patriarch or matriarch of the family that you had created. As the head of the family, you would offer guidance, advice, and a sense of legacy to the generations coming up behind you. This all changed, thanks in large part to, some would say, the Baby Boomer generation, though I would argue you could trace it back even to that “Greatest Generation”: the parents and grandparent of the Boomers who got the ball rolling in the Roaring 20’s and were the parents of the Great Depression. Wherever you want to trace it back to, there is little arguing that there was a sea change in the way that childhood, parenting, and adulthood is handled. The matriarchs and patriarchs of today have changed as a result. So much for grey hair being the crowning glory and mark of wisdom. No way. You know who they are. They are not regular parents or grandparents; they are WAY cooler.
With the continuing breakdown and de-evolution of the Church and the Family, which have been the underpinning of civilization, people still have a desperate need to belong, to feel a part of something bigger than themselves- to be a part of a legacy. Many of us grew up in homes that were not sanctuaries from the rigors of the world, but a crucible to be tested in, a gauntlet to run. After multiple generations of parents that wanted to be cool parents, man, so many in this generation are finding that we have to reinvent the wheel. We are starting our own legacies and establishing what many hope will be the first in the line of a new Great Family. We walk a fine line in rejecting the values and tactics of our parents and grandparents, but also respecting the Old Ways of family-centric, slow living in the midst of a very fast-paced world. We are indeed strangers in a strange land. It is normal to continue to yearn for a connection, even with that which you have rejected. Most of us don’t hate our parents for accepting a philosophy that they were taught would make the world a better place because many of them were victims of their own childhood as well.
We try to find a common ground that can connect us to those former generations and one of the easiest, least controversial ways to do that is through our fandoms. I was born in 1975, and like many kids in my generation, one of my earliest memories is my parents taking me to see Star Wars and playing with Star Wars toys, eating peanut butter and jelly from my Star Wars lunch box, Princess Leia hairbuns, Millennium Falcon play sets, that cool Luke Skywalker toy that had the lightsaber that popped out of his arm- Star Wars isn’t just a series of movies- it is an institution to my generation. Is it an institution because it was so heavily marketed and hyped? Absolutely, but as a child, you are innocent and susceptible to the influence of advertisements in a way that we, as adults, should remember and try to protect our own kids from.
The Star Wars institution is an example of any of the other phenomena that we have created to fill the void left by the failure of the Church and the Family. God knows a bit about His creations and starts telling us from the very beginning of Genesis with the creation of Eve that it is “not good for Man to be alone”. Every human being has a drive to belong to something bigger and more eternal than themselves. Our modern mode of living tries to defy that. With 60 hour work and school weeks, we find ourselves living parallel lives even with those that we call our families. Many leave the nest to college with little to no support as some test of adulthood that most of us fail. It is considered “normal” to have your own apartment in your 20’s and 30’s until you find someone to (maybe) marry. We busy ourselves pretending not to be isolated, but then a cultural touchstone like a new Star Wars movie comes along and there is a sense of belonging, of history. Finally, we have something to share with our parents AND our children. Our kids look at us with a renewed sense of awe because we are experts about who shot first, and the Sarlaac pit, and Ewoks. There is a connection. And it is really rather sad. It reveals our emptiness and our isolation. You can insert any fandom here, really. Whether it is Doctor Who, Monty Python, Star Trek, or the Walking Dead, our passions only get really enflamed about the media that we consume- in other words about things that don’t really matter.
We are passionate about whatever creates the most sound and fury in this moment. We “binge-watch” series of shows on Netflix that involve the possible wrongful imprisonment of one man in “The Making of a Murderer”, but try to talk to people about the record number of incarcerations in this country compared to all other countries and their eyes glaze over. Water cooler talk about surviving the zombie apocalypse is all the rage, especially when there is a new season of the Walking Dead, but bring up actual end-of-life issues that every human being will face that can’t be solved by a cutting off someone’s head with a machete, and the air becomes palpably too heavy. We are perpetual children. We have traded discussions of Saturday morning cartoons as children with “serious” discussions as adults about the new Superman vs. Batman movie that will be out soon. We have bought the lie that we are too stupid to care about what is actually happening in the real world and in our lives, but can hold forth on exhaustive dissertations of the political implications of Game of Thrones. How many people that can fathom a White Walker invasion are living in countries of the world that are currently dealing with an actual invasion of monsters bent on raping and killing the population until they gain control? Most of the people you hear talking tough about what they would do if confronted by a White Walker or a zombie would be the first to roll over and accept servitude to an evil ideology rather than look like a meanie-head. We have been well conditioned to care far too much about things that just don’t matter, probably partially because it is just easier. The things that do matter in from our childhood are far too painful and complicated to do anything about. The things in the world that matter, we are convinced are too big and too complicated for us to do anything about. Reality all seems futile, so why not submerge yourself in a fantasy world?
I have sensed a renewed aggressiveness in the spoiler community, and I suspect that it is not just trollery. I suspect that it grows out of anger that we are the Neros who are fiddling as the world burns. We are the generation that Yeats spoke of when he said “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” I love sci-fi and fantasy entertainment, so don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that you have to cut off all electricity and shun the world completely (though many who are better than me have). I am asking you to look into your own heart and check your priorities. If someone posting a spoiler about a movie upset you for days, perhaps it is time to discover what things really matter. Hint: It is not whether a character old enough to be your grandpa makes it to the next movie or what weird (possibly incestual) ancestry a character claims as their pedigree. Are Jon Snow or Glenn dead? Who actually cares? They aren’t real people. The single mother next door who is struggling to pay her power bill is real. The widower down the road whose driveway is blown over with snow and won’t be able to get out to grab a quart of milk is real. They deserve your mental and emotional energy. Your interactions with them will change the world and bring you closer to God. And (SPOILER ALERT!!) there is nothing else that matters more than that.
Contumacia 