Friday, June 08, 2007

Why you should hate me

I don't get HBO.

(no, that's not the reason you should hate me).

But I watched the first six and a half seasons of The Sopranos over a 2-3 month period this winter. Since I don't get HBO, I haven't been able to watch these final episodes of the series.

So I've been following what happens on Wikipedia.

(that's the reason you should hate me).

I could have waited until the DVDs to come out to learn how the series ends, but I didn't. First of all, it would be futile: just from living my life normally, somebody would spoil events for me. I've learned about some of the things that have happened by reading sports blogs, listening to the radio, and flipping channels on TV. So there's really no point in trying not to know anything for months, because it would fail.

But even if it would succeed, I wouldn't do it.

Because I want to know what happens. Knowing the story is more important to me than actually watching the story unfold. Even if I just read episode summaries at Wikipedia, I am hearing the story--which was the real pleasure of watching for me, anyway. I don't need to watch it as it unfolds to appreciate it. I just want to know what happens. I want to know how the story ends. And I don't care how I learn: what matters in this case is not how I experience the story, but that I get to know the story.

2 comments:

  1. What works will you never rewatch because you know the ending? I rewatch The Godfather probably once a year, I know the ending but it is so well told. Same with The Simpsons, or Seinfeld. But a movie like The Sixth Sense, good by most measure, isn't compelling because I know the twist.

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  2. Oh, I'll watch them when I get a chance--it's such a good show that I will very much enjoy watching the episodes. I just don't want to wait until then to know how it ends.

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