Looks like rickrolling is alive and well in the 21st century. Thanks to the showrunners of HBO’s Westworld, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Nolan and Joy promised they had come up with an original way to combat spoilers in Season two, and now they have unveiled how they will tackle the Reddit theorists. Nolan said that if a post on the site received more than 1,000 upvotes, he would reveal a spoiler-filled video that lays out the entire plot of the next ten episodes. They got that number (in a matter of hours) and a video surfaced online.
Spoiler Alert: The video contained absolutely no spoilers for season two.
And..as you can imagine, many fans felt betrayed by the rickroll. Trolls, it’s a meme. The video is actually pretty funny and the fact that various cast members were in on the prank makes this rickroll extravagant. I don’t understand why people who frequently use that forum to to spoil shows and predict plots twists are asking the creators. Sorry, not asking…TELLING the creators to release the spoilers?
I think we are misidentifying the problem. The problem isn’t theorizing- it’s the whole demanding, entitled culture around the theorizing. I’m all for wondering where the story goes next, but what happened with Westworld was this weird, toxic demand by online fans for a story that would somehow blow their minds at every turn and hold up to the insane scrutiny of every bit of their hyper-detailed speculation. It’s so hypocritical to me that people would spend hours a day parsing through all the bits of foreshadowing and then turn around and get mad at the writers for “telegraphing” all of the twists.
And Gawd Damm*t people, a “spoiler” is not a plot device! I hate how the idea of a “spoiler” has been put on this pedestal. It’s looking at storytelling all wrong, IMO. Now don’t misunderstand me: I hate getting spoiled, but because it ruins that only chance you’ll ever have to experience a story for the first time. You can rewatch/read forever, but you can only have that first encounter once. At least for me, the mysteries and mazes and such really were not the compelling aspects of the first season of Westworld. Rather, Thandie Newton’s character coming to sentience and f*cking sh*t up, and the park creator’s impressively deep hatred of/contempt for humans, were what made season one for me. That finale was extremely my sh*t. I want that thrill ride, you Reddit detectives. I can’t understand throwing away any pleasure. To use a different analogy, I guess I’ll say “It’s not about the destination, it’s about how you get there.” and the experience of “getting there” is what I value in most things I take the time to get into.
Westworld season 2 will premiere on April 22.
-Dagobot
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