Article written by Dylan Bell.
You all saw the title, you know what this is all about.
So why did I do that? I made the title of this article not something click-baity or a clever pun. No, I simply stated what this article would be, but why? Well the same question can be lobbed at studios who make trailers that give away crucial plot points.
I’ve spoken to many people about this issue and the majority agree with my sentiment that trailers are one of the worst thing to happen to film, but no one can seem to give an answer as to why? Well simply put, one friend of mine says it is sometimes necessary to do it to get people interested in the film and although I believe this is partially true, surely there are better ways to do this without giving away the twists or surprises.
Occasionally when this happens it’s nothing too severe such as the new How To Train Your Dragon 3 trailer dropped not too long ago and spoiled that there was a female night fury. Now this isn’t too egregious because if you are above the age of six you saw this coming since the first movie rolled its credits. It’s annoying but no big deal.
BUT then you get trailers that drop arguably the biggest twists or surprises of the film in the trailer, such as in Captain America: Civil War revealing that Spiderman was making his debut appearance. Yes this technically isn’t a plot spoiler, but it took what was supposed to be a huge surprise to excite fans and turned it into a mere tease telling us what’s going to happen and not letting us experience it for ourselves.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I have a general distain for trailers in almost every form, because unlike most issues I have covered on this blog before now I cannot understand the reason to do this. Trailers are supposed to excite an audience and get people interested in seeing films in the theatre, but I ask you, what is the point in going to see a film in theatre if you have already seen the best parts of the movie in the trailer?
One instance where this happens to a crippling degree is in films aimed at children. They will typically give away all the best jokes of a film, not to mention any plot twists or spoilers. One possibility for this is to warn parents of what yellow hell they may have to sit through, but that doesn’t change the fact that it hurts the films in the long run.
Normally in my articles I attempt to be as civil as possible even on topics I feel strongly about. But this doesn’t inspire me like Love, Simon did, it doesn’t intrigue me like comedy does, it doesn’t even anger me like queerbaiting does. Frankly this is just annoying, I cannot tell you how many films I haven’t seen, or not given a chance because a trailer has ruined either the best parts of the film or given away the only reason to see the film. Yes, perhaps that is a bit of an extreme reaction to a trailer, but I ask you what are we left to do with ourselves when we see a film that genuinely interests us, just to have it ruined and spoiled by the trailer? Yes, it could be a lot worse than it is I grant you that, but just because it could be worse doesn’t mean we should just accept this for the travesty it is.
Who would have guessed that talking about trailers would be the thing to ignite my rage.
Do you know what truly aggravates me about this whole issue? It’s the fact that it is a symptom of a larger problem. Hollywood, and sequentially the studios, do not believe we as an audience can decide if a film is good or bad without a trailer telling us everything a film has to offer. They do not value our intelligence, one of the reasons we do not get many smart films and instead just get mindless explosions for an hour and a half. It may not seem like a serious issue now, but they have taken our trailers, they have taken our smart films, what if one day they come for your explosions?
Is this hyperbole? Yes. Is this me over thinking and being mildly too sensitive about trailers that mean very little? Yes, but can you honestly say you disagree with what I just said?
I ask you studio executives who obviously read this nobodies blog post, why do you give away the biggest, best or important twists in films in stupid trailers? It’s not enticing, it’s not a good marketing strategy. In some instances it even hurts your chances at the box office.
Typically when I talk about issues like this I like to end my articles with something light, hopeful, inspirational or something patronising. But I simply cannot with this, unlike every other issue I have talked about where we as the general audience have some power to change, we have none in this instance, and that is unlikely to change.
I would like to leave you with one message of, not hope exactly, but insight. Lately there have been few - and I mean few - films that have not spoiled their best bits in the trailers so perhaps there is reason to be optimistic, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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