...Hate Spoilers

A Note On SPOILERS

 Spoilers aren't a new phenomenon; since there has been fiction, there has always been that person who feels the need to inform you that Hamlet dies at the end, Harry is the final horcrux and Luke Skywalker's father is closer than you might think. What these people fail to understand is that the pleasure is not in the knowledge alone, but in the discovery. Unfortunately, some people seem to know this, and STILL gain a perverse pleasure from giving away that crucial twist.

The topic of spoilers has been on my mind more than usual currently, due to my (excessively) devoted following of two majorly popular series; Game of Thrones and Doctor Who.



 Doctor Who has been a significant part of my life (some might go as far as to call it an obsession...they may have a point) since 26th March 2005 when 'Rose', the first episode of the rebooted* Doctor Who exploded on to our screens. I have not missed an episode since, and eagerly debate and discuss what may happen in the next installment with anyone who will listen. As you may or may not know, Doctor Who is celebrating its 50th aniversary this November, which is set to be a rather thrilling affair (there are plans that it will be shown in 3D in selected cinemas). Leading up to the 50th birthday celebrations is the climactic finale of Series 7**, which promises to reveal a great secret about the Doctor, as well as unfold the puzzle surrounding the current companion, Clara***. So all in all, it is an exciting time for Doctor Who fans. However, popularity, success and a devoted fandom comes at a cost. Yes, there have always been those who love giving away the juiciest plot twists, but now they have a new way of doing so, to the detriment of so many more people. The Internet.

The ease of access of all types of information is both a gift and a curse, but focusing just for the moment on fans...given the temptation to peek ahead, to know something you both desperately don't want to know, and desperately do NEED to know, how hard is it to steer away from photos, snippets, hints, clips of the future? Pretty hard, I can tell you from experience. Steven Moffat has such a horror of spoilers that he has even worked it into the programme, with the character of River Song provocatively mouthing 'Spoilers!' whenever the Doctor is tempted to find out things ahead of time. By doing so, the showrunner evidently hopes to persuade devotees of the Doctor to behave as he does ...and consequently protecting his precious plotlines and viewing figures. And largely, with PROPER fans, I think that approach works. No-one enjoys being spoiled; once they know they usually feel a sense of anti-climax, then a overwhelming wash of shame (I think that's pretty universal, not just the writer in me). Unfortunately in some, it just leads to a desire to share that feeling with other people. And some people are just sadistic.

You don't know what I went through to find this rather exciting poster.

 I bring this up because I have a strict 'no spoilering' policy that I try my very best to uphold before each episode airs. If it's not officially released information, I don't want to know. BUT it can be so easy to stumble across something accidentally on the internet, and wish it could be unseen. (Sadly, this is true of more than just spoilers.) This is particularly the case with finales containing big reveals, such as next week's tantalizingly titled episode, 'The Name of the Doctor'. The BBC, and the Doctor Who team in particluar are very stringent on security, ensuring that not even the press see any crucial surprises; what they don't know, they can't give away. Wonderful. I fully support them.

 Then, the other day, there was some news. In America, copies of the DVD box set of Series 7 Part 2 had been released several weeks too early. Containing, in full, 'The Name of the Doctor'. There are people out there, outside of the DW team who know what happens. They know everything. They have the capacity to spoil it for the rest of us. And sadly, they have tried to. There were torrents of the episode online (I believe all of these have been removed by the BBC now, but I'm certainly not going looking to check), people posting on Doctor Who fan sites giving away major plot details...look too hard, and it's all there to be found. People are greedy, and people want what they can't have. The forbidden fruit has more of a pull than all the rest put together, and humans are weak and fallible. I want to enjoy the episode as it was intended, and I am very angry at the shipping company, but most of all at the people who felt the need to share the spoilers. The BBC has put forward an appeal to people who have seen the episode NOT to give anything away, and have even been so generous as to promise an exclusive clip with Doctors 10 and 11 (Tennant and Smith) if things are kept mostly secret until Saturday. I've heard that some people have had the bare faced cheek to claim the BBC owe us MORE than that...but I hope the majority of people are bigger and better than this. Spoilers...stay away from them, or if you can't...keep them to yourself.

Shown above: A LOT of cups of tea.

 I must admit however... I am a total hypocrite. I would never give away spoilers to something that hadn't been released officially yet, but I do have a weakness when it comes to books. I read books pretty quickly. Rather faster in fact than anyone else I know. And when I enjoy a book, I become absorbed by its world, by its characters. I want to share that with someone. Usually, it's someone who has shared an interest in the book...but generally hasn't quite finished reading it. I mentioned that I have just become absorbed into the Game of Thrones fandom; I am working my way through the first series of the HBO TV show, as I have just finished working my way through all five of the current installments, contained in seven gargantuan books. My boyfriend, who introduced me to the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire (the official name of the series, which most people never use unless showing off), has only finished said book. I am itching to discuss with him all the huge plot points that come later: ____ marries ____! Is ____ dead?! The Red Wedding!!! It is with supreme difficulty that I haven't given away all of the above, but I admit to being unable to contain myself regarding a few. I know perfectly well that with this foreknowledge he won't enjoy them half as much as I did, but in my defence he begged me to tell him, I double checked he was sure before I actually did give away anything major, and thirdly, I knew he'd probably find them out accidentally anyway. In some cases, he already had. Courtsey of that prostitute of information, the internet.

Spoilers are tempting, we are easily tempted, and the internet is a cruel and easy temptress. But please, try and spare as many people as you can from them. Don't support sites that condone and share spoilers, don't look up spoilers you may regret, and don't deliberately spoil someone else's viewing/reading for any reason. Unless, of course, you are crying because a character you loved has just been stabbed, and desperately need to share that agony with someone who will understand and not judge you, and you simply can't wait until they have read 3513 more pages.



 AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: This trailer is a teaser, and officially released by the BBC. It is not a spoiler. Enjoy! 

  

*I hesitate on which word to use here, although only Whovians will care: 'NewWho' as it's termed is not strictly a reboot, as it is a continuation of the same story, linking to the past series.

**Or if you are a Whovian 7B, or as I like to term it, Series Oswald.

***If you are not following this particular saga, then suffice to say, she's met the Doctor three times, and died upon two of those occasions. She has no memory of the above.


P.S. Sorry if I spoilered anyone at the beginning there. I just picked three that most people already know. Anyone who has avoided those until now has most probably been living in a cave. Welcome back to civilisation. 

...Review: The Bell Jar

A review of Sylvia Plath's only novel, and a reflection on life inside the bell jar.

On this beautiful, bright, sunny May day, I am going to tackle a dark subject. I don't claim to have much knowledge of it, nor presume to lecture on how it should be dealt with. I just think it needs to be talked about.
 Depression is an illness, and many more people suffer from it than we can even begin to imagine. It can come in different forms, and be triggered by different things and experiences, but it is a genuine condition and as such it deserves to treated thus. Clinical depression can make life, which is hard enough at the best of times, a living hell. I don't want to go too much into this, as I'm simply not qualified to talk about severe forms of depression, but if anyone is struggling with it, and has not yet seen anyone about it, start here: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Depression/Pages/Introduction.aspx



Beautiful, talented and tormented: Sylvia Plath

 Anyone can suffer with depression, especially some of the more minor forms. Seasonal Affective Disorder, known appropriately as SAD, in estimated to affect approximately 7% of the population every winter. Also known colloquially as the 'winter blues', sufferers of SAD find themselves feeling negative, apathetic, sleeping more yet feeling fatigued and filled with a sense of hopelessness or impending doom during the months with less sunlight. It can also cause over-eating leading to weight gain, loss of libido and increased anxiety. The majority of humans experience some of these symptoms during winter anyway, but the effects are expotentially increased if you suffer from SAD, have recently been through a traumatic experience or are prone to depressive periods anyway. Illnesses such as glandular fever are also known to provoke episodes of depression.

 The Bell Jar is a deeply moving piece of work, one of the best books written in the first person I have ever read. It is personal, disturbing, witty and very readable. This is, of course, because it is Sylvia Plath's story. Not completely autobiographical, but close enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Sylvia Plath is best known for her poetry, whose feminist, personal and pyschoanalytical slants still shock and move today. She married another celebrated poet, Ted Hughes, but their marriage soon fell apart. Living with her two children, destitute and succumbing to the depression she'd battled all her life, Plath gassed herself, aged 30.  The Bell Jar tells the story of her early years, through the thin guise of Esther Greenwood. This nineteen year old, whose academic brilliance has been rewarded through scholarships and now a placement at a New York magazine, is suffocating inside her own glass bell jar, looking out at the world, but not experiencing it. She is detached from everything around her, even as she recognises why she should be appreciating it all. Trapped at home for a year after being rejected for a writing course, she becomes lethargic and introverted. Soon she turns to death as a way out of the bell jar, but cannot bring herself to carry it through, her natural instinct to live is too strong. But by now people have noticed, and she is taken to a psychiatric hospital and subjected to electro-shock therapy. She gets a second chance, but others she knows are not so lucky.

 Plath's life story is an uncomfortable read, but a compelling one. I found myself drawn to this character, to the writer, and I empathised with her. More than I ever imagined I would. I too am struggling through a difficult part of my life right now, the academic without study, the nineteen year old bound to home in my bell jar when I should be out forging my future. Thank goodness I haven't reached the point Plath did, but there were enough similarities for my heart to go out to this character, this woman, and all who suffer with the severity she did. This is an essential read for all who are struggling with their lives, or who have someone close who is struggling with depression. It is not an easy read, but a revealing one. There is no happy ending in Plath's life, as we know, but as we reach the end of the journey reccounted in The Bell Jar, one feels there might be hope for her. For all who have struggled. The sun is shining, there are people who love you, and bell jars are only made of glass, and they CAN be broken.