How To Cope With Those Inevitable ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Spoilers

Star Wars: The Force Awakens won’t start screening for the general public until tomorrow night, but a privileged few have already seen it. (I know! Those bastards!) Even you can survive “Force Awakens FOMO,” chances are you won’t be able to completely dodge spoilers before you see the film for yourself. Thanks to Twitter, trailers, Facebook, magazine covers, and gossip-y bloggers like yours truly*, it’s now impossible to walk into a movie theater and see a move with completely virgin eyes.

Have you been spoiled? Well, depending on who you are and what the spoiler was, it could be a very big deal. Do you know what could be an even bigger deal? How you handle this sorry state of affairs. Many educated, civilized, full-grown adults think it’s completely civil to scream “SPOILER ALERT!” at people and run out of a room. Even more sadly think that’s it’s appropriate behavior on the internet. The truth is you don’t need to let a spoiler spoil your Star Wars experience this holiday season. There are ways you can conquer the rage, deal with the disbelief, and ensure that it won’t sully your first Star Wars: The Force Awakens screening.

No one spoiler is the same and everyone reacts to the experience differently. Some people only feel a delightful jolt of surprise when they find out that [actor name REDACTED] plays [strange alien name REDACTED] who has a [REDACTED] on the planet [REDACTED]. It can be rather fun to stumble upon the name of a background character who has no major bearing on the plot of a movie.

On the other hand, if you are someone who takes even the smallest spoiler seriously — or if you somehow wander onto a Reddit thread that transcribes the entirety of Act III — you will likely have a very different kind of shock.  Once your brain processes the fact that you’ve just had the biggest movie of 2015 — Star Wars: The Force Awakens — ruined for you, you might feel an immediate surge of anger boiling in your body. Your face will become flush with the heat of the boiling lava rivers of Mustafar. Expletives will explode out from your mouth like the hurtling debris of Alderaan. You will want to succumb to the Dark Side and use your rage to lash out at the person (or Twitter feed) (or television commercial) (or toy packaging) (or People magazine cover) (or headline that says Star Wars: The Force Awakens “reportedly” passes the Bechdel Test) for ruining something for you. Do us a favor and, uh, don’t.

Like we said up top, it’s really, really unbecoming for an adult to freak out over spoilers. We understand that you may want an unsullied experience, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to lash out. You think you’re coming across as some sort of warrior for justice, but you look and sound like petulant Hayden Christensen slicing through some baby Tusken Raiders. We empathize with your pain, but think of the damage you’re doing. Take a deep breath, calm down, and remember that what you’re getting upset about knowing what happens in a movie before you see it. Can you re-watch the original Star Wars trilogy and still experience a swell of awe and joy? Then, you’ll probably be able to give Star Wars: The Force Awakens a fair chance even if you heard from a friend that he saw on Twitter that some guys from The Raid are playing [REDACTED].

No, really. We mean it. You can still have fun watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens even if you do know some major plot details before you see the film! Think about it: What makes the original films so much fun? Is it the Emperor’s costume design? The name of a droid in a Rebel pilot’s X-Wing? Is it the “Vader is Luke’s father” plot twist? Is that really the only reason you like Star Wars? The plot twists?!? Or do you love those films because they take us on an adventure with a cabal of charming heroes in a galaxy far, far away?

Next time you find out a spoiler and panic, remember that most of these so-called “spoilers” are just incidental details that bring the tapestry of Star Wars together. Nothing is going to compare to the emotional journey of watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the first time. NOTHING.

You can do this. You can survive the spoilers and the trailers and the water cooler chatter. You can go to the movie theater secure in the knowledge that a few little spoilers here and there aren’t going to ruin your Star Wars experience.

Besides, if you’re that skittish, you can use Google Chrome’s brand new “Force Block” app to block all Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers until you see the film. Click here to buy it.

May the Force be with you.

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*We apologize if you’ve been spoiled by any of the details or photos accompanying this article, but also as we said, GET IT TOGETHER.*

[Photos: Everett Collection]