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Why I Don't Watch Trailers
🕑 Added 2025-12-12 14:00:19 +0000 UTC
I hated seeing this image of Vi everywhere.
Not because of the brain-dead takes from grifters complaining about it not being goon material - I beg to differ - but because when watching Arcane Season 2, my brain was uncontrollably forming the equations for how the story playing out before me would lead to this version of the character appearing on-screen.
I had no context for the scene, there's no plot details, I didn't even watch the teaser these images came from that'd demonstrate the pace, editing, sound, or mood of the scene, but I didn't need those. There's only so many ways that Vi would end up like this image, and as the episodes progress, the viable options for how and when the story can make her like this narrows.
The most recent example of this actually was Chainsaw Man Reze Arc but in a different way…
I can’t remember when exactly, but there was a moment that I realized in the middle of watching a pivotal moment of the film, that I had seen it before. Most likely through memes on the internet of the Chainsaw Man Manga, of which the Anime is at times, one to one… but I had forgotten them.
I was happy.
Whatever I would’ve predicted, had already happened.
There was no mental-math being done to infringe upon my immersion.
I’m pretty sure it was the classroom scene.This is the primary reason that I try to go into everything blind. My biggest indicator of loving a show or work is when I mute its hashtags on Social Media. When friends start posting theories on Discord, and I immediately flee. When you’re making something I love, I don’t wanna see a frame of it until it’s released.
This is a me thing.
I understand the power in showing a particular image. I get that specific image of Vi was picked for a powerful reason. How instantaneously it sparked peoples curiosity and imagination. That the mental equations in their minds are running wild, sometimes on a daily-basis all the way up to its eventual release, but it is frustrating when the marketing’s imagery is so powerful that even after all the steps I take to avoid it...
I can't.
I think I’ve been this way since watching The Imposter, a film that optimizes the joy of discovery to the point where I advise - Every Frame A Painting as well - to not even look up what genre this film is.
Just watch it.
And let the journey be the one to direct your mind without any checkpoints anticipated from marketing. Seeing an amazing image from a piece of art doesn’t by any means ruin the art, it’s just perhaps a little less powerful, and if I love the art, I want none of its power to be diminished.
It’s like this.
I’ve seen the Grand Canyon, it was pretty amazing. Knowing what to expect didn't stop it being a amazing. Having seen it on a Post-Card before arriving to it in-person isn't a bad thing, but...
Imagine being the first people to stumble upon the Grand Canyon.
The ones who saw it without a photograph of it in their minds ahead of time; how awe-inspiring that would’ve been. Going into art blind isn’t the same as that, but it’s probably the closest you can get.
P.S. Apologies for this not coming out last-week. I honestly thought that it had already been scheduled but I misplaced the dates...
Comments
Lucas Raycevick
It just occurred to me this released the day after The Game Awards. This was not intentional.
