On May 16, 2007, at 3:02 AM, MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
Phil, you've mentioned the same film several times
now, but it
looks like
that one is an exception to the rule. Can you say the same applies
to every
other film in the world? I don't. Apart from 'your' film, I think
there's
plenty of films where all policies can be applied at the same time.
Not just films, but here's a bevy of things where a good lead has to
have a spoiler in it. I limited myself to things I could think of
quickly where the spoilerish content forms the basis of a major
critical perspective on the work and thus must be included for NPOV
reasons. Plenty of other things (Valen, Norman Bates, Romeo and
Juliet) should probably mention their endings in the lead just
because their endings are among the most important things about them.
But these are ones where there's a clear and present NPOV reason to
include them in the lead.
Sue Dibny, The Chairs, Taming of the Shrew, Boys Don't Cry, Metroid,
Easy Rider, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Heart of Darkness, The Godfather.
I'm sure there are many more than this. And yes, there are also many
films where there is not a pressing reason to mention the end in the
lead. But this can probably be reduced to a single sentence in
[[Wikipedia:Lead paragraph]] that says "unless there is a pressing
reason to do so, revealing any major twists or surprises in the plot
of something should be avoided in the lead paragraph."
-Phil