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