Open Forum Friday: Do We All Need More Mystery in Our Lives?

Posted by on April 24th, 2009   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

openforummystery

A lot of people have been talking this week about the latest issue of Wired Magazine, which was put together in part by guest editor J.J. Abrams. Dubbed “The Mystery Issue”, it is chock full of articles on unsolved mysteries, puzzles and illusions… in other words, a Lost fan’s dream (it even has some easter eggs hidden within the pages of the magazine itself). At the center of it all is an essay by Abrams about The Magic of Mystery, where he mourns the loss of mystery and serendipity in what he calls The Age of Immediacy. He also rants against spoilers, proclaiming that an overabundance of information is ruining our experience of almost everything, including movies, music and video games.

I have to agree with most of what Abrams has to say. A lot of people simply can’t help reading spoilers, even when they know it might take away from their enjoyment of a film. If the information is out there, they feel compelled to acquire it. Still, it’s only natural that people don’t want to be in the dark about things. Mysteries and puzzles can be frustrating, particularly when they are worked into something that is supposed to be escapist entertainment. A TV show like Lost is not necessarily for everyone.

Abrams also cites the success of Cloverfield as proof of people’s desire for mystery. Certainly, the idea of marketing a movie by revealing very little is bound to attract attention because it is such a rarity nowadays. But did the mystery make the actual experience of watching Cloverfield more exciting, or did it just trick people into buying tickets? In some cases, the opposite effect was achieved: people were let down because of the lofty expectations that the mystery created. There is also the issue of repeat viewing: Cloverfield’s box office dropped off 70% in its second week, probably because a mystery is only effective until you know the solution.

What do you think? Is J.J. Abrams right about all this? Do you wish you knew less about movies going in? Do mysteries and puzzles make for better movies, or are they nothing more than gimmicks? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • IchigoNL

    He definitely has a point. What made the first season of Lost so great was all the mystery surrounding the Island. Once you get the answers it’s possible it’ll disappoint . Same with the numbers in Lost, I actually hope they never really answer it.
    But I guess mystery isn’t for everyone, some people just want all the answers straight away.

  • TheMovieVampire

    I think the mystery angle only hurt Cloverfield (a movie I admire greatly) in the eye of the public. The thing is, there really was no mystery to it other than what the monster looked like, otherwise the movie pretty much delivered EXACTLY what the trailer promised (20-somethings running around with a camcorder). The fact that people expected some major twist left them disapointed and they couldn’t just go along for the ride.

  • The real mysterious stuff in life is the stuff that you can’t find out about on the Internet.

  • That’s a empty, bullshit statement. Aside from personal responsibility to triangulate information on the internet and evaluate sources, I put forth that the internet is nothing more than an expanding communication tool and therefore allows individuals to explore mysteries easier and faster than anytime in history. If you look at the internet as the starting point for empirical exploration in the real world it is extremely valuable.

  • J.J. Abrams is one of my creative heroes, and I’ll agree with just about anything he says. I haven’t seen Cloverfield yet, but I thought the marketing was brilliant. There is always a risk of producing too much hype over a movie, but I find myself more disappointed by flicks that critics talk up than the ones nobody has seen.

    Lost is my favourite show on television, the only one I watch in fact, and I’d even go so far as to say it’s one of the best shows in history. I don’t have cable, so I download or ask friends to tape the show for me. My best friend in Australia is also a fan, but the network that airs the show down there is a week behind the US, so he often downloads too, so we are in sync with each other. We have a strict policy where, whoever watches the show first, absolutely no spoilers allowed. It totally ruins the show, and I avoid spoilers at all costs for movies and shows I’m interested in.

    I’ve never read Wired magazine, but I just might have to pick up this issue, the content sounds great.

  • I think JJ Abrams is only addressing half the equation. Yes, people want mystery, but they don’t want mystery for mystery sake. JJ is great at setting the table for a mystery but he doesn’t do a good job of cultivating the discovery process, or in cases like Mission Impossible 3 doesn’t care about the reveal.

    I acknowledge creating mystery in the cynical world we live in is extremely hard, and when movies like The Sixth Sense come out it is the bomb, but what is JJ saying here? If he is criticizing the people for criticizing him for not having good endings that is a misguided argument. The show Lost fired the entire writing team awhile ago; is Lost going to be a show that is all about creating mystery without a ending worth the hype? I think so.

    A GOOD mystery is like a social contract with the audience. You need to balance the reveals with the desire the to keep the mystery alive. I, like many, feel Lost is not playing fair – the reveals are all bullshit and the final payoff will never live up to all the hype. This is not good mystery; the audience feels the storytellers are wasting their time.

  • Ian

    “The Age of Immediacy” that’s nice. I’m with him on this to a degree. Still it’s about personal choice. I choose to watch some of those Star Trek Trailers and see some of the action scenes and all that but I’m choosing not to read critics reviews of early showings or a leaked copy of the script or whatever else is out there. I suppose when it comes to artificial mysteries in life (you know not the Existential kind like: Why are we here, etc.?) I’m pro-choice.

  • rus in chicago, my point was that a mystery is only a mystery if you don’t have the facts or cannot understand the facts. The Internet makes things non-mysterious. Ergo, the real mysterious stuff in life is the stuff that you can’t find out about on the Internet.

    Actually, my real point is that people shouldn’t look for mystery in movies. Actually, that’s not my point. My point is that there is more to mystery than can be found at the movies. But since Film Junk is a movie site, let me rephrase and say look for mystery in movies that people ignore.

  • I prefer mysteries that have no payoff, that remain mysteries through to the end and beyond.

  • “If I want endless drivel that goes on and on with no point; I have my life.” -Jerry Seinfeld

  • Niklas

    I think a lot of people think its more fun to look forward to movies or video games than actually watching or playing them. I think messageboards and blogs are the main cause for this. Its almost like movies based on books, those who have read the book are more likely to get dissapointed than those who go in with no information..

    Personally, I dont understand it because I want to know as little as possible before going into a movie. Usually I will just watch a trailer or two.

  • I tend to dislike drivel no matter what form it takes.

  • John Locke

    @IchigoNL: LOST has already answered The Numbers. It was explained in the ‘Sri Lanka Orientation’ video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPCCcXarkc

    @ rus in chicago: When the hell did LOST fire its writing team? To this date not a SINGLE writer has been fired. The only writers that left did so because they got better opportunities as a result of being on a hit show and because most people don’t like to be stuck on show for 6 years. And speak for yourself, every mystery they have answered has been very satisfying for me (and apparently for most people as it is still the biggest genre hit on tv)

  • I was quoting the guys from Row Three, I searched and could not find a story to confirm. I just wish I could get a “Best of” version of Lost…I have no time for the whole thing.