Identity Crisis Averted

I thought that I was wrong about my original belief that spoilers don’t spoil for a minute or two last night.  I wasn’t watching the Emmys, and I felt as though I was distinctly under-informed as I knew that this big event was happening and all I was seeing was other people’s reactions.  And I was totally okay with missing some of the speeches from the winners whose work I’ve watched because I knew that they’d be up on the internet this morning and there really wouldn’t be that much of a difference about when I watched it.  In that way, I was totally on the same page as when I wrote my first post for this blog.  

                But the Emmys are generally full of moments that don’t matter that much culturally.  In the realm of things, it doesn’t matter that  Tony Hale won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series or that Veep won for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series because those wins were moments that will matter beyond this week for only a handful of people.    

                The moments that were spoiled for me were the moments where I missed the beginning of a conversation that was launched because of the way that a winner used the platform with which they were presented last night.  I missed out on Viola Davis’ speech for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.  On Twitter, my entire timeline was filled with emotion at her words.  But I didn’t know the content of her speech until a little later that night.  More importantly, I wasn’t able to feel the power behind what she was saying because I missed that moment live.  I missed the way that Jeffrey Tambor, Jill Soloway, and Allison Janney brought to light the issues that are connected with their shows and weigh on them.  Those are the moments that are likely to be spoiled.  But even so, it isn’t the fault of Twitter spoilers that I was left out of those moments last night.  The fault was only in my hands, because I couldn’t watch the show live.  And I would have missed out on that moment no matter what. 

It is a benefit of social media that I know now that there were important issues being brought to light during what is, at its most basic, a popularity contest for rich/famous individuals.  And that, this morning, I had the opportunity to watch Viola Davis’ speech and be glad that in 2015, you can miss it the first time around but check out what you missed when you wake up the next morning.