Audience Originated Spoilers

Hello, and welcome back to this.  This week I think that we have to talk about another impending pop culture event.  In just under two months, on the first day of 2016, the Victorian special of Sherlock, “The Abominable Bride,”  will air in the UK and the US.  This follows a nearly two year break following the third season of the series.  The way that the production manages the numerous and avid fans of the program involves a controlled use of social media.

                As the special approaches, interest is very high.  Sherlock has many fans across the globe who have been eagerly awaiting the next installment from the moment they had finished watching the third episode of the most recent season which aired early last year.  The program has behind it a strong force of word of mouth with die-hard fans consistently talking about the series previous installments and what they expect in the future on platforms like Tumblr. 

                How, then, do Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat, the minds behind the series, feed their following as the newest piece of their work comes to our screens?  They’ve learned that by providing their rabid followers with small pieces of information over the months leading up to the premiere, they’ll keep them engaged over each long hiatus that the show takes.  Now, the information being released ranges anywhere from images of Holmes and Watson in Victorian garb which happened a year prior to what will be the release of the new episode to, most recently, trailers for the episode. 

                Of course, trailers are meant to give the viewer a taste of what the project will be like without spoiling any of the narrative of the work.  Does this take on a new meaning with modern fandoms spending the time leading up to a premiere breaking apart the trailer which has been given to them and analyzing each clip before creating a narrative which could connect the dots and having the ability to discuss those possible narratives with others across the world?  If you wanted to remain 100% clear of spoilers for the special, it would be reasonable to avoid the internet predictions.  They can very easily become spoilers for the upcoming event because, in a narrative that should be grounded with realism, there are only a certain number of plausible links that could connect a series of events.  In the same way that independent creation is an acknowledged way that new inventions or artistic creations can come into existence without being direct imitations of one another, within a set of limitations which are laid out by logic and small pieces of information provided in a trailer it is likely that at least one fan who attempts to predict what will happen in “The Abominable Bride” will create the same story as Moffat and Gatiss have.  Leave it up to the power of individuals collaborating on social media, and there will definitely be spoilers before you know it.