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I posted this article a few days ago: spoiler anxiety is ruining pop culture.
One of the things that I definitely think it ruined is Endgame.
The issue of forcing an actor to act with no context around their lines is really jarring in the second-last scene by the lake.
They just sent Steve off with the stones to return tem, he's supposed to come back five seconds later, instead, he comes back to that moment the way most people travel through time: one second at a time. When he reaches this moment, he's an old man.
Bucky's the first one to notice, but rather than going over to see Steve - his oldest friend - he calls Sam in, and Sam's the one to go over and approach Steve. Only he doesn't. He stays about a metre and a half away, looking at Steve, not going up or anything. The man who paused next to Steve just a minute ago and said "I can help you do this if you like" didn't even sit down next to him on the bench.
That scene? That was probably shot in very separate sections. Mark Ruffalo, Seb Stan, Chris, and Anthony for the departure and then the realisation that Cap ain't coming back. Then Anthony and Chris for the scene on the bench - and the truth is that Chris may not even have been wearing his aged stuff. Which would be why Anthony was probably instructed not to go too close, so they wouldn't have to mess with him in post-production. Then Chris does the scenes with aged Steve but no Anthony-as-Sam, just doing his lines. And although Sam looks to Bucky at some point, all he has to do is look off-camera, and then they cut to SebStan nodding his approval of what's happening, but not having Bucky go talk to Steve. There's no shock, no surprise, no "what the hell have you done", no sense of any emotion. And I'd bet it's because SebStan doesn't know what happened to Steve at that point. But that just throws Bucky's reaction way off and...
It's...a massively jarring scene, even for someone like me who doesn't ship these three in any serious way. I mean, if you brought a stranger in and told them to watch these three people interact, I'm pretty sure they'd never guess that these three guys had been friends and buddies at all.
*sigh*
--
The article makes a good case that we've elevated the plot above all things - including the character interactions. Which may work for the casual viewer, but it's seriously disconcerting for the fans and anyone who looks a mite deeper. And it kind of puts a glossy shine on something that doesn't have that much beneath it - or has something disturbing beneath, like the body at a funeral showing: sure it looks okay on top, but when you think about it, it's actually a rotting corpse.
One of the things that I definitely think it ruined is Endgame.
The issue of forcing an actor to act with no context around their lines is really jarring in the second-last scene by the lake.
They just sent Steve off with the stones to return tem, he's supposed to come back five seconds later, instead, he comes back to that moment the way most people travel through time: one second at a time. When he reaches this moment, he's an old man.
Bucky's the first one to notice, but rather than going over to see Steve - his oldest friend - he calls Sam in, and Sam's the one to go over and approach Steve. Only he doesn't. He stays about a metre and a half away, looking at Steve, not going up or anything. The man who paused next to Steve just a minute ago and said "I can help you do this if you like" didn't even sit down next to him on the bench.
That scene? That was probably shot in very separate sections. Mark Ruffalo, Seb Stan, Chris, and Anthony for the departure and then the realisation that Cap ain't coming back. Then Anthony and Chris for the scene on the bench - and the truth is that Chris may not even have been wearing his aged stuff. Which would be why Anthony was probably instructed not to go too close, so they wouldn't have to mess with him in post-production. Then Chris does the scenes with aged Steve but no Anthony-as-Sam, just doing his lines. And although Sam looks to Bucky at some point, all he has to do is look off-camera, and then they cut to SebStan nodding his approval of what's happening, but not having Bucky go talk to Steve. There's no shock, no surprise, no "what the hell have you done", no sense of any emotion. And I'd bet it's because SebStan doesn't know what happened to Steve at that point. But that just throws Bucky's reaction way off and...
It's...a massively jarring scene, even for someone like me who doesn't ship these three in any serious way. I mean, if you brought a stranger in and told them to watch these three people interact, I'm pretty sure they'd never guess that these three guys had been friends and buddies at all.
*sigh*
--
The article makes a good case that we've elevated the plot above all things - including the character interactions. Which may work for the casual viewer, but it's seriously disconcerting for the fans and anyone who looks a mite deeper. And it kind of puts a glossy shine on something that doesn't have that much beneath it - or has something disturbing beneath, like the body at a funeral showing: sure it looks okay on top, but when you think about it, it's actually a rotting corpse.