Spoiling (Song of Solomon, Troy, and Movies)

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 8:17 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Spoiling (Song of Solomon, Troy, and Movies) 2019-08-29T08:17:20-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Spoiled Films (Mild Spoilers of Pride and Prejudice Ahead)

Say anything about a film, even one based on a centuries old book such as Pride and Prejudice, and someone will complain about “spoilers.” You can of course spoil a movie or book: if you don’t know Pride and Prejudice ends with a very satisfying wedding, reading it before seeing the film or (better!) reading the novel does spoil a good bit of the tension. Few of my present students know the tension of wondering if the Ring would be destroyed or if “Frodo lives!” in Lord of the Rings if only because of ubiquitous social media gifs from the films.

A spoiler takes the payoff of the film or novel away from a reader. The person who spoils has kept the wonder to himself and left his readers or listeners unable to enjoy as he enjoyed.

Spoiled Troy

“Spoilers” conceptually comes from sacking cities, not ruining films. In the English speaking world, the Biblical book of Joshua and Iliad put the notion of “spoilers” in the artistic vocabulary. The fall of Troy particularly haunted generations of classically educated people to the point that it impacted relations with the modern Greek people and archeology. People went looking for the war and the fabulous spoils of that war.

Iliad is haunting, because unless one is a careful reader, one does not notice that ten years of war have left Troy much less than legendarily wealthy. King Priam stays alive by hiring allies and they fight for money, not love of Troy. By the time the Greeks take the city, there is much less to get than they might have fantasized. CS Lewis toyed with another truth in a story he never finished: Helen has been gone twenty years. What happened when the Greeks broke into Troy to see a middle aged woman? Of course, the epic gives Helen divine blood, so eternal youth, but even Homer does not present a person worth the cost of a decade of war. Almost nobody gets home with the loot they do get or finds home as they left it.

The spoiling of a city is obviously bad for the those being sacked, though as Virgil and Nehemiah point out, there can be a second act for the losers. It is also not so good for those getting the loot. You can burn down the Temple of Solomon, but soon the gold, bronze, and treasures you took are gone. Destruction is easy, building a marvel, a wonder worth spoiling, is hard.

Is it accidental that Mycenaean culture broke down soon after the Trojan War or that the spoils of Nebuchadnezzar did nothing to protect Babylon? Spoiling a movie is an easy way to look smart: see what I know! Spoiling a city is a means to wealth, but not to cultural greatness. Anyone can spoil Sixth Sense, but a clever person wrote and made the film. Pulling down the towers of Ileum is work that can be done by beasts, but building them required genius.

A lesson of Iliad is not pacifism, Homer believes men must fight, but futility with gleams of glory. The hero is better than the knave, but they end up in the same place. Ecclesiastes reflects the Iliad’s despair: vanity of vanity is the burning of Troy. Spoiling spoils the spoiler, particularly if they glory over the vanquished. A consistent message of the Old Testament prophets is that the spoiler of today will be despoiled tomorrow. Iliad hints at this truth and that Troy (think of Aeneas) will have another day.

The war began when a reckless immoral man, Paris, spoiled the home of his host Menelaus. He gained Helen and lost his honor. For twenty years, Paris shrank as a man, gaining nothing from pleasures. Homer in Odyssey will show a hero gaining from constant sorrows: many despoil Odysseus, but the man finds a way. Paris, Achilles, and Agamemnon view women as prizes and love as a spoil of war. All three lose as a result. You cannot gain a lover through conquest. By contrast Patroclus and Hector are kind and love women by giving them a voice. Both die in honor, the closest thing to a happy ending the Homeric of Iliad allows.

Spoiled Love

14O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

So says the lover in this old poem, which if parts hark back to Solomon, has roots as old as Iliad. He makes a simple point that love can be spoiled by little things. The Greeks that burn a city, the roue Paris, these are obvious spoilers. Harder to see are the little foxes that despoil tender love. Guard against Paris, surely. Do not ignore the voice of the beloved like Agamemnon or confuse another life with your own honor like Achilles.

However, the smaller acts of unkindness, harshness, inattention, or those who encourage the same are spoilers. Spoilage spreads and while tolerating office crudity may not burn love to the ground immediately, damage is done. The goal of love is to build up, not despoil.

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

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