Just Breathe: The Last Jedi and Trailer Culture

Lessons learned from not watching the trailers.

‘Breathe.’

So says Luke Skywalker in the teaser for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Don’t tell me when I can and can’t inhale, Luke — my lungs are my own business. But you know what? It’s actually good advice. Because when I decided to give up watching trailers, I also learned to relax. To not get so mentally worked-up in the flurry of excitement that always precedes tentpole releases. To just breathe.

It was shortly after I first saw The Force Awakens that I made my decision. White-hot anticipation skewed my vision, and that feverish overhyping fermented in my mind all the way into December when the film finally arrived on our screens. It affected that initial viewing of the film so seriously, I wasn’t even certain I had seen the damn thing, making those two hours a detached, surreal episode in which I watched myself watching the movie. I had viewed The Force Awakens through that blurry lens of hype was because I had fully bought into the notion that I had to participate in the gargantuan build-up to its release: I watched the trailer approximately five million times, and imagined in detail how the story would play out and the potential relationships between its new and old characters. My brain worked overtime to analyse, in great detail, what the movie would be. This type of thinking eventually ruined what the movie actually was, and you know what? It wouldn’t have happened if I chose not to watch that first teaser, and subsequent trailer.

But as you’ll fully know, watching the trailer for a big new film feels less like a choice, and more of a cultural obligation. How can you not simply click ‘play’ on that Last Jedi teaser on YouTube? If you don’t, you’ll firstly not be part of the popular conversation and secondly, you would be insane to not watch it. Right? I’m here to tell you while the former would be true, the latter is a lie. Exercising abstinence is extremely healthy; deciding not to take a drag from that cigarette, or making it your duty not to gorge on junk food for a week straight are things we can all agree actively work toward our well-being. If it was possible, I’d go into my most anticipated movies knowing absolutely nothing about them, which means no trailers, no production stills, no tweets from the stars, and definitely no plot points inevitably making their way to us either through official merchandising or clickbait headlines.

I want to be blind going into a movie — that’s the only way it will fully surprise me. Once you’re exposed to a film’s marketing, you’ll form preconceptions that are extremely tough to shake. This results in a bigger chance coming out of a movie feeling disappointed or unsatisfied in some way. I want you to ask yourself this very important question: how many movies do you see that compare exactly to what their trailers are selling?

Of course, trailers are necessary. While millions of us have already made up our minds to see the next Star Wars movie, the newest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or generally any kind of blockbuster which serves to further an established series, what about those smaller films which wouldn’t have a chance without marketing raising awareness? Or even an original big-budget film? (Think Edge of Tomorrow and its disappointing box office.)

Ultimately, I will need to see a trailer to get me interested in a handful of movies. Reading a dry synopsis on IMDb just doesn’t cut it sometimes, but all I’ll need to push me from ‘indifferent’ to ‘intrigued’ is to become acquainted with a strong tone, a memorable character, or an original plot — things which can be achieved via a good trailer.

But always, always take a chance. Step out of that comfort zone where you know every single detail about the thing you’re about to see, and your first viewing will become an infinitely more rewarding experience. A memory that galvanises this point for me is from the Glasgow Film Festival a few years ago: they were showing a film called The Place Beyond the Pines, and there were literally only three things I knew about the film.

1. I had seen a still of Ryan Gosling on a motorcycle, wearing a red leather jacket.

2. I was aware the film had been gaining positive word of mouth.

3. I knew the title.

What followed was one of my most cherished cinema experiences, precisely because I knew squat going in — and I’ve been trying to replicate it ever since. Of course, I don’t always succeed; I ended up watching The Last Jedi trailer after all, even with this stern ideology. Even though I’ll practice a religious no-reading-of-absolutely-anything-to-do-with-the-last-jedi methodology, my excuse for watching the trailer is that Star Wars is inescapable. Attempting to fully avoid it would have driven me to a madness comparable to the hype I was trying to stop in the first place. Such is the problem with teaser culture: we give too much of a shit about the movie before we’ve had a chance to see it.

So join me in exiting the hype train, and help me build a better filmgoing culture that values the singular experience of a movie without the noise that accompanies it. To learn what Skywalker teaches us, and just breathe.