I want you to go back sixteen years to the summer of 1999. There were lots of exciting movies coming out - a new Bond film that wound up weaker than expectations, an unexpectedly good film from M. Night Shyamalan and an emergent Oscar race that was be impossible to call - but all anybody really cared about was Star Wars. The parallels between then and now are painfully obvious, right down to the sheer (and somewhat unfounded) optimism surrounding the new trilogy starter, but there's one key difference that stands out above anything else - the marketing approach. You may feel like we're risking Star Wars saturation now, but with The Phantom Menace things were so, so much worse. The first teaser trailer, released in late 1998, boasted a broad overview of the plot and copious money shots from throughout the film's runtime, with a strong focus on the third act. As release approached the film became simply unavoidable, and whereas with Episode VII there's been a tight lockdown on a lot of the information, with only certain characters and events profiled, having marketing-minded George Lucas in charge meant nothing was off limits. Now that movie didn't turn out the most well-loved entry in the saga, but at no point in the ensuing disappointment did anybody say they found Episode I lacklustre because they'd seen it all in the trailers. The same is true of the other, equally spoiler-happy sequels, especially Revenge Of The Sith, a movie who's entire marketing campaign hinged on its ending. If anything, Episode III was strengthened by knowing where each of its characters ended up and seeing it all play out. For some reason we have created an illusion that Star Wars is a series that thrives on secrecy, with narrative shocks its primary draw over visual spectacle and a rollicking good time. Well I got news for you - that ain't true. The whole thing is based on Flash Gordon serials, telling a broad good versus evil story, and subscribes so rigidly to the hero's journey narrative that Joseph Campbell could probably have made a case for plagiarism. Heck, it's a series where four of the six movies released so far have titles that literally give away the ending for Yoda's sake. It's a bizarre development for the franchise, brought about not really because the fans don't want to know anything (at least not predominantly), but because J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm have chosen to market the film that way. It's a smart idea, handing over much of the responsibility for hype building to the cross-generational fanbase, meaning excitement feels organic and the once-risky prospect of a Sequel Trilogy is welcomed with open arms. But that shouldn't mean that unwittingly learning a Force Awakens spoiler should sour this once-in-a-generation experience. You know why? Because you've been in this position before (only you never realised it). Cast your mind back further than the prequels (well, presumably, unless you're on the younger side) to when you first saw Star Wars. Unless you're over forty (and WhatCulture site analytics tell me that's probabilistically unlikely) you first saw Star Wars in a world where the fact Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father was well known and thus experienced the movies in full knowledge of who was under that black mask. You knew one of the greatest cinematic twists of all time almost four hours of movie-time before it happened, and yet The Empire Strikes Back still consistently ranks not only as the best Star Wars movie, but one of the best films ever made. What this says to me is that spoilers don't matter. A good movie is a good movie. Knowing what happens before may make the preamble a bit sour, especially for something as anticipated as this, but in the long run it doesn't affect your enjoyment of the movie in the umpteen rewatches. Just remember that in the early hours of that December morning as you walk out the midnight screening and your first point of criticism is that you knew this plot beat or had heard a rumour about that plot twist. The annoyance of being spoiled is temporary. A film's quality lasts forever. Whether it's a great movie or an utter dud doesn't matter; when the dust settles opinion of The Force Awakens won't hinge on whether we collectively guessed who was going to die or not. So let's not allow a marketing campaign ruin all the fun. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in cinemas from 17th December in the UK and 18th December in the US.