Ender's Game

[Visions of Khas]

I'd be remiss to not bring this to your collective attention.

I'm debating whether to pay the ticket price or just wait 'til it shows up on megaupload. Does Orson Scott Card really need any more money to promote his bigoted ideals?




EDIT I accidentally a word.

[Hawki]

While I'm hardly a fan of Card's views on homosexuality and the like, I don't think reading/watching Ender's Game is an endorsement of those views per se. If the book/film incorporated bigotry into it then yes, but as far as I'm aware, neither do.

As for the trailer/film itself, looks okay, but nothing too special. While the book obviously predates Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, the "kids in x" meme has been done in film adaptations before. Course neither of those films had Harrison Ford.

May give it a watch, but comparing to to some other sci-fi films I've seen/hope to see this year (e.g. Oblivion, Star Trek Into Darkness), this hasn't inspired the same 'feels.' But hey, got plenty of time between now and November to make a choice.

[DemolitionSquid]

If the book/film incorporated bigotry into it then yes, but as far as I'm aware, neither do.

The book is actually quite heavy on the bigotry once you read it knowing Card's opinions.

[Visions of Khas]

The book is actually quite heavy on the bigotry once you read it knowing Card's opinions.

Really? I hadn't noticed, though Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead had some obviously bigoted and conservative sentiments. (Petra's fanaticism to breed Bean kinda disgusted me.) But it's been a while since I've been able to get myself through all of Ender's Game.

[Robear]

One thing that a family member pointed out to me is that, 25 years ago, when they first read it, all of these concepts were new. Classrooms where students hacked and played games on tablets, space-military-strategy-games, all of that was fictional stuff. And now it's just run-of-the-mill. It's interesting. I think it would be more fun to take the movie now and send it back in time and watch it with an audience of 20th century people.

[TheEconomist]

*double post*

[TheEconomist]

George R. R. Martin is a stanch Jimmy Carter supporter. I have hence forth since refused to indulge myself in his mindless ramblings grievously put unto paper.

In other news, I don't plan on the seeing the movie for quite some time. For one, I just re-read Ender's Game about two months ago. Don't plan on rehashing that. And, two, it just doesn't seem all that good.

[Quirel]

I'd be remiss to not bring this to your collective attention.

I'm debating whether to pay the ticket price or just wait 'til it shows up on megaupload. Does Orson Scott Card really need any more money to promote his bigoted ideals?

Sigh.
When it comes to fiction and fandom, there are very few things I find more obtuse than boycotting an author's works because you don't agree with his/her political views. If those views make the works unpalatable, fine. But Ender's Game, to my recollection, doesn't even touch on homosexuality.

Anyhow, what do you know of his politics besides his opposition to same-sex marriage? Can you think of anything without typing his name into Google, or are you judging him on a single issue?


And now for the movie.
I'm not a fan of OSC's books (First was a'right, but it went downhill from there) but I am cautiously optimistic. For the first time in recent memory, Harrison Ford may have been cast in a good movie!

[TheEconomist]

The first book was original for its time, as said a few posts above, but I still think it is mostly for children. The entire premise seems to be aimed at a mostly childish audience. Great if adults loved it, but the themes spoke to me a lot more when I read this very young as opposed to two months ago. I still enjoyed it though, don't get me wrong. It's one of the few super commander books I know of that I would like, which is a fresh take against the super solider/hero cliches. I've heard in reviews that the later books touch on more adult themes, but that doesn't apply here. Even looking at his other and more recent books, they seem to be novels along the lines of The Chronicles of Narnia, maybe not necessarily young adult fiction but novels with young adult themes. I've always seem him as more of a decent young adult author than the classic science fiction author he's been given credit for. I can't justify his title simply based on the original ideas presented in Ender's Game since other books like Neuromancer had similiar elements or even more outrageous (at the time).

[Visions of Khas]

Yeah, sure guys, mirror what I said back at me and rub my face in it. Make me feel like an idiot, go ahead! XD

Yeah, I'll probably see this in theaters. Even though I don't find any of what I saw in the trailer particularly stirring, I was a fan of the book and intrigued by the philosophy, and really want to know how they handle the cerebral nature of the book. I also want to know how large a part Bean's story will figure into this.