Some observers claim that the movie leaves major details out of the book. But the work (listed on Amazon as about 350 pages) originally was conceived as a short story and grew to be the "Emder's Quintet".
Saturday, November 02, 2013
"Ender's Game": A teen can rule the known universe, and, yes, the kids really are all right
Well, “Ender’s Game” is quite a ride. The title is based on the name of the hero, a
tween character Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), barely old enough for his voice
to be changing and not old enough to shave.
And, yes, with the help of a duplicitous space force military cadre
(sired by characters played by Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis),
the teen, having learned his skills from video games (like the character Sean
Walker from NBC’s “The Event”) eventually saves not only the Earth but masters
the known universe. He can become a god,
own his own planets.
The movie is based on the novel by Olson Scott Card, who
reportedly earns nothing from movie tickets from Summit Entertainment. (So,
there’s no point in a boycott.) Card has attracted controversy by reports of
anti-gay views, at least against gay marriage.
For what it’s worth, I’ll give the link to the Mormon LDS Desert News of
Card’s 2008 op-ed opposing legal recognition of gay marriage, here. What’s interesting to me in the piece is his
reference to “other people’s children” (“OPC”). It probably doesn’t seem too surprising that
the author would pen a story where a gifted enough young man winds up owning
his own planets, although he hasn’t yet experienced eternal marriage in the
sense of LDS. It must be reported that there have been some calls to boycott the film because of reports of more extreme views of Card, as in this Washington Blade piece by Konrad Juengling of Portland State University, link here. I don't see any such targeted extremism in the film itself.
What is interesting to me about Ender’s character is that he
really does have a grown-up’s brain. He has compassion and empathy (especially
for animals and other life-forms), and he sees around corners to the downstream
consequences of actions. Dr. Phil talks
about that a lot. I have known a few teens ("wicked"?) who are this mature at this age. And there is a bit of
paradox in the “strategic” point of his thinking. Small for his age, a monitor is removed from
his neck while he is still a junior space cadet. Some bigger kids immediately
bully him – and this is not OK – but he keeps counterattacking to make sure
they will never attack again. If the kid played chess, he would surely use the
Svehsnilov Sicilian. That idea will form
the basis of all military strategy, even if it comes with honor and character.
The background of the film is important. A few decades ago, Earth was attacked by
insect-hive-like beings from the “Formic Planet”. Earth drove them back. But they are reported to be massing again.
The aliens look like those of the 1996 film “Independence Day”, and so do the
space ships, and we don’t have Bill Pullman any more. Now, the Space Patrol
(that reminds me of a popular Saturday morning program in the 1950s) is
building a force of teens with gaming skills.
(I think they could have cast Jason Ritter, from “The Event”, in this
one.)
The barracks living conditions in the space stations, while
immaculate and moden, are indeed military, with inspections and a lack of
privacy, even for emails and social media.
I could just hear in my mind former Senator Sam Nunn arguing why open
gays couldn’t be in the military (back in 1993). But this force at least has equal
opportunities for women, but most of the kids show a machismo and temper that
seems inappropriate. Only Ender is mature enough for the challenge, even if his
interpersonal relations seem Janus-faced and sometimes fool people. He can question military authority and make
it stick.
Here’s an official site.
The vision of the alien planets is interesting. There are at
least two, and they are desert-like. The
aliens have built skyscraper hive cities all over the planet to look like
termite or ant hives. The film does not
explain how the “space patrol” can travel maybe 20 light years (to one of the Gliese M-star
systems) so quickly and communicate by email (perhaps even Facebook) to home
instantly. Somehow the speed of light
barrier has been transcended.
Some observers claim that the movie leaves major details out of the book. But the work (listed on Amazon as about 350 pages) originally was conceived as a short story and grew to be the "Emder's Quintet".
Some observers claim that the movie leaves major details out of the book. But the work (listed on Amazon as about 350 pages) originally was conceived as a short story and grew to be the "Emder's Quintet".
The film does remind me of Disney’s “Sky High” (2005), by
Mike Mitchell.
I saw this in a small auditorium at the Regal Ballston
Saturday afternoon, nearly full. The theater, even in a small auditorium, could
make better use of its space up front for a larger screen. And there were too many previews, with one
Lionsgate preview shown twice.
It make take Ender a while to get home. He has to find another planet for the Queen’s
eggs to let the life start over. But any
such planet will be his property.
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