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Ender's Game

hagoth7

By hagoth7,
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bsjkki Grand Master

bsjkki

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53 minutes ago, hagoth7 said:

What didn't you like about the movie?

And what did you like about the book?

Like most movie adaptions, it had to cut much of the book out. Some of my favorite parts of the book never made it to the screen. The movie also felt a bit light compared to the book. But, Ender's Game was a book about kids but not a book for kids so the movie had a hard time getting the right tone for me. I also liked Ender's Shadow but the rest of the series did not interest me. My teenage daughter who loved the book but hated the movie explained the movie this way, "it wasn't 'smart' like the book."

Edited by bsjkki
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hagoth7 Mentor

hagoth7

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1 hour ago, bsjkki said:

Like most movie adaptions, it had to cut much of the book out. Some of my favorite parts of the book never made it to the screen.

Such as?

Reminds me of last night. Instead of rewatching a favorite movie I had seen many times, last night I opted to watch a clip or two in the special features, for the first time. Starting with written/scripted/filmed scenes that never made it to the final cut.

The first one: a scene watching a commander visit the hospital tent, where his injured and dying men were being treated, immediately after a battle, where the viewer begins to glimpse the actual costs of war, a field medic and VA hospital many times over. Tragic...that in a movie about war and justice that had a wide viewing, that such a vitally important counterbalancing scene was left on the cutting-room floor, and never made it to the theaters. 

...But, Ender's Game was a book about kids but not a book for kids so the movie had a hard time getting the right tone for me.

Understood. 

It had been so long since I had read the book, so I didn't remember anything important being left out. Enjoyed the film.

I also liked Ender's Shadow but the rest of the series did not interest me. My teenage daughter who loved the book but hated the movie explained the movie this way, "it wasn't 'smart' like the book."

Haven't read Ender's Shadow. Synopsis?

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Maidservant Mentor

Maidservant

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It has been many years since I read it, so I can't remember details.  But my remembered sense was that the book was okay, but it was recommended to me, so I continued through it.  But the ending was a jolt worth it, and I felt I had my eyes opened with another lens with which to look at for this world that we find ourselves in.

Which is . . . to ALWAYS look at things another way, and rarely accept the first sight.

And that war is . . . . mmmm . . . well, war IS.  It is quite the feat to wash ourselves from the blood and sins of THIS generation.

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bsjkki Grand Master

bsjkki

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2 hours ago, hagoth7 said:

Such as?

Reminds me of last night. Instead of rewatching a favorite movie I had seen many times, last night I opted to watch a clip or two in the special features, for the first time. Starting with written/scripted/filmed scenes that never made it to the final cut.

The first one: a scene watching a commander visit the hospital tent, where his injured and dying men were being treated, immediately after a battle, where the viewer begins to glimpse the actual costs of war, a field medic and VA hospital many times over. Tragic...that in a movie about war and justice that had a wide viewing, that such a vitally important counterbalancing scene was left on the cutting-room floor, and never made it to the theaters. 

Understood. 

It had been so long since I had read the book, so I didn't remember anything important being left out. Enjoyed the film.

Haven't read Ender's Shadow. Synopsis?

It's not a sequal. It is a parallel novel about another child from Ender's Game. It tells his story. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9532.Ender_s_Shadow

I love Science Fiction Fantasy books. 

13 minutes ago, Maidservant said:

It has been many years since I read it, so I can't remember details.  But my remembered sense was that the book was okay, but it was recommended to me, so I continued through it.  But the ending was a jolt worth it, and I felt I had my eyes opened with another lens with which to look at for this world that we find ourselves in.

Which is . . . to ALWAYS look at things another way, and rarely accept the first sight.

And that war is . . . . mmmm . . . well, war IS.  It is quite the feat to wash ourselves from the blood and sins of THIS generation.

I always like it when the ending is worth it. I don't mind a slow burn if the payoff is sufficiently awesome. I also liked The Queen's Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. There is always more going on than you realize at first. I also liked that even though it is a progressive series, only the first two books are from the perspective of the main protagonist.  I remember asking for book advice on this forum and when I went to the library, not one recommendation was on the shelves. Sad day.

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rodheadlee Grand Master

rodheadlee

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On 7/21/2017 at 1:41 PM, hagoth7 said:

Has anyone read the book, or the film?

Written by an LDS author. 

"...suggested reading for many military organizations, including the United States Marine Corps..."

Nebula Award. Hugo Award.

 

If so, thoughts on the book?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game

or the film?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game_(film)

I have read the book as well as  most of the books that follow in the series. The other books that follow are about the various characters in the first book., those who were platoon leaders from Ender's jeesh in Battle School. Some are about Ender. I liked the  books and I like Orson Scott Card. He has another series called Homecoming that greatly follows the plot of the BoM in a future time period. I enjoyed it enough to read it twice. It's written in an easy to follow manner., whereas Ender's Game and the following novels require strict attention to detail to follow the plot. I have not seen the movie.

Edited by rodheadlee
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The Nehor Grand Master

The Nehor

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Read the book and liked it as a kid. Has not aged well for me.

Even as a kid Card's writing always came across as 'weird' to me. Same though is true of a lot of sci-fi authors.

Never saw the movie.

Some of the plot points were incredibly naive about the power opinions on the internet would have:

locke_and_demosthenes.png

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Stargazer Grand Master

Stargazer

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On 7/21/2017 at 1:47 PM, bsjkki said:

The book is great! The movie is awful. :(

The book is great, but the movie is as good as it could get, given that the book was virtually unfilmable.  I enjoyed the film, actually.  

 

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Stargazer Grand Master

Stargazer

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1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

Read the book and liked it as a kid. Has not aged well for me.

Even as a kid Card's writing always came across as 'weird' to me. Same though is true of a lot of sci-fi authors.

Never saw the movie.

Some of the plot points were incredibly naive about the power opinions on the internet would have:

locke_and_demosthenes.png

Well, it seemed reasonable at the time I read it.  I'm older than you, so I read it as an adult, and it totally made sense to me.  Not so much now.  The xkcd cartoon says it in a nutshell.

But, to be fair, Card's future Internet was considerably different from that of today.  Nowadays, a twelve year old kid can sign up pretty much anywhere on any website without his parents knowledge and then proceed to troll like there's no tomorrow.  Ender's siblings got into adult debates in a semi-restricted but public environment and the public found their opinions convincing.  Sounds crazy, right?

It may be that Card's inspiration for this were the anonymous letters to the editors that became the Federalist Papers.  There, three anonymous trolls singlehandedly convinced a nation to embrace the US Constitution.

And there may be something like that going on now, at least on a small scale.  On YouTube.

Content creators with multi-million subscriber bases.  Like Smarter Every Day with nearly 5 million subscribers.  It is conceivable that there may yet be channels that have far-reaching influence like Card's characters did.

Edited by Stargazer
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The Nehor Grand Master

The Nehor

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3 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Well, it seemed reasonable at the time I read it.  I'm older than you, so I read it as an adult, and it totally made sense to me.  Not so much now.  The xkcd cartoon says it in a nutshell.

But, to be fair, Card's future Internet was considerably different from that of today.  Nowadays, a twelve year old kid can sign up pretty much anywhere on any website without his parents knowledge and then proceed to troll like there's no tomorrow.  Ender's siblings got into adult debates in a semi-restricted but public environment and the public found their opinions convincing.  Sounds crazy, right?

It may be that Card's inspiration for this were the anonymous letters to the editors that became the Federalist Papers.  There, three anonymous trolls singlehandedly convinced a nation to embrace the US Constitution.

And there may be something like that going on now, at least on a small scale.  On YouTube.

Content creators with multi-million subscriber bases.  Like Smarter Every Day with nearly 5 million subscribers.  It is conceivable that there may yet be channels that have far-reaching influence like Card's characters did.

Card has a strange fascination with intelligence in that series. He seems to believe that Nietzschean superintelligence is some kind of superpower that gets people to follow you. Historically this has rarely been the case. I liked it as a kid as I could imagine I was one of the ubermensch. Kind of like reading Ayn Rand except better because at least Card does not try to convince you that being a narcissistic jerk is somehow a virtue. Still weird. The idea of supergeniuses who have great powers of foresight that enable them to conquer and outwit everyone else is a fun fairy tale but history does not bear it out.

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hagoth7 Mentor

hagoth7

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On 7/23/2017 at 11:14 PM, The Nehor said:

Card has a strange fascination....

I thought the point of Card's message was simply that Ender realized how misguided he and his kind had been - saber-rattling, and hyper-judgmental.

Most six year old kids and most women already know that.

It's not about intelligence.

It's simply about empathy.

And about the age of men ending, and an opportunity for children and women to step forward and lead us to a brighter day.

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The Nehor Grand Master

The Nehor

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6 hours ago, hagoth7 said:

I thought the point of Card's message was simply that Ender realized how misguided he and his kind had been - saber-rattling, and hyper-judgmental.

Most six year old kids and most women already know that.

It's not about intelligence.

It's simply about empathy.

And about the age of men ending, and an opportunity for children and women to step forward and lead us to a brighter day.

A radical interpretation of the text. ;) 

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hagoth7 Mentor

hagoth7

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27 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

A radical interpretation of the text. ;) 

business-letterhead-font-new_management-

Please...no one take that at an attempted dig at President Obama. I respect that man. And not just as our former president.

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