This looks cool, but you really have to separate the man from his literary production. I hate what Card stands for and I don't understand his opposition to gay marriage, but that doesn't mean I don't understand that the Ender series is some of the most important sci-fi we've ever written. It's not Azimov and it's not quite Karel Kapec or Mary Shelley; but it's interstellar wartime with an actual brain.
I might see this. Although I'll admit I always approach OSC the same way I approach Doug TenNapel: I remind myself why I used to love him as a kid, back when I knew nothing of the guy's political and moral stances and didn't care to learn about them, either.
Ratfist and Earthworm Jim are both utterly awesome, even if their creator is kind of a douche.
I personally have strong doubts that the movie will succeed. For starters, the book isn't exactly action-heavy. But worse than that, it's not particularly dialogue-heavy, either. In fact, much of the book consists of the characters thinking to themselves reflectively. Ender reflecting on the philosophies of war, Graff considering about the ethics of breaking a child mentally - it's people just thinking to themselves for about half the book. How do you show that on the screen?
Answer: You don't. Instead, you add in dialogue and amp up the action. I imagine the Battle Room will suddenly be the central setting of the story, rather than something that appears roughly halfway into the book.
I also imagine that's the reason why Major Anderson is now a main character and being played by a big-name actress (I would also imagine gender balance is why Major Anderson is now a woman). Presumably, she and Graff will be carrying much of the story.
I'm also guessing that they likely shoehorned in some romance story into the narrative. Off the top of my head, I'd guess that Petra, as the only significant female from the book, is now a romantic lead.
Which sort of leads me to another major problem: Ender's Game is about children. Prepubescent children. That's the entire premise. Which has certain downsides in terms of a movie.
1) You need child actors. A lot of child actors. And child actors ... tend not to be great. So the solution is to shift the focus on to the adults (again, Anderson is now a lead role) and diminish the number of significant child characters. I'd imagine that outside of Ender, Petra, Val, and maybe Peter, the other children are more or less scenery with nametags.
2) Ender's Game is about prepubescent children who are all super-geniuses. Like, doing advanced university-level calculus before they're ten. Like, getting their doctorates in all science, humanities, and engineering disciplines before their teens. And their dialogue in the book reflects that genius. How convincing will it be to have child actors discussing calculating the physics of space travel when they can't pronounce half the words? The solution: dumb down the dialogue, and decenter the story as you do so.
3) Ender's Game is about prepubescent super-genius children WHO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF EACH OTHER. And, on a few occasions, actually kill each other. How is the audience going to respond when one kid smashes the other kid's nose up into his brain? Or when they're threatening to murder each other brutally in the hallways as the teachers look on, encouraging them with silence? It seems likely - especially since this preview is for "All Audiences" - that this film will sold as a family feature. It's got kid actors and a sci-fi plot - it'll be hard to sell it as an adult-oriented film. So the violence and the beatings and the killings will probably be removed, and just make the focus about Ender vs Aliens, which is, of course, only about the last 20% of the book.
So, what I'm expecting is that we're getting Ender's Game ... minus the reflections, the philosophy, and most of the major cast - plus Harrison Ford and Viola Davis as the headliners - plus generic teen love story - minus the violence and the fighting and the conflict of most of the book - plus a lot more ship explosions, and alien battles.
And, potentially, a new ending. Because without all of Ender's inner reflections - his inner turmoil, his personal, unspoken struggle with being turned into a genocidal weapon, to mindlessly kill and destroy - then his final breakdown upon realizing he's actually destroyed the alien race becomes meaningless as a moral.
That's ultimately the main problem. The central theme of Ender's Game is the ethical and moral quandary of essentially brainwashing children into becoming humanity's most brutal killing machines, in the face of a species-wide threat. The other students are foils for Ender; some of them become brutal psychos - like Bonso - some are jealous, spiteful, and competitive - like Petra - and others burn out - like Dink. But all are systematically destroyed psychologically and spiritually by the process that Graff and Battle School put them through - and this is by design. Ender is humanity's best and brightest hope ... to become humanity's worst and most depraved monster.
So the question is - will the producers and directors of this film preserve that central theme, that main tension, and deliver it with the same impact it deserves? Or will they just make a family movie about kids fighting aliens with big explosions and special effects?
Had I had an authoritative voice in the creative process, I'd have told them to a) give up, and b) if you can't give up, then change the superficial elements of the story to preserve the fundamental themes. First, I'd say make them teenagers, not children - it'd make casting easier and the violence more palatable.
And second, I'd have told them to combine Ender's Game with its companion book, Ender's Shadow. Because Bean, the protagonist of Shadow, has a lot more action and dialogue that are conducive to a visual medium. And because Bean provides a character who can act as Ender's confidant, in order to turn those inner monologues into spoken conversation. You could try the same with some of the other characters, but Bean works best because Bean is the one kid who actually knows everything that's going on with Ender and the school anyway.
And Bean also works because he has much involvement with the school's Teachers, which could also bring out Graff's inner struggles. Ender's Shadow accomplished the task of fleshing out several key characters and ideas that were kind of thin in the original - Graff being one of them.
Anyway, TL;DR - I'm an Ender's Game fan and I expect the movie to crash and burn.
Also, had no idea about Orson Scott Card's political views. Don't really think that'll affect the crashing and burning.
The visuals remind of a J.J. Abrams movie (think Star Trek with less lens flare, or maybe Mission Impossible III). Supposedly when OSC originally wrote the script for the movie, he decided to have the "twist" already revealed to the audience but Ender wouldn't know in order to create... what's it called... dramatic irony? He also scrapped the Peter and Valentine subplot. That was years ago though, so who knows what direction the movie'll take.
The trailer looks awful haha. It's kinda cliche to say that it isn't like the source material, but the Ender story I remember was really....ugly. The book was a gritty and depressing, atmospheric.
That trailer was something more akin to Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which was awwwwwwful.
I never knew that about the author though. Interesting how I can throughly enjoy his books, but not agree with him on his radical ideas. Strange.
And second, I'd have told them to combine Ender's Game with its companion book, Ender's Shadow. Because Bean, the protagonist of Shadow, has a lot more action and dialogue that are conducive to a visual medium. And because Bean provides a character who can act as Ender's confidant, in order to turn those inner monologues into spoken conversation. You could try the same with some of the other characters, but Bean works best because Bean is the one kid who actually knows everything that's going on with Ender and the school anyway.
And Bean also works because he has much involvement with the school's Teachers, which could also bring out Graff's inner struggles. Ender's Shadow accomplished the task of fleshing out several key characters and ideas that were kind of thin in the original - Graff being one of them.
first of all, that was a pretty good analysis and that was pretty much what I was trying to say in my previous post
secondly I think this would be a good idea if they could make it a two part movie, because in order to do those two books justice they would need that much time if not more. I think that if they were planning on doing this however they would have included bean in the trailer, and would have had a more difficult time casting because it would have added quite a few other child actors to the cast that needed to be good, Bean and achilles being two of them
what are you talking about, Valentine at least is definitely in the move, she will be played by Abigail Breslin, I am concerned about them cutting some of the peter stuff though (animal cruelty doesn't tend to go over well)
Books, movies, and video games are meant to be entertainment sold to the vast public, that is why they exist. That kind of automatically disqualifies them as art.
GAH! Spoilers! What the hell, trailer? That's one of the biggest points in the book(s)! Might as well have told us about Locke and Demosthenes, or what happens to Bonzo. Sheesh.
I have to say, it's kind of nice to see science fiction return to the big screen. Whether you think it's worthy to be called sci-fi, it's a nice change of pace.
As for the trailer. Looks okay, nothing too mindblowing. And it's great to see Hailee Steinfeld in a movie again. She was great in True Grit.
Books, movies, and video games are meant to be entertainment sold to the vast public, that is why they exist. That kind of automatically disqualifies them as art.
Not sure where you're coming from mate, but you have a very, I would say, limited, understanding of the concept of art, a physical copy of ANYTHING is technically a product, as you are "The product of your genetics and upbringing" I could use the same reasoning to say that only certain people are people, but then I'd be called a bigot.
Music, is art, literature is art, oil paintings, watercolour paintings, charcoal sketches, are all art, movies I would say are art, at least the making of it, that's like saying (insert genre of music here) is not music, just because you're a pretentious hipster and have somehow gotten to the point where you deem your opinion as law, and everyone who might think differently, a fool.
I challenge you to tell me, WHY the things you mention are NOT art, take your time, formulate a complete and precise answer, and maybe, just maybe, my opinion of your opinion, might change significantly, though I doubt it.
Books, movies, and video games are meant to be entertainment sold to the vast public, that is why they exist. That kind of automatically disqualifies them as art.
I would really like to know how you're defining art. From what I can tell, you're definition is rather narrow. The thing is, defining art is a very complicated thing, particularly when you move outside of any one culture's perspective. I would still like to know yours, but I'll give you mine in the meantime (lifted from a cultural anthropology class:
Something created for an audience meant to communicate thoughts, feelings and ideas that is socially influenced and individually interpreted.
This is the working definition I subscribe to until presented with something I find more suitable. I see no reason why movies, books and video games don't fit into that definition.
Well that trailer really does spoil stuff. I never read the books , but after seeing the trailer, i had the same thaughts that you guys had in those spoiler tags.
Not interested. Card is a piece of shit. Worse, he's a politically active bigot, and any cash that finds its way into his pockets (from this, and all his other works) might be spent campaigning to curtail the rights of people I care about.
That's more than enough reason to forget about it.
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