Fatal Fantasy

Book-Movie Adaptation: Ender's Game

        As I reread one of my favorite stories of all time, Ender's Game, I couldn't help thinking about the movie. When first seeing this film, I was incredibly excited, but I believe I set the bar too high. I hadn't felt the impact of differences between the mother story and Hollywood's child. However, flipping through the familiar pages of Orson Scott Card's novel, I realized just how many mistakes the movie made. I can go over all the fine details that were missing, but I'd rather go over the major missteps Hollywood thought would pull in more viewers. Before beginning, I'd like to note that there are tons of spoilers in this article, so if you haven't read the book or watched the movie, I suggest you turn back... unless you're a rebel.

        The greatest disappointment this motion picture gave me involved the much beloved character, Bean. Let me tell you, I was not a happy girl when screenwriters thought that making Bean the same age and in the same original fleet as Ender was a good idea. Plus, Bean was supposed to be super small and utterly adorable-- but don't let him hear you say that! Not only does this screw up Ender's story, but it also closes the gate to making another movie based on the sister story, Ender's Shadow. This was very upsetting for me, since I am a huge fan of Bean's difficult and renewing life.

        Another change to the plot was a small --but important-- one. This is near the end of both novel and film, where Ender finds the last Bugger's egg. Two tremendous faults the film made were Ender's age and the world in which he finds the egg. To begin, Ender is the same age throughout the whole film and he finds the Bugger's egg on the fort world where he had destroyed the Bugger's home planet. However, the novel has Ender (or Andrew) in his thirties, living on an old Bugger planet the humans had colonized. It is here where he finds the egg. This detail is necessary for the sequels, Speaker of the Dead, Xenocide, and Child of the Mind, in which Ender is a grown man. I understand that screenwriters were probably trying to keep the "YA" feeling to the movie by keeping him younger, but in this decision, they were wrong.

        Of course, I can't ignore one of the biggest things missing from the film. That is, Peter's and Valentine's anonymous, online rivalry. That's right, movie-watchers. These major events were missing from the movie, and probably left you feeling like you were missing something if you hadn't read the novels. Therefore, let me explain myself. It never really went into description about the Wiggins, though the children of this family all play a huge role in the world.

        Firstly, absent from the film, there was a huge prophecy-type dream of the military, where they believed a soldier as strong as the great Mazer Rackham would come to squash the Bugger race. In fact, the whole space camp was created to find this hero. However, Ender was not their first choice. The military had first wondered about Peter, but realized that the Wiggins' eldest was much too psychotic and perhaps too homicidal for the job. Next, they considered Valentine, but she was too soft for the position. Ender was chosen as a sort of last resort. On the other hand, when he broke the boy's arm on the spacecraft trying to explain gravity, most of their doubts were swept away. What writers forget to add is that the military had also strongly believed Bean might be the hero, because he was smarter than Ender, and even made better decisions. But Bean, having been the amazing genius he is by keeping track on everything in space camp, decided he couldn't have that much responsibility.

        Anyhow, back to the Wiggins' rivalry. Back on Earth, the prodigies knew that another world war would be coming if someone didn't stand up immediately. They figured it wouldn't be hard to play anonymous roles online of false personas, Demosthenes and Locke. Here, both have different views on the world. People begin to look to them for the latest analyzations of politics. Eventually, these two figures become so well-known and aspired to that they could influence the public with a click of a mouse. These personas are very important to the story-line because, without them, another world war would have started down on Earth during the Formic Wars.

        On the bright side, the actors and their roles fit well, in my opinion-- excluding Bean. To find out that magnificent Asa Butterfield was playing Andrew Wiggins was inviting. Abigail Breslin was the perfect choice for Valentine, and Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham was great. Of course, if Aramis Knight was a wee-bit shorter, I might have accepted the changes made to his character, Bean. 

        Overall, the movie didn't send me crying out the theater like Avatar: the Last Air-bender, but it did make me clench my teeth. Even adding a half an hour to the budget would have increased the likeliness to the book. The whole film felt rushed and empty. Character connections weren't felt, struggles weren't emphasized. I'd rather not mention this, but the fact that they tried to smoosh all battles the Dragons had into two was awful. It left viewers who hadn't read the book thinking, "Why is Ender such a sissy?" While reading the novel, you understand why Ender finally broke down. In the movie, it just seemed like he was weak.

        Furthermore, to all those rebels out there who haven't read the book or watched the movie, I suggest the novel first. Even though the movie isn't an exact replica, it still carries tons of spoilers that would ruin your read. Ender's Game is a sophisticated, disturbingly realistic and heavy-reading story, so don't open to the first page expectingDivergent. If you can't handle very descriptive and informative passages, then Ender's Game may not be for you.

Ari