Ender's Game | Teen Ink

Ender's Game

November 22, 2013
By Kylee Kubojiri BRONZE, Keaau, Hawaii
Kylee Kubojiri BRONZE, Keaau, Hawaii
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, is an adventurous, and enchanting book, and I’m sad to say that the movie didn’t show its excellence. The book commences with a puny, little six-year-old, so when I saw this skinny giant, obviously older than six, as Ender in the film, I was shocked. On the account that he’s a big part, I understand why the director made him noticeably tall. Being the protagonist, he needs this kind of attention. Teens are the aimed customers for sagas because they are the most enthralled. Attractive teenagers are much more enthralling to adolescents than miniature children. If it appeals to them, they’ll be willing to pay for merchandise, and watching the movie multiple times. He wasn’t exactly like the Ender in the novel. He needs to be angrier at the teachers, battles, and for being a third (child that is forbidden unless permitted by the government). I could tell he longed for home, but he wasn’t constantly pondering about Earth and sweet Valentine, like in the intricate novel. Valentine did an excellent job of being the sister of Ender who loved him deeply. Her character was played the best. I just visualized her to be slightly skinnier, with an oval-heart shaped head, and bigger eyes. Ender did well on expressing that in that moment he loves his enemy, and he doesn’t want to hurt them. He cried after the realization that he killed a whole race, which might’ve been trying to make peace among human kind. This was his strongest scene, for it really portrayed Ender’s regret through his tears of sorrow and reprimands at Graff about his own behavior. I am disappointed that Alai and Ender’s relationship wasn’t as strong as in the book. In the book, Alai was Bernard’s companion until Ender humiliated him through messages that all launchies could see. The film showed Bernard making fun of Alai and Ender made fun of Bernard through messages. Bernard got told if you couldn’t take it then don't dish it out. I imagined Bernard as a six year old taller than Ender, and skinny with black hair, whacking Ender with his belt. He was the first one to hate Ender, but the only one that hated him and survived. I could see his constant harassing of boys, especially Ender for being the top of the class. Alai and Ender became closer during battles. The battle room was a room with blue walls and white lines, but in the movie it showed outer space. Without these events, Alai’s “Salaam” in the movie meant nothing. After all, Ender didn’t seem too somber to leave Salamander Army, as well as his only friend, in the film. I visualized Bonzo as a muscular, macho, skyscraper looking down on Ender, the helpless, terrified child. In my opinion, it made the movie better in a humorous way, but worse in the sense of how seriously dangerous Bonzo is, and how much he hates Ender. His acting was exactly like the dangerous, killer-eyed Bonzo in the book, but his height made him look ridiculous and was awfully distracting. Ender didn’t show he was terrified of Bonzo, but it was evident that he didn’t want to him hurt. He cried at the sight of Bonzo’s surgery. His stress from all the battles he was given, the cruelty of the teachers, and the perilous students wasn’t shown. His long, solemn nights of sobbing and musing over how to survive the future weren’t displayed. If they had included majority of the battles, the threats, and Dink’s conversation about the teachers being the true enemy, it would’ve shown how Ender had to toughen up, grow wise, and muscular. He cried with Valentine as they said goodbye was very emotional and awesome! Mazar Rackham, in my head, was a Caucasian with deep, creased wrinkles and bags, and long white, messy hair. In the movie, he was bald, had a big tattoo on his face, tanned, fewer bags than I thought, an accent, and no-sign of being Caucasian. He did a splendid job of playing the role of a hero-mentor. In my head, the war Mazar Rackham won was in space. The movie showed the battle in the skies of Earth. Peter had long wavy black-brown hair, a tough jaw, and biceps, but he turned out to be a curly blonde, with brown eyes (unlike his siblings), and an unattractive pimple face. The only resemblance was the killer eyes. The screen did show his aggressive and violent nature when he choked Ender, but it didn’t reveal his solemn side. There was an event in the text of Peter sobbing as he apologized to Ender and said that he loved him while Ender was pretending to sleep. I assumed that Anderson was a gray-haired Caucasian, when in the movie it was an African-American woman with short black hair. I remember her saying, both in the novel and movie, that Graff forgets that the students are only kids. I imagined Graff to be this plump, pepper-haired Caucasian with a thick, pepper sheriff’s mustache in green clothing, with badges. He was exactly how I imagined him to be: secretly compassionate towards Ender, and harsh to the students. When I read about Bean, I knew he was going to be the adorable character all the girls would love. But, when I saw him in the movie I drooled. This boy is so handsome! In the movie, he’s short, but taller than I expected. I envisioned this cute short boy with messy black hair. He’s tough because he has to prove that he belongs, due to his height. He was treated as Ender was treated by Bonzo, except this time Ender was Bonzo. It didn’t begin well between them, but they end up being best friends. He comes into the picture as a launchie under Ender’s command. In the movie, he and Ender introduce themselves in the ship to Battle School. Because he has a lot of teen girl fans, the director wants him to play a significant role, as the guy not as important as the Ender but with more fans. I imagined Stilson as a short, chubby boy with suspenders and combed hair. A whole crowd gathered around him and Ender on the playground as they hurt each other. In the film, Bernard is a brown-haired boy with a couple of peers watching him being beat to death in a science lab. Petra was tougher on Ender, in my mind. I admire her for saying, “I'm Petra and I have more balls than anyone else in the room.” She was embarrassed to be near someone despised by many who envied him. She didn't like Ender, and the most they would be was friends. She was cocky, and a masculine female. Ender was a wimp, and scared of Petra. Every popular teen movie, based off of books, has romance. Petra and Ender falling in love with each other was a great idea, but they shouldn't have taken away her manliness in the movie. In the book, Sergeant Dap was a white man with short brown hair that wore comfortable clothes. He had a sweet, girly voice. He didn’t baby the launchies, but didn’t yell at them, either. Sargent Dap was a strict man, in the movie. I enjoyed this because he was a hardcore sergeant. Though the movie was different from the book, their themes were the same, and were strongly used: know your enemy before you kill them, is your enemy really your enemy, and love your enemy. This was a good movie, but as they say, “the book is always better.” You should watch the movie, and have your own opinion of which was better.


The author's comments:
I hope you readers know that the book is always better, and a movie can only portray so much of the magnificence within a book.

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