Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/ender-s-game-and-speaker-for-the-dead

Comment #2047

2019-05-06T03:27:15Z

I thought I said not to get me started.... :)

I've come to accept the movies as valuable, because they've introduced people to Tolkien who never would have read the books otherwise. And of course they did some things well—I particularly like the way they handled the Shire at the beginning. For the most part, I think they did the scenery and settings much better than I had imagined them.

Not so the characters. For one thing, they made Aragorn into such a wimp. The quiet strength and power of a man who has been proven by time and experience, who understands both himself and his purpose, did not come through at all. He had to have Arwen put him back together. I also think the movies made too much of their love story. Sure, it's there in the books—but not with the prominence of the movie. And the public kiss at the end! That struck me as quite out of place.

Another problem is what I referred to in my post about Isaac Asimov's Magic: unmagical magic. The movies did not, in my opinion, catch the spiritual aspects of the story at all. They got the basic story line, and showed a lot of battle scenes, but missed the life of the characters and the deep beauty of Tolkien's creation. I think they tried to show goodness and spiritual life, but to me the effect was to make the characters looked stoned.

I suppose the main problem is that I care so much about the books and the characters. The movies seem to have missed all I like best, while over-emphasizing my least favorite parts (e.g. the battles).

Then again, I don't think I've yet met a movie I liked as well as the book, so maybe it's hopeless.

Comment #2046

2010-07-21T17:27:20Z

I might have mentioned the Ender series - John Kuhns has read a lot of Orson Scott Card, and introduced him to me - I liked all of the Ender books, though I think Ender's Game was probably the best.

Comment #2045

2010-07-21T12:18:33Z

Oh, I'll step into the fire swamp (to mix storylines). What didn't you like about the LoR movies?

Comment #2044

2010-07-19T19:48:39Z

Katie! Welcome back. It's good to hear from you again.

I like your family's explanation of "based on." Don't get me started on The Lord of the Rings. :)

Comment #2043

2010-07-19T19:01:49Z

If you haven't seen ST, don't bother. My only comment when leaving the movie theatre after watching it was, "Well, they obviously waited until Ginny was dead before they made THAT."

It's based on the book even less than "I, Robot." Our family has concluded that 'based on' means, "The script spend some time on the same book shelf as..."

If you like Ender's Game, you may also like "Ender's Shadow" the back story of Bean.

His Women of Genesis series is quite good too...

Comment #2042

2010-07-19T10:56:53Z

There's a reason I picked Ender's Game out of all the good books here in Janet and Stephan's library: I recognized it from some relatively recent discussion, whether here, on someone else's blog, or elsewhere, I remember not. I haven't been able find that discussion again, so if anyone here was part of it and will remind me, I'd appreciate it.