Ender's Game has a lot of problems but at least the war in that one is shown to be the result of a misunderstanding, and it repeatedly emphasizes that genociding the bugs was in fact Very Bad
The Speaker for the Dead series is pretty wacky at times, but the throughline of the first book is Ender seeking redemption for destroying the Formic homeworld by finding a planet to place the last remaining queen - simultaneously he comes into contact with a pre-industrial alien species, and by helping people come to understand them, he prevents a similar genocide from happening.
I fukken love that book and its sequels, even though Card is :yikes:
Speaker for the Dead and it's sequel are probably my favorite depictions of alien life. Like, truly different though patterns and cultures without just being meaninglessly evil.
There was, though, a famously non-charitable reading of it as Hitler apologia, since Space Hitler (Ender Wiggin) goes to a Portuguese-speaking colony to prove that his genocide was just a misunderstanding and he's just a regular guy who also happens to be a genius at interspecies diplomacy. I think it was at least a little tongue-in-cheek, seeing as Card has perfectly plausible mundane explanations for those influences (missionary work in Brazil, for instance).
Card still freaked out and wrote a long, rambling reply to it that came across as unhinged. As far as I can tell it's been purged from the written record. Can't find it anywhere.
That's what's so bizarre about the contemporary Starship Troopers content, is it's a fascist's re-imagining of an anti-fascist's re-imagining of a fascist's setting.
In the book it opens with them doing space colonialism with the space South Vietnamese aliens, in their cool robot suits that can shoot out nukes like they're passing out Halloween candy. Very :so-true:
Verhoeven found the book so depressing he literally threw it in the trash and decided to direct it as a satire of the source material
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Ender's Game has a lot of problems but at least the war in that one is shown to be the result of a misunderstanding, and it repeatedly emphasizes that genociding the bugs was in fact Very Bad
Starship Troopers can fuck right off though
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Another one for the "media chuds completely missed the point of" pile
Wasn’t that Ender’s older brother? Been a while since I read the books.
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Yeah Peter ends up as a big shot leader on earth once the coalition govt collapses
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Redsails has a good take (IMO) on Ender’s Game that basically agrees with your chud relative:
https://redsails.org/creating-the-innocent-killer/
Also, there are characters named Mazer Rackham, Bonzo Madrid, and, of course, Ender Wiggin.
The Speaker for the Dead series is pretty wacky at times, but the throughline of the first book is Ender seeking redemption for destroying the Formic homeworld by finding a planet to place the last remaining queen - simultaneously he comes into contact with a pre-industrial alien species, and by helping people come to understand them, he prevents a similar genocide from happening.
I fukken love that book and its sequels, even though Card is :yikes:
Speaker for the Dead and it's sequel are probably my favorite depictions of alien life. Like, truly different though patterns and cultures without just being meaninglessly evil.
There was, though, a famously non-charitable reading of it as Hitler apologia, since Space Hitler (Ender Wiggin) goes to a Portuguese-speaking colony to prove that his genocide was just a misunderstanding and he's just a regular guy who also happens to be a genius at interspecies diplomacy. I think it was at least a little tongue-in-cheek, seeing as Card has perfectly plausible mundane explanations for those influences (missionary work in Brazil, for instance).
Card still freaked out and wrote a long, rambling reply to it that came across as unhinged. As far as I can tell it's been purged from the written record. Can't find it anywhere.
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Wait, I thought that the original Starship Troopers was anti imperialist???
Verhoven's film is a satire of the book, which is legitimately fascist.
Ohhh! Damn I would never survive a sci-fi struggle session.
That's what's so bizarre about the contemporary Starship Troopers content, is it's a fascist's re-imagining of an anti-fascist's re-imagining of a fascist's setting.
Real simulacra hours, who up?
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Verhoven’s film is unironically better than the book, both as a piece of entertainment, and for having a better message.
In the book it opens with them doing space colonialism with the space South Vietnamese aliens, in their cool robot suits that can shoot out nukes like they're passing out Halloween candy. Very :so-true:
Verhoeven found the book so depressing he literally threw it in the trash and decided to direct it as a satire of the source material