Orson Scott Card's Game

Homophobic Propaganda

In college, I took an English elective called 'Science Fiction.' It was a fun and easy class, though there was lots of reading. We had to read 4 novels and dozens of short stories. Not that I minded. I was always a big reader and Sci-Fi was my second favorite genre. 

One of the books we read was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Like many novels and movies in the genre, it was about a young warrior who had the potential to save Humanity from the aliens who were threatening our existence. And I really enjoyed it. It wasn't until many years later that I learned more about Card and his homophobic agenda. 

Card, a terrified Mormon who in 2008 wrote: "Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down…," he later went on to become a board member of the anti-equality hate group NOM in 2009. The subsequent anti-gay subtext of his works since Ender's Game suggests that gay men, specifically, are unnatural and deserve whatever pain and suffering they get, often equating us with pederasts.

Ender's Game (whose evil, invading aliens are called 'Buggers' - so subtle) is about to hit the big screen this fall with a cast of very talented people who should have known better. Hugo's Asa Butterfield; True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld; Ben (Gandhi) Kingsley; Abigail Breslan and Han Solo/Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, are all in the film. And they have all tried to defend it by saying we should judge the art, but not the artist. Really? Isn't the point of art to depict the artist's point of view? Throughout my training as a performing artist, it was always stressed that a work of art was meant to depict the artist's true intent, regardless of how the viewer interprets it.

This past May, Salon.com published an article detailing Card's most heinous remarks, while pointing out the homophobia inherent in his works. Recently, Geeks OUT, an LGBT Sci-Fi fan group, has called for a boycott of the film. It doesn't matter to them (or me) that Card has already made millions from the novel and the movie rights. It doesn't matter that the filmmakers and stars are trying to distance the movie from it's source. What matters is pointing out that Card is a viciously antagonistic homophobe who needs a reality check. 

After the recent SCOTUS decision regarding DOMA, Card tried to do some damage control, saying:

 

"Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.

"With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state.

"Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute."

Tolerance? Seriously? F*CK YOU, Orson! F*ck you so hard you bleed! F*ck you so hard you cry for your Mommy! F*ck you so hard that you finally learn what it means to be bullied and hated just for being yourself! Of course, you won't learn that lesson because your hatred, fear and ignorance have been ingrained in you by a cult founded by an illiterate farmer who convinced a bunch of equally ignorant Rubes that he could decipher a previously unknown ancient language which was revealed to him by an angel on 'golden plates' which he could never, ever show to anyone else.

Wow, that was uncharacteristically mean-spirited on my part. But I'm not sorry.

Here's the thing: If you're going to spend the majority of your life hating a group of people just for being who they are (and declaring war on your government for recognizing that group's inherent Human Rights), you have absolutely no business asking for that group to be tolerant of your hatred or the art you create which reflects it.

Despite liking the book and loving the cast of the movie, I will not be seeing Ender's Game, in any way, shape or form. And I encourage you to not see it, as well. And while I would normally post a trailer or video at this point in my rant, I simply cannot bring myself to do anything which might promote this movie. 

Please don't see this movie. Let it die the death it deserves. Let Card know we will not tolerate his intolerance. Skip Ender's Game and hold out for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars movies, instead. Hell, wait for the inevitably awful Avatar sequels. Whatever you do, let Card and his ilk know that they are dinosaurs living in the past, with little-to-no relevance to modern reality. And while I freely admit that most boycotts don't work, this one may actually send a message to the gayest (and most homophobic) industry in the U.S. Come on... You know Brokeback Mountain should have won Best Picture.

More, anon.
Prospero