My favorite part is the duality between Ender and Peter, where Ender is a kind, loving soul who almost genocided an entire species, and Peter is a violent sociopath who brought about World Peace.
good point. looks like when a clever society or herd or swarm etc. uses its resources, including human ones, wisely, gains much. society, just like a lone human, need not be aware of its desicion making processes, sort of subconcious. a sociopath can be used by populace too, but containing the damage sure to come would be an issue i guess.
Still my favorite quote “There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.”
@@TheNativeEngine I see how you mixed up my words. I didn't mean that it was "almost genocide", I meant that it was "almost an entire species". The "almost" was referring to the completeness of the genocide, not whether it counted as genocide.
I always thought it was awesome. Ender became the brilliant war hero/military leader, Peter became the ruler of Earth, and Valentine became the leader/head honcho of the human space colonization. I always thought it was awesome that if you can play your cards right, and think ahead, you could accomplish anything.
Just like any other politician. Anyone worthy of the job would never take it and anyone that believes they belong there definately should never have power. SOCIOPATHS!
Doodlo Kitski One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! PS: Love Orson Scott Card's books, though don't much care for him as a person. He really needs to escape the enderverse though...
Jadyn Kuykendall I've read all of Orson Scott Card's books, and I love them all. The Ender series was awesome, and I also love the homecoming series (1-3, 4 and 5 were all politics and shit).
I'd like to thank Thug Notes for everything they've done so far. Yes, they earn money, probably chumpchange right now, but at some point in time, these nobel princes were teaching people out of their own accord and pockets. This show, and along with it this channel, changed my life. Today I finished reading my twentieth book. I never read as a child, or a teenager, but the wisdom and knowledge you guys explained in your hillarious and educational little way opened a world to me. On behalf of myself, and everyone else, I'd like to thank you guys. My 21st book will be yours, I promise you this. Keep up the good work, gents.
@@ihavesnacks4186 I ended up graduating from my Bachelor's in Philosophy and followed it with a Master's. So.... A lot. More than I can count at this point.
I watched EVERY thug notes vid except this one cause I really wanted to read the book first and I'm really glad that I did. One hell of a story and a great anlysis.
Like Justin and Harvey, I highly recommend that you continue reading it. My preferred reading order is chronological, being Game, Shadow, Hegemon, Puppets, Giant, Flight, Speaker, Xenocide, and Children. Exile is annoying ramblings about how important it is to get married and have children, skip unless you really want another interquel between Game and Speaker. If you REALLY don't like military strategy, skip the Shadow books. If you REALLY don't like philosophy and slow moving plotlines, neglect the Speaker books. The Formic War prequels, First Meetings, and War of Gifts are entirely optional side stories with different narrators (Except Financial Counselor from First Meetings, being in Ender's PoV). Personally, I believe that the best book in the series is Speaker, so I kind of feel like the better reading order is Game, Speaker, Xenocide, Children, and everything else, but do whatever you want. Hell, you could just ignore this and never read Card again. But if you are still listening, one last piece of advice: his other major series, Homecoming, is five straight books of Mormonism being shoved down your throat, avoid at all costs.
Ender's Game was a favorite book of mine. I only read it once, in the library book stacks in Roselle Park Public Library. I sat in the aisle until closing. I read it from cover-to-cover. People were walking over me. I was 13 years old and the book JUST came into the library into the "New Books" section. This Thug Life summary nails it perfectly.
Dude. This is amazing. I love how your channel breaks down great classics and makes philosophy and all the great treats behind them easy and digestible for all. You sir. Are a real baller.
Interesting take. I've read several re-writes of this including the original short story. I didn't see the movie yet. The thing with Ender is that he really couldn't be held responsible for his actions. Not just because of his age, but he was abused into defensive positions. By the time the pressure and abuse stopped he was aware of the damage he was doing and crazy from it.... Effectively - the system which produced him was unethical.
+Avery Milieu The movie was surprisingly good, for an extremely abridged version. It makes me sad that it was released more or less to capitalize on Hunger Games' popularity. Especially since Ender has been around since, what, the 1970s? Ender's Game should have been at least a trilogy to itself. The sequel novels we could all do without though.
Avery Milieu Just remember it won't be as good as the book. At all. The only sequence with the three siblings made me cringe. But as far as book/movie adaptations go, I thought it was on the better side.
Avery Milieu A large part of the story, and the part I connected with when I first read the book, was about how authorities lie to children for authorities' own ends, but claim it's for the children's own good. Each time Ender killed, it was in a situation in which the authorities manipulated others into becoming his enemy and creating a situation. This, by the way, is not a healthy or effective way of raising children. It is, however, often times the way children are raised. Teachers/parents/authority figures say "you need to work this out for yourself" what they really mean is "I'm either too lazy, too afraid of being legally to blame, or just too uncaring to get involved" and then... someone dies and authority figures are surprised.
Allen Babylon Avery Milieu The movie was atrocious. Absolutely no sense of what the story is about. Avery, you get it. The director didn't. He made Petra a love interest for crying out loud. And Bean might as well have not even been in the movie. I would have been more pleased if they had eliminated him than treated him the way they did. It's like the bad comic book movies when they were being made by non-comic book fans. They thought if they produced the movie with goofy colors and copied some costume elements and a few key lines of dialog then they got it right. They basically took the entire process of manipulating Ender into the ruthless defender, which took many years in the book, and turned it into summer camp. And at the end, after having a bad dream that night, he gets up the next day and hikes across the landscape a bit, and finds the hive queen cocoon. It infuriates me just thinking about how much was missed, and I can not understand how Card signed off on the screenplay. I figure he finally just gave up on getting a good movie made and figured anything is better than nothing. I don't know. I mean in the audiobook for Ender's Game he adds an update about the screenplay process and states that he refuses to approve any screenplay that involves any sort of love interest, and that the only way to make a good movie would be to combine Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I am convinced that the director never even read the back cover of Ender's Shadow. When people called the director out for making Petra a love interest he responded by suggesting that Petra isn't a love interest, saying that we don't know who Ender loves, and that it might actually be Alai. Like I said, it is infuriating to see something as good as Ender's Game treated so poorly. If you loved Ender's Game, don't watch the movie. If you once read Ender's Game, a decade or two ago, and thought it was a fun adventure story, then you probably won't be disappointed by the movie. Though I saw it with my in-laws, who hadn't read the book, and they had so many questions afterward that weren't clear, revealing that the major plot holes are not just apparent to those who know the source material. It succeeds brilliantly in the Big Dumb Movie genre, much like Armageddon or most anything else by Michael Bay. It fails spectacularly as Intelligent Anything.
You put a roach in front of a frog. The frog eats the roach and you think it's disgusting. If you can't even relate to a frog or a roach, creatures that came from our own planet, how do you think we will be able to relate to an alien species born on an alien world in an alien environment? We may have the technology and the means to make contact with alien species but we most certainly do not have the evolved sensibility that we may think we have to do it yet. We can't even accept and love one another as human beings, let alone wondering about the planet that sustains us and its plants and animals. I worry about the day we make contact with an alien species. It is an important part of the book. The Formics attacked Earth and killed what they assumed to be mostly mindless drones. Assuming that humans were much like their own species. A hive mind and losing a couple million or tens of millions of drones were of no consequence in territorial disputes. It was only afterwards that they discovered humans were not like Formics. Each individual was a living entity with its own consciousness. When humans killed the queen controlling the Formic force it was unthinkable to the Formics. When the Formics killed humans it was unthinkable to humans. Once the Formics realized that every human was as a hive queen unto themself they halted and did not move against Earth despite being able to field a force that would have easily crushed humanity. It was their hope that a diplomatic solution could be found but their method of communication (faster than light speed, instantaneous telepathy of a sorts) was unable to link with any humans aside from Ender which still took them years to do. War between two species. Simply because they were unable to understand one another.
If we find alien life it will probably be some bacteria we accidentally released on an unsuspecting moon. We will be excited... then we will try to eradicate it.
"The power to cause pain is the only power that matters. The power to hurt and destroy. Because if you can't kill, you are always subject to those who can and nothing and no one will ever save you." My favorite quote
When Ender gets to the Bugger world it totally mimics the Mind Game with the Giant’s skeleton overgrown with foliage just like the game… turns out the game was how the buggers set up communication with Ender… Mind blown. Enders Game is one of my favorite books of all time. Thanks for Thug Noting it, Doc!
I think Ender’s game gives an amazing take on the collective vs the individual. They manage to subvert your expectations and make you think about how, at different levels of analysis, the group and the individual interact and encompass each other. The buggers are oddly enough, the individualistic side, even though they are a collective they function as one person. With one mind, and one set of perspectives like a human being. While Ender and the humans are the collective, with a broader sense of values and perspectives that aren’t as granular, but are more numerous. But with the way they wrote the book, each side has the ability to encompass the other and or completely flip in terms of roles. It brilliantly shows how collective and individual encompass each other and the fact that you need both to truly get a deep understanding of the world around you. I also really appreciate the references and inspiration taken from texts like the Constitution, the Bible, the Magna Carta, etc. And I also appreciate inspiration taken from other concepts like tribal religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
I really hope you do the sequel, I loved the themes in it too. Especially the idea behind being the Speaker for the Dead. So happy you covered this book though. I hope you cover the whole series.
Could have also mentioned that Ender was a Third and said more about how the buggers were a complete non-threat who didn't realize they were killing self-aware living beings when defending their territory.
Loved this video. The way you describe stuff is really helpful…the ability to take complicated concepts and explain them in simple terms is the real mark of intelligence.
Allen Babylon Having read Foundation and Ender's Game (along with all the sequels of them), the answer to your question is: Heck No. Not the slightest resemblance.
Allen Babylon Well, it's possible he drew inspiration from it. Lots of writers were inspired by Foundation, due to the breadth of vision (multiple planets, hundreds of years of history). But inspired by it or not, the Ender Series is like no other that I have ever read. Especially not like Foundation. Like I say, I've read the Foundation series and enjoyed it, but Card doesn't write anything like Asimov did.
I just found your channel looking for reactions to enders game so I can hear if other people "Got it." I think it's a brilliant story that a lot of people may have missed the point of. Once I heard your.... "review" I knew you got it, and broke it down in a way that's both easy to understand, and entertaining. And really does get the message of the book across. I've now watched 3 of your videos, all of them equally impressive. Well done, you've got a new subscriber, keep up the great work.
I even hot the bell for you, that's how impressed I am. I don't know if you've gone hunger games, divergent, Lord of the rings, or Harry potter. I'm about to find out. But if you haven't... you should. Would love to hear you're summary on those. Or macbeth. Anyway, thank you for the great videos
This is the world's most helpful and entertaining video. Like literally reading this for my ISU, I'm dying of boredom over here. But then this guy comes in, explains everything SO WELL, explains concepts I didn't even grasp, makes everything seem 100 times more entertaining AND is literally the coolest guy I've personally ever seen in my life. Im dead. Thank you kind sir for all your help
I've been marathon watching you guys a day. I teach middle school Social Studies. I can't show you in class, but, I can recommend you to my students. Keep posting.
Having this book and the Ender's Shadow trilogy as my favourite books of All Time, I realise there are a few errors in this Thug Notes Summary. 2:17 - The game here is called, "The Giant's Drink". 2:20 - Scene, if I recall correctly, he's a mouse at this part of the game, hence him being able to burrow into the giant's eye. 3:00 - Pronounced, "BONE-so". 3:33 - Reason Ender was brought back onto Earth to talk to Val was to remind him how much he loves Val, so he would convince himself to fight the war/play the Game to protect and save Val. 5:41 - I might be wrong, but it was Ender who found the HIve Queen. Val didn't know he kept her with him all along. Thanks for the summary and review of this book!
Wisecrack I bought your book recently and find it very entertaining. I, in all honesty, have no practical use for it (i am a third year engineering student in college). I bought it to repay you for all of the wonderful media you have provided that I have consumed for free. I also want to support you and support the help you have provided to many marginalized people. I appreciate what you are doing and how you are doing it and hope my small donation helps. ps the book is great and others should donate to you by buying the book regardless if they need it or not. Your introduction in the book expresses exactly why I bought it cheers keep up the great work
jackkennedy98 as far as I can tell, no matter who won the world war, both allied and axis wanted the same thing. Peace. Balance of power. It showed us that the world is mostly the same as the usual 60's just with different faction. If there are more things the book could tell, I hope Thug Notes could give a review
The story the book promises sells it, but it was a huge waste of time to read. The end went nowhere except the Japanese learn the Nazis want a war with them. So what? The man in the high castle has no castle and hasn't done anything but write a book about the Allies winning the war. So what?
So glad you did this book... And you didn't keep it short. This one deserves the 9 minute review because it's just so potent with meaningful moments and themes that payoff later. Thanks for not glossing over! ;D
+Richard Schrader He did the Odyssey. I am sure it is not a length issue regarding Don Quixote - it is a popularity issue. Whatever brings in the views.
I've read this whole book series like a squadrilion times but i never quite thought of some of these points very interesting... As always thugnotes analysis is impeccable and highly illuminating.
Yes. Xenocide is the third book. I bawled my eyes out harder than anything on this series. The Lost Boys (not to be confused with Peter Pan) is another great read. Card's an amazing storyteller; always worth reading
I personally thought the second and third books were very dense but I enjoyed the first and fourth books as well as the spinoff series about Bean's life.
Had 24 hour duty here in 29 Palms, read the entire thing, shit shook me bro, I like books that can directly relate to your military career and the humanity of war
+Tony Pearson To be fair, did you really want to see an 8 year old trying to act out Ender's drama and depression? Child actors are almost all terrible (not really their fault, just inexperienced), so aging him up improves the pool of talent significantly. I thought the movie was okay. It missed out on some key points in the book, but managed to at least stay mostly philosophical, rather than turning into a full popcorn action teen movie like I expected.
It can be done with younger actors. Just harder to find the right one but not impossible. Haley Joel Osment was 10 when he did Sixth Sense and he had the acting chops at the time for this sort of role.
The Professor, Raymsman shit they should do lots of PKD's books: We can remember it for you wholesale, A scanner darkly, Adjustment team and maybe a few others that are less popular.
Allen Babylon, yes I like the book far better than Blade Runner. There's a religion that has developed in the society that plays a significant role in the story and PKD deals with many questions (that he doesn't necessarily answer - just opens the door and lets you ponder) about what constitutes life and existence.
Very well done on this video. Much appreciations for giving this classic a much deserved lime light! Considering how stellar you did on Ender's Game, I'm curious what a video on Ender's Shadow would be like.
+Amaz1ngWhale It would be really cool but he would need to do some videos on the Dune books first. I thought the Ender universe(books) then I finally read the books everyone talks about Dune(all of them) and Battlefield Earth. There is a reason Dune and Battlefield Earth are talked about more than Ender's Game, mainly Dune.
+Mavik I never cared for much of the Enderverse outside of Game and Shadow, but even though I love Game, Shadow is my favorite. I just find Bean a more interesting protagonist and I find the trials he faces to be more interesting too. Game's narrative has more to analyze and think deeply about (plus the Valentine and Peter sections which are really great in the moderation they come in), but in terms of just being a good story it'll always be Shadow for me.
The movie just had to be a movie, they could not possibly fit the story properly in an hour fifty... It had to be at least 2 parts and no way that was happening. Still, I love it exists because idk how I would picture the things in the book if not for the movie
Great episode and spot on summary, just wished you had mentioned more about Enders mental agony during the games when he woke up and was chewing on his own hand cause of the stress. Great episode! :D
THANKYOU Dr. Sparky! I tutored English at U of Fla. You make literature INTRESTING. If people had you for a teacher, we would have more Well-Read Ballers. You are helping so many people. Your Waspy sister (me) enjoys YOUR take on books I have already read........ much love, anne
Hey Wisecrack, I got the book yesterday and I like it but I hope to keep to watching your videos for the rest of my life because I'm a big fan of your work and like I said, you make me laugh with the bleeping whenever I watch your videos
wow Wisecrack.......from Earthling Cinema to Thug Notes to 8-Bit Philosophy and beyond.....y'all are friggin geniuses. I could watch all of it for eternity and be entertained. Keep up the awesome work ^w^
LIke with LOTR and Screw Tape letters, I read this book in high or middle school, but when I was reading it, a lot of it flew over my head, or it was hard for me to keep track of. I eventually saw the movie, and now this, and it was totally different from how I imagined, it (which was more bleak, oppressive, and dirty yet sterile). Thanks Thug Notes, you actually help a brother keep up with some stuff that he may have read, but forgot because he didn't quite know how to take it back in the day.
Damn good episode Sparky. I get a bit excited whenever I see anything from this channel in my sub box, but I was damn near squeeing when I saw you were reviewing this book. And you of course didn't disappoint, this was a spectacularly well done episode. This is the best channel on youtube, and this was one of the best episodes that was ever on it. That's saying something.
SoybeansCanFangirlToo I ctrl+f looked for "ender's shadow", found your comment, and once again searched for "Bean" and your name was the only result again. Lol. I was expecting somebody else to mention the real brains behind the operation.
***** I don't know about that. Bean was very tactically smart, but he couldn't do much with a larger group. A small group is where he excelled, but Ender could see the entire engagement, had forethought, and knew how to use everyone to their best. Bean could handle any situation that could be thrown at him, but he didn't seem to see much of the larger picture. Bean excelled in the Micro, while Ender excelled in the Macro. As smart? Probably. Smarter? I'll need some convincing.
+TH31NF1D3L Bean is definitely smarter than Ender but his lack of empathy makes him understand people and the world less than Ender, regardless of his intelligence
TH31NF1D3L Bean was smart enough to understand they weren't playing a game, why Ender had to be the one to ultimately pull the trigger, and to keep his mouth shut about both.
I watched this vid when it first came out, and so I borrowed a friends copy. I finished it an hour ago. Thank you for the recommendation. It was a good book.
been a subscriber since 10000 subs, and just ordered the book today! proud of this channel and how far it's come, well done guys - keep up the awesome work :D
Minespatch the channel You very kindly shared my article on Mind My Gap, and I have agreed with several points you have made on the Adventure Time Tvtropes forum.
Ender's game is clearly an endorsement of fascism. It has a very strong sense of authoritarianism and the idea that authoritarianism will fix the issues at hand, a creepy fascination with militarism in a necessary evil kind of way, and a fixation on traditional gender roles. Like at the end there is even a trial for the people that "trained" (more like emotionally abused) Ender and they are all found not guilty on the idea that their cruelty was necessary. This obsession with masculinity and power is very reminiscent of fascism along with Valentine as the feminine foil whose sole purpose in the book is to serve the masculine.
Guy Mika I feel like you read the wrong book. If you read the whole series it’s more a critique of these systems than anything else, at the end of the day what ender does/is forced to do is deeply wrong, and that’s made very clear. Imo Val shines in the later books, an amazing character
This is a much deeper story than I thought. I avoided this for a while because I thought it was just gonna be over hyped garbage. I am now seriously interested and will probably pick up that book soon.
![แฉกลโกงงานวัด 2024 [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.106 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/taC5dpP3HXA/mqdefault.jpg)
![[UNCUT] เก็บ "สจ.โต้ง" เอี่ยวมาเฟีย รู้ตัวคนบงการ ก่อนสั่งลั่นไก I คนดังนั่งเคลียร์ I 13 ธ.ค.67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o-J_p62D40w/mqdefault.jpg)
My favorite part is the duality between Ender and Peter, where Ender is a kind, loving soul who almost genocided an entire species, and Peter is a violent sociopath who brought about World Peace.
good point. looks like when a clever society or herd or swarm etc. uses its resources, including human ones, wisely, gains much. society, just like a lone human, need not be aware of its desicion making processes, sort of subconcious. a sociopath can be used by populace too, but containing the damage sure to come would be an issue i guess.
Still my favorite quote “There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.”
Peter actually turned out to be a good person. As he explained it, he pretended to be nice until he actually became it.
It's not ALMOST genocide. It's just genocide. He almost caused the Formic extinction.
@@TheNativeEngine I see how you mixed up my words. I didn't mean that it was "almost genocide", I meant that it was "almost an entire species". The "almost" was referring to the completeness of the genocide, not whether it counted as genocide.
they kept Peter out of the military because he's to crazy to be given power, so Peter just went and took over the world by himself.
I always thought it was awesome. Ender became the brilliant war hero/military leader, Peter became the ruler of Earth, and Valentine became the leader/head honcho of the human space colonization.
I always thought it was awesome that if you can play your cards right, and think ahead, you could accomplish anything.
Just like any other politician. Anyone worthy of the job would never take it and anyone that believes they belong there definately should never have power. SOCIOPATHS!
No, Graff later tells Ender that they knew Peter wouldn't have it in him to be a stone cold killer. Obviously not Valentine either.
this is the best thing i have ever found on the internet
Eco419 tell your friends and never ever ever leave.
Wisecrack done aaaaaaaand done
Wisecrack Never. Ever. Ever...
Or else...
Doodlo Kitski One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! PS: Love Orson Scott Card's books, though don't much care for him as a person. He really needs to escape the enderverse though...
Eco419 I wish I had this when I was still in school, not to skip on the reading, but so that I could watch them right after I was done reading them.
Kids, I will warn you now, the book is way more intense than the movie
Jadyn Kuykendall I've read all of Orson Scott Card's books, and I love them all. The Ender series was awesome, and I also love the homecoming series (1-3, 4 and 5 were all politics and shit).
That's nuts, the movie was intense already.
xdruidmaster If ya thought that was intense, go home now, you ain't ready for dis
sad thing is ender will have to speak for his franchise because it's dead if you know what i mean
You can say Ender is... the Speaker for the Dead ;D
I'd like to thank Thug Notes for everything they've done so far. Yes, they earn money, probably chumpchange right now, but at some point in time, these nobel princes were teaching people out of their own accord and pockets.
This show, and along with it this channel, changed my life. Today I finished reading my twentieth book. I never read as a child, or a teenager, but the wisdom and knowledge you guys explained in your hillarious and educational little way opened a world to me. On behalf of myself, and everyone else, I'd like to thank you guys.
My 21st book will be yours, I promise you this.
Keep up the good work, gents.
How many books you read now?
@@ihavesnacks4186 I ended up graduating from my Bachelor's in Philosophy and followed it with a Master's.
So.... A lot. More than I can count at this point.
@@captainahab4202Holy crap. Education is a lifelong hobby, and I implore you to keep learning!
Awesome
I watched EVERY thug notes vid except this one cause I really wanted to read the book first and I'm really glad that I did. One hell of a story and a great anlysis.
You should read the other books in the series then.
yup
Like Justin and Harvey, I highly recommend that you continue reading it. My preferred reading order is chronological, being Game, Shadow, Hegemon, Puppets, Giant, Flight, Speaker, Xenocide, and Children. Exile is annoying ramblings about how important it is to get married and have children, skip unless you really want another interquel between Game and Speaker. If you REALLY don't like military strategy, skip the Shadow books. If you REALLY don't like philosophy and slow moving plotlines, neglect the Speaker books. The Formic War prequels, First Meetings, and War of Gifts are entirely optional side stories with different narrators (Except Financial Counselor from First Meetings, being in Ender's PoV).
Personally, I believe that the best book in the series is Speaker, so I kind of feel like the better reading order is Game, Speaker, Xenocide, Children, and everything else, but do whatever you want. Hell, you could just ignore this and never read Card again. But if you are still listening, one last piece of advice: his other major series, Homecoming, is five straight books of Mormonism being shoved down your throat, avoid at all costs.
Ender's Game was a favorite book of mine. I only read it once, in the library book stacks in Roselle Park Public Library. I sat in the aisle until closing. I read it from cover-to-cover. People were walking over me. I was 13 years old and the book JUST came into the library into the "New Books" section. This Thug Life summary nails it perfectly.
I read it when I was 13 and I've been hooked ever since.
Dude. This is amazing. I love how your channel breaks down great classics and makes philosophy and all the great treats behind them easy and digestible for all.
You sir. Are a real baller.
Word.
Ender: "This was supposed to be a game...I'm a murderer even when I play"
Me when i was a kid playing gta: 👁👄👁
Interesting take.
I've read several re-writes of this including the original short story. I didn't see the movie yet.
The thing with Ender is that he really couldn't be held responsible for his actions. Not just because of his age, but he was abused into defensive positions. By the time the pressure and abuse stopped he was aware of the damage he was doing and crazy from it....
Effectively - the system which produced him was unethical.
+Avery Milieu The movie was surprisingly good, for an extremely abridged version. It makes me sad that it was released more or less to capitalize on Hunger Games' popularity. Especially since Ender has been around since, what, the 1970s? Ender's Game should have been at least a trilogy to itself. The sequel novels we could all do without though.
Allen Babylon I agree about the sequels. I'm waiting for a DVD of Ender's Game to come into my hands...
Avery Milieu Just remember it won't be as good as the book. At all. The only sequence with the three siblings made me cringe. But as far as book/movie adaptations go, I thought it was on the better side.
Avery Milieu A large part of the story, and the part I connected with when I first read the book, was about how authorities lie to children for authorities' own ends, but claim it's for the children's own good. Each time Ender killed, it was in a situation in which the authorities manipulated others into becoming his enemy and creating a situation.
This, by the way, is not a healthy or effective way of raising children. It is, however, often times the way children are raised. Teachers/parents/authority figures say "you need to work this out for yourself" what they really mean is "I'm either too lazy, too afraid of being legally to blame, or just too uncaring to get involved" and then... someone dies and authority figures are surprised.
Allen Babylon Avery Milieu The movie was atrocious. Absolutely no sense of what the story is about. Avery, you get it. The director didn't. He made Petra a love interest for crying out loud. And Bean might as well have not even been in the movie. I would have been more pleased if they had eliminated him than treated him the way they did. It's like the bad comic book movies when they were being made by non-comic book fans. They thought if they produced the movie with goofy colors and copied some costume elements and a few key lines of dialog then they got it right.
They basically took the entire process of manipulating Ender into the ruthless defender, which took many years in the book, and turned it into summer camp. And at the end, after having a bad dream that night, he gets up the next day and hikes across the landscape a bit, and finds the hive queen cocoon. It infuriates me just thinking about how much was missed, and I can not understand how Card signed off on the screenplay. I figure he finally just gave up on getting a good movie made and figured anything is better than nothing. I don't know. I mean in the audiobook for Ender's Game he adds an update about the screenplay process and states that he refuses to approve any screenplay that involves any sort of love interest, and that the only way to make a good movie would be to combine Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I am convinced that the director never even read the back cover of Ender's Shadow.
When people called the director out for making Petra a love interest he responded by suggesting that Petra isn't a love interest, saying that we don't know who Ender loves, and that it might actually be Alai. Like I said, it is infuriating to see something as good as Ender's Game treated so poorly.
If you loved Ender's Game, don't watch the movie. If you once read Ender's Game, a decade or two ago, and thought it was a fun adventure story, then you probably won't be disappointed by the movie. Though I saw it with my in-laws, who hadn't read the book, and they had so many questions afterward that weren't clear, revealing that the major plot holes are not just apparent to those who know the source material. It succeeds brilliantly in the Big Dumb Movie genre, much like Armageddon or most anything else by Michael Bay. It fails spectacularly as Intelligent Anything.
You put a roach in front of a frog. The frog eats the roach and you think it's disgusting.
If you can't even relate to a frog or a roach, creatures that came from our own planet, how do you think we will be able to relate to an alien species born on an alien world in an alien environment?
We may have the technology and the means to make contact with alien species but we most certainly do not have the evolved sensibility that we may think we have to do it yet. We can't even accept and love one another as human beings, let alone wondering about the planet that sustains us and its plants and animals. I worry about the day we make contact with an alien species.
It is an important part of the book. The Formics attacked Earth and killed what they assumed to be mostly mindless drones. Assuming that humans were much like their own species. A hive mind and losing a couple million or tens of millions of drones were of no consequence in territorial disputes. It was only afterwards that they discovered humans were not like Formics. Each individual was a living entity with its own consciousness.
When humans killed the queen controlling the Formic force it was unthinkable to the Formics. When the Formics killed humans it was unthinkable to humans.
Once the Formics realized that every human was as a hive queen unto themself they halted and did not move against Earth despite being able to field a force that would have easily crushed humanity. It was their hope that a diplomatic solution could be found but their method of communication (faster than light speed, instantaneous telepathy of a sorts) was unable to link with any humans aside from Ender which still took them years to do.
War between two species. Simply because they were unable to understand one another.
Real shit ma niggah
this, this right here is it!
If we find alien life it will probably be some bacteria we accidentally released on an unsuspecting moon. We will be excited... then we will try to eradicate it.
But why did they attack?
Did you come up with that roach thing or is it from the book?
"The power to cause pain is the only power that matters. The power to hurt and destroy. Because if you can't kill, you are always subject to those who can and nothing and no one will ever save you."
My favorite quote
Ender ain't got nothing on you man. This content is true genius. I love when I get lucky on TH-cam and find a channel that's truly original. Bravo!!
When Ender gets to the Bugger world it totally mimics the Mind Game with the Giant’s skeleton overgrown with foliage just like the game… turns out the game was how the buggers set up communication with Ender… Mind blown. Enders Game is one of my favorite books of all time. Thanks for Thug Noting it, Doc!
May you do Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams?
***** i think he did already
He actually hasn't
***** +1 definitely
+1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+Lance Zubiate Definitely, that's my all-time favorite book.
Ender's Game is my all time favorite book.
I think Ender’s game gives an amazing take on the collective vs the individual. They manage to subvert your expectations and make you think about how, at different levels of analysis, the group and the individual interact and encompass each other. The buggers are oddly enough, the individualistic side, even though they are a collective they function as one person. With one mind, and one set of perspectives like a human being. While Ender and the humans are the collective, with a broader sense of values and perspectives that aren’t as granular, but are more numerous. But with the way they wrote the book, each side has the ability to encompass the other and or completely flip in terms of roles. It brilliantly shows how collective and individual encompass each other and the fact that you need both to truly get a deep understanding of the world around you.
I also really appreciate the references and inspiration taken from texts like the Constitution, the Bible, the Magna Carta, etc.
And I also appreciate inspiration taken from other concepts like tribal religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
wisecrack is the best chanel ever created thats it more cannot be said
VEROTIKAA aw yeah!
VEROTIKAA PREACH!
dis shit ace girl
I really hope you do the sequel, I loved the themes in it too. Especially the idea behind being the Speaker for the Dead.
So happy you covered this book though. I hope you cover the whole series.
Could have also mentioned that Ender was a Third and said more about how the buggers were a complete non-threat who didn't realize they were killing self-aware living beings when defending their territory.
Loved this video. The way you describe stuff is really helpful…the ability to take complicated concepts and explain them in simple terms is the real mark of intelligence.
This man is the greatest thing the internet has ever created, and I hope he becomes the wealthiest person in history.
Please do Foundation by Issac Asimov!
+WingedSoda Isn't Ender based off that work?
Allen Babylon Having read Foundation and Ender's Game (along with all the sequels of them), the answer to your question is: Heck No. Not the slightest resemblance.
Mike Clark I read somewhere that Card drew inspiration from that. Never read Foundation though
Allen Babylon Well, it's possible he drew inspiration from it. Lots of writers were inspired by Foundation, due to the breadth of vision (multiple planets, hundreds of years of history). But inspired by it or not, the Ender Series is like no other that I have ever read. Especially not like Foundation. Like I say, I've read the Foundation series and enjoyed it, but Card doesn't write anything like Asimov did.
John Llabo All solicitors will be shot.
You guys should REALLY do Speaker For The Dead
This is accurate literally doesn’t leave a single thing out
I just found your channel looking for reactions to enders game so I can hear if other people "Got it." I think it's a brilliant story that a lot of people may have missed the point of. Once I heard your.... "review" I knew you got it, and broke it down in a way that's both easy to understand, and entertaining. And really does get the message of the book across. I've now watched 3 of your videos, all of them equally impressive. Well done, you've got a new subscriber, keep up the great work.
I even hot the bell for you, that's how impressed I am. I don't know if you've gone hunger games, divergent, Lord of the rings, or Harry potter. I'm about to find out. But if you haven't... you should. Would love to hear you're summary on those. Or macbeth. Anyway, thank you for the great videos
The Ender Quartet is my favorite book series. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to do some serious thinking. An amazing series.
This is the world's most helpful and entertaining video. Like literally reading this for my ISU, I'm dying of boredom over here. But then this guy comes in, explains everything SO WELL, explains concepts I didn't even grasp, makes everything seem 100 times more entertaining AND is literally the coolest guy I've personally ever seen in my life. Im dead. Thank you kind sir for all your help
This was a terrific explanation of the themes in the book.
I've been marathon watching you guys a day. I teach middle school Social Studies. I can't show you in class, but, I can recommend you to my students. Keep posting.
Having this book and the Ender's Shadow trilogy as my favourite books of All Time, I realise there are a few errors in this Thug Notes Summary.
2:17 - The game here is called, "The Giant's Drink".
2:20 - Scene, if I recall correctly, he's a mouse at this part of the game, hence him being able to burrow into the giant's eye.
3:00 - Pronounced, "BONE-so".
3:33 - Reason Ender was brought back onto Earth to talk to Val was to remind him how much he loves Val, so he would convince himself to fight the war/play the Game to protect and save Val.
5:41 - I might be wrong, but it was Ender who found the HIve Queen. Val didn't know he kept her with him all along.
Thanks for the summary and review of this book!
Wisecrack I bought your book recently and find it very entertaining. I, in all honesty, have no practical use for it (i am a third year engineering student in college). I bought it to repay you for all of the wonderful media you have provided that I have consumed for free. I also want to support you and support the help you have provided to many marginalized people. I appreciate what you are doing and how you are doing it and hope my small donation helps. ps the book is great and others should donate to you by buying the book regardless if they need it or not. Your introduction in the book expresses exactly why I bought it cheers keep up the great work
That's right, Ender has the power of super-empathy. Kind of awesome actually.
The power of super-empathy and also charged with the responsibility to kill everyone and everything that stands in his way. The irony...
@@anonymousR7 but he doesn’t understand both those qualities he had at the same time, that’s the whole point of the book.
Confession: I finally read this book just so I could watch this video. Great work, as usual.
I needed this for school. I was supposed to read this book and take a test the first two weeks of schoo but no one told me.
This is legitimately the best rundown of this book I've ever heard. My man.
I'd love to see your opinion on Man In The High Castle.
jackkennedy98 as far as I can tell, no matter who won the world war, both allied and axis wanted the same thing. Peace. Balance of power. It showed us that the world is mostly the same as the usual 60's just with different faction. If there are more things the book could tell, I hope Thug Notes could give a review
The story the book promises sells it, but it was a huge waste of time to read. The end went nowhere except the Japanese learn the Nazis want a war with them. So what? The man in the high castle has no castle and hasn't done anything but write a book about the Allies winning the war. So what?
So glad you did this book... And you didn't keep it short. This one deserves the 9 minute review because it's just so potent with meaningful moments and themes that payoff later. Thanks for not glossing over! ;D
Don Quixote!!!!!!!!!!
too cool, too great
***** He's started on Game of Thrones, so why not?
The Napoleonist Yes to this!
+Richard Schrader He did the Odyssey. I am sure it is not a length issue regarding Don Quixote - it is a popularity issue. Whatever brings in the views.
I was going to suggest that too!
I've read this whole book series like a squadrilion times but i never quite thought of some of these points very interesting...
As always thugnotes analysis is impeccable and highly illuminating.
This was amazing! please do Speaker for the Dead, the sequel!
Yes. Xenocide is the third book. I bawled my eyes out harder than anything on this series. The Lost Boys (not to be confused with Peter Pan) is another great read. Card's an amazing storyteller; always worth reading
I personally thought the second and third books were very dense but I enjoyed the first and fourth books as well as the spinoff series about Bean's life.
The audiobook for *Ender's Game* is resplendent. Instead of just one narrator, they got a whole team of great voice actors.
+BallotBoxer Well, I've read through the book a few times. I think I should listen to it now.
@ 6:30
I had NEVER caught that foreshadow before!
Had 24 hour duty here in 29 Palms, read the entire thing, shit shook me bro, I like books that can directly relate to your military career and the humanity of war
very good. The book was a heck of a lot better than the messed up movie. In the movie he was about 16.
I really disliked the movie. It made me not want to read the book.
+Tony Pearson To be fair, did you really want to see an 8 year old trying to act out Ender's drama and depression? Child actors are almost all terrible (not really their fault, just inexperienced), so aging him up improves the pool of talent significantly.
I thought the movie was okay. It missed out on some key points in the book, but managed to at least stay mostly philosophical, rather than turning into a full popcorn action teen movie like I expected.
It can be done with younger actors. Just harder to find the right one but not impossible. Haley Joel Osment was 10 when he did Sixth Sense and he had the acting chops at the time for this sort of role.
better the book, better the episode. This was one of the best books I have ever come across in my life. Can't wait to read.
You should review "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by PKD
+The Professor, Raymsman Just bought that. Is it better than Blade Runner?
Allen Babylon I prefer Blade Runner
+Allen Babylon IMO yes
The Professor, Raymsman shit they should do lots of PKD's books: We can remember it for you wholesale, A scanner darkly, Adjustment team and maybe a few others that are less popular.
Allen Babylon, yes I like the book far better than Blade Runner. There's a religion that has developed in the society that plays a significant role in the story and PKD deals with many questions (that he doesn't necessarily answer - just opens the door and lets you ponder) about what constitutes life and existence.
Thug notes is my absolute favourite youtube series, every single episode is excellent, keep up the great work guys!
Do the book on Bean.
Alic Mes'ard >> Yep, Bean is a great character!
Very well done on this video. Much appreciations for giving this classic a much deserved lime light! Considering how stellar you did on Ender's Game, I'm curious what a video on Ender's Shadow would be like.
I really hope he follows this up and does Ender's Shadow. Far more badass
Bruh, Xenocide and Children of the mind are just as good, and seriously SHADOW SAGA man! Shadow Saga! The one about Bean, man, it's so good.
+Amaz1ngWhale It would be really cool but he would need to do some videos on the Dune books first.
I thought the Ender universe(books) then I finally read the books everyone talks about Dune(all of them) and Battlefield Earth. There is a reason Dune and Battlefield Earth are talked about more than Ender's Game, mainly Dune.
+Awesomeness Hippopotamus He doesn't seem to do sequels; too many requests for other classics
*****
ya ya along with most of the books on this list.
www.listchallenges.com/npr-top-100-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books
+Mavik I never cared for much of the Enderverse outside of Game and Shadow, but even though I love Game, Shadow is my favorite. I just find Bean a more interesting protagonist and I find the trials he faces to be more interesting too. Game's narrative has more to analyze and think deeply about (plus the Valentine and Peter sections which are really great in the moderation they come in), but in terms of just being a good story it'll always be Shadow for me.
I just found these videos and I have been looking for something like this for a very long time and idk how I didn't find you. Thank you.
Have you done The Neverending Story? That book is MIND-BLOWING
I've read that book eighteen times. It's a jewel!
Ender's Game is by far my favorite book (including Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon), and I really enjoyed this. Well done.
Damn. This just made me realize how shit the movie actually was.
The movie is good.
The book is just so much better.
The movie was good just not as good as the book
The movie just had to be a movie, they could not possibly fit the story properly in an hour fifty... It had to be at least 2 parts and no way that was happening. Still, I love it exists because idk how I would picture the things in the book if not for the movie
Great episode and spot on summary, just wished you had mentioned more about Enders mental agony during the games when he woke up and was chewing on his own hand cause of the stress.
Great episode! :D
Book Of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi
Battle Royale
THANKYOU Dr. Sparky! I tutored English at U of Fla. You make literature INTRESTING. If people had you for a teacher, we would have more Well-Read Ballers. You are helping so many people. Your Waspy sister (me) enjoys YOUR take on books I have already read........ much love, anne
Where was this 4 moths ago when I was too lazy to read the book?!
Drake Mortensen Seriously. This book is amazing.
Drake Mortensen Nah, I read the book, just not in time for class.
ElementaryWatson Refer to comment above :) and I agree
Oh good. :)
+Tina J You could've of watched the movie to make it in time for your class. It did a decent job following the book.
Hey Wisecrack, I got the book yesterday and I like it but I hope to keep to watching your videos for the rest of my life because I'm a big fan of your work and like I said, you make me laugh with the bleeping whenever I watch your videos
Les Miserables. One of the best Novels/Movies/Musicals/Musical Movies of all time!
I LOVE THIS, i just spent 3 months reading this book. and I love this!
This summary was better than the movie.
wow Wisecrack.......from Earthling Cinema to Thug Notes to 8-Bit Philosophy and beyond.....y'all are friggin geniuses. I could watch all of it for eternity and be entertained. Keep up the awesome work ^w^
saw this video and went to give exam....scored highest marks. FUCK YEAH
Deep Same dude, helped me pass the year!
This review makes me want to get this film in 4k. It had some nice visual scenes and the story really gules all of it into a film to own.
Please do HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy!!!!
LIke with LOTR and Screw Tape letters, I read this book in high or middle school, but when I was reading it, a lot of it flew over my head, or it was hard for me to keep track of. I eventually saw the movie, and now this, and it was totally different from how I imagined, it (which was more bleak, oppressive, and dirty yet sterile). Thanks Thug Notes, you actually help a brother keep up with some stuff that he may have read, but forgot because he didn't quite know how to take it back in the day.
You didn't put bean in here... He was so cool...
Quite.
I remember weeping reading this book
Can you do Z for Zachariah?
Manny Schlossberg You spelled V for Vendetta wrong, I think.
+Wisecrack how about American Psycho?
Wisecrack pls do Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
+Wisecrack No, he's right! Z for Zachariah is excellent! And I believe they are working on a new movie based on it so the timing is great.
Wisecrack Z for Zachariah is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel by Robert C. O'Brien :)
I like your easter eggs - the stuff like switching the symbols on Ender's uniform.
Please do a Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy next
So happy you did Ender's game.
Please do the Scott Pilgrim series!!!!
omg you're the best, you did Ender's Game, I wanna hug you man! !!
Do an episode about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :D
Damn good episode Sparky. I get a bit excited whenever I see anything from this channel in my sub box, but I was damn near squeeing when I saw you were reviewing this book. And you of course didn't disappoint, this was a spectacularly well done episode.
This is the best channel on youtube, and this was one of the best episodes that was ever on it. That's saying something.
You should do Ender's Shadow! It's so much better.
SoybeansCanFangirlToo I ctrl+f looked for "ender's shadow", found your comment, and once again searched for "Bean" and your name was the only result again. Lol. I was expecting somebody else to mention the real brains behind the operation.
***** wouldn't says brains, just a very capable right hand man allowing Ender to focus on the big picture
***** I don't know about that. Bean was very tactically smart, but he couldn't do much with a larger group. A small group is where he excelled, but Ender could see the entire engagement, had forethought, and knew how to use everyone to their best. Bean could handle any situation that could be thrown at him, but he didn't seem to see much of the larger picture. Bean excelled in the Micro, while Ender excelled in the Macro. As smart? Probably. Smarter? I'll need some convincing.
+TH31NF1D3L Bean is definitely smarter than Ender but his lack of empathy makes him understand people and the world less than Ender, regardless of his intelligence
TH31NF1D3L Bean was smart enough to understand they weren't playing a game, why Ender had to be the one to ultimately pull the trigger, and to keep his mouth shut about both.
Just discovered this channel. You guys are BRILLIANT! Amazing and super insightful. Keep it up!
i love enders game
Whoa. Ender's game was more deep than what I thought. Here I was just impressed by his mind.
Neuromancer, by William Gibson.
Super analysis of the book! It is true that Thug Notes is one of the worthiest things on the Internet.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
best one yet, I'll be ordering the book for my birthday present. biggups wisecrack, publish these on cracked pls
please please please do master and margarita
i did my sophomore thesis on enders game, and this video was a nice throwback! thanks thugnotes
Can you do "To the lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf??
always a good day when there's a new 'Thug Notes'.
counting down the hours till I get paid tomorrow so I can order the book!
Watership Down
I watched this vid when it first came out, and so I borrowed a friends copy. I finished it an hour ago. Thank you for the recommendation. It was a good book.
This is fucking gold
been a subscriber since 10000 subs, and just ordered the book today! proud of this channel and how far it's come, well done guys - keep up the awesome work :D
Do House of Leaves. For the lulz.
FourthDerivative That would be a fun episode.
Minespatch the channel Hey, it's you! I guess Thug Notes is yet another thing we're both fans of.
MagusMirificus Where do I know you?
Minespatch the channel
You very kindly shared my article on Mind My Gap, and I have agreed with several points you have made on the Adventure Time Tvtropes forum.
Oh! Heyo. Glad to meet you again. :)
I freakin LOVE Thug Notes! Keep it up Sparky!
Ender's game is clearly an endorsement of fascism. It has a very strong sense of authoritarianism and the idea that authoritarianism will fix the issues at hand, a creepy fascination with militarism in a necessary evil kind of way, and a fixation on traditional gender roles. Like at the end there is even a trial for the people that "trained" (more like emotionally abused) Ender and they are all found not guilty on the idea that their cruelty was necessary. This obsession with masculinity and power is very reminiscent of fascism along with Valentine as the feminine foil whose sole purpose in the book is to serve the masculine.
Guy Mika I feel like you read the wrong book. If you read the whole series it’s more a critique of these systems than anything else, at the end of the day what ender does/is forced to do is deeply wrong, and that’s made very clear. Imo Val shines in the later books, an amazing character
This is a much deeper story than I thought. I avoided this for a while because I thought it was just gonna be over hyped garbage. I am now seriously interested and will probably pick up that book soon.
Loved the book, too bad the movie fucked everything up.
Oh my goodness this is one of the most perfect videos I've ever watched