General reminder: Ender can play his game without me

[annathepiper]

My belovedest of Daras told me this morning that she got into an argument on Tumblr, wherein another party first snarkily demanded whether she could provide any evidence that Orson Scott Card had ever said anything against queer people. And, when she provided them a map to Mt. Why Yes Card Has Shot Off His Mouth Repeatedly On This Very Topic, they promptly shifted the argument over to “well, you should support this movie anyway because it’s racially diverse!”

Dara didn’t buy this argument. Neither do I.

Leave aside the whole question of whether you’re actually accomplishing anything if you refuse to support Card’s work. What it boils down to for me is, if I say, “Look, I’m not going to go watch this movie, because I feel that the writer is a raving homophobe and trying to watch anything with his name on it is tantamount to my being punched in the face”, and you then say, “Well, you should watch it anyway, because if you don’t, these other people over here might also be punched in the face!”, you know what you’re saying to me?

You’re saying that my motives for refusing to engage with the art don’t matter. And you’re also throwing in a side helping of guilt on top of it.

And for what? For my refusal to engage with a piece of art. You are, in short, trying to dictate to me how I should spend my entertainment time and money, which is an asshole maneuver to pull. Especially when the entertainment in question wouldn’t even entertain me, because c.f. previous commentary re: punching in the face.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t care how well done a particular book, movie, television show, musical performance, or whatever might be, I’m not obliged to engage with it. And if I’ve specifically stated I’m avoiding that piece of art, for the love of gods, do not then try to force that piece of art down my throat. It’s not going to make me like it, and it sure as hell is not going to make me think any more favorably of you for dismissing my stance on the matter.

So no, still not going to see Ender’s Game. By the same token, I am still not going to give anybody a hard time for choosing to do so. Because it’s no more my place to critique your choices on how you spend your entertainment time and money than it is yours to do so to mine.

I have much better things to be doing anyway, and what limited time I have for movies in the next couple of months will be much better applied to Thor: The Dark World, Catching Fire, and The Desolation of Smaug.

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[vatine]

Yeah, well, I decided (based on my perception of what OSC was saying in public and non-hyperbole extrapolations from that to what OSC may personally be thinking inside OSC's head) that I would not, in any way, shape or form contribute to OSC's monetary or otherwise troves. So, no matter if OSC will be getting the moolahs based on how well Ender's Game does in the cinema, I will certainly not be watching it.

It's not entirely helped by, ahem, problematic problems in the book it is based on (no, bullying is not nice, but killing the bully is probably not the answer; there are also an assortment of other issues).

For whatever it is worth, I think you are doing the right thing, but that is, well, a personal choice.

[annathepiper]

Thanks!

Current reports I'm seeing are that Card is in fact not going to see any further money off of the movie. Which makes it less of a financial issue for me and more of just a general "I don't want my entertainment choices to make me feel like I'm punching myself in the face" issue.

Which is still pretty hefty as far as I'm concerned.

[vatine]

Honestly, the "OSC gets cash" factor is pretty low in comparison to the "I don't want to consume stuff that comes from the OSC source" factor.

I don't think me abstaining is going to be a big factor in whatever, but hopefully the whole kaboodle will make mivie studios think twice before commisioning Ender';s Shadow (or whatever).

[mmegaera]

People are actually doing this to you? I am so sorry.

I'm not going to see it, even though until I heard about Ender's Game I'd have told you going to see Harrison Ford in an SF movie was a complete no brainer. I am so disappointed in him for being in this movie -- and no, I don't know anything about his personal beliefs, nor do I want to.

[annathepiper]

People didn't do it to me personally, but to Dara, yes.

And I've seen arguments of this form all over the net, really, anywhere the movie's come up in conjunction with discussion of Card's beliefs.

As for Mr. Ford--eh. Part of me really does want to be cranky at him and everyone else in this movie for being involved, but on the other hand, I'm also conscious of how very few people outside SF/Fdom had a clue about Card's leanings before this year when the news broke out into the mainstream. So I suspect that when they were actually filming, most of the involved parties weren't really in a position to know. Once they were, that prompted the hasty scrambling on the part of the studio to distance themselves from Card.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I'm well and thoroughly on the side of "this man's words are poison", and I shall avoid anything with his name on it.

But sadly, a lot of moviegoers in general just won't give a shit, because a couple hours of entertainment and space battles and explosions will be more important to them, even assuming they know about Card's leanings to begin with. And even though the news broke out into mainstream sites this week, I still have been seeing a lot of people telling me that they had no clue Card was a bigot. And I've been seeing a lot of people saying that even though they are aware Card's a bigot, they're going to see the movie anyway and salving their consciences by donating to queer-friendly causes, or what have you.

Once you get outside the US I suspect the likelihood of moviegoers being aware will go down even more. Especially in countries that don't have a queer-friendly track record regardless.

And if the movie does at all well internationally, I expect that at the end of the day that's all the studios are going to give a shit about.