Suvudu Universe

I know, I stole from Shakespeare. It's criminal. No good writer has ever done that. Ok, all sarcasm aside, there is a bit of controversy surrounding the release of the movie Ender's Game this week (ok more sarcasm. I can't be trusted). The movie is based on the novel of the same name that was written by Orson Scott Card. The controversy comes from comments Card has made about his views on same sex marriage. He is against it. He has called it "counter-evolutionary"and has said it is criminal and should be punished. He has backed off lately on his vehement expression of his ideas, and has claimed that as long as laws allowing it are being passed he cannot complain about it. A real reason for his new-found tolerism may be more linked to the release of the film, which the studio, Lions Gate, is trying to distance him from (he did not take part in the panel for it at Comic Con).

Now I view myself as a tolerable, liberally minded person. I believe in equal rights for all people. I believe the only reason people are against same-sex marriage is because of their religious beliefs (Card has strong Mormon views) or they are just A-holes. Fortunately, in this country, I'm American, we have a First Amendment right to freedom of religion and a separation of church and state, so the first reason has no basis.

But I regress. This post was not meant to be a political rant. But, like most of my friends Facebook status updates it is easy to slip into that pit. The reason I decided to write this post was to discuss how much an author's personal beliefs should impact how we view his or her work. Now Ender's Game is a great, award-winning novel that I absolutely loved. I had heard a lot of good things about it so I decided I would read it before the movie came out. I had trouble putting it down once I started reading it. It wasn't until after I finished the book that while looking up information about the sequels on the internet that I learned of Card's homophobic views. And they didn't stop me from reading the novels, even though I disagree with his opinions. Xenocide almost got me to stop reading the Ender saga because it was so boring, but I did end up reading all four books in the Ender Saga.

And now the movie based on the first book in the series has hit theaters, and I could not be more excited. I don't know why, the movie is never as good as the book, but I really want to see this movie despite Card's outspoken views. I mean, Han Solo is in it, and a lot of other good actors. So why wouldn't I want to see it? Because the guy who wrote the book it was based on was homophobic. That makes him an ass, but doesn't take anything away from his works. The cannon is full of bigoted writers like Hemingway(misogynistic) and Faulkner (elitist). Walt Disney was an anti-semite yet people still love his companies movies. Why, because the opinions of the artist does not always permeate into the work itself, and when it doesn't, it can still be a very good work of art. That is why I am anxious to see Ender's Game even though I disagree with Orson Scott Card's views on homosexuality.