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newnumber6Yesterday I finished Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami. For those who don't know, it's a novel about a class of Grade 9 students in a fascist Japan who are randomly selected to compete in a yearly competition in which they all must fight until there is only one survivor. In short, I really enjoyed the book, far more than I expected to. My official Battle Royale review is here, but I have some more thoughts both on the premise, and translations to other media, that I'll put before the cut tag because they spoil some aspects of the book (and movie, I guess) - they are very minor (IMHO) spoilers though, rather than any big details like how it ends.
I liked it so much that I even downloaded the movie, which I have to admit was a pain to watch - my computer tends to have the video lag behind the sound in big movie files until suddenly it decides to resynch. That's annoying enough in a normal movie, but in one with subtitles (the movie, like the novel, is Japanese) it's really a pain because unless I pause and resume regularly (which auto-synchs) I miss important dialogue. Still, I watched it. The book is much better, and less about all the gory violence, but dealing more with the characters. The movie changes some things, as all movie adaptations do... in this case, some of the changes I understood, but some just boggled me. The teacher in particular, got far too much time and some weird bizarre subplot involving one of the students. Also, the idea of having the two main 'extra skilled' forces being brought in from outside the game really dilutes the excellent idea of a single class, with all the cliques, 'new kids nobody knows', bullies, and all, being forced into this situation. Instead we have these two people that we know are important from the get-go because they weren't part of the class, they were brought in as singletons to play. Also, some of the characters in the movie are really only dealt with on a very shallow level, and they needed more depth.
This is one of those movies I'd really like to see a good American adaptation to (not that I have anything against Japan, but I think the story is easily portable and I don't like dealing with subtitles, dubbing, or wondering why everyone who should be speaking Japanese is nonetheless speaking perfect English). I realize that 'good American adaptation' may be an oxymoron, but I'd still like to see it. Throughout the book I had it in my head, I could sort of see how what sort of things might be changed. The plot could go almost completely along the book, with the names, faces, and cultural flavour being changed. (I'd also change a small detail near the end to connect to one of the earlier subplots, but I can't go into details without spoiling things. If you know the book and want to know, find me somewhere online and ask me and I'll tell you). I can see it in my head pretty easily, even some of the faces.
Now, since this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much (because it encouraged such speculation in me), I have to go into my own little thoughts about what I would do if I was in the situation. (Some spoilers, mainly for things that are in the book's concept rather than the specifics of plot, but mostly spoilers for my Grade 9 life. If you're planning on reading the book of my life or watching the inevitable movie, you may be spoiled for the parts about Grade 9! ;))
Okay. So, in Grade 9, I was a pretty geeky kid (unlike now!), but I was also probably even more of a pacifist. I'd think that I probably would have only killed people if it was an immediate me-(or someone else)-or-them situation of someone else attacking first. I think (or would like to think) I'd be willing to sacrifice my life to let someone else win if we got down to the final 2 and there was no other choice. Especially if it was a girl, cause I'm a sucker like that. Of course, the _method_ I would use to sacrifice my life would be through tampering with the collar in a way I otherwise considered as too risky, because, what the hell, maybe I'd be able to disarm it after all through blind luck.
I can't remember everyone who was in my Grade 9 class (and really I think in Grade 9 we started having a lot more things where you have some classes in common with almost everyone but few with the same group of people all the way through), but I'll try to assume a reasonable sampling of the people I do remember.
In Grade 9 I had a core group of friends that I probably would have trusted and tried to get in touch with, of course by the rules of the game I'd have to have been lucky to meet up with them. Interestingly, almost none of those would be in common with people I would have trusted if this was happening only a year later - most of my friends went to a different school from me in Grade 10, and although many of the good friends I made in Grade 10 were with me in Grade 9, I either didn't know them too well or was in a silly fued with in Grade 9 (one guy was a friend in Grade 7 and most of 8, up until we did a project together and did really badly and blamed each other and pretty much didn't speak to each other until almost the very end of grade 9, and then went to be reasonably good friends in Grade 10 and throughout high school). I'm not sure if all of them could be trusted to try to escape and never harm each other, but I think we would all at least agree to "we'll watch each other's backs until we're the last ones left, then split up and be every man for himself". Of course I still don't think I'd kill them, and just let them go at it while I tried last ditch escape ideas that were more likely to get me killed.
Beyond the group of friends, I'd probably be fairly willing to trust the various 'neutral' people - the ones I wasn't really close to but had nothing against, either. I'd be wary, but if they approached me openly I'd be willing to consider teaming up and helping each other. Most people I really didn't like back then were bully-types and jocks (not that I hated all jocks, just the people I hated tended to be jocks), so I wouldn't trust them and be more inclined to hide or run, except perhaps if they were in a group - I'd assume that a group means you're probably at least more willing to be safe rather than killing. I'd be wary, and maybe, if I could, follow for a while without being observed (I've always been fairly stealthy, and able to sneak up on people, although that tends to be in urban settings and so might not work so well in a mix of urban and forested areas like the game) and see how they react to other people they encounter. If I encountered them one on one and could think of a way to do it (which would probably require me having the upper hand to begin with through sheer luck), I might disarm them and let them leave without their weapons so they couldn't harm anyone else - I'd have to be fairly sure they'd be willing to use the weapons in offense rather than just defense first, though.
Depending on the time of the year we were taken, I was probably seriously crushing on one of two girls (both Greek, as it turned out, but my school had a big greek continigent), and I would have been enough of a stupid romantic to try and find them (well, whichever it was at the time, although there was a brief overlap time that I liked both) and protect them and use the opportunity to tell them how I felt. Which could very well have gotten me used and then killed ;). I don't really know either of them enough to say for sure, but I'm reasonably sure they didn't care anything about me anyway, so at best they would have gone along with me for the protection of numbers and then who knows what might happen if we both survived to the end. Still, I would have tried... probably even told them I'd go to the end with them and if we couldn't find a way to escape I'd kill myself so they could survive, as I said earlier. One really can't say for sure whether you'd go THROUGH with something like that in such an extreme hypothetical situation, but I'd like to think I would.
Naturally, I'd be much more interested in escaping than playing the game. I think, being a general SF and D&D geek, I would have intuited some of the functions of the collar, and though I'd probably have no hope of intelligently disarming it, I would have been able to keep it in mind and try to experiment with various ways of fooling it, damping the signal, or otherwise disabling it and maybe getting them to think I was dead. Maybe try and find a library and see if I could find anything about creating EMP pulses, but I honestly doubt I would have succeeded at all, it's an avenue I would have explored. I also probably would have, once I was alone and safe, stripped off any clothes I had with me and tried to replace it with stuff from a house, in case they'd tagged anything on my clothes in addition to the collars. I'd only use weapons for immediate self defense or to lay down as evidence that I really could be trusted.
I probably wouldn't go for any direct attack on the school unless someone else I'd grouped up with had a good plan that required it, but I think back then anyone willingly working to run 'the game' would not be covered under my 'no kill policy' (ironically, I would be more forgiving of fellow students who wound up being willing to kill, as it was essentially a 'I kill you or I die' situation, whereas the soldiers, guards, and people running the game aren't in that).
So, basically, I probably would have died quite quickly - I wasn't all that much of an athlete either and got winded easily (I'm in a bit better shape now, but even now I get winded from running too much more than other stuff. On the plus side I think I had a fairly high pain threshold). If I survived any length of time it would be mostly through hiding or meeting up with friends. But still, it's fun to imagine myself in such a $!$@-ed up situation.
I liked it so much that I even downloaded the movie, which I have to admit was a pain to watch - my computer tends to have the video lag behind the sound in big movie files until suddenly it decides to resynch. That's annoying enough in a normal movie, but in one with subtitles (the movie, like the novel, is Japanese) it's really a pain because unless I pause and resume regularly (which auto-synchs) I miss important dialogue. Still, I watched it. The book is much better, and less about all the gory violence, but dealing more with the characters. The movie changes some things, as all movie adaptations do... in this case, some of the changes I understood, but some just boggled me. The teacher in particular, got far too much time and some weird bizarre subplot involving one of the students. Also, the idea of having the two main 'extra skilled' forces being brought in from outside the game really dilutes the excellent idea of a single class, with all the cliques, 'new kids nobody knows', bullies, and all, being forced into this situation. Instead we have these two people that we know are important from the get-go because they weren't part of the class, they were brought in as singletons to play. Also, some of the characters in the movie are really only dealt with on a very shallow level, and they needed more depth.
This is one of those movies I'd really like to see a good American adaptation to (not that I have anything against Japan, but I think the story is easily portable and I don't like dealing with subtitles, dubbing, or wondering why everyone who should be speaking Japanese is nonetheless speaking perfect English). I realize that 'good American adaptation' may be an oxymoron, but I'd still like to see it. Throughout the book I had it in my head, I could sort of see how what sort of things might be changed. The plot could go almost completely along the book, with the names, faces, and cultural flavour being changed. (I'd also change a small detail near the end to connect to one of the earlier subplots, but I can't go into details without spoiling things. If you know the book and want to know, find me somewhere online and ask me and I'll tell you). I can see it in my head pretty easily, even some of the faces.
Now, since this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much (because it encouraged such speculation in me), I have to go into my own little thoughts about what I would do if I was in the situation. (Some spoilers, mainly for things that are in the book's concept rather than the specifics of plot, but mostly spoilers for my Grade 9 life. If you're planning on reading the book of my life or watching the inevitable movie, you may be spoiled for the parts about Grade 9! ;))
Okay. So, in Grade 9, I was a pretty geeky kid (unlike now!), but I was also probably even more of a pacifist. I'd think that I probably would have only killed people if it was an immediate me-(or someone else)-or-them situation of someone else attacking first. I think (or would like to think) I'd be willing to sacrifice my life to let someone else win if we got down to the final 2 and there was no other choice. Especially if it was a girl, cause I'm a sucker like that. Of course, the _method_ I would use to sacrifice my life would be through tampering with the collar in a way I otherwise considered as too risky, because, what the hell, maybe I'd be able to disarm it after all through blind luck.
I can't remember everyone who was in my Grade 9 class (and really I think in Grade 9 we started having a lot more things where you have some classes in common with almost everyone but few with the same group of people all the way through), but I'll try to assume a reasonable sampling of the people I do remember.
In Grade 9 I had a core group of friends that I probably would have trusted and tried to get in touch with, of course by the rules of the game I'd have to have been lucky to meet up with them. Interestingly, almost none of those would be in common with people I would have trusted if this was happening only a year later - most of my friends went to a different school from me in Grade 10, and although many of the good friends I made in Grade 10 were with me in Grade 9, I either didn't know them too well or was in a silly fued with in Grade 9 (one guy was a friend in Grade 7 and most of 8, up until we did a project together and did really badly and blamed each other and pretty much didn't speak to each other until almost the very end of grade 9, and then went to be reasonably good friends in Grade 10 and throughout high school). I'm not sure if all of them could be trusted to try to escape and never harm each other, but I think we would all at least agree to "we'll watch each other's backs until we're the last ones left, then split up and be every man for himself". Of course I still don't think I'd kill them, and just let them go at it while I tried last ditch escape ideas that were more likely to get me killed.
Beyond the group of friends, I'd probably be fairly willing to trust the various 'neutral' people - the ones I wasn't really close to but had nothing against, either. I'd be wary, but if they approached me openly I'd be willing to consider teaming up and helping each other. Most people I really didn't like back then were bully-types and jocks (not that I hated all jocks, just the people I hated tended to be jocks), so I wouldn't trust them and be more inclined to hide or run, except perhaps if they were in a group - I'd assume that a group means you're probably at least more willing to be safe rather than killing. I'd be wary, and maybe, if I could, follow for a while without being observed (I've always been fairly stealthy, and able to sneak up on people, although that tends to be in urban settings and so might not work so well in a mix of urban and forested areas like the game) and see how they react to other people they encounter. If I encountered them one on one and could think of a way to do it (which would probably require me having the upper hand to begin with through sheer luck), I might disarm them and let them leave without their weapons so they couldn't harm anyone else - I'd have to be fairly sure they'd be willing to use the weapons in offense rather than just defense first, though.
Depending on the time of the year we were taken, I was probably seriously crushing on one of two girls (both Greek, as it turned out, but my school had a big greek continigent), and I would have been enough of a stupid romantic to try and find them (well, whichever it was at the time, although there was a brief overlap time that I liked both) and protect them and use the opportunity to tell them how I felt. Which could very well have gotten me used and then killed ;). I don't really know either of them enough to say for sure, but I'm reasonably sure they didn't care anything about me anyway, so at best they would have gone along with me for the protection of numbers and then who knows what might happen if we both survived to the end. Still, I would have tried... probably even told them I'd go to the end with them and if we couldn't find a way to escape I'd kill myself so they could survive, as I said earlier. One really can't say for sure whether you'd go THROUGH with something like that in such an extreme hypothetical situation, but I'd like to think I would.
Naturally, I'd be much more interested in escaping than playing the game. I think, being a general SF and D&D geek, I would have intuited some of the functions of the collar, and though I'd probably have no hope of intelligently disarming it, I would have been able to keep it in mind and try to experiment with various ways of fooling it, damping the signal, or otherwise disabling it and maybe getting them to think I was dead. Maybe try and find a library and see if I could find anything about creating EMP pulses, but I honestly doubt I would have succeeded at all, it's an avenue I would have explored. I also probably would have, once I was alone and safe, stripped off any clothes I had with me and tried to replace it with stuff from a house, in case they'd tagged anything on my clothes in addition to the collars. I'd only use weapons for immediate self defense or to lay down as evidence that I really could be trusted.
I probably wouldn't go for any direct attack on the school unless someone else I'd grouped up with had a good plan that required it, but I think back then anyone willingly working to run 'the game' would not be covered under my 'no kill policy' (ironically, I would be more forgiving of fellow students who wound up being willing to kill, as it was essentially a 'I kill you or I die' situation, whereas the soldiers, guards, and people running the game aren't in that).
So, basically, I probably would have died quite quickly - I wasn't all that much of an athlete either and got winded easily (I'm in a bit better shape now, but even now I get winded from running too much more than other stuff. On the plus side I think I had a fairly high pain threshold). If I survived any length of time it would be mostly through hiding or meeting up with friends. But still, it's fun to imagine myself in such a $!$@-ed up situation.
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Date: 2005-09-15 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-15 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 08:01 am (UTC)Hmmm... I don't know who might portray me in a movie of my life. Probably would have to be an unknown. The only actor I could think of offhand would be somebody like Topher Grace (from that 70s show) because he's got kind of that geeky everyman type look.