Throughout time children have always been symbolic of innocence; a reflection upon society's mindset which is why Colonel Graff's actions regarding the treatment of the children is such an abhorrent act. Although ability wise, children in the military school like Ender are mature, their emotional development is at the same stage as ordinary children outside the war based environment that they are faced with. This vulnerability ever present in children means that the audience feels that the manipulative acts by Graff towards Ender are unethical and acts of an apathetic person. This treatment by Graff also results in the …show more content…
However these gifted children are being used for unjust things like war and battling. Children within this age group should remain innocent and lives without feeling constant fear of the consequences of war and battle. Ominous music and dark lighting is used in almost every scene of Enders game, symbolic of the grief that the children have to experience daily at battle school. Ender in particular, throughout the entirety of the film is in constant state of fear and often faced with having to make decisions about the most excruciating of circumstances. In the second scene in Enders game we see a low angle shot of his face before his monitor is removed in conjunction with strong facial expressions of fear and anguish. His emotion are used by the producers to foreshadow what comes next, we hear screams and he is clearly in agonizing pain, raising the issue of how unethical this treatment is. Colonel Graff has no empathy or care towards children like Ender; his only focus is on the results of what these brainwashed children do for