I watched this in the cinema with about 5 or 6 friends when it came out. All of them thought it was terrible because it was “praising of militarism” or something. None of them got the satire dripping from every frame. I was dumbfounded.
In later years I found out that this is a phenomenon with not only the movie, but the book too. There’s some kind of cognitive disconnect, some inability to see, for what is glaringly obvious to others, the bald fact of the sarcasm and parody of the USA and fascism going on here.
The book was actually problematic and praised fascism, anti-communism, and militarism. Only the movie was the satirical piece. It’s because the director read the book, and because he grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland, he was disgusted and decided to satirize it as much as possible as a joke.
The book is very uncertain because Heinlein had so many political voltas in his life nobody is sure what ideology he subscribed to at what point. Most people tend to think Starship Troopers is unironical fash (also Poe’s law is applicable), but the Verhoeven clearly opted for satire in his adaptation.
The book is very certain because Heinlein modeled the “bugs” after the Chinese in the Korean War with the descriptions of the bugs basically bieng racial epithets, and the book is basically Nazi porn of Aryans killing “savage, communal, communist bugs”. He has stated this himself in interviews, and during the time he wrote the book he was part of several Nazi rehabilitation groups.
The classrooms scenes could also practically be replaced with several chapters from Mien Kampf, and the book wouldn’t be any different.
Direct quote from the book:
“Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at a cost of one M. I. it was a net victory for the Bugs. We were learning, expensively, just how efficient a total communism can be when used by a people actually adapted to it by evolution; the Bug commissars didn’t care any more about expending soldiers than we cared about expending ammo. Perhaps we could have figured this out about the Bugs by noting the grief the Chinese Hegemony gave the Russo- Anglo- American Alliance; however the trouble with “lessons from history” is that we usually read them best after falling flat on our chins.”
I’m pretty sure the book is sincere, or at least Heinlein’s sincere thought-experiment to build a society.
The writing matches his other seemingly sincere political statements, and he’s pretty rightist “rugged individualism, I shouldn’t have to pay taxes” in his other YA novels.
I watched this in the cinema with about 5 or 6 friends when it came out. All of them thought it was terrible because it was “praising of militarism” or something. None of them got the satire dripping from every frame. I was dumbfounded.
In later years I found out that this is a phenomenon with not only the movie, but the book too. There’s some kind of cognitive disconnect, some inability to see, for what is glaringly obvious to others, the bald fact of the sarcasm and parody of the USA and fascism going on here.
Look at the top review on goodreads!
The book was actually problematic and praised fascism, anti-communism, and militarism. Only the movie was the satirical piece. It’s because the director read the book, and because he grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland, he was disgusted and decided to satirize it as much as possible as a joke.
Aha! I never read the book and assumed this applied to it too.
Definitely is a weird feature of the movie interpretations. Wildly different takes and a blind spot for the satire.
The book is very uncertain because Heinlein had so many political voltas in his life nobody is sure what ideology he subscribed to at what point. Most people tend to think Starship Troopers is unironical fash (also Poe’s law is applicable), but the Verhoeven clearly opted for satire in his adaptation.
The book is very certain because Heinlein modeled the “bugs” after the Chinese in the Korean War with the descriptions of the bugs basically bieng racial epithets, and the book is basically Nazi porn of Aryans killing “savage, communal, communist bugs”. He has stated this himself in interviews, and during the time he wrote the book he was part of several Nazi rehabilitation groups.
The classrooms scenes could also practically be replaced with several chapters from Mien Kampf, and the book wouldn’t be any different.
Direct quote from the book:
“Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at a cost of one M. I. it was a net victory for the Bugs. We were learning, expensively, just how efficient a total communism can be when used by a people actually adapted to it by evolution; the Bug commissars didn’t care any more about expending soldiers than we cared about expending ammo. Perhaps we could have figured this out about the Bugs by noting the grief the Chinese Hegemony gave the Russo- Anglo- American Alliance; however the trouble with “lessons from history” is that we usually read them best after falling flat on our chins.”
massive yikes for that quote
Wew i guess i remembered the movie better than the book.
Btw guess what just got new edition in Poland.
I had always thought the book was sincere, so this thread has been confusing!
I’m pretty sure the book is sincere, or at least Heinlein’s sincere thought-experiment to build a society.
The writing matches his other seemingly sincere political statements, and he’s pretty rightist “rugged individualism, I shouldn’t have to pay taxes” in his other YA novels.
Oh yeah I’ve noticed this as well, and the fact that people don’t see this really underscores how fascist US is in practice.