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Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

theatlantic.com

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Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#31

Post by Groxx »

Intermernet wrote: post #25

Really? There were people who didn't understand that the movie was satirical? Even though it was made by Paul Verhoeven? I just lost some respect for Roger Ebert. I thought he was more perceptive than that.

I lost most of mine when he said "video games can never be art" http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/video-games-can-nev...

Not that I had a lot prior to that, for a variety of reasons (Starship Troopers and other "really? you didn't notice that? you caught it in X" moments). But still.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#32

Post by enraged_camel »

potatolicious wrote: post #22
jontas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch it again.. the bad guys are not some random street thugs, it is OCP, a mega corporation that produces the robots and is essentially a government organization (since that world is a "corporatocracy").

More specifically, "the bad guys" and OCP were actually in cahoots. The CEO of OCP has the main villain kill a junior OCP executive after the executive humiliates the CEO. There is also a subplot where OCP is deliberately working with street gangs to drive up the crime rate and gather public support for demolishing the entirety of old Detroit and building the corporate-owned "Delta City" in its place. The movie does…

>>The movie does criticize the establishment, it just stops short of criticizing the actual street cops.

That is what I meant. Contrast that to Starship Troopers, where the military (the organization the main characters are a part of) is spared no criticism.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#33

Post by officer_gotcha »

Wow, what a smart, timely and appropriate comment. However, making a smarter and even more condescending one is too easy. Here:

Folks, consider this for a moment: the movie is better than that crappy blog post, the book is better than the movie, it isn't the best book of that author, and that the author, while good, isn't the best the literature can offer.

Why waste time discussing the blog post?

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#34

Post by [deleted] »

officer_gotcha wrote: post #33

Wow, what a smart, timely and appropriate comment. However, making a smarter and even more condescending one is too easy. Here: Folks, consider this for a moment: the movie is better than that crappy blog post, the book is better than the movie, it isn't the best book of that author, and that the author, while good, isn't the best the literature can offer. Why waste time discussing the blog post?

[deleted]

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#35

Post by InclinedPlane »

I have to wonder if the failure of so many people to pick up on the blatant satire in, for example, Starship Troopers and Robocop is due to something akin to Poe's Law as applied to so many other films which were not satirical muddying the waters.

Dirty Harry is, seemingly, not satirical, yet it is every bit as ridiculous as Robocop.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#36

Post by radley »

enraged_camel wrote: post #11
richforrester wrote: post #4

After reading this, watch Robocop again. Same director, same critique on society. Really adds another layer to it.

My memories are hazy, but Robocop felt very different. It did not criticize the establishment (i.e. the police) very much. In fact, the main character was a cop who got fatally wounded by "the bad guys" and then was resurrected as a badass robot and delivered sweet payback. Most of the satirical elements in Robocop were directed at corporations.

Go watch the "you have 20 seconds to comply" part again.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#37

Post by flomo »

Intermernet wrote: post #25

Really? There were people who didn't understand that the movie was satirical? Even though it was made by Paul Verhoeven? I just lost some respect for Roger Ebert. I thought he was more perceptive than that.

I strongly suspect Ebert and the other critics were in on the joke. They knew if they played it straight and panned the movie, even more unwitting teenagers would pour into the theaters on opening weekend.

(At least, I had no idea the movie was satire until the opening scene started playing. The early internet reaction was mostly nerdrage from Heinlein fans.)

Edit: In retrospect, I was very familiar with Verhoeven's films, but somehow still bought into the hype that he may have 'sold out' until the movie started playing. This movie really had some great marketing/pr.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#38

Post by jff »

bradleyjg wrote: post #16
error54 wrote: post #3

I'm surprised the author never even mentions the book by Robert Heinlein. Granted the movie tells a different story than the book but they share the similarity in that on the surface they both preach of the virtues and nobility of war but upon closer inspection, we see that they're telling a different story entirely.

I don't know about that. Heinlein seems pretty keen on his notion of citizenship through military service, albeit perhaps as a means of preventing "unnecessary" wars rather than enabling them. Either way, it's a pretty terrible political philosophy. That aspect of serious advocacy is completely absent from the movie.

Not military, just service. Any kind of public service. As they said in the book, they'll have you count caterpillar hairs if there's nothing else to do--anyone can get franchise.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#39

Post by radley »

pothibo wrote: post #8

I watched Starship Troopers a few months back. One of the thing I loved the most about the movie is those TV segment where it just broadcast propaganda and always ends with: "Do you want to know more?" It remotely felt like when I read 1984 for some reason. Couldn't entirely tell why.

It was the coercive positive / negative spin they put into each "story" that was 1984-ish.

Re: Starship Troopers: one of the most misunderstood movies ever

#40

Post by mynameishere »

So, you take a famous sci-fi novel, completely change it, then use it's good name to make money and push your own politics. What exactly is misunderstood? You love money, you have a particular agenda, and you fuck over something else to achieve your personal goals. Other people are upset about this. Again: What is misunderstood?
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