As much as the film Starship Troopers fill its scenes with spectacles, special effects and visual attractions, the movie provides a deeper political, social and even philosophical question to us. Whether individual sacrifices are necessary for the security of the entire society, whether this responsibility is required for everyone or just the ones serving in military? Although this film has been criticized as advocating fascism by some film critics , I think just because the ending is more hypothetical utopian and the portrayal of military rules and corporal punishment is highly empathized in the film, it doesn’t mean that this film is endorsing fascism. At some point, these rules and “methods of teaching morality” still exist within the current society and instead of glorifying war, the approach of this film is more concerned about the discussion of nationalism, military royalty and civic virtue.

— Yuanjing Shi

I’m glad that I watched Starship Troopers prior to reading Brian Crim’s essay that links the world of the Federation to a fascist utopia that moreover, to him, appears to be, “the logical outcome of economic globalization,” (17). Perhaps it was how my roommate framed to the movie to me (“so bad that it’s hilarious”) or the fact that it’s cast featured people I’d seen on Doogie Howser or Beverly Hills, 90210/ the whole “sooo” 90s aesthetic in general), but I laughed through the whole movie. In all honesty, I didn’t even think twice about drawing parallels to fascist societies or Nazism. It seemed harmless. However, Crim’s article made me reconsider. Was I too just being tricked by, “the faintness of Verhoeven’s critique of that society,” given the soap opera drama, bad acting, violence and sex? Was I too less critical of the Federation’s annihilation of the Arachnids because they were bugs? To both, the answer was yes. Crim goes on to explain that through the exploitation of  satire and pop culture, Star Troopers, “makes the globaltarian future attractive, familiar, and even desirable,” (24). It got me thinking, to what extent this exploitation was meant to meant the actual Federation appear more desirable to the audience as lifestyle? Or was it simply there to exploit the masses as to attract a larger audience and bring in the numbers at the box office? Furthermore, to what extent to do we think the message of the film is dangerous, if the audience is too distracted by the film or thinks its too laughable to actually pick up on it? Do its ways remain in our subconscious and began to shape our life choices without our knowing–or do we simply forget?

This film was eerily reminiscent of many aspects of America during the Bush/Iraq War era. From the enthusiasm for military service to the blind hatred of an enemy many people did not understand. All very reflective, which is interesting seeing as Starship Troopers came out years before what I just described occurred. This film was made pre-9/11 but still the way the earthlings react to the Bugs attacking their home was extremely similar to the way America reacted to the twin towers being taken down.Both immediately became frenzied as they did not expect the war to be taken to their home turf and were sent to war by their respective militaristic government. Truly eerie how life imitates art.

This film was eerily reminiscent of many aspects of America during the Bush/Iraq War era. From the enthusiasm for military service to the blind hatred of an enemy many people did not understand. All very reflective, which is interesting seeing as Starship Troopers came out years before what I just described occurred. This film was made pre-9/11 but still the way the earthlings react to the Bugs attacking their home was extremely similar to the way America reacted to the twin towers being taken down.Both immediately became frenzied as they did not expect the war to be taken to their home turf and were sent to war by their respective militaristic government. Truly eerie how life imitates art.

In “A World That Works”, Brian E. Crim discusses the depiction of fascism and communism in the 1997 film Starship Troopers. Crim compares the world created by Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier as Nazi-ist, fascist to the point of satire. The question that remains throughout the film is, due to the extreme nature of the Federation, is the film’s intention to be satirical? Crim writes, “Neumeier believes fascism is “in our biology,” an internal urge every human being must overcome. “Fascism is around every corner,” he warns us, “so watch out”.” (pg. 1) On his affinity for the Nazi-inspired set design, Neumeier explains, “The reason for all the German uniforms and everything is because Germans made the best-looking stuff…” In continuing with the concept of fascism, Verhoeven and Neumeier recognized that fascist nations tend to define themselves by defining their enemy. Throughout Starship Troopers, there is an underlying idea that without their enemy- the Bugs-, the Federation lacks identity.

While the extremist nature of the film is borderline ridiculous and laughably radical, one must admit that the filmmakers did their homework. They created a questionable world that can either be taken seriously or seen as a satire- it’s up to the audience. They didn’t ask us to side with the Federation. In fact, during the film, one biologist in the Federation seems to almost admire these Bugs. Verhoeven and Neumeier are unapologetic, to say the least; in their eyes, the extremism was necessary for a “world that works”.

The King article was really interesting when thinking about the effects of/connection between 9/11 in American cinema. He makes the point that there is a blurring boundary between media and film that results in filmmaking becoming more realistic and news becoming more sensationalized. King emphasizes the role of visual spectacle in cinema and the 9/11 attacks saying that audiences have already seen images of American destruction in film and the potential for such optics was probably considered in the attacks. He uses the term ‘fantasy of destruction’ to describe the cinematic trope that destruction leads to opportunity for rebirth and improvement.

Post 9/11 cinema seems to be concerned with the perceived metaphorical decline of the nation and a desire for it to be good again. There are common depictions of a post-industrial lack of opportunity after war. In the representation of 9/11, there is the trope of the soldier returning from war and an apparent gap between America and ‘over there.’

All these ideas are interesting to consider after watching Starship Troopers and its satire of glorified expansionism and fascist allegory. As we talked about in lecture, the film presents the ideas of lack of individual among the masses, mocks the sci-fi genre norm of a future of white affluence, and a critique of media as a substitute for reality.

Starship Troopers was a really interesting film. I hadn’t seen it before nor was I familiar with the plot and references throughout. Brian Crim’s article was really interesting as it made sense of Verhoeven’s aesthetic and thematic approach. I thought it was particularly interesting to hear what Verhoeven’s purpose was in including certain imagery and cultural reference. For example, as Brian Crim points out in his article “A World That Works”, the film’s “blatant incorporation of Nazi imagery sparked a torrent of criticism from mainstream reviewers and scholars alike” (19). Verhoeven was criticized for his appropriation of Nazi aesthetic without ackownledging the historical context. Yet Verhoeven is insistent that the film “is about the United States – American politics now, not the Third Reich” (20). But he also admits that he uses Nazi influences and in doing so he is not criticizing the society of Starship Troopers. In fact Verhoeven tries to remain judgementless and instead says that it is up to the viewer to decide if this society is something they would want. After all, Crim’s article opens with a quote by Verhoeven saying ” The issue raised in the film is the following: is a temporary dictatorship allowable when such an outside threat presents itself? The film goes a step further and asks the audience: do you want this?” (17). Ultimately, Starship Troopers did play with the bounds of dictatorship, millenarianism and fascism in a thought provoking way. I feel that Verhoeven succeeded in not passing an overt judgement on the society he portrays but he does poke holes in it and by virtue reveals some of its shortcomings.

Honestly the readings this week kind of blew my mind. I’m a huge fan of sci-fi movies, probably my most watched channel back home, but I guess I never really gave a thought as to whether or not these movies were trying to convey a message. While I acknowledged the obvious message in movies such as District 9 and Starship Troopers that there is an obvious “other” who is the enemy, and as an audience we are supposed to sympathize with them, but the fact that they are rooted in reality was shocking to me. Now that I think about it, District 9 is clearly supposed to be about apartheid and Starship troopers is eerily like the way fascist societies function, and I guess it took reading it on paper to really have it hit me. This fact makes me agree much more with the King reading than I originally thought it would. At first I thought it was ridiculous to suggest that things such as movies could in any way affect the way people thought about such a world-changing event, but now I see I was wrong. Since movies began they’ve addressed world disasters and issues so cleverly, we’ve been exposed to abstract representations of reality for so long that sometimes when we face a contemporary disaster, the gravity of the situation becomes affected by how we’ve been told the world is since we were kids. King mentions “the desire for immediacy” that people have whenever something of import happens, because they need to know what happened, feel like they need to see it for themselves. I think this is largely due to the cinema, not only because people always want to dive into the stories and find out what happens next, but because in these movies people always have access to information. Anytime something happens in a movie the main character always makes it their job to immediately retrieve any information they can on the subject and they almost always get it immediately. Maybe this interpretation is a bit far-fetched, but I think it’s largely possible that our need for information comes from an extreme exposure to characteristics of people in movies, and is a result of us mimicking their behaviors, almost like adopting mannerisms of friends.