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Starship Troopers: One of the Most Misunderstood Movies Ever
The Atlantic ^
| November 7, 2013
| Calum Marsh
Posted on 12/02/2014 7:02:56 AM PST by C19fan
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To: F15Eagle
If anyone missed that theme is seriously retarded.
To: AceMineral
I haven’t read it in decades but I remember it as being an interesting serious tome about war and military presence. IIRC I think one of the take-aways I have is that the book proposed voting rights only, or in heavier merit for veterans.
22
posted on
12/02/2014 7:22:19 AM PST
by
Chickensoup
(Leftist totalitarian fascism is on the move.)
To: Captain Peter Blood
Yep.
The movie aims as the above author stated, as a satire, which mostly misses the mark of Robert’s book.
Heinlein’s books, read in the order in which they were authored, shows an incredible range of evolution in the themes he was trying to play with. His fiction is rife with philosophy and investigations into the corners of human interaction.
Doesn’t mean everything he wrote was pure gold, but every bit of it was interesting for what it was...
23
posted on
12/02/2014 7:28:39 AM PST
by
Dead Corpse
(A Psalm in napalm...)
To: C19fan
The movie is a pale impostor compared to the book. The director completely missed the philosophical point of a society that requires a level of dedication and service to become a citizen. In the book, the government isn't totalitarian militarism, it's a free society with a requirement of service in exchange for the rights of citizenship. Punishment is harsh by our standards, but short and painful, in order to teach. The director completely messed up the society Heinlein envisioned.
24
posted on
12/02/2014 7:30:20 AM PST
by
The_Victor
(If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
To: The_Victor
25
posted on
12/02/2014 7:35:09 AM PST
by
USNBandit
(sarcasm engaged at all times)
To: C19fan
Pretty sure no one noticed anything but the young Jewess Dina Meyer and Jewess (by conversion) Denise Richards.
26
posted on
12/02/2014 7:36:45 AM PST
by
Jewbacca
(The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
To: Captain Peter Blood
Agree with you wholeheartedly. While I enjoyed the movie, it was a silly satire about fascist militarism and a war with a bug planet. — It is a fun visual movie. However, it is a movie which marginalizes some great philosophical ideas the author had on the preservation and protection of freedom-loving republics and the causes of their assorted downfalls.
I finally got around to reading the book fairly recently and it is a very prescient commentary on the self destruction of the various republics and Heinlein (USNA (1907?) graduate). The political/philosophical discussions during the protagonist’s education are very thought provoking. And, there is actually very little discussion of the bug planet.
To: C19fan
The book was great but the movie was garbage except for the hot women.
28
posted on
12/02/2014 7:41:58 AM PST
by
Bayan
To: C19fan
Dumb movie. Infantry using rifles to go after swarms of oversized insects. The book had them lobbing small nukes. I’d say the book’s parallel with reality was with Iwo Jima’s flamethrowers.
29
posted on
12/02/2014 7:43:25 AM PST
by
Zhang Fei
(Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
To: Jewbacca
Worst part of the movie, while we get to see a flat Dina Meyers in the co-ed showers, we never get see an amble Denise Richards
30
posted on
12/02/2014 7:49:55 AM PST
by
qam1
(There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
To: Jewbacca
Jewess shmooess. Hot chicks by birth.
31
posted on
12/02/2014 7:52:24 AM PST
by
steve8714
("Burn it down for Michael Brown??")
To: C19fan
To: E. Pluribus Unum
33
posted on
12/02/2014 7:56:08 AM PST
by
cport
(How can political capital be spent on a bunch of ingrates)
To: ImJustAnotherOkie
That was my favorite scene....the unisex showers.
Young military men taking showers with beautiful, naked young women.
If the U.S. military allowed men to share the showers with beautiful, young female military recruits, the lines of men at recruiting stations across the country would be a mile long.
34
posted on
12/02/2014 7:58:50 AM PST
by
july4thfreedomfoundation
(Amnesty is Obama's Way of Saying "FU" to all those who voted on November 4th)
To: C19fan
I love the movie. It's clearly a smirking satire at points (the bug-stomping newsreel), mixed with righteous political pontificating ("Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence doesn't solve anything, is wishful thinking at its worst; people who forget that always die."), hot chicks, great special effects, fantastic battle scenes. Visually exciting, fun dialog, good characters, action action action. What's not to love?
I knew for a long time that Heinlein fans HATED the movie, so I finally got around to reading it. Here comes the heresy - the movie was much more entertaining than the book. The book was endless pontification with rather mundane battle scenes and weak characters. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" was a far far better Heinlein book that covered much of the same political ground.
The one thing that has always bothered me about the movie though is the absolutely sub-standard weaponry the humans carried. If you have to shoot something a few hundred times to bring it down, you very obviously need a more powerful weapon. You're in the freaking future, for godsakes! Invent something that stops them in one shot.
35
posted on
12/02/2014 8:02:25 AM PST
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: july4thfreedomfoundation
Did not misunderstand Paul Verhoeven took the NAME of a great book and made a bad movie.
36
posted on
12/02/2014 8:02:27 AM PST
by
Bidimus1
To: Jewbacca
37
posted on
12/02/2014 8:03:22 AM PST
by
Lurker
(Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.d)
To: steve8714
As a young man, even my fantasies were kosher.
38
posted on
12/02/2014 8:06:04 AM PST
by
Jewbacca
(The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
To: july4thfreedomfoundation
I can only say that Johnny Rico
Chose the wrong girl. The movie was a huge disapointment to those who had read the book.
39
posted on
12/02/2014 8:09:40 AM PST
by
tet68
( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
To: C19fan
Still looking for the Bayer Zyklon B ad, too...
40
posted on
12/02/2014 8:12:12 AM PST
by
W.
(If government could truly create jobs communism would have worked the first time it was implemented.)
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