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Stormship_troopers

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Part of a series on Starship Troopers. [View Related Entries]


About

Starship Troopers Effective Satire Discourse refers to a viral debate that took place on X / Twitter in February 2024. After X user @HariSel57511397 made a post criticizing the 1997 film Starship Troopers (which is based on a 1959 book) for "failing" as an effective parody, fans of the film shared their opinions and memes about what made the film an effective anti-fascist satire.

Origin

The film Starship Troopers, directed by Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, was first released in 1997, roughly 40 years after American writer Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel of the same name. The movie is set in the 23rd century and follows teenager Johnny Rico and his friends as they serve in the military of the United Citizen Federation to fight a war with a bug-like alien species.

The film was initially criticized by some reviewers who interpreted the movie as an endorsement of fascism,[7] however, the film has since gathered a cult following and is now typically viewed by many as a satire of fascism and authoritarian governance, as intended by its director who told The Guardian[8] in a 2018 interview:

Robert Heinlein’s original 1959 science-fiction novel was militaristic, if not fascistic. So I decided to make a movie about fascists who aren’t aware of their fascism … I thought Neil Patrick Harris arriving on the set in an SS uniform might clear it up.

A trailer[1] for the film can be seen below.

On February 15th, 2024, X[2] user @HariSel57511397 posted a thread criticizing the film and saying it "failed as a parody." The thread lists various reasons for this perceived failure, including the protagonists being too handsome and the invading bugs being impossible to empathize with. The post gathered over 3,000 likes and 2,000 quote tweets (seen below).

Isaac Young @HariSel57511397 Why the first Starship Troopers movie failed as a parody, a thread: Watching the movie, it was clear the director was aiming for a campy, over-the-top depiction of the Terran Federation. Perhaps not an outright mockery, but certainly a drastic departure from the serious novel. FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TOTAL RECALL AND BASIC INSTINCT PAUL VERHOEVEN FELM STARSHIP ROOPERS Aff INCLUDES: Additional Scenes, Filmmakers' Commentary, and Behind-the-Scenes Footage. "Astonishing energy and bold, exuberant humor" -Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL 5:05 PM. Feb 15, 2024 6M Views
Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 First, let's tackle a writing pitfall that irks Leftists to this day. If you make your characters naturally handsome, fit, and well-groomed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to properly mock them. Beauty is self- evident, and all the characters in ST are good looking. 250 502 110 2.4K 194 Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 This extends to the overall Terran Federation as well. We see clean, beautiful streets. Life seems good for Rico in his polite high school. This is a far cry from the crime ridden and drug addicted cities we know today. Where are the homeless encampments, the ghettos? 1M 2.1K 口企 799K 口1
Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 THIS is not a face I can relate to, sympathize for, or even have a dialogue with. This screams at me to kill it with fire. Even IF I didn't want to kill this thing, I want to be in orbit, far away from this creature. It's horrific, and only a contrarian can argue against that. 734 1.6K 215 5.1K 162 Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 The only thing you can really critique about the Terran Federation is the propaganda and incompetence. But when everything is so slapstick, it fails at landing a serious point. These guys are badasses in a funny movie, not a warning about the dangers of fascism. ₁7.6M 2.7K 口企 ₁462K 口企

Online Reactions

Over the following days and hours, @HariSel57511397's thread gathered considerable criticism, with many fans of the film and others accusing the user of falling for the same kind of fascist propaganda the film attempts to satirize.

For example, on February 16th, 2024, X[3] user @PetreRaleigh wrote, "It's killing me that the argument of this thread about how Starship Troopers fails as a parody of fascism is just 'I myself am a fascist,'" gathering over 20,000 likes in three days (seen below, left).

Also on February 16th, X[4] user @willmenaker wrote, "Re: that dog-brained thread about Starship Troopers, I'll just share my favorite detail about the movie which is that it's made clear in a subtle but unmistakable way that humanity is BADLY losing the bug war, conscripting literal children by the end of it." The post gathered over 35,000 likes in three days (seen below, right).

MUS Peter Raleigh @PetreRaleigh It's killing me that the argument of this thread about how Starship Troopers fails as a parody of fascism is just "I myself am a fascist" Isaac Young @HariSel57511397 Follow First, let's tackle a writing pitfall that irks Leftists to this day. If you make your characters naturally handsome, fit, and well-groomed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to properly mock them. Beauty is self-evident, and all the characters in ST are good looking. 12:19 PM. Feb 16, 2024 1.3M Views :
Will Menaker @willmenaker Re: that dog-brained thread about Starship Troopers, I'll just share my favorite detail about the movie which is that it's made clear in a subtle but unmistakable way that humanity is BADLY losing the bug war, conscripting literal children by the end of it FEL 1:33 PM. Feb 16, 2024 3.6M Views 19/ :

However, various X users also defended @HariSel57511397's reading of the film. For example, X[5] user @SaladBarFan criticized leftist fans and their supposedly sympathetic view of the bugs in a February 16th post that gathered over 6,000 likes in three days (seen below, left). X[6] user @BigBazNorfFC posted a midwit meme about the catchphrase "the only good bug is a dead bug," on February 17th (seen below, right).

RE-OPEN THE SIZZLERS @SaladBarFan "I would have used my superior intellect to reason with the bugs as we listened to Imagine by John Lennon and swapped our favorite Paul Krugman blog posts" 10:07 PM. Feb 16, 2024 370.3K Views :
Manlet King + @TheManlet_King. Feb 17 Exactly 2 kinds of people online right now: 50 238 Captain Baz @BigBazNorfFC THE ONLY GOOD BUG IS A DEAD BUG Very Dull V 60 70 VI 3.2K [V Dull 80 90 4:56 PM. Feb 17, 2024 6,990 Views 30K III Normal 100 IQ Score II Bright ₁994K AKSHUALLY Starship Troopers is a satirical skewering of the jingoism of the military-industrial complex while lampooning the xenophobia of right-wing nationalists and... 110 120 口企 THE ONLY GOOD BUG IS A DEAD BUG I Very Bright : 130 140 150

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Starship Troopers Effective Satire Discourse on Twitter / X.

Starship Troopers Effective Satire Discourse

Part of a series on Starship Troopers. [View Related Entries]

Updated Feb 19, 2024 at 03:25PM EST by Zach.

Added Feb 19, 2024 at 04:11AM EST by sakshi.

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About

Starship Troopers Effective Satire Discourse refers to a viral debate that took place on X / Twitter in February 2024. After X user @HariSel57511397 made a post criticizing the 1997 film Starship Troopers (which is based on a 1959 book) for "failing" as an effective parody, fans of the film shared their opinions and memes about what made the film an effective anti-fascist satire.

Origin

The film Starship Troopers, directed by Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, was first released in 1997, roughly 40 years after American writer Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel of the same name. The movie is set in the 23rd century and follows teenager Johnny Rico and his friends as they serve in the military of the United Citizen Federation to fight a war with a bug-like alien species.

The film was initially criticized by some reviewers who interpreted the movie as an endorsement of fascism,[7] however, the film has since gathered a cult following and is now typically viewed by many as a satire of fascism and authoritarian governance, as intended by its director who told The Guardian[8] in a 2018 interview:

Robert Heinlein’s original 1959 science-fiction novel was militaristic, if not fascistic. So I decided to make a movie about fascists who aren’t aware of their fascism … I thought Neil Patrick Harris arriving on the set in an SS uniform might clear it up.

A trailer[1] for the film can be seen below.



On February 15th, 2024, X[2] user @HariSel57511397 posted a thread criticizing the film and saying it "failed as a parody." The thread lists various reasons for this perceived failure, including the protagonists being too handsome and the invading bugs being impossible to empathize with. The post gathered over 3,000 likes and 2,000 quote tweets (seen below).


Isaac Young @HariSel57511397 Why the first Starship Troopers movie failed as a parody, a thread: Watching the movie, it was clear the director was aiming for a campy, over-the-top depiction of the Terran Federation. Perhaps not an outright mockery, but certainly a drastic departure from the serious novel. FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TOTAL RECALL AND BASIC INSTINCT PAUL VERHOEVEN FELM STARSHIP ROOPERS Aff INCLUDES: Additional Scenes, Filmmakers' Commentary, and Behind-the-Scenes Footage. "Astonishing energy and bold, exuberant humor" -Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL 5:05 PM. Feb 15, 2024 6M Views Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 First, let's tackle a writing pitfall that irks Leftists to this day. If you make your characters naturally handsome, fit, and well-groomed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to properly mock them. Beauty is self- evident, and all the characters in ST are good looking. 250 502 110 2.4K 194 Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 This extends to the overall Terran Federation as well. We see clean, beautiful streets. Life seems good for Rico in his polite high school. This is a far cry from the crime ridden and drug addicted cities we know today. Where are the homeless encampments, the ghettos? 1M 2.1K 口企 799K 口1 Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 THIS is not a face I can relate to, sympathize for, or even have a dialogue with. This screams at me to kill it with fire. Even IF I didn't want to kill this thing, I want to be in orbit, far away from this creature. It's horrific, and only a contrarian can argue against that. 734 1.6K 215 5.1K 162 Isaac Young @HariSel57511397. Feb 15 The only thing you can really critique about the Terran Federation is the propaganda and incompetence. But when everything is so slapstick, it fails at landing a serious point. These guys are badasses in a funny movie, not a warning about the dangers of fascism. ₁7.6M 2.7K 口企 ₁462K 口企

Online Reactions

Over the following days and hours, @HariSel57511397's thread gathered considerable criticism, with many fans of the film and others accusing the user of falling for the same kind of fascist propaganda the film attempts to satirize.

For example, on February 16th, 2024, X[3] user @PetreRaleigh wrote, "It's killing me that the argument of this thread about how Starship Troopers fails as a parody of fascism is just 'I myself am a fascist,'" gathering over 20,000 likes in three days (seen below, left).

Also on February 16th, X[4] user @willmenaker wrote, "Re: that dog-brained thread about Starship Troopers, I'll just share my favorite detail about the movie which is that it's made clear in a subtle but unmistakable way that humanity is BADLY losing the bug war, conscripting literal children by the end of it." The post gathered over 35,000 likes in three days (seen below, right).


MUS Peter Raleigh @PetreRaleigh It's killing me that the argument of this thread about how Starship Troopers fails as a parody of fascism is just "I myself am a fascist" Isaac Young @HariSel57511397 Follow First, let's tackle a writing pitfall that irks Leftists to this day. If you make your characters naturally handsome, fit, and well-groomed, then it becomes increasingly difficult to properly mock them. Beauty is self-evident, and all the characters in ST are good looking. 12:19 PM. Feb 16, 2024 1.3M Views : Will Menaker @willmenaker Re: that dog-brained thread about Starship Troopers, I'll just share my favorite detail about the movie which is that it's made clear in a subtle but unmistakable way that humanity is BADLY losing the bug war, conscripting literal children by the end of it FEL 1:33 PM. Feb 16, 2024 3.6M Views 19/ :

However, various X users also defended @HariSel57511397's reading of the film. For example, X[5] user @SaladBarFan criticized leftist fans and their supposedly sympathetic view of the bugs in a February 16th post that gathered over 6,000 likes in three days (seen below, left). X[6] user @BigBazNorfFC posted a midwit meme about the catchphrase "the only good bug is a dead bug," on February 17th (seen below, right).


RE-OPEN THE SIZZLERS @SaladBarFan "I would have used my superior intellect to reason with the bugs as we listened to Imagine by John Lennon and swapped our favorite Paul Krugman blog posts" 10:07 PM. Feb 16, 2024 370.3K Views : Manlet King + @TheManlet_King. Feb 17 Exactly 2 kinds of people online right now: 50 238 Captain Baz @BigBazNorfFC THE ONLY GOOD BUG IS A DEAD BUG Very Dull V 60 70 VI 3.2K [V Dull 80 90 4:56 PM. Feb 17, 2024 6,990 Views 30K III Normal 100 IQ Score II Bright ₁994K AKSHUALLY Starship Troopers is a satirical skewering of the jingoism of the military-industrial complex while lampooning the xenophobia of right-wing nationalists and... 110 120 口企 THE ONLY GOOD BUG IS A DEAD BUG I Very Bright : 130 140 150

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References

Recent Videos 1 total

Recent Images 14 total


Top Comments

Mothman
Mothman

Media literacy is dead. "They're too handsome and we don't see the ghettos-" were you even LISTENING to what was being said? "Only citizens can vote" "Hey kids you wanna see a gun?" "Oh I joined the armed forces so I could start a family.", and this is NORMALIZED.

I read the book in middle school and watched the movie after for a book report for Boyscouts, and even then it struck me as odd how different the two tellings of the same story were. Now, I fully understand that the movie was satire, but the book was not.

The original author was conservative and held militaristic views. The bugs were stand in for communists, and his intentions was to make the story a coming of age Journey for Johnny Rico. It described the horrors of war and traumatic events in detail, but made an argument that the fighting was necessary , and that a "soft" society would fall to a threat that large.

+76
wisehowl_the_2nd
wisehowl_the_2nd

Starship Trooper's ('97) message is simply that Garfield "you are not immune to propaganda" meme and somehow folks still lack the media literacy whilst proving the movie's point.

It's a great action flick and can certainly be enjoyed just as such, but to boldly claim that the anti-fascist elements aren't there or to suggest it deserves engagement with the setting without irony is to prove the movie's point that you too can willingly and joyously be turned into a goose-steppin' soldier of a regime.

+75

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