MovieChat Forums > Starship Troopers (1997) Discussion > Subtle-ish satire on racism...?

Subtle-ish satire on racism...?

posted 8 years ago by dustypistol
3 replies | jump to latest

Feel free to skip over the blue part if you already enjoyed the satirical aspects of this film... 

O.K., first of all, I should begin by saying that I think this whole movie is way better when viewed through a lens noticing all the satire and tongue-in-cheek attitude than as a simple, dumb shoot-em-up alien invasion flick, and most (or all) of the "plot-holes" that people are complaining about were actually intentional. I believe that:

A. We are the alien invaders in this film - as Carmen says in class, "humans invented space travel" - the bugs DID NOT destroy Buenos Aires, and they DO NOT travel to Earth. Period. As the reporter says, the humans are the ones on the attack.
B. There's a reason that the combat training, weapons + ammo, and battle strategies in this movie conspicously SUCK at dealing with the "bug threat" (often seen as a major plot hole): people who wish for societal power (citizenship) are intentionally being sent to their deaths. Obviously, if we wanted to just kill all the bugs, we wouldn't be sending a bunch of kids with barely any competent training/weapons.
C. The movie is making us think "wow - that's dumb" often, intentionally, in the way that a lot of great sci-fi does - if the viewer's intelligent enough to realize it's a satire of OUR OWN, CURRENT WORLD AND CULTURE, that is. Too bad IMO that a lot of / most people may have missed this rather brilliant aspect of the movie. It does make S.T. MUCH more entertaining and a better movie overall.

So, then, there it is: WE ARE THE ALIENS -- AND THE ACTIVE THREAT in this cute sci-fi film that works on two levels.

Sorry! After seeing Starship T. for the first time last night (and liking it a lot) and reading the threads today, I had to get that out. That aside,

I found the 90's pop music moments, cheesy high-school TV drama opening scenes and cultural references as one of the signs that we are supposed to see this movie as a commentary on our own culture. That said, I definitely was interested by the way this movie treated race. Two scenes in particular struck me.
1.) The scene in which Rico is about to get whipped, and he's tied up. The whip is then handed to a black soldier, and the whipping is shot from similar angles as the famous whipping scene in "Roots" - but with the men's races traded between black + white. Subversive #1 :)
2.) The scene in which Dizzy is talking to Rico and she asks him to dance (already a reversal of old-fashioned gender roles, as is much of the film - the men + women play co-ed basketball game, where Dizzy smacks Rico and yells at him to "get into the game"; women are often in power; Dizzy is on top & assertive when she & Rico hook up; the black female soldier is a mega-bad-ass & punches another character in the face). She then asks a black dude to dance & he accepts as Rico watches jealousy... AND ACE PLAYS DIXIELAND on the fiddle (a song from the South)... Subversive #2 :)

Ok, ok, tl;dr: Starship Troopers is subversive in more ways than one, and in subtle ways throughout the film. I liked this movie way more than I expected to... if anyone has any other moments they noticed, fill me in! 

[–] Fearnotthezone 8 years ago

If I may get your attention to the mother and children squashing bugs while mother laughs maniacally in the film: that is a satire to fascism but racism and fascism can go hand in hand

[–] criztu 8 years ago

congrats on realizing that Starship Troopers is subversive, however, note that it is not a movie against racism only, but against what's called Social Dialectics - the method through which the Oppressing class rules over the Exploited class. google "thesis antithesis synthesis"; here's more moments for you:

Skymarshal Dienes is replaced by Skymarshal Meru - a black woman. Skymarshal means officer of the highest rank controlling the "skies" above.

The four friends tattoos spell Death From Above: it is the Skymarshals who are systematically killing these kids - civilians who want to become citizens and exercise power - from above.

The uniforms of the human army closely resembles the Nazi uniforms, especially Carl's army. On the walls there are posters of United Citizens Federation, there's a stylized soldier's head, which has a shade under the nose, like Hitler - in the scene where Rico and Zander fight.
There's also a poster of the MI, which resembles a stylized bug with wings stretched, in the same scene. Also, the insignia of MI features a stylized arachnid (spider) over stretched wings - even though the MI are not air corps.
Sergeant (from French 'serjant' - servant) Zim's cap features a nice G in a circle over a square at 45 angle, which closely resembles freemason symbol of square and compass.

The propaganda videos show the army giving weapons to kids to play. Rico and his friends - referred to as "a bunch of MI kids" by the reporter, in the scene immediately after the propaganda video with kids squashing bugs, doing their part - are given weapons and battleships by the Skymarshals, and are sent to their death, on a planet 2000 light years away from Earth.

The mantra taught to Rico in school is "a citizen accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the Body Politic, defending it with his life".
Body Politic are the Skymarshals, and Rico & co. are dying to perpetuate the Skymarshals' power over the society

After Rico loses Dizzy, he makes a quantum leap, a fundamental step towards a paradigm opposite to the SKymarshals' paradigm: A citizen has the courage to make the safety of the Human Race his personal responsibility.

As Rico and Carl apply for UCF service, the guy handing them the papers, who has a prosthetic hand and no legs, tells them -The army made me the man that I am today.

[–] liverpool26 8 years ago

I didn't really see it as satire on racism it was certainly satire of the book that is very pro military rule. I just seen it as in the future race and sex didn't matter it was the human race vs everything else, I also noticed no mention of religions something else that divides people into different groups.

As for the bugs a few people say the asteroid wasn't sent by the bugs but thats debatable but the bugs DID colonies multiple planets that part certainly wasn't propaganda. Johhny is injured on klendathu the bugs home planet and dizzy is killed on planet P so we are shown the bugs have at least two planets in the movie (and many more in the book and sequels).