Why the first Starship Troopers movie failed as a parody, a thread:...
Isaac Young@HariSel57511397
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Mar 14, 2025
~2 min read
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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.
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.
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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.
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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?
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Can we nail the Terran Federation for being cruel? I guess. But when you play off cruelty as a joke, you are undermining your own message. This isn't a dialogue about the brutal conditions for training soldiers in a futuristic setting. This is a gag, and it's hilarious.
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All right, what about a critique of comparison? Perhaps the enemies of the Terran Federation have a better system. Oh wait, no, they're bugs. I've seen people genuinely argue that the bugs are supposed to be sympathetic. But they're still bugs...
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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.
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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.
