Starship Troopers (1997)

Humans are the Bad Guys!

What tradition or genre is it in?
Starship troopers falls under the action, science fiction, and war genres. Critics and audiences alike found this film only to be cheesy scifi action flick with ridiculous amounts of gore and laughable dialogue, and dismissed it as so. However, what they failed to realize, was that it could also be considered a propaganda film for that future society. In this regard, it effectively portrays the society as the overlords would wish to portray it.

What are the features determining genre?
It is set in a near future where “Warp Travel”, and psychic mind control studies are being fielded. One of the characters even says “It may be a new era in human evolution.” Soldiers travel through space to fight on distant worlds. It also contains elements of the war drama, such as exploring the horrors of war and joining the fight despite one’s parent’s detest, that of the bildungsroman. The squad is made up of social stereotypes, such as the heavy, the naive solider, the naive soldier who thinks he’s a badass, and the typical leader character.The squad is also made up of racial stereotypes, such the Hispanic guy who acts like he’s Scarface (and a badass), the African guy with the heavy weapon, and the White soldier in the leading role (respectfully). Yet these are subverted from the norms of the genre, as the black soldier has the sniper rifle, rather than being the big, slow, heavy, "machine gun guy". The Latino is killed almost instantly after reciting “get some, get some” towards the bugs he is shooting, once again subverting our expectations as an audience.

What other work might it be connected to?
This movie is based off Robert Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers; however, the film has a lot of tweaks that may disappoint Henlein fans. It radically changes the characters, plot and even thematic intentions. Whereas Henlein’s novel was a about serious war drama, the film was a political satire.

Who made this? Why? What can we tell about its’ creators?
By using overexageration of plot elements, Paul Verhoeven made Starship Troopers as not only a parody of fascist society, but also a parody of US society.
Paul Vehoeven was born and raised in a Dutch city that was taken over by Nazi’s in WW2. Because there was a V2 missile base located near, his neighborhood was constantly bombed by the Allies. He recounted seeing “dead people everyday” and this influenced his later films, such as Robocop, and Starship Troopers excessive use of gore and violence as well as an anti-violence message.

How does it fit within the director’s other work?

1. Does it share significant narrative or thematic concerns?
2. Does it share particular visual or technical elements?

Starship Troopers is a Paul Verhoeven film. Verhoeven always associates himself and his movies, with controvesy, exploring topics such as facism, religion, gay rights, sexuality, and corruption (Starship Troopers, Spetters, The Fourth Man, Showgirls, Basic Instinct, Robocop, respectively). Starship Troopers is no different. It explores what our society would look like if we were fascist. It also makes us realize how similar we came to being such during point in our history like WW2.
What is the film’s theme?
According to Verhoeven himself, the theme is “War makes Fascists of us all.” But Ed Numeier (screenwriter), who worked closely with Verhoeven on the film, wrote it to be a parody of American Society itself, a social commentary on our mannerisms. It almost parallels what happened after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 (yet the film was made in 1996). It also parodies the media and how even in a democracy, we can look very similar to Fascists. Thus, it explores the way that this cataclysmic event, a war, can make fascists of us all.
Visually it uses extreme gore and nudity. Both are staple in Paul Verhoeven film, recalling the scene in Robocop where Murphy's limbs are blown off by shotguns, or when the Prototype service robot kills the company executive. His casual use of gore stems from his childhood in Nazi-Occupied Holland (which ill talk about later)

What is the target audience? How does it address its audience?

Starship Troopers has extreme nudity,
which is present in many Verhoeven
films.

Most people fall into one of three groups: Those who treat it as a shoot-em up and think it's a lot of fun, those who wanted an adoring, "Lord of the Rings"-style adaptation of Heinlein's novel, and those who see it as a message film, one that is very different from the message Heinlein intended with his book. What most reviewers who hated this film fail to realize is that this is not a film about a future society - it is meant to be a propaganda film produced by that future society. We don't really know exactly what the world looks like that produced this film, but we must visualize it from what we see here. Verhoeven is asking us to do the same to the world we see on our televisions - that what appears on the screen is what others want to believe, not what is. Verhoeven is also portraying a fascist society that is meant to be appealing - attractive people, patriotic themes; the message is that fascism is seductive, and that the world we see is mainly one of deception.