Sci-Fi Escapism
Its amazing what a good nights sleep can do. Yesterday I was feeling bleah on all sorts of levels. I realize now that it was mostly because the previous night was spent tossing and turning in bed trying to find that comfortable spot in the bed and in my mind. I realize during the day yesterday that I had to take a break from everything and just sit back and relax on the couch and watch a movie. No blogs, no news, no podcasting, just some good old fashioned mental masturbation.
After Brad made a delicious dinner of vegetarian shepherds pie we settled in to watch one of the many movies occupying our TiVo. The choices were many but we settled on Starship Troopers. I had heard the movie was a completely retarded and it sounded deliciously idiotic. After all the director, Paul Verhoeven, brought us the classics Basic Instinct and Showgirls so this movie was bound to be a hit with a couple of 'mos. Furthermore how deep could a movie with the never quite actualized Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards be?
Most entertaining indeed.
In the future earth is controlled by a fascist military government where one is only a citizen after serving in the military because only those who put themselves between the state and the desolation of war are the ones who truly love the republic.
Light years away on the opposite side of the galaxy a non-human, bug-like race exists and apparently cause a threat to humanity although that threat is unclear.
Meteor hits earth, destroys Buenos Aries. Bugs are blamed for hurdling the meteor at earth although the connection is loose at best. Humans launch a full out assault on the bugs to exterminate them for the good of humanity.
Bugs turn out to be more sophisticated than humans thought. Military intelligence turned out to be faulty. WOOPS. 300,000 humans die in the first attempt to invade and exterminate bugs from one of their planets.
Commercials shown that paint war as something great. For example: Commercials of kids stomping on bugs while mother watches with maniacal glee at the children stomping on madagascar hissing roaches. For example: Commercials showing how civilians can kill the bugs quickly in the event of an infestation.
Some characters in the movie argue that perhaps the bugs have a collective consciousness and that we should try and understand them in our efforts to defeat them. Notion is quickly shot down and state scientists insists the bugs are just evildoers pests and must be exterminated for the good of humanity.
Main character is a soulless youth who joins the military for all the wrong reasons, never has an original thought in his head, and follows orders from his superiors and female love interests with the alacrity of a puppy dog. He quickly moves up the ranks although he lacks any kind of talent except for the fact that everyone likes him.
Lieutenant / former high school teacher of the main characters states in the beginning of the movie that the social scientists of the twentieth century were responsible for the downfall of mankind and the military is the saving grace of humanity. Also states that the only way any issue truly gets solved is through violence.
It was nice to escape for a night.
Want to learn more about this utopian vision of the future? Read the wiki for Starship Troopers here.
After Brad made a delicious dinner of vegetarian shepherds pie we settled in to watch one of the many movies occupying our TiVo. The choices were many but we settled on Starship Troopers. I had heard the movie was a completely retarded and it sounded deliciously idiotic. After all the director, Paul Verhoeven, brought us the classics Basic Instinct and Showgirls so this movie was bound to be a hit with a couple of 'mos. Furthermore how deep could a movie with the never quite actualized Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards be?
Most entertaining indeed.
It was nice to escape for a night.
Want to learn more about this utopian vision of the future? Read the wiki for Starship Troopers here.
posted by Adam at 12:03 PM
18 Comments:
Wow Adam, doesn't sound like that movie took your mind off of things. I remember watching the movie in the theater and walking away wondering why I wanted to waste my money on that movie...my partner walked way wishing there was more of the shower scene and Casper's nakedness. Leave it to you to walk away from it comparing it to present politics.... LOL Do me a favor and don't go see "X-Men3", you might walk away thinking how the word Mutant replaced the word gay and the over all message of the movie was how the government and society want to make gay people like the rest of the world...wipe us out entirely. You so Wacky Andy...ooops I mean Adam.
What are you talking about? I was just summarizing the movie.
Now that you mention it Bruce...there seem to be SOME similarities but only slightly. Jeez Bruce don't you like ANYTHING?
LOL....you are HILarious. Must have been my over-worked imagination to see such an obivious summary and turn it into somthing it wasn't but entertainment. Please excuse me Mr. Adam "I Love Everything", "The Birds are Singing" Krebs ;) LOL Man do I feel stupid.
The director's commentary on that disk is really good too. He takes great potshots at the American audiences that took him for promoting facism rather than attacking facism. Mr Verhoeven suffers himself no fools.
And while we are pointing out the movie's strengths, I would like to mention that this was Denise Richard's best contribution to the arts.
I liked Starship Troopers. Although I never really liked Denise Richards, I like Casper enough to give his reality show, "I Married A Princess" a chance.
I'm a huge Verhoeven fan. He makes amazing satire and has a great ability to create entire worlds and alternate realities.
This isn't limited to his sci-fi films like RoboCop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers. It is also blatantly apparent in Showgirls and Basic Instinct.
What I love about him as a director is that he works a totally different tonal level than his actors. They're playing straight because they don't even know that a joke is being told. He is doing everything in his power to convey the absurdity of the story.
Starship is such a great example of that--I'll never forget seeing it in a packed theater in Bozeman Montana and just watching how this film incited the same nationalism (or however that translates to sci-fi) against which it was railing.
If you've got another mental masturbation day in the not-too-distant future, check out RoboCop again.
Oh MY GOD....I had forgotten about "I Married a Princess". I saw that not to long ago, some network was having a marathon of that show on a saturday afternoon and I spent the whole day watching it....and I hate reality tv.
Maybe I'll have to check this out. All I remember is that we rented the second one once with friends, and I was asleep within minutes because of boredom. The future sounds bright. :)
I must admit that I liked this far more than I ever expected too - well, and that shower scene didn't hurt either
Read the book the movie is based on. The commentary on society is much more chilling. Of course, not as many good shower scenes, but whatever...
interesting Adam,
my friend told me that starship troopers is actually based on some book, about really really right wing politics or something, although the ending of the movie twisted around.
WOW so what type of scientist are you? Are there any other gay scientists in existence? Sometimes I think im one of the only ones!
annonymous reader - age 23
Gay scientists....OMG!!!! Is that like asking if there are any gay people in retail? I thought all geeks were gay. Maybe they are just metrogeeksual that it seems that way :)
Dear anonymous reader - age 23. I'd be more than happy to talk more alas in your anonymity I have no way of contacting via email or instant messenger. You can find my email address in the blog sidebar. Cheers!
I is think we have plenty of gay scientist in this world, thank you!
Miles introduced me to this film and I think it's an awesome commentary on facism. I never saw it originally because of the horrible reviews. Then I found out most people had just missed the point.
Cheesy acting, cheesy plot, cheese cheese cheese. The movie is meant to show you how entirely brainwashing and awful a militaristic society like that can be. I think the whole film is more of a dark comedy than anything.
AWESOME BLOG!!!
I love your profile image!
How does one make vegetarian shepherd pie?
Could it be called sheepish pie?
When I saw this film long ago, I turned off the film in disgust, then my boyfriend had me rewatch it. I was much more impressed.
Being somewhat of an action nut, I am willing to accept a certain level of foolishness, but the only saving grace in that movie was Casper's behind in the shower scene. Had the characterizations been less flat, I might have accepted this movie as more than the unbuttered popcorn it was worth.
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