Badness is Heavy-Handed (Part One)
Topic: The Box Office
Here’s another well-qualified candidate for the Worst Movies Ever list: Starship Troopers (1997), director Paul Verhoeven’s desecration of Robert Heinlein’s classic and controversial science fiction novel.
First, some background: The novel, Starship Troopers, was published in 1959, attracting both praise for its portrayal of future war and condemnation for its supposedly fascist sympathies. The thing that drove Heinlein’s leftie critics up the wall was the novel’s socio-political background: In his imaginary future polity—the Terran Federation—the right to vote, hold political office and qualify for certain jobs, e.g. as a police officer, was restricted to veterans of "Federal Service." Heinlein and Starship Troopers were excoriated for the suggestion that only military veterans should enjoy the privileges of full citizenship. This detail was roundly condemned at the time as “fascism,” a charge that has resounded down the years.
If you actually read the novel, however, you’ll find that Federal Service is not restricted to the armed forces. Everyone has the right to qualify for citizenship by performing government service of some kind. Though the novel focuses on the various military branches, Heinlein does make a point of noting that anyone, even a person with severe disabilities—blindness, missing limbs—is entitled to serve and become a citizen. Furthermore, all citizens and legal residents of the Terran Federation enjoy full civil liberties: freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, etc. Whether such a political arrangement would work in practice is a debatable point, but fascism it’s not.
In the novel, the Terran Federation is at war with an alien race called the Arachnids: a hive society with a collective consciousness. Though Heinlein emphasizes their alienness, he also notes that the Arachnids are an advanced race. They’ve developed interstellar spaceflight and technologically they’re roughly on the Terran level. Rather disturbingly in the eyes of a contemporary, politically correct progressive, Heinlein notes that the war is a literal struggle for survival: either humanity or the Bugs, as they’re nicknamed, will inevitably be wiped out. Heinlein’s Darwinian attitude has given rise to charges of racism—this despite the fact that his Terran Federation is multi-ethnic, with no domination by one race or ethnic group over the rest. Indeed, the novel’s protagonist, Juan "Johnnie" Rico, is a Filipino.
(See here for one particularly egregious misrepresentation of Starship Troopers that typlifies the criticism it continues to attract.)
Heinlein’s description of the weapons and tactics used by his future soldiers—the Mobile Infantry or M.I.—represents SF at its best: a thoughtful speculation about the future of military art and science. The M.I. is an elite organization with some resemblance to the US Marine Corps and some to the US Army Rangers. Only about 10% of recruits make it through the long and arduous training program. In combat, M.I. troopers wear powered armor exoskeletons that enable them to carry more and heavier weapons, move faster and even leap over tall building and obstacles. The Navy of the Terran Federation transports M.I. units and drops them onto the surface of target planets. Heinlein devotes a good deal of attention to the training, equipment and tactical employment of the Mobile Infantry, creating a realistic background for his story. This, probably, is why the novel remains in print and continues to be read.
And the movie? Cinematic special effects have developed to a point where Starship Troopers could have been made into a kickass action flick. But postmodern Hollywood can never resist desecrating a classic. In my next post, I’ll discuss—or rather excoriate—the mess that Hollywood made of Heinlein's novel.
Posted by tmg110
at 10:15 AM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 14 December 2011 10:32 AM EST
