Lauren Chen Falls For Starship Troopers Propaganda

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[@jasonfuller2734]

She thinks Robocop is pro capitalism due to the cool commercials in it.

[@canamrock]

What, you wouldn't buy that for a dollar? lol

[@Campernicus]

You crossed my line of death... in minecraft.

[@breadmeister]

Will, that Nuke 'Em commercial WAS pretty rad.

[@notmethnx]

She just got caught operating as a an agent provocateur for Russia. She might be spending some time in prison.... Good for her 😊

[@Khelemvor]

How do they hold the “the bugs are DUMB BUGS” and “the bugs managed to attack earth from another solar system” at same time?

[@jasonfuller2734]

They are the same people that can’t grasp a +2 degree rise in global temperature could be catastrophic. They just think “meh, 2 degrees, no biggie.”

[@armando5846]

The enemy is both pitifully weak and oppressively strong

[@idsbraam]

The book has a similar problem, when they finally drop on Klendathu in the sort of decapitation going to win the war attack half the troops (inluding all the cyberdogs (they use a different name for them)) go insane when they first see their first bug. The dogs go so far to activate their implanted suicide bombs. I know this was just bad writing on Heinleins part but if you read the book with a critical eye this really makes it look like this was the actual first real attack on the arachnids. The whole book is a long list of bad arguments + shows of utter incompetence by their future military, it is quite an odd read. (also they blame the downfall of democracies on people no longer spanking kids). It is a really weird book, more people should read it critically with a death of the author like idea in mind. (Nobody also never talks about how the Mobile Infantry in the book are not actually good at being Infantry, of the 3 battles in the book, they lose 1, the other is just a bunch of warcrimes against the skinnies, and the third is them being used in way for which they are not designed, it is almost like they are more terror troops than infrantry (I was reminded of how the Russian special forces failed spectacularly during the Russian invasion of Ukraine))

[@CRSB00]

it's fascist rhetoric, " the enemy is at the same time insignificant and almost all-powerful"

[@zephyr8072]

If you notice, the Federation itself doesn’t take a stance one way or the other. It simply allows pundits to spread their extreme positions over their network and tacitly promotes them that way. Russia does the same thing today, while Putin and the Kremlin often make horrific statements the true insanity is left for the Russian state media.

[@hilliard665]

Sam and Frodo being gay is a joke, but Sam being the real hero is not a joke, that's a real thing that many people miss, Sam was the strong uncorrupted one, Frodo is broken.

[@suburban-vampire]

"I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you"

[@retro2405]

I like to think that the ring could have broken either of the two, but not the friendship between them :)

[@Nemo12417]

Frodo was the one carrying the Ring the longest, so he got hit by it's corruption on full blast.

[@ConsciusVeritasVids]

@@suburban-vampire Stop before I start crying 😭

[@milktenders6219]

Because he’s a chad, find yourself a man who’ll literally cross hell or high water because they care about you

[@TheSorrel]

"The movie is just about killing bugs." No movie is ever just about killing bugs, Lauren.

[@Niyucuatro]

The bugs are a metafor for communists, not minorities.

[@lonesavior]

Even Joe's Apartment?

[@TheSorrel]

@@lonesavior Especially Joes Apartment.

[@gooeydude574]

Like how a lot of zombie movies aren’t just about zombies

[@erikhendrickson59]

​@@gooeydude574Lauren's next episode: here's why Negan was actually justified in his actions

[@biobasher]

I feel bad for Lauren, she's so surface level that time will make her depressed as she ages and gets her first wrinkles, or a single scar on her face will spiral her into oblivion.

[@esbenm6544]

Paul Verhoeven was so explicit in his intentions, there is no mistaking it. He explicitly expressed his disdain for the book and even said: "i want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone who understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don't" And also: "I think they've never seen a movie, a really big Star Wars kind of movie with this message. I don't think they were ready to accept the fact that the film was political."

[@danieltobin4498]

He wanted to make satire and instead ended up making one of the best sci fi action movies out there

[@cashnelson2306]

Except if you go looking for a source on this quote everyone loves to share, you find literally nothing but some random tumblr post

[@esbenm6544]

@@cashnelson2306 Except its just one of many quotes expressing this sentiment. Which he reiterated in an interview with Empire Magazine in 2014.

[@esbenm6544]

@@danieltobin4498 Except they are not mutually exclusive. And that is a self-report.

[@OMNIhydra1]

It's amazing how the first 10 minutes of the movie itself violently refutes everything she says. She just genuinely is talking out her ass and has no media literacy whatsoever.

[@cwhit0110]

Right wing grifters don’t care about facts, they only care about their ideology

[@Hurricayne92]

I doubt she even saw the movie

[@garyshaver1945]

Rico is from Buenos Aires, and has blond hair and blue eyes. Now where was it the nazi's tried to flee to after WW2. I'm sure that's a coincidence.

[@Niyucuatro]

In the book he is filipino.

[@mattman85]

I was wondering if it was addressed in this video that all these German fascist stereotypical looking mfers were from the same country that Joseph mengele and others fled to after ww2

[@mikahbee]

​@@Niyucuatroyes but the movie is not trying to be the book, on PURPOSE

[@tristanmoors7835]

Bad media literacy genuinely makes me angry

[@azure9809]

They've started claiming "media literacy" is a leftist conspiracy to brainwash people.

[@Canoby]

"Remember when before Star Trek was woke?" Uh...

[@Samurai_2552]

@@Canoby I FUCKING hate that, remember when you crawled out the womb too early bruh? Like damn star trek is the wokest shit on planet earth

[@Iban-Underground]

Something like 1/4th of people are under high school level literacy when tested.

[@thejosh3866]

How can she miss the obvious Nazi iconography? Like Doogie Howser in an SS uniform. All the fascist signals are so on the nose.

[@yilesse]

I like how she keeps listing things that were intentionally put in there to reflect Fascist values (humans = good, beauty and physical fitness = good etc) while denying it's a Fascist society. It's kind of hilarious that she's falling for the in movie propaganda so hard that she's saying authorial intent doesn't matter... which kind of proves the intent has worked 100% since she's so enthralled by their society and politics that she'd clearly be signing up to do the job Neil Patrick Harris has so she could shoot bugs in cages all day with no risk to herself. Though I think it's more likely her test score would put her in the meat grinder with all the other cannon fodder since she can't even understand what the discourse is that she's criticising.

[@azure9809]

An interesting part of the book 1984 was when the main character observed another person in school talk about and explain in detail, and relish, the ways in which the totalitarian government was "justly" suppressing the populace through their actions. Incredibly patriotic a person. But the main character noted that they would likely be disappeared for understanding the system too well for the superiors to properly control their perspective on it. The message was that it's easier to use people who believe in a system but also don't understand it well enough to explain it for a totalitarian government, because it's less likely that they'll be disillusioned and rebel.

[@comradecam9530]

She thought the Federation were clearly the good guys because the Federation looked nice. "The bugs are ugly and gross so they're clearly evil." She's such a dumbarse.

[@MrDisturbed]

Daily reminder everyone, there's two groups of people who claim that Starship Troopers isn't a satire of Fascist Propaganda. Group 1: People who are susceptible to Fascist Propaganda. Group 2: People who are Fascists.

[@erica.7231]

It's because they see the inclusion among people and things like even the rich not being able to get citizenship without enlisting. Of course, it is fascist if you go over elements like the mythology of people or removing of individuality but honestly do lefties ever talk about those elements most of the time anyway?

[@cwhit0110]

That sounds like 1 group to me: fascists

[@kg4tnp]

Its amazing how fast a person can loose attractiveness the second they open their mouth and fascist nonsense spills out "Oh wow she's really......awful just God awful"

[@cashnelson2306]

lose*

[@Mr.Volcanoes22]

Its such an on the nose satire the opening shot Jake shares with the kids takes direct inspiration from Triumph of the Will

[@thebackup2121]

And the last scene is meant to evoke it as well I believe

[@TheMightyPatapon]

Conservatives continue to not grasp very simple to understand satire? I am shocked good sirs, shocked.

[@6dragondaddy913]

There's literally a Warhammer 40k "fan" in the comments that unironically thinks the Imperium is the "good guys" and not fascist... THE CREATORS MADE IT SPACE FASCISTS ON PURPOSE!

[@Niyucuatro]

Saying something is satire, doesn't make it satire. Nothing in starship troopers is immoral nor fascist. So you can't satirize something you don't show.

[@TheMightyPatapon]

@@Niyucuatro Look, here's one now. Let us all point and laugh.

[@Niyucuatro]

@@TheMightyPataponYou should look ionto that media literacy thing you guys like to parrot. Starship troopers shows a libertarian utopia, not a fascist one. Verhooven also had zero media literacy, so he couldn't tell the diference.

[@TheMightyPatapon]

@@6dragondaddy913 Yeah, I remember a while back with the whole Arch debacle. Lot of the not sees came out of the woodwork around then in the community.

[@uhu7813]

"Death of the author" doesn't negate the original intent of the author. It just means you can have your own interpretation of a work of art that's independent of the author's. So you cannot say "this is not satire" and magically change the meaning of something just because dEAtH Of tHe auThOR. Conservatives should go straight for "I don't care if it's satire, it portrays my ideal society."

[@zephyr8072]

And yet if you attempt any interpretation of fiction they already like such as LotR or Dune they will rand, scream and attack you for deviating even a tiny bit from the author’s intent. Real or assumed by them.

[@dubspool]

I’m thankful for Lauren’s existence. It means I’m not the dumbest Asian out there

[@RecolitusMorbus]

Yo, saaaame

[@newrecru1t]

The collective disappointment from our parents is enough for Lauren and the rest of us still ;)

[@zephyr8072]

Asian? She’s more like Fsian!

[@page8301]

You should watch some of Steven He then, especially his father. ;-)

[@Chrisindapurplehouse]

Oh, I definitely know dumber Asians than you both.

[@suburban-vampire]

I feel like there's something genuinely non-functional in the conservative mind, because basically they ALL have this problem where they can't understand media with any degree of nuance at all. This reminds me of those guys who were like "OMG I just found out Rage Against The Machine is political?!"

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

Right? I used to think it was just willful ignorance, but lately I’ve begun to wonder if something is just…missing in them. I mean, there’s obviously some bias going on, but I think they just don’t get it much of the time.

[@ConnorLonergan]

Since she hates leftists yet does find Starship troopers entertaining she has to try and twist some way to go "these two things are totally not related."

[@lonesavior]

It's the other side of the "go woke, go broke" thought process. This thing I like is good, therefore it can't be woke, because woke is bad

[@n0etic_f0x]

_"It's not like non-citizens have fewer rights"_ Lauren they do not just have fewer rights they have none at all. Being pretty does not make you moral.

[@bskec2177]

No, they just have fewer rights. They can't vote, and there are categories of jobs that are reserved for citizens only. I don't know wear the "they can't get pregnant" at 20:43 comes from. Maybe I missed something, but I am pretty sure Rico's parents weren't citizens.

[@Niyucuatro]

@@bskec2177 Something the director made up. Not in the book.

[@bskec2177]

@@Niyucuatro I don't remember it being in the movie either though, and I watched it a lot.

[@Niyucuatro]

@@bskec2177 I think its a passing comment in the shower scene. Not a major point.

[@joearnold6881]

Respectfully, no. They’re supposed to still have rights, just fewer. International law is a thing. Theyre still not supposed to be, say, unjustly imprisoned. Theres a whole slew of rights we recognize when it’s, say, a white European visiting America. It’s just that America likes to ignore all the rights that people are supposed to have when they’re not the right kind of people.

[@callsignapollo_]

I remember originally watching ST with my older sister and thinking "well that was a cool action movie, and i thought how unprepared the troops were and their extreme patriotism regardless was played for laughs well. Then she said "well its meant to be a satire" and i was immediately like "oh yeah that makes sense actually" because it was obvious that the government was either incompetent or malicious and we were following victims of that system. At no point did i think "the bugs are actually the good guys," or "wow this government is very cool and a world i want to live in" because the movie makes it clear to anyone who doesnt come in believing that fascism is good (or that pretty protagonists are always in the right) that the federation was *wrong* for what it was doing, and the bugs were only bad in the same way any insect defending its nest was, and if their boundaries were respected none of this would have ever happened. And of course cons continue demonizing anything more than a surface level reading of anything, because they desperately want their media to say theyre right, to the point of idolizing comically evil mockeries of their beliefs, with zero introspection, and when that fails, making their own "non-political" media that does nothing but pat them on the head and thell them how good and morally superior they are, while assuring them of how wrong and bad their made up enemies are.

[@chibbersthesquirrel6189]

I'm convinced that the reason they have to defend the fascists in Starship Troopers is because the satire is SO on point that they realize that if they don't support it, it'll make them hypocrites. It's so close to what they actually think that they can't recognize the fascists in the movie as the bad guys, because that would mean having to look inward and consider whether they themselves might actually be the baddies.

[@lonelyone69]

It's because modern facism is a giant euphemism and telling people what they actually think is a big no no because people will realise holy shit these guys are facists.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I think you’re right on the point here👍

[@MissBeloved__]

I dont think they have that level of awareness or critical thinking skills

[@hilliard665]

I've never seen starship troopers and I feel bad that I understand it better then this chick.

[@jaythehuman2552]

Well, Lauren barely understands how to read, let alone media literacy. So don't feel bad for her. Lol

[@donjohnson2758]

You should watch it tbh. It’s good.

[@ReaperOfRock]

Don’t be so quick to jump on something you don’t fully understand. Everyone in hear claiming it’s fascism is woefully misunderstanding the entire store. Veerhoven painted the thinnest veneer of fascism over what is basically an uber liberal society. You barely rub the surface of the “eagles and coats” paint job and the fascism vanishes.

[@banonKING]

I saw Starship Troopers in theaters when I was in High School. Loved it! Made me want to play a lot of Starcraft right after. But I understood the Fascist parallels in their world the SECOND Neil Patrick Harris came out in an SS officers uniform at the beginning of the 3rd act. But even during the start of the second act, I recognized the blood lust the humans were falling under when a school teacher was leading a group of children to gleefully stomp out bugs. It's clearly the point of the movie to show how humanity can be whipped up to a blood frenzy to their own detriment. Imagine my disgust and horror when I saw the EXACT thing happen in America post 9/11.... I was living the parody and it pissed me off.

[@6dragondaddy913]

Speaking of Starcraft there's another fashy setting. Even worse than the Terran Dominion is the Earth that launched their criminals into space to forget about forever...

[@zephyr8072]

@6dragondaddy913 Which is funny when Grummz recently ranted on twitter about Helldivers 2 saying “Keep politics out of videogames.” Apparently this “OG Blizzard dev” doesn’t remember how political Starcraft and Warcraft were.

[@adamdebord1897]

Interesting fact: the blind science teacher was played by Rue McClanahan who was Blanche in “The Golden Girls”

[@Chrisindapurplehouse]

I thought that, but I wasn't sure.🙂

[@brodieorr5393]

The fact that these people find the bugs impossible to empathize with is almost as telling as their misreading of the movie as a whole

[@nikolaip]

I'm pretty sure Argentina is chosen as the setting because it's one of the South American countries that Nazis fled to. The movie as a whole is a parody of Nazi propaganda films and how alluring you can make fascism look, which makes her acceptance and defense of it even funnier.

[@urzmontst.george6314]

She is just the pretty face of Fascism, like Lauren Southern. Meanwhile, as a mixed ethnicity person, some of her own " allies " look down on her because she is the result of "miscegenation."

[@Leoluvesadmira]

Or if you read the book, Johnny's mom was in buenos aires on holiday waiting for Johnny's dad to join her when the asteroid hit. It was in the book, so it was also in the movie.

[@feistygheisty]

My first watch of Starship Troopers was with a friend who liked it unironically like this in high school. Not only was he raised Mormon but I ran into him at college later and he had just gotten out of the army, literally said "bullying is good" in class and was going to be a cop.

[@6dragondaddy913]

The fash to fash pipeline...

[@6dragondaddy913]

I knew an idiot in high school who watched "Full Metal Jacket" and wanted to become a marine because of it...

[@feistygheisty]

@@6dragondaddy913 damn that's next level footsoldier mindset. "Yo I can't wait to be dead inside. Shit looks cash!" Definitely sounds like a vet who's gonna become a statistic if you know what I'm sayin'.

[@sbushido5547]

Stunning levels of incompetence. She'd probably be embarrassed if she could even grasp how terrible she was at this.

[@rita_calamity]

Radda

[@armyofuno8196]

​@@rita_calamity Radda

[@ConsciusVeritasVids]

The point is standing right in front of Lauren, adorned in a black SS officer uniform while smacking her about the face with a leather glove, yet she stands there completely oblivious to it all. Incredible.

[@ometta7]

She's doing this willfully. Even she is forced to admit that the Federation uses fascist imagery, but somehow that observation doesn't enter at all into her little "death of the author" interpretation even though under any other circumstance and for any other person it obviously would. She's not stupid. She's a fascist and she's lying through her teeth because that's what fascists do.

[@uhu7813]

On the topic of dehumanization, if you ever wonder how things like the Holocaust could happen, just remember how right wingers fall for the satirical movie propaganda.

[@dabluflcn]

Parody is dead when people are so stupid they buy it as fact.

[@shayokami7410]

Agrees with galactic federation that citizenship must be earned through military service Sees warfare of hundreds of soldiers being ripped apart and dying in greusome and undignified ways because of a horde of giant bugs "This is fine~"

[@Niyucuatro]

the horad of gigant bugs can travel trough space and attaked first by hurling a meteorite to the earth, killing millions of humans. And plan to keep going until there are no more humans and they have occupied their territories.

[@TheEnoEtile]

Im personally not a fan of "death of the author" intepretations usually. But its very weird for conservatives to argue for Death of the Author because they tend to be literalists. Theyre just retreating to Death of the Author because they want to like the movie without interacting with the fact its contrary to and critical of their views and values.

[@Elysium_the_Bard]

5:50 It's important to point out that there's a difference between a "hero" and a "protagonist". A "hero" is someone who tends to embody a significant amount of positive moral traits. A "protagonist" is a person, or one among a group of people, whose story we follow. Rico is definitely one of the protagonists of the movie, but it is arguable as to whether or not he's a "hero". Because while it's clear he's TRYING to be a hero, at least from his initial stand point, it's made very clear that over the course of the film he starts to agree with all the fascistic propaganda and sees violence as the ONLY means by which peace for his people is obtained.

[@inkypunk]

I would unironically love to know her take on District 9. I'm guessing she deliberately wouldn't know enough about apartheid to understand it.

[@lonelyone69]

I wonder if she'd just call JoJo rabbit stupid and dumb 😂😭

[@zephyr8072]

“You’re sympathising with those bug creatures over humans? Ew!”

[@kidcthulhufortney1320]

Even as a teenager, I knew this was dark black satire. Then again, I played Warhammer 40,000 back when the lore for that franchise was obviously a dark black satire of theocratic fascism. Now people miss the point on both properties.

[@d1rus592]

´´The bugs bomb buenos aires´´ So she not only falls for propaganda in real life, she also believes it in a fictional universe.

[@dantorio367]

The author may be dead but it's still in the room. You cant fully remove an author's intent and message from their work when actually analysing it

[@zephyr8072]

What’s hilarious is she acknowledges Verhoeven’s intent that the Federation is fascist and bad, and then calls “those leftists” deluded for concluding that the Federation is fascist and bad. This tells me she has no idea how death of the author is actually applied. She just thinks she knows better than the movie’s creator.

[@Niyucuatro]

@@zephyr8072 Verhoeven did a terrible job at making the federation look fascist. He just gave them classy uniforms. As if that was all it took.

[@thebackup2121]

​@@NiyucuatroAesthetics is a big part of it at the same time, the fascination with iconography, and perceptions of beauty are ever present in those hypothetical societies they like to imagine. But there's also a military coup enforcing a reduction of human rights, and a justice system that can sentence and execute someone in 24 hours and still say with a straight face that it's a fair trial that also go quite some way to showing it was more than the uniforms

[@Niyucuatro]

@@thebackup2121 Maybe the movie didn't properly explain things. But it wasn't a military coup. Society had already collapsed, there was no government to coup against. The "veteran revolts" was a group of veterans that organised vigilante action against the widespreed rioting and looting that had taken over the world after the total collapse of the world's nations. And from that, the federation was born. And reduction of human rights? The only difference between a citicen and a civilian is the ability to vote, and no civilian is barred from doing service to become a full citizen. No human right is being disrespected.

[@fusionspace175]

My best friend and I missed the satire on first viewing, but we were 14 years old and it was brand new in the theater. My friends dad was old school sci fi nerd though, and he explained it to us on the drive home. We had a good discussion about how humanity had lost its soul in the process of controlling the world, and how fascism requires eternal war to function so that line "they'll keep fighting and they'll win" was like the punchline to the whole thing. No excuse for an adult in current year to miss it.

[@ifadetogray]

apparently only dictators are fascists in her world.

[@zephyr8072]

“If one group settles on your planet it doesn’t mean they’re all at war with you.” Lauren has never been forward-settled in a 4X game apparently.

[@nielsjensen4185]

This is Tim Pool levels of "Squidgame" is actually a critique of Communism.

[@Brokenfangvr2]

So i have a friend who's gf is supposedly related to the author of book starship troopers. They dont believe that the film is saltire, even getting rather uncomfortably excited when theres a fascist faction in a tabletop setting. The bloody works. Which flabbergasted me, their trans, poly, kinky, hell they make furry porn as their job but end up so dug into the right mindset, funnily enough they turn into a whining child when they dont get their way or get clowned on for something, so they really are conservative. Thought it was worth sharing

[@omegatheta1701]

lauren: humans went to a bug world and set up a colony on the bugs planet also lauren: then the bugs started a war. is she one of those "illegal immigration are military invaders" types?

[@drew6145]

Weird none of those comments are "bugs good guys" how did she get like 7 examples and fail 7 times

[@MrRancidity]

It's kinda funny actually, she's basically doing the "If you disagree with the humans then you must side with the bugs, traitor!" thing, it's like she's actually making propaganda that could go in the movie!

[@zephyr8072]

I feel like this woman would answer people saying that Super Earth in Helldivers 2 is fascist because they disappear people for being “enemies of democracy” by saying “Well, why are you siding against democracy huh?”

[@TheSgtFarmer]

there's just no way you can watch/play these pieces of media without noticing the obvious satire. it's apart of why i like both Starship Troopers and Helldivers, wtf.

[@colinmurphy525]

Somewhere out there is a documentary made during production. The director copies, scene for scene several Ww2 propaganda films. He also goes into his childhood when his country was under occupation by Germany.

[@joshbates9015]

Paul Verhoeven is Dutch, and, having been born in 1938, lived for the first few years of his life under Nazi occupation. I think he probably assumed that the fascist subtext of this film would be plainly obvious to most movie-goers, but he woefully underestimated just how much Nazi rhetoric had seeped into (and, indeed, had been originally inspired by) American culture. So even to this day, you see conservatives react to this movie who have absolutely no clue that it's meant to be ironic.

[@final_catalyst]

You know two groups can fight and both be "bad guys". Being the "bad guy" is based on actions you take and how you conduct your self, not who is only other side of that.

[@firepuppies4086]

Yup, look at Russia and Germany in WW2 alone. Both monstrous actions, we just "sided" with one

[@seelcudoom1]

one thing i do think you messed up on is its implied Buenos Aries was an actaul meteror strike and the federation just took advantage of the opportunity to both rally people against the bugs and also cover their own fuck up, rather then causing it themselves

[@thebackup2121]

Yes I believe it was the intent with the movie as well as the book, it's just that without any indication that the bugs have FTL capability the science of them shooting an asteroid from Klendathu to Earth just doesn't add up, so us Lefties came up with our own theories 😅

[@lonewolffang]

I saw a movie that had a message. She saw a grift to push her propaganda.

[@Chalky.]

She's what happens when Conservative becomes your most defining personality trait.

[@lonelyone69]

The number of braincells I lost watching her cannot be quantified

[@bskec2177]

"One group of this species doing this one thing does not mean the entire species is at war with you." It does if you're a eusocial bug. Just because they are intelligent doesn't mean they think the same way we do. Also, they aren't all sentient - at least they weren't in the book, and the movie didn't really try to dispel that. In the book, there is a line that the bug view their soldier caste the same way humans viewed bullets - and were capable of producing them just as fast. The movie did go out of it's way to show that people didn't even think the bugs were sentient at first. Once the war was on, both sides were on win or die timing. Without anyway to communicate, there's no way to negotiate peace. In the book, there were also other aliens that we could use as intermediaries. Also we bombed the crap out of them to get them to do what we wanted. The assumption that the teachers were wounded in the bug war is very speculative. Again there are other aliens out there, and the humans basically fought all of them one at a time, until they fell in line. That was in the book though, and the movie doesn't mention any other species. It could be correct. Also being a teacher is a job reserved for citizens - mostly combat veterans, although there were other ways to obtain citizenship, and anyone willing to put their life/health on the line to earn it was given a fair shot. That's such an important thing that most people don't get from watching the movie. "Get 'em while they're young" and how important teachers are in forming a society. In most of america now, teachers are under valued and under paid.

[@TheSmileMile]

The "Authorial intent vs Death of the author" paradigm doesn't even come in here, because the author's intent was that fascists would not find the federation to be bad. Instead, they would find it to be the ideal society.

[@Loquification]

My problem with Starship Troopers is precisely this. So many conservatives since it released have understood this as a straight faced movie about the glory of the military and 'human' supremacy Regardless of the authors intent, it has become a conservative movie. And unless Helldivers is more explicit, its set to be a conservative game with a toxic base, or at least heavily contested base

[@cortanathelawless1848]

Jesus Christ the comments under every fan lore video showing the corruption of humanity and humanity of the automatons. So many just love the game cause they get to larp as fascists

[@esbenm6544]

nonsense

[@stephennootens916]

The leftist streamer Vaush was just talking about this and explaining that Fascist do not understand satire no matter how clear it is.

[@TheLetsRead]

Genuine question: Which pride color scheme is the middle of the three lava lamps with the heart supposed to represent? It’s my first time noticing it, as far as I can recall. Thank you!

[@mistressabysstress]

Watching things like this is painful. Grifting or not there are people who believe this. It’s like watching someone stare down a train coming at them at full speed going “what train?”

[@octosalias5785]

Yyyeeah. The cycle of violence had already started before the movie even began, (the teachers with war wounds etc) and so long before Buenos Aires. The cartoon makes things really confusing by adding a species of humanoid bug which are allies.

[@EmperorPylades]

The animated series tries to split the difference between the novel and the movie somewhat, by introducing the Skinnies and other species mentioned in the novel.

[@coltsfan354]

"They've created the sympathetic villain possible. Giant murderous bugs." Sounds a lot like some shit we said about the Vietcong.

[@final_catalyst]

So, hurting and disregard for the life of the bug captured is okay because it is not really on any level of human intelligence, just a under developed worker drone. But a few clusters of cells can not be "flushed"

[@brodieorr5393]

Calling leftists antu-humanity for empathizing with animals is one of the funniest things I've ever heard

[@luispelozo]

The guy literally dresses as an SS official... Lauran Chen: " I can't see how this is a reference to fascism."

[@WhiteScorpio2]

In order to get the movie's satire, you have to believe that fascism is bad.

[@justcallmekai1554]

Media literacy as fallen

[@trashboat5388]

It's funny how insecure these "pick me" girls are about their looks.

[@zephyr8072]

Criticism? She’s aware of Verhoeven’s intent and openly denies it, saying that he failed to demonstrate this intent in the movie. _She’s the one criticising it._

[@pikapowns]

"These bugs aren't the intelligent bugs they are kinda like human fodder." Did she just dehumanize the bugs by comparing them to how we treat human soldiers during war?

[@ziggylegion1604]

televising debates doesnt really make a difference if the only way you can vote is by serving in the military, and which is obviously going to propagandize anyone to against the bugs to an absolutely insane degree.

[@final_catalyst]

The overt fascist symbolism is to make it clear for those that can't see the messaging. Apparently they anticipated the the audience was going to be smarter then they are

[@mathewperring]

I watched the movie when it came out and enjoyed it a lot. Fast foward nearly 20 years ans I start seeing all these videos sating Starship Troopers is actually a parody of fascism. And i am over here thinking, are people that dumb to not have realized and someone has to point it out to them.

[@hamobu]

The bugs in the movie were horrible and subhuman because that's how fascism sees its enemies. Would you like to know more?

[@jamesderekhowell3293]

Actual, factual, Jake, just came across your channel in the last month and am digging your vids; had to subscribe in the first six mins of this one. Well done!

[@esbenm6544]

For those who didn't accept the highly explicit quotes in my last post as explicit enough, how about this: "The idea I wanted to express was that these so-called advanced people are without libido. Here they are talking about war and their careers and not looking at each other at all! It is sublimated because they are fascists." Paul Verhoven said this to Empire Magazine in 2014. The man has been crystal clear, you just refuse to listen.

[@Niyucuatro]

He did that scene because he is a weird perv, to be honest.

[@PlatinumAltaria]

@@Niyucuatro This is true, in 1997 it was literally impossible to see naked people ever, so the director was forced to make an entire movie just to see some people nude! /s

[@Niyucuatro]

@@PlatinumAltaria Not as posible to make a bunch of people to get naked on your presence and under your instructions.

[@esbenm6544]

@@Niyucuatro Nonsense. He's in it himself. To show solidarity with the cast, he played an extra in the shower scene.

[@Mariopwnzu]

Wow like 2 minutes in and she doesn't just fail at any kind of subtext in the film but she just fails a straight up plot synopsis

[@Lauren-zg9zo]

I used Casper Van Dein as my “celeb crush” to pretend I was straight when I was a kid 😂

[@urzmontst.george6314]

Fair enough.

[@zephyr8072]

The guy’s square jawed and ruggedly handsome yet pretty and feminine at the same time. So not a bad pick for that.

[@MRdaBakkle]

Major lost cause vibes here.

[@Takeda10K]

"I want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone who understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don't" -Apparently not a real quote but still perfect for Lauren’s vid

[@Dr.Spatula]

My favorite part was when she implied native Americans were the ones starting wars with colonists, while colonists were peacefully stealing and pillaging the land

[@alaskanbullworm5500]

Most conservatives don’t see the satire, people like Chen though do know it’s satire, but knows that her fans are to stupid to see it, so she along with other smarter conservatives insists that it’s a propaganda piece in their favor, because it benefits them.

[@DerPlaystationZocker]

Lauren's most intelligent thought: They are good looking and human, how can they be facsist?

[@optillian4182]

Literally "If evil, why sexy?" but unironically.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

You'd think someone with worms for brains could sympathize with the bugs a little.

[@EpicWinNoob]

She did not just say that leftists are against competency, the entire movie was centered around humans being incompetent warmongers

[@whitewarwolf]

Also we can be anti fascist and acknowledging humans started the war is not the same as being anti-human.

[@kwakigra]

32:02 Probably should have picked a different city. Buenos Aires is already almost 100% white because of real world colonization.

[@Niyucuatro]

not in the starship troopers universe. In starship troopers they live in a post-race earth where there's no racial discrimination and everyone is mixed and lives together with people of other races.

[@wdm276]

She's probably only opposing this cause leftists thing this is fascist. If tomorrow the RW is like "Starship Troopers is fascist" then she'll change her tune.

[@breadmeister]

I've heard about a remake for years now, and I'm afraid the filmmakers might do away with Verhoeven's satire and be more of a straight adaptation of the book. Makes me want to point people to the little-known 1988 OVA adaptation for that.

[@RecolitusMorbus]

When I was in the Navy, the book was the only fiction book on the DOD's reading list, meaning it was allowed to be read in uniform. I read it because I was desperate to not read any military theory because it bored the fuck out of me. It, too, bored me to tears, unfortunately. Even as a young 20 year old who was pretty DODpilled from my dad being a Marine. Every page - no, *every word* was a fucking chore. The story and dialogue was so thinly stretched over this dudes fuckin' political screed that even I could see through it. I hated every second of it, but it was the only "novel" allowed to be read in uniform. So, I suffered through it. I will never read another Heinlein book, ever again. Movies fucking slaps, tho.

[@HobbiesGamesChillin]

His other books are a lot better No idea why he went full hog on ST and made it a boring slog

[@RecolitusMorbus]

@@HobbiesGamesChillin Honestly, no clue. But there are ways to make your political screed actually enjoyable, but the man said to himself: "You know what's riveting? History lessons. You know what's boring? People struggling to survive conflict."

[@thatdarnskag5043]

The book's whole tone is very "it's (kinda but not really) unfortunate, but we gotta do the fascism for the good of the people😔".

[@idsbraam]

That this is some highly valued (enough to be on reading lists) DOD baffles me in a way, as the MI are such a weird and ineffective fighting force. Yes they do well against the skinnie civilian population (if you ignore the war crime aspect of the whole thing), but that is the only time in the book they work as the force they are designed to be. Klendathu is a massacre (and an embarrassing one at that, imagine if large part of D-day failed because the large navy ships rammed each other during maneuvering), and on planet P they don't fight like MI as they go into the tunnels (and the enemy is severely under-equipped. Really made me wonder what the MI is for, and I assume it is anti-insurgency terror troops (due to the way they leave, any army with competent sigint will destroy any deployed group of MI by just blasting the clearly telegraphed landing location of the MI 'we are leaving' dropship), we know that despite the talk of homogeneity in the book the space colonies and earth differ a lot (assuming that isn't propaganda), with the colonies sometimes reaching 80% citizenship. So there might be a bit more conflict than the books makes out to be. A bit sus. (I know this wasn't the intended reading).

[@EmperorPylades]

Heinlen wrote the novel in the early 50s, so during a period of unrivalled US military triumphalism, and he never made any secret of his frustration at not getting to serve. having been medically discharged from the Navy not long before the US joined the war iIRC. From what a few of my friends who have worn uniforms say (though I'm Australian, not American), the reason its on military reading lists is because of how it portrays accountability across the ranks and the responsibility of NCOs. I've always been of the opinion that while the book is intensely jingoistic and pro-military, its not fascist, and I don't think Heinlen intended it to be fascist. A few key differences between the book and the movie is that the ONLY thing you get from Federal Service is the vote and the ability to take on government jobs. There's no restriction on reproduction mentioned in the novel either, and most importantly, Federal Service is NOT solely military. Its made abundantly clear that service is entirely voluntary, you can quit at any time, and that even if you're disabled or somehow incompetent, they will FIND you a job to do (though it will be like all the other jobs in Service: dirty, dangerous and unpleasant) - the service itself is barely relevant, the desire to serve is what matters. Oh, and Johnny Rico is explicitly mentioned as being Filipino. That being said, while I don't think Heinlen was a fascist or intended Starship Troopers as such, you know which people REALLY love it? Fascists.

[@mattdowds8505]

"I was probably too young the first time I saw it & I've loved it since then, but I've not recalibrated my world view as I grew into adulthood & still have a child's comprehension" fixed it

[@Villani_AV]

Oh fuck, Jake is a leftist?!? I'm gonna roblox myself now 😢😢 Anyway one of my favorite parts of the movie is that Johnny's parents are portrayed as asholes for not wanting him to join the military... and they're absolutely the only people in the film objectively right lmfao

[@SeasideDetective2]

The characters in STARSHIP TROOPERS are indeed fascists, and not just in the "intolerant" and "aggressive" senses of the word, because people of any political persuasion can be that. They are doctrinaire fascists, rejecting democracy entirely except for the military caste. Even the most right-wing of Americans tend to value their personal freedom. And, Lauren, there's a reason why the human society in STARSHIP TROOPERS is racially and sexually egalitarian (although it's clear that Nordic physical features are highly desirable). It's because they're all, well, humans. When you're going to war against a completely different species, differences among humans become irrelevant. The bugs are easy to "otherize." It's why Black people were the ones enslaved in America. The English colonists had no love for German settlers, but they didn't enslave the Germans because German people look far more like English people than Blacks do. It was far easier to "other" Blacks. So the fact that the English settlers in America didn't enslave German people doesn't mean they were great humanitarians and lovers of freedom.

[@miscalotastuff733]

You should see there misinterpretion of dune. They missed the boat entirely.

[@cashnelson2306]

their*

[@aholafungi]

I call cap. There is no way Starship Troopers is her favorite movie

[@thebackup2121]

No its more likely to be Triumph of the Will

[@caseymckenna7111]

“These lefties.”

[@ghidxrah2102]

"Guys it is impossible for me to recognizs fascism" is a weird thing for her to admit

[@kylemendoza8860]

In the movie it's left vague if the bugs attacked Earth. Are if the federation is taken advantage of a natural disaster. "Let no crisis go to waste" scenario.

[@Niyucuatro]

No it is pretty clear by the movie, the book and even the director statement that the bugs actually started the war by launching the meteor into Buenos Aires.

[@kylemendoza8860]

@@Niyucuatro No it's not in the movie. I don't know what the director said

[@NicholasMarshall]

​@@Niyucuatro so you're trying to tell me that it makes more sense that an Hive mind would just just one city buster attack. And not follow up that attack at all. Vs a fascist government using a natural disaster to justify a war to the people... roflcopter.

[@kingofsting19]

I'm not used to seeing a right-winger defend "death of the author" while a left-winger argues for authorial intent. It's surreal.

[@rsuriyop]

If I could get a dollar for every time she utters either "fascist" or "fascism" I'd be a pretty wealthy man.

[@walexander8378]

First time I watched the movie, I really felt bad for the young soldiers. But also I understood what was happening to the bugs. I believe I got the point very quickly what was happening and it was quite simple As Jake said, yes the young soldiers are victims of the state. The bugs are victims of the state. The point of the movie is the state is the antagonist.

[@ometta7]

Yeah even when I was a dumb little kid who couldn't pick up on the political nuances and satire, I was still horrified to watch these people being torn apart by bugs and wanted the war to stop so nobody else would be killed. Granted, at six years old my solution was probably similar to what Jake Busey was talking about just before he got his hand pinned to the wall with that knife, but it was still motivated by a dread for everyone's safety rather than any hatred for the bugs. I think I actually liked catching and playing with bugs back then.

[@TheKeyser94]

Verhoeven is not a communist, he lived during the occupation of the Netherlands, but he is very political aware, for example in his last movie, The Black Book, the protagonist risked her life to infiltrate a NAZI bureaucratic building, to then end living in Israel in the Palestine side, when the Israeli government began the bombardments, it even shows in the last frames of the movie.