STARSHIP TROOPERS, Part 2: VERHOEVEN | Brows Held High

[@stevethepocket]

Verhoeven comes across like the embodiment of that line "I know filmmakers who use subtext; they're all cowards."

[@morganrobinson8042]

Darkplace, nice!

[@ConvincingPeople]

"What if Garth Marenghi were a serious secular theologian?" This question will haunt me to my grave. Thank you? I think?

[@StormShadowHarris]

"I AM NOT PREDJUDICED, alright? That is what i'm saying, i am NOT predjudiced. But Joe Public is. You probably are, you look like a dropout. ...Point being, i wrote this to heal America." -Robert Heinlein, 1959

[@Games-tx1zc]

Woof. The shower scene intercut with all the grisly deaths of the characters is far more effective than I would have thought

[@klisterklister2367]

that was rough to watch

[@fireballninja01]

The shower scene intercut with the character deaths pointed out something I had never noticed. When the guy says that Harvard would cost “an arm and a leg” and then loses a leg, you get excited, a bit hopeful for him, that he will lose that arm and leg, but he’ll still get to Harvard. When it’s shown that he’s surrounded and will die, it subverts that, Chekhov’s gun shot the person wielding it. I think that shows well the idea that Fascism’s individualist nature is because that way, everybody else can die.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Kyle's really flexing his filmmaking skills on that one, impressive work!

[@the-real-Lovefist]

Pure genius

[@DubiousConsumption]

I don't know if it's a failing or inspired that I had never connected those deaths to the shower scene, like everyone becomes faceless grunts in the battles. But, I do love seeing the two put together, and makes me enjoy the film more.

[@Syurtpiutha]

"That's my Rutger Hauer impression." "That's great, honey." I love that you left that bit in.

[@mwalsh616]

You know a film essay is great when it’s over an hour long and you’re still disappointed when it ends.

[@38procentkrytyk]

Unless you hear it and doesn't find any information that might satisfy you.

[@residentgrey]

This is also from Kyle. It's his schtick. He is adept at doing so.

[@chuckporter9526]

I was shocked -- all of a sudden it ends, and I'm staring slach-jawed at "stay tuned for Part Three." Why you gotta do ya boy like that, Kyle.

[@jmalmsten]

not merely an hour. But one and a half hours... all of which is part two out of... three? ... And... he's barely started talking about the film in the title. But I'm not complaining. I am learning tons of stuff about Verhoeven and Dutch culture I only knew vaguely of before.

[@rudetuesday]

I'm a Black American person. The direct discourse style of Dutch people I've encountered is similar to what we call Real Talk, which is used tactically and specifically to discuss issues that pull away from civility/niceness in the wider White American culture, especially among women who are called upon to pave things over, soothe, and act as peacemakers. The peace called for is often a brittle quiet, and not like a legitimate, negotiated-for peace. 🧡

[@sycastells1212]

I'm a white autistic American person, and I find the Dutch refreshingly comprehensible.

[@rudetuesday]

@@sycastells1212 You're not the first autistic person I've heard this from. I've been changing my language style as a result of encountering more autistic people.

[@Bluecho4]

@@rudetuesday As an autistic person, thank you.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Diagnosed neurotypical (ADHD and OCD) and maybe autistic, and yeah, this concept is an important one. It's kind of the reverse of stuff like how in Japanese, the standard way to say "I love you (romantically)" is "the moon is beautiful." Which is something I also understand well, but those are modes for different times and places.

[@missmarsh1011]

I often think back to the words of the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus, quoted by the Roman writer Tacitus: "they [the Romans] make a solitude and call it peace." The original Latin word, *solitudinem,* is often translated as "desert," "desolation," or "wasteland," but you get the idea. Anyone who thinks the absence of open conflict is the same as peace is kidding themselves.

[@ewanherbert3402]

Reminds me of an old joke from elementary school in Germany: A Swiss, and Englishman and an American find a small boy tied to a tree with an apple on his head. The Swissman pulls out his crossbow, shoots through the apple and declares "I'm Wilhelm Tell!" The Englishman pulls out his bow and arrow, shoots through the apple and declares "I'm Robin Hood!" The American pulls out his revolver, shoots the boy in the face and declares "I'm sorry"

[@the-real-Lovefist]

As an American, I can’t breathe, from laughing so hard.

[@Jaspertine]

That's absurd. The American apologized?

[@edisonlima4647]

@@Jaspertine To screw up others and half-assedly say "I'm sorry" is one of the most common American estereotypes.

[@Jaspertine]

@@edisonlima4647 I see. That particular detail of the American stereotype is a little less common here in Canada. We feel very strongly about apologies up here, it's kind of our thing.

[@ChrisMaxfieldActs]

@@edisonlima4647 Or, like Steve Martin's old catch phrase, "Excuse me!"

[@fireballninja01]

The shower scene intercut with the character deaths pointed out something I had never noticed. When the guy says that Harvard would cost “an arm and a leg” your brain goes to the literal form of that in war. And you comfort yourself, knowing that with the rules of setup and payoff, he’ll get mangled, but he’ll still get to go to Harvard. When he loses that leg, you get excited, almost root for the bugs, because you’re going “okay here’s where he loses an arm,” but then he gets thrown to a place that looks safe, and you’re left unsatisfied, and then you realize he’s surrounded and will die, and your brain doesn’t know exactly how to respond. Chekhov’s gun misfired, exploded in the hand of the person wielding it-so I guess he did lose that arm after all.

[@fireballninja01]

I think that shows well the idea that Fascism is individualist because that way, everybody around you can die. Fascism relies heavily on the denial of emotion, of culture, of diversity, of science, of art, but I should look more into the analysis of how it denies Grief.

[@eNDiKay]

The story about why the dutch are ok with nudity feels like a bit of a misunderstanding to me as a Swedish person. That openness about nudity and the ability to share bathrooms etc naked with people of all genders is very previvalent in all of the nordic region. I don't think it has so much to do with population and square miles making people live close together, but rather its a cultural and historical legacy (for lack of a less epic word). We've always shared in certain activities with our families and friends in the nude and that builds up a form of normalcy that makes it have a non-sexual context. (Being in a sauna naked with your extended family and friends in finland for example). Its simply not a big deal to most of us.

[@UnfortunatelyTheHunger]

🧡 Speaking as another Swede, I kinda want to say that that openness to nudity has diminished for the past 20-30 years, and at least partially blame that on influence from US and UK pop culture. Some like to claim this attitude shift is due to Sweden being, allegedly, more feminist than most other European countries, though I don't think that's a well-thought-out observations; the Swedish feminists I've come across have only had a problem with nudity being sexualized, rather than merely present. No, I think what sets Swedish culture apart from, say, Dutch culture, is our collective obsession with healthy living, the idea that taking on "healthy" habits (e.g. exercising regularly, not doing drugs, getting enough sleep etc) is a virtue in and of itself, rather something one does for ulterior motives, like looking prettier or living longer. It's been a huge part of the our collective psyche since the teetotalist movement arrived here, and what I believe has happened the past few decades, is that horniness is nowadays being seen as something "unhealthy". Sweden's government has had an incredibly strict anti-drug agenda since the 80s, and it's easy to see how one can quickly get from "kids shouldn't be exposed to narcotics" to "kids shouldn't be exposed to violent media" to "kids shouldn't be exposed to sex or sexualized nudity".

[@WanderlustZero]

🧡 I'd go further and say that's prevalent all across northern Europe, with the possible exception of UK and Ireland. It was very eye-opening, and more than a bit liberating when I first started travelling around Germany and seeing how people would just go topless on a beach or get nekkid in front of everyone in things like festival showers. This contrasts greatly with the super-prudish american attitude being shown here where he squirms and cringes with visible discomfort at the mere thought of any nudity or sexuality.

[@Xarfax321]

Speaking as a finn, I think there is also an attitude of "There is nothing new underneat the clothes". I mean a person can be extremely hot, but if that person strips down, there is really just the same body parts there that I will find on any other person on the planet. It's not like someone is gonna have TWO cocks or THREE breasts.

[@FuuPhoenix]

🧡 ‘here’s why they joined up’ intercut with how they died was... powerful.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Kyle is really flexing his considerable film-making skills on this one and I'm here for it!

[@DonaldWWitt]

@@gozerthegozarian9500 🧡Indeed!

[@RookieCardGuard]

I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and have Kyle scream in my face again.

[@theothertonydutch]

I remember reading this from before I went to sleep

[@voidify3]

"Yes it's a piece of sh!t but it was food once and if you use it right you could get good fertiliser out of it" iconic

[@UnfortunatelyTheHunger]

shame that part had to be cut due to copyright claims :(

[@jobywonkanobi]

Kyle i had chills when you were pointing out the differences between American and Dutch views of politeness and rudeness. i have had 2 encounters one recent and one from years past the latter being very disturbing. The most recent one i was getting into a argument with a friend over Elon Musk i pointed out i dont like how in my opinion he is just wasting money trying to get to mars, my friend countered he has the resources and know how and we will see great improvement in tech because of it. I was going to respond by pointing out the unethical practices he and his ilk use to claim such resources (union-busting, fighting against higher wages etc) But i stopped because i knew the fight to be pointless because like most of the other people where i live (east Texas) he would of simply have viewed these problems as just the way things are and it would be wrong to go against it. But the worst one like i mentioned was when i was just out of high school and taking some college level courses at said school at night back in 2004. The teacher was teaching Civics/gov stuff and at one point brought up a murder that happened in our town. A black man had been accused of a crime and mid trial he was found dead in the court room overnight and there was no investigation into it (this occurred late between the 60's and 70's if my memory is correct). She asked us to ask our parents/grandparents if they remember the incident and note there reactions. So i did and they said they didn't and while i believed them what struck me is that my parents (and virtually everyone else's in the class) responded the same "She doesn't need to be asking about that stuff and neither do you" or "She doesn't need to be dredging up stuff from the past" So yeah that line of yours "(American) Rudeness is based on pointing out that something is deeply, deeply wrong" Man you really hit the nail on the head

[@ThierryVerhoeven]

"Are you gonna ask me any that more than ten people have seen?" Turks fruit/Turkish Delight was and remains the best visited Dutch film of all time. During its theatrical run it was seen by one quarter of the entire Dutch population. Those are Avatar numbers.

[@TheJanpietjoris]

Exactly what I was thinking! Turks Fruit is such a staple of Dutch culture, almost everyone here has either seen it or at least knows about it.

[@mkallgren08]

Yeah.... that was an error on my part. Whoops! :)

[@tereziamarkova2822]

I've read the book in high school. I remember it being incredibly sad, but also full of weird sex stuff and gross-out moment. It was... An experience.

[@jmalmsten]

@Jonas Jamal @Konnor Xavier Obvious spam is obvious

[@JaapZeldenrust]

@@mkallgren08 It works as commentary on the insular nature of American culture.

[@IAsimov]

Holy carp. You went above and beyond what other youtubers did when analyzing that movie, and studied both Paul Verhoeven and his culture in order to understand his version of Starship Troopers. The ending was sobering as hell. Thank you SO MUCH for this video. I cannot wait for the next part.

[@dalemarinez5837]

This video taught me one thing. NEVER BE WITH IN 100,000 FT OF VERHOEVEN.

[@LixiaWinter]

🧡 "Hal, it's about cats" VS "Kyle, it's about bugs"

[@annalston1653]

"Youth is fleeting; immaturity is forever." So good! 🧡

[@P3t3rminator]

I'm kinda pro-immaturity. Not in a way that it is harm- or hurtful to others, but to ban all immaturities is to kill a lot of the simple joys in life. I think a lot of stuff that people enjoy could be labeled immature by others. Not dissing the quote, but expanding on the thought.

[@annalston1653]

@@P3t3rminator My problem with immaturity is when it hurts other people. I'm pro whimsey and joy.

[@the-real-Lovefist]

I just heard this line in the FF VII remake after watching this. Weird synchronicity.

[@brianrose85]

"Paul, chill!"

[@ScorpionViper1001]

@@brianrose85 Paul clearly has no chill.

[@kidlitfanful]

Neil Patrick Harris is dangerous, he's ridiculously likeable but often plays characters who spew horrific idealogy, so a non-zero number of people think "Well, it sounds reasonable when HE says it!"

[@digitaljanus]

I'm trying to remember if he's played any "good guys" since Doogie Howser. Even the intern from Undercover Brother turned out to be scary, and in Harold & Kumar, where he played himself, it was the extreme asshole version of himself!

[@Genitianadinarica]

@@digitaljanus he was really nice in It's a Sin. That's all I've got.

[@TheMadwomen]

He's the count, he's the count, he's the count!

[@backtoklondike]

@@digitaljanus And maybe Dr Horrible but that's a huge stretch given that he plays a supervillain.

[@ScorpionViper1001]

He'd make a great Mazer Rackham if they ever did a reboot of Starship Troopers with Verhoeven's vision in mind.

[@siristhedragon]

Man, this series is like if Mauler actually knew how to critique a film, engage an audience and had any semblance of intellectual honesty. 🧡

[@ConvincingPeople]

So nothing like MauLer, but extremely like Kyle? Yes, you are very correct. More seriously, miniseries-length deep dives on media which are actually *good* and display a strong perspective without sacrificing intellectual curiosity and rigour are vanishingly rare and Kyle is doing the Lord's work here. Loving this series.

[@rezkalla]

@@ConvincingPeople You should try Patrick Willems. He does a lot of in depth videos, often includes his parents who are awesome, is charming and likable. He recently discussed Dick Tracy.

[@JeremyCoatney]

I laughed really hard at, “and Ronald, Dutch, Reagan. ‘*From Hell’”

[@cremetangerine82]

Might as well keep it 💯!

[@shadowmaster1313]

Absolutely cackled

[@rachaelbao]

When I see your parents, I think, "Why did I ever worry about anything today? Here is the most comforting image I have ever seen."

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Being totally wholesome in a video about Paul Verhoeven of all people is an impressive feat, and the Kallgrens somehow manage it!

[@thevirtualtraveler]

Would you go so far as to describe it as 'hygge'?

[@miriamscuderi4680]

Kyle is underrated. This is a brilliant, culturally relevant analysis. As an European studying American Studies this is exactly how I try to look at American media. Cannot wait for the next part!

[@simonmacomber7466]

Among my friends, we refer to NPH's character in _Starship Troopers_ as "Doogie Himmler."🧡 And, no, Verhoeven did not lose *THIS* American at that point in the movie. I went in _hoping_ it would turn out the way it did.

[@ScorpionViper1001]

It's not like the foreshadowing was subtle. I think people missed his other critiques of American capitalism in RoboCop that they didn't realize he was asking pointed questions about our society.

[@simonmacomber7466]

@@ScorpionViper1001 There are a lot of Americans that don't even see the critiques of American capitalism in RoboCop even after all these years later.

[@ScorpionViper1001]

@@simonmacomber7466 It sorta baffles me because even my first time watching RoboCop (after finally being able to get past the initial scene where Murphy gets slowly blown to pieces, that was one of the most brutal scenes in popular film for me to watch and still is to a degree,) I noticed just how much pointed critique of American capitalism, society, police, and military culture there was in RoboCop. And this was before I became a socialist.

[@wppb50]

@@simonmacomber7466 I have actually seen the words "next you'll be saying Robocop is political" arranged in that order.

[@christopherpitcairn8617]

"There are uncivilized people on this beach" Thanks, I just spat tea all over my laptop XD

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

Well, i think you can find those on any beach. XD

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

It'so adorable, I can't even...😆

[@simonmacomber7466]

He was right, though. *HE* was on the beach.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Oh ye gods, it's like me when I was a child…

[@JourneyTraveler]

My entire world was shattered at the revelation that Dutch Angles were not in fact Dutch 💛

[@ThierryVerhoeven]

Don't you mean to say that your world tilted?

[@michelottens6083]

🧡Perfect Dutch pronunciation in this. Change nothing. Also Verhoeven's Dunglish is awe inspiring. As to the "gezellig" notion: I'd say the celebratory aspect of its cozyness is important; it's the very enthusiastic offering of tea and cookies to all guests, talking up your background music, and having lots of conversations going at the same time. So not just chill homeliness, but making it a coziness party. Thanks for making these essays such deep and comprehensive dives into the context of the starship troopers style, mr. Kyle! You get at a lot of Dutch culture stuff better than Dutch schooling ever did for me.

[@ZeSheshamHahu]

🧡 My cousin is living in the Netherlands after she studied her MA in music there. She is Jewish. Her grandmother survived the holocaust. Her main complaint was that her professor and employers were, are, anti-semitic toward her. The Netherlands may have studied the lessons of history, but the population didnt.

[@yltraviole]

May I ask what the anti-semitism was that die experienced? I am Dutch, and would like to know which mistakes not to repeat.

[@Amitlu]

I too would like to believe that we as a whole arent anti-semitic. But I could just be naïve.

[@JaapZeldenrust]

@@Amitlu We "as a whole" (ja, ik ben Nederlands, non-Jewish) aren't anything, but there is both institutional and personal antisemitism in The Netherlands. It comes in all kinds of different forms. Like anywhere in the world, there are people who believe in conspiracy theories that are either explicitly antisemitic or come with a lot of antisemitic baggage. There's antisemitism like stereotyping, thinking Jews are all bankers, lawyers and jewelers. Sometimes criticism of the Israeli government veers into antisemitic territory. I've seen quite a lot of unintentional racism, people asking "but where are you really from?" or saying "but you don't look Jewish." There's also a lot of ignorance, still, about the history of antisemitism in The Netherlands. About the way returned Jewish survivors were treated, about the historical revisionism of the post-WWII period. Jewish people face harassment and vandalism. Everyone has implicit biases. You know, it's bigotry. It's complicated, and it's everywhere.

[@Gandaleon]

Who is "The Netherlands" if it's not the population? Also, you can learn all kinds of lessons from anything. But if you're serious about not repeating mistakes from the past, you've got to make sure, you've learned the right ones. One of the many lessons no one learned from the Nazis and fascism is that maybe nationalism is bad. Maybe trying to build and maintain an empire is bad. Maybe treating people merely as a means to an end (profit f.ex.) is bad. Maybe the obsession with super (wo)men/Übermenschen is bad. Maybe anti-communism is bad. Maybe militarism is bad. The fact that those lessons have not been learned, it's not because they're hard, but because they're inconvenient to the current system. To give just one example: Modern nation states, the USA in particular, need and foster nationalism, because that's how you mobilize people to do their bidding, especially if they're unwilling or unable to give them any material incentive to be loyal. So people put all their sense of self worth in this hollow idea of national pride, especially those people who literally have nothing else. And what happens if that pride is threatened? What happens if the greatest nation on earth doesn't look so great? Rather than re-evaluate their opinion of their nation, it tends to make people want to root out fictional saboteurs, the foreign influence... (*cough* Russia Gate *cough*). So no, I don't think bigotry is a natural thing. I agree, that mankind might have some inherent biases because of in-Group out-group thinking. But that alone isn't enough to explain the murderous kind of bigotry that we're familiar with. For that, you need to have internalized certain ideas - nationalism being one of them.

[@wanderingoryx3710]

Go to israel

[@lonerChise]

.... i never realized same director is responsible for RoboCop, Showgirls and Starship Troopers ...suddenly... so many things.... are clicking

[@tbeller80]

I tell everyone that RoboCop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers are a trilogy - from Verhoeven's point of view.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

This is a wonderful video! Your vilification of 'Basic Instinct' and simultaneous vindication of Sharon Stone is much appreciated by this fellow bi person! 🧡 And the 'tears in the rain' gag was pure gold!

[@VermillionBrain]

Damn that was revelatory on so many levels. Excellent work! 🧡 But for real, learning about Verhoeven's non-American work and how they and Dutch culture in general fed into his American movies really blew me away. So much stuff makes more sense now.

[@yltraviole]

Your brother saying " We are going to do much biking. Okay! 👍👍" made me laugh out loud. Adorable. 🧡

[@mkallgren08]

Lol, I was directly quoting a Texan friend's dad who was trying really hard with that line - hence the drawl and not-quite-there grammar :) My accent and grammar are still atrocious, but in different ways :)

[@Mapmaker39]

Seeing Rutger Hauer in his early films reminds me that his last thing he ever appeared or voiced in is in Kingdom Hearts 3. :orange heart:

[@michelottens6083]

Wow who'd he voice!? Edit: the super badguy. perfect. Kingdom Hearts is always fun with all the remarkably distinct voice casting.

[@casperchristiansen2458]

@@michelottens6083 RUTGER GOT NORTED!!! i want him to step on me

[@michelottens6083]

@@casperchristiansen2458 They've 'norted three actors so far for that role, which, given the Big Nort's twelve other body doubles in that story, is also perfect.

[@danielesquivel9326]

@@casperchristiansen2458 "That is DEFINITELY inappropriate."

[@gamestation2690]

@@michelottens6083 You don’t mind that Master Xehanort had three English voice actors? Why don’t you mind it?

[@HobGungan]

I spent 5 years at Hebrew school, and Hebrew has a consonant very much like that Dutch one.

[@theothertonydutch]

I swear my knowledge of dutch and german allow me to understand at least like 1/3rd of yiddish.

[@dairallan]

​@@theothertonydutch Im pretty sure Yiddish is classified as Germanic language and is originally a creole of German..

[@stephendunscombe]

A lot of languages have it. German, Welsh, Russian, Arabic...

[@jmalmsten]

Sweden doesn't have it in the standard Swedish. But, if I discern it correctly, it's a well known version of the r-sound of the dialect spoken in Skåne. The southernmost region of the country. And like any progressive and forward-thinking populous, we make fun of them for how they speak and tell them to "spit out the porridge".

[@monoverantus]

@@jmalmsten man, fuck you But in all seriousness, it was pretty fun to see Kyle struggle with a phoneme a Scanian like myself struggles NOT to use.

[@Primordial_Soup]

I've seen Starship Troopers a half dozen times and never clicked two and two together how poignantly dark and ironically tragic the shower scene is when you see the fates of all of those involved.

[@divadnairbgilbert1087]

🧡 God i never noticed their deaths were ironic echoes of why they enlisted. Can't wait for more.

[@kidlitfanful]

🧡 The end took me by surprise, but I'm still up for part 3, this is an ambitious and deeply personal project.

[@mlovecraftr]

🧡 The comparison between your brother's Dutch pronunciation and yours is so interesting. There is a lot of discussion in linguistics about how many unique sounds we can really acquire before a certain age or point in our development.

[@obiwanobiwan13]

"Mom, there are uncivilized people on this beach." *Further Proof Kyle = KZbin's Frasier Crane*

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I laughed unseemly at this! 🤣

[@Torus2112]

It all makes sense now.

[@CthulhusBFF2]

Nobody: Not a single soul: Mutant lady’s chest in Total Recall: 🧡🧡🧡

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

I'm not sure if Elon Musk and company really understand what they are getting themselves into by building a city on Mars...

[@Owlbearwolf2]

@@tenaciousrodent6251 Yeah, they do. It'd be a Company Town where revolt is impossible.

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

@@Owlbearwolf2 I was thinking about disfigured babies.

[@GhostManCrisis]

Props to the family to join in this endeavor, especially your younger, "I'm not touching that one" bro.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

'Keeping Up With The Kallgrens' is a much, much better show than the one about that other family....turns out, people who read are actually worth watching & listening to 😉

[@lindala2602]

I'm from Denmark, a country as naked as the netherlands, and I always remember the shower sceane as the sceane about reasons for joining. It was not until I started watching youtube videos about Starship troupers that I even learned that some people found the sceane choking. Orenge heart emoji- was this chosen because of the dutch theme of this episode?

[@swanpride]

Same here is a German. I mean, not everyone is into FKK, but there is nothing shocking about the notion that in the future, people wouldn't be as worried about a little bit of nudity anymore.

[@UltimateKyuubiFox]

This was invigorating. I feel like I’ve finished a college course but actually enjoyed myself.

[@Ophionyx]

Aw yes I'd been looking forward to this part! I'm Dutch but I've only seen Verhoeven's American films, your breakdown of his filmography is super interesting. I also love how well you explained Dutch culture. Those quotes about the differences between Dutch an US culture are all things I've observed, though my image is probably a little skewed because all my interaction with Americans happens over the internet or through pop culture. My mother has a couple of friends in the US who she's visited throughout the years, her experience with the culture is quite different. Can't wait for part 3! Groetjes uit Zwolle :)

[@P3achyPro]

I’m so excited, this series has been absolutely fantastic so far!

[@Jokkkkke]

You know what, I completely understood your Dutch even if it wasn’t perfectly constructed. Also, my German grandpa lived in the Netherlands almost his entire life and he never managed to say Scheveningen right

[@michelottens6083]

The "sch", "g", and "ch" sounds are done differently in each of our twelve provinces anyway. Same with the "r". There's a ton of living accents in Nederland, especially for such a small country, so yeah anyone can do whatever with pronouncing Dutch and it's probably fine in conversation.

[@vanDaalstad]

Scheveningen was one of those 'codeword' words the Dutch would use to detect foreign spies, for this exact reason.

[@vanDaalstad]

this was a ride, although i did expect it to go even more into why Verhoeven saw fascism in the source material, or at least earlier. but I seriously did not expect a full breakdown of his entire carreer and the entire dutch culture along with it. Onward to part 3! 🧡

[@halfpintrr]

Maybe it’s because I’m ace, but I never really thought the shower scene was all that controversial. I’m actually really interested in why these people joined up; to see them ripped apart in the war sent chills down my spine. I’m glad one of them got out at least. War is a machine that masticates young bodies and those that can’t be sacrificed die in the streets failed by the government that those bodies are harvested in sacrifice to. 🧡

[@einootspork]

There's a certain banal absurdity to American audiences reacting negatively to nudity instead of fascist subtext

[@Garland41]

Hi Kyle, commenting again because in my studies of Spinoza I've learned something new. I knew that when Spinoza published his _Theologico-Political Treatise_ that he published it anonymously, but as I'm reading Antonio Negri's _The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politcs_ I have discovered that when he published the TPT (or TTP if going by the Latin title) he tried to prevent a Dutch translation of the work. As Negri states: The Publication of the _Theologico-Political Treatise_ ignites several ferocious polemics. And the Jew of Voorburg and The Hague, recognized behind his anonymity, is at the center of them. Certainly, though, these polemics were not unexpected, and this fact is clearly demonstrated by the infinite precautions that Spinoza took while planning the work, by the anonymous publication, and by his attempt to block a Dutch Translation. (pg. 122) This passage in Negri's book is accompanied by 3 footnotes, but it is the last accompanying part about the Dutch Translation that points to evidence of this attempt at blocking it by reference to letters 30 and 44. Now, the reason I say this is because while Spinoza was excommunicated, he still felt unfree in the Netherlands. I've probably watched the video 3 times now, but I don't know how to do a heart emoji on my computer keyboard. I just wanted to share this new information I learned about Spinoza as the one book he did publish revealed him to be the author and that he tried not to reveal himself as the author.

[@ElectricEvan]

It's funny my grandfather spotted the fascism in the books pretty quickly, he was also an electrical engineer but he grew up in Germany and fled just before the war. My mother tells me that for almost 90% of the American media my great grandmother 🧡 (a mathematician) saw she applied the label "this is propaganda".

[@drakolobo]

It is obvious that you do not know what fascism is. the western world has a problem with their soldiers they need them but they hate their stoic and hierarchical pseudo-spartan lifestyle. this emulates the childish contempt that students have towards teachers or anyone who represents "authority", let's see the case of calling the police forces fascist. Fascism does not allow debate, the novel points out that the army is smaller in history, in proportion to the rest of the population it prohibits forced recruitment and political rights cannot be exercised while in service. the population is free to carry out their activities and rant against the government, the rich father belittles the purpose of military service in the first pages with valid arguments and was sent a letter to complain that the moral philosophy class was a recruitment attempt, Professors like recruiters are said to be there to discourage joining the military. pointing out the danger of death and the possibility that it would be prolonged. just as everyone currently has access to the vote (with their own detrition such as not being a convict or minor) everyone has access to apply a service that is not limited to the army but also to other areas that seen from another point of view It would be as a service to the community Rico put out a fire during his training (the armed forces not only serve to fight, they serve as civil protection and rescue forces) And finally, not everything that appears in the novel is a reflection of his way of thinking, he thought of his freedom to present any situation for debate questioning the traditions, just look at his public discourse optimist and the rest of his works that predict current issues. he is a libertarian inviting reflection and the development of the critical sense.

[@Syurtpiutha]

Just wanna say: If you want to mimic a dutch accent, look at Paul Verhoeven interviews. It's a pet peeve of mine to hear dutch characters with german accents. We have a perfectly distinguishable accent ready for mockery.

[@Syurtpiutha]

Watching the Kallgrens butcher the dutch language delights me.

[@mkallgren08]

@@Syurtpiutha Hey, we all try :P And to be fair, we're anywhere from 5 - 9 years out of practice... Also, I purposely put in a terrible Texan drawl in the bit I said - I was quoting a Texan friend's parent who spoke just like that :P And re: the accents - absolutely! Though John Oliver's Dutch accent is delightful in it's awfulness, but it's clear he tried to not just do a Danish or German accent

[@Syurtpiutha]

​@@mkallgren08 Oh I didn't mean to insult you or your family. Dutch is an extraordinary difficult language, or disease of the throat, to grasp. I'd probably do a lot worse if I wasn't born into it. What I meant to poke fun at was the fact that the pronunciation highlights that difficulty. And I agree on John Olliver. The fact that he's british means he probably knows damn well what it would sound like and doesn't bother. Martin Freeman did an excellent dutch accent on the tv-series of Lock Stock as a dutch weed-dealer called Jaap.

[@yltraviole]

Or worse, something vaguely swedish or eastern european.

[@whym6438]

So I'm an American Jew. We learn to make that uvular /χ/ sound from an early age because it's a sound in Hebrew as well as Dutch. You need to be able to make that sound in order to be Bar Mitzvah'd. There are a lot of foreign sounds I have a tough time pronouncing (looking at you, Hindi bh/dh/gh), but /χ/ is not one of them.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Oh man, slack consonants. Those are really interesting and really hard to do as a Westerner and especially an Anglophone because they go against every unspoken rule of European phonology. Like, I'm half-Ashkenazi and part-Irish and Bavarian on my other side, so the real lunger sounds come naturally to me, but Hindi and Urdu do not come easily in that respect.

[@TheStraatjutter]

The places where that feature is strongest in the dialect ( North and South holland) also use a lot of yiddish words

[@Caernath]

As someone born, raised and living in the Netherlands, I can say that you're on the money when it comes to the mentality of the Dutch. When things need to be done, you do them, end of story.

[@readingtoomuchintothings834]

🧡 ... I, shouldn't be surprised that Verhoeven had such a career before his Hollywood films, yet those films, when talking about him, never came up in conversations I was in when talking about him. Barely even thought to look.

[@the_one_true_foxy_wicked]

This piece of media is truly the only thing that could convince me to watch "Showgirls"

[@ScorpionViper1001]

I actually kind of want Showgirls remade now, with more coherent sex worker related themes, better performances, and more logical character behavior. I actually do think there might have been a version of it that worked. It would take a LOT of work, but it's there.

[@yltraviole]

The pronunciation of "Scheveningen" is so difficult for non-Dutch speakers that, as the story goes, it was used to weed out German spies during WWII. So please, Kyle, don't learn to pronounce it TOO well ;)

[@fritzVirginSteeler]

You really missed a golden opportunity to end the video with "Would you like to know more?" Anyway, this is such a great content. I really like Verhoeven, although I haven't seen some of his movies, so it was nice to know a bit more about him. Also, it's really lovely and somehow heartwarming to see your family contributing, both in this and in the Henlein video. It's a very original concept, and very well executed. Congratulations on your work, can't wait to see the third part!

[@elizabethdevido2081]

"What is that? KidPix?" Oh, I have not heard that name in a long time...

[@xsStudios]

🧡 For a living, an education and a hobby, I sell, fix and appraise, and recreationally and competitively shoot firearms. Your question was completely justifiable and hopefully for the other person, sobering. If I've learned anything from my job, (armorer and FFL) schooling, (mechanical design and history major) and time spent with other enthusiasts (Cowboy Action and Historical Reenactors), it's how scarily prescient and forboding the phrase 'When your only tool is a hammer, all of your problems begin looking like nails," can be

[@minxcey]

this was a great second part I watched Starship troopers in the midst of late middle school and inundation of soft military recruitment at the time so when I watch the movie I just thought it was another army movie until Neil Patrick Harris came on screen wearing the whole thing, the it clicked in my brain oh they're the bad guys🧡

[@balrogdahomie]

🧡 I got a bunch of Warhammer 40k videos in the recommended videos under this Another series that has a very complicated relationship with fascism. I suppose that’s kind of interesting

[@Warpwaffel]

The Imperium of Man in 40k is extremely fascist and clearly not the good guys. The complication comes in since they are collectively the PoV-character; they are human after all. Somebody should make a video essay about it. :D

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

I have a joke rule for Warhammer 40K fans that is still true depressingly often: The more serious they take the lore, the more alt-right they usually get. (Please don't sleep on 40K if you identify as a lefty, btw. It's one of the most entertaining things ever created!)

[@orvilpym]

Oh man, think about it: Kyle gets himself a Space Marine army, glues and paints, starts playing, (filming all of it, of course), gets deep into the lore, and next year we get a 5h exploration of the history and meaning of fascism, England, the Internet and Warhammer 40K! _I'd buy that for a dollar!_ In fact, I'd buy that on blu-ray!!! :D 🧡🧡🧡

[@mkallgren08]

Kyle and I have talked often about Warhammer 40k, because I collected them and got deep into the lore - then just got wigged out by how facist and anti-democratic the Imperium was the deeper dug.

[@williamfrancis5367]

Its too pre-modern in theme and aesthetic for direct parallels. Manorial social order of nobility and serfs but with mid-19th-century industrialism, and 20th-century total war mentalities. Even the human bigotry is framed as religious superstition, not social Darwinism.

[@noboomtoday]

🧡 This continues to be top shelf work; the way you weave personal experience, film criticism, history, sociology and even linguistics together is compelling and thought-provoking. Why yes, I would like to know more p.s. thank you for correctly attributing Ronnie Raygun's place of origin

[@tristanhaller8399]

I couldn't stop hearing 'the Dutch concept of Hadoken.'

[@jonmorgan6812]

It's at least less messy than the Old Nordic concept of Tatsumakisenpuukyaku.

[@GuitaroMAN44]

🧡 It’s awesome to see a real deep dive into Verhoeven’s whole filmography, flaws and all. Looking forward to the conclusion to this trilogy, Mr. Kallgren, keep up the stellar work. Life to not Fascism!

[@ruliak]

Another banger, i learned so much about dutch culture, verhoven, and weirdly enough....showgirls.

[@ScorpionViper1001]

I would actually now like a Keetje Teppel remake with the class consciousness elements included. Society NEEDS this.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

@@ScorpionViper1001 Agreed 100%.

[@aimeemariet]

When I was a rather young child, I must have seen Flesh + Blood and Ladyhawke, bits of each, but never either completely. I thought they were the same movie until I was at least 10. 🧡

[@Duhad8]

I have no idea how the orange heart emoji is made, but cannot wait for part 3!

[@sandorenckell5259]

Me neither 🧡

[@WLivi]

Heck of a series you've got going on here, Kyle. Fantastic work. I look forward to the conclusion. 🧡

[@ConvincingPeople]

Apologies for my lateness, I'm watching this one from the beginning now. I know nobody else cares, but I do, and you're probably my favourite critic on KZbin by some margin, and have honestly been my favourite video media critic since your Blip days, so I felt I should say something! ^-^;;

[@fafofafin]

"Mom there are uncivilized people on this beach" lmao! 🧡

[@Arawnthesouldweller]

🧡

[@swanpride]

lol...but one has to understand that for the Dutch (and the Germans and some other Europeans) nudity and sex are two different things. Nudity in itself is not sexual, it is just natural. From our perspective, it is really weird that Americans censor the heck out of movies because of some non-sexual nudity, but have an extremely lax attitude towards violence.

[@fafofafin]

@@swanpride That's true of most cultures, it's just not true of the Spanish and British, and combined they defined many other countries' cultures.

[@michaelpattie9248]

Interesting history factoid: while the British and American forces pushed through France and into Germany, the liberation of Belgium and the Netherlands was specifically tasked to the Canadian forces. There are annual and even small daily ceremonies to this day in the Netherlands that commemorate the Canadians specifically.

[@thevirtualtraveler]

I love Showgirls! And the censored version with the crayonesque CGIed bras is my absolute favorite version. It's so delightfully horrible!

[@puppetsgalore7806]

Your really unflinching look at how Verhoeven critiques the Dutch for not doing enough was almost hard for me to watch. I'm Jewish and have a great-uncle who was in the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded. I'd been told he joined up with the Hitler Youth as a "you want to make it easy on your family? Get food and survive? You join" which made it easy to just kind of justify it to an extent and just ignore that part of his past. Later in life he and my great-aunt (his wife) volunteered at a Jewish summer camp in the states. In the past I thought it was kind of strange, but now I do wonder if he felt guilty he hadn't done enough, had kept his head down and was recruited, and when he was older realized how not alright that was. I'd always thought it was more my great-aunt's idea considering how strong of a personality she had and how he always kind of deferred to her at the end of the day. Now I'm not so sure.

[@RookieCardGuard]

This was a heavy watch while I was having my morning cup of tea but I was still aching for more by the end. Fantastic work 🧡

[@sudevsen]

This has been thrilling so far,very excited.

[@ferdinandpenguin]

I completely understand why you focused on the parts of Dutch culture that you did, because it works extremely well with the thesis, but I think it might’ve been worthwhile to include some mention of less inclusive and equal parts of Dutch culture and history (beyond the part about the Netherlands in WW2 which I hadn’t really thought about before I thought was super interesting) like the country’s colonialism in Indonesia, or the blackface Christmas thing. Overall loved the video, that just kinda bothered me a little bit.

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

Wait for part 3. 😉

[@JJ44595]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH will you also cover the pillarized society?

[@yltraviole]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH Ah, I see how it is. First, buttering us up talking about our national points of pride, directness and tolerance, only to then eviscerate our hypocrisy with regards to our colonial past. Can't wait!

[@liampoulton-king7479]

🧡 It’s good to see you getting back into these long form essays; this three part series is great

[@danielesquivel9326]

🧡 I've never seen any of Verhoeven's work, but the way that you've outlined his films is not only descriptive, but compelling. Also, that breakdown you did of the weird way that Americans conceptualize "rudeness" is spot on, and I say that as an American. Can't wait for Part 3.

[@poposterous236]

1:15:30 Casper Van Dien looking at Verhoeven like he had no idea what kind of film he was making. "Wait, political satire? wtf?"

[@TonyGoldmark]

Nice use of "Dickerydouche McDerphitler." My pet name for Rick Perry if memory serves, but it works well for Clownstick too. 🧡

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

It is an utterly perfect insult! I was paying homage to two of my favorite comedians - Jon Stewart and you 😁

[@TonyGoldmark]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH Dawww thanks

[@TheMaestroso]

I can't get enough of this series, and this type of video narrative as well. Just absolutely excellent work, Kyle.

[@evilcandybag]

🧡 This series is probably your best work yet, and that's saying something.

[@RastafarianPilgrim]

🧡 Glad your mom made the connection between Gezelligheid and Hygge, it's really not as unique a concept as the scourge of self help literature would have you think

[@digitaljanus]

Must ultimately boil down to marketability: "Hygge" is just foreign enough to sound like exotic imported wisdom, without being unpronounceable to English speakers.

[@RastafarianPilgrim]

@@digitaljanus Unpronounceable?! English doesn't have the vowel /y/!!

[@allanolley4874]

🧡 Technically a windmill is a mill powered by the wind, so a pump powered by the wind is a windpump. Personally, I call all spiny wind powered things windmills, however I have an uncle who corrects me if I call a spiny wind thing that runs a dynamo to produce electricity a windmill instead of a windturbine. I have also been to a windpump in Norwich in England, a large part of the Norwich is the Fens which were swamps drained thanks to Dutch know how in centuries past hence the presence of windmill pumps in the area (although as I recall the windpump is actually inoperable and they just use a small electric pump to achieve the same drainage).

[@SaytreJudd]

These essays are all a treat and I'm glad they are here. Looking forward to the next one. 🧡

[@singingpandamonium]

🧡 Very excited for part three. You're doing great work!

[@varg6663]

❤💛 My phone doesn't have an orange heart so I'll just do red and yellow- close enough right? XD Really loving this series, can't wait for the final part!! Also I cackled so hard when you dissed John Green -- it still boggles my mind that virtually everyone gave him a pass for writing a kiss scene in the goddamn *Anne Frank house*

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

People get fanficcy about Anne Frank a lot. She was a magical girl in Madoka magica. And then there is Pieck from Attack on titan who looks a LOT like her. (And is very awesome.)

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

This is the second time that Kyle has shaded John Green, he used him before to elaborate on the concept of "Death of the Author", sadly I can't recall the title of the vid in question right now...

[@jamesderiven1843]

Given the amount of objectively shitty people in the world, dissing John Green for a kiss scene set in an inappropriate place has always felt extremely trivial and petty. Or even, y'know, when compared to Paul Verhoven's umpty-countless rape scenes in movies. But yeah, John Green had teens do a stupid thing in a dumb place. The year after the book was publish Justin Beiber wrote that he hoped Anne Frank would be a Belieber in the guest book at the Anne Frank House.

[@Modern_Robot]

58:45 and who played von Steuben in two episodes of Liberty's Kids? Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's all a tightly woven lattice.🧡

[@Kuroukaze]

This has been, by far, my favorite of your projects. Love it. 🧡

[@DjynnFlyssa]

Amazing work. Cannot wait for part three! 🧡

[@palindrone]

Really needed this, can't wait!

[@palindrone]

🧡

[@ToruKun1]

🧡I was kinda surprised you didn't show/mention the r*pe scene in Hollow Man considering gratuitous r*pe was kind of a running gag in your run-down of Verhoeven films (and that's the scene that fucked me up most as a kid)

[@thrumugnyr]

I remember watching the movie at a young teen kind of age and the rape scene disturbed me so, I hated it. I didn't know about Verhoeven or what movies he made up until this point. Watching this now it all makes so much sense suddenly. Poor baby me. I couldn't have known.

[@Amitlu]

I think its because the rape scene was censored in most versions of the movie, cutting off right before he attacks her

[@ROZWBRAZEL]

Perhaps he thought it would be beating the worst dead horse there is

[@cthulhupthagn5771]

@@ROZWBRAZEL that sums up most of the first half

[@ROZWBRAZEL]

@@cthulhupthagn5771 that's Paul Verhoeven for ya

[@GalaxieNachoes]

Just as riveting as part one. Can't wait for part three. Your work keeps getting better. 🧡

[@rib-cage]

🧡 I actually vocally said "aw dammit" when the video was over. "Would you like to know more?" YES!!! VERY MUCH SO!

[@theapocalyvid]

I think the better question to ask your gun-owning friend would be, "Oh? Well, who are you planning to protect yourself from?" 🧡

[@TindraSan]

certainly a less alarming/provocative way of putting it

[@theapocalyvid]

@@TindraSan Well, the provocation could come later. If they respond, "from Antifa" or "from gangs", there may be a racial connotation to it, which you can discuss. If they say, "from burglars" or "from rapists", that aspect may be there as well. Also, the type of gun is important. A handgun is good for self-defense. A rifle is good for hunting. A shotgun is good for both. An assault rifle? Basically no use outside of mass killing.

[@darthmunck]

@@theapocalyvid Perhaps it's Kyle's mention of that notion of frankness that's inspiring me to ask, but: How is a handgun, a weapon which is still statistically far more likely to kill its owner than a possible intruder, good for self-defence? Especially compared to, say, martial arts training or even a knife. Better than an assault rifle, certain, in that it's less bulky and not designed to kill multiple people at once, but I still need to question the notion that it's good in the first place.

[@theapocalyvid]

@@darthmunck Well, I'm pretty open about things, so I can just come forward and say that, in my opinion, guns are fine. Gun culture is the real issue. If you are trained with them and you use them as tools, they are about as dangerous as a gas stove. My issue is with everything else, from having guns in a child's reach to pseudo-militia organizations to police militarization and everything in between. Guns are vastly more likely to kill owners because people aren't careful with them, and in the unlikely situation where your home is invaded, your attacker will probably also be armed. I think that gun control is important if only so the culture can change for the better. Don't sell them at Walmart, keep your weapons locked up, don't have them assessible to kids or the suicidal. Personally, I'd be more concerned about a shotgun in my house than a handgun. Those are the most successful way to kill yourself, and have been used in mass shootings as well. But that's just my two cents

[@yltraviole]

@@darthmunck Seems to me you'd be better off investing in a decent alarm system, locks etc. The idea of having to handle and operate a gun after being woken up in the middle of the night does not make me feel safer, honestly. But then again, I'm Dutch, I did NOT grow up in a gun culture.

[@kadmii]

This part definitely has given up much food for thought, an appreciation for Dutch frankness, and a desire to know more of Verhoeven 🧡❤💛💚💙💜

[@user-vk8kj5es8e]

I'm spending my Saturday binging this whole three-part thing in one go and it's getting better and better! 🧡🧡🧡 On to part three!

[@WarMaid68]

This series is really, really good. I wasn't expecting you to go so deep when it began, but I'm here for it. 🧡

[@sataprescott7588]

🧡 This is such a thorough and fascinating cultural analysis! I really appreciate the exploration of Dutch-ness and Verhoeven-ness!

[@codo820]

"There are uncivilized people on this beach" I love it.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

He was 11 when this must have happened, and I can just picture the scene 😂

[@juanpe9017]

Verhoeven is one of my favorite directors! I loved this video and can't wait for the next one. Thanks for all your effort, Kyle! 🧡

[@JayJohnson-oi8ug]

🧡 Very good stuff! Fascinating to see such a thorough walk through of Verhoeven's filmography. Can't wait for part 3