I must report that just a few hours ago, I sat through "starship troopers."
First I would like to commend Verhoever for returning to a genre he does well.
I think to appreciate the movie, you have to know some of his other
work...most notably "robocop" of which this movie most resembles. I don't
think that he was advocating violence, rather he is "taking the piss" (i don't
know a good American equivalent to this phrase...maybe satirizing) of
totalitarian, gung ho, I'm an American I'm going kick some alien butt
ideologies. I think like Cronenberg he stretches the violence to its
ultimate...not only for gross factor but to really evicerate his audience. If
"videodrome" has any wisdom, its that what we see on screen registers as a
kind of reality experience for us. War is grotesque and i think the movie
depicts the guts and gore of it. People don't go into battle and emerge
unscathed, they get limbs torn off or blown to bits. Verhoeven also follows
"robocop" by employing the news updates or propaganda updates. They are, I
think, not only showing what happens during wartime (remember the onslaught of
coverage of the gulf war?) but he is also making a statement about the role of
MEDIA in shaping peoples perceptions. In one scene a videographer keeps
shooting the carnage despite the risk...think about the crazed papparazi that
chase stars down the interstate at 100 miles an hour.
I must also state that the females in the film don't fare that badly. There
are atleast ENOUGH of them. In Gattaca ok there are women in the ranks, but
they never say a word. Atleast these women can stand their own and in some
cases out rank the men. I thought the shower scene was also interesting, as
so many military films depict men as being slime of the earth. Sexually
harrassing at every turn or atleast drawing attention to the physical
differences (think GI JANE...she had to prove herself as a man to get that
respect) in this film, the women are one of the guys. I think that has
something to do with the Totalitarian or communist overtones...referring to
others as "citizen" rather than Mr or Miss.
Has anyone read this Heinlein book? I would be interested to know how it
differs.
Finally (yes I am going to stop soon) I agree with Barbara that those dying
words of Dis were INCREDIBLY stupid. I do disagree that the response "I'm
your girl" sounds dumb. Men say "im your man," so what is the difference?
Overall I enjoyed the movie. At first it seems to be directed at the 16-18
crowd, as it has both an amazingly blemish free younger cast and
stereotypical teenage angst storylines; however the often gratuitous violence
rescues it from that.
Anyone else for comment?
Julien
----------
From: For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature on behalf
of Barbara Benesch
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 1997 8:57 PM
To: FEMINISTSF@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
Subject: Re: [*FSFFU*] Starship Troopers
In a message dated 97-11-08 17:05:09 EST, Susan Palwick wrote:
> And to Barbara Benesch, who writes of "Starship Troopers," "both the 'war'
> storyline, as well as the violence on the screen . . . will make most
> women avoid it altogether," please watch your assumptions. :) I know
> *plenty* of women who enjoy the occasional shlock gore-fest, and who
> aren't inherently opposed to militarism. Heck, I know women who've been
> in the armed services. I'll probably be seeing the movie myself this
> weekend, and I cheerfully expect to hate it on a number of grounds (not
> least the fact that it's based on a Heinlein novel, and most of the women
> *I* know DO object to his misogyny). Still, there have been plenty of
> violent movies I've enjoyed (the work of Quentin Tarantino springs to
> mind). Again, for me, feminism means being able to define my *own*
> preferences and priorities, rather than having to accept the labels either
> of patriarchal men or of other feminists.
Susan, I stated myself badly (I was writing at 4a.m. after having been up all
day and seeing a midnight show). I too enjoy a good "butt-kicking" sort of
movie, and know women who've been in the armed forces, and even considered
joining myself for a while, and (while this may be too much information)
fully support women in combat, as far as that goes. When I spoke of "keeping
most women out of the theater", I was speaking more of women like my mother,
who would be willing to see "Men in Black" but will definitely not see
"Alien: Resurrection" (which I am *desperately* looking forward to, although
I am half-expecting to be disappointed by some of the feminist themes
therein), as she is not actually "into" science fiction, but will watch the
occasional more mainstream science fiction movie. Women who are not
necessarily into science fiction were more of who I was discussing there.
Sorry I was not clear.
Also, as far as the gory aspect of the movie, I will fall upon the words of
one of my friends who saw it with me: "After the tenth evisceration, you
either got used to it or started to get sick." I can take a certain amount
of violence, but after too much, I'm no longer comfortable, or enjoying
whatever movie I'm watching (and I'm speaking strictly for myself here). I
think what made me most uncomfortable was that if the point of the unending
violence in the movie was to demonstrate the brutalities of war, then the
teenage males I observed in the theater didn't seem touched by it.
Susan, I agree - the point of feminism is for women to choose for themselves
what they do and do not enjoy, free of patriarchal influence over what is
"proper" for women to enjoy. Believe me, all through high school I was
looked at strangely because I was a girl who was into science fiction, and so
I'm definitely a supporter of women choosing for themselves what they do and
do not enjoy.
I would be interested to hear what you thought of the movie once you have
seen it, if you don't mind.
Barbara Benesch
BJBenesch@aol.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:07 PDT