Allen:
********SPOILER RESPONSE********
Having read too much Freud, here was my take on Carmen's interaction with the
smart bug...there was the female element yes...but that probe hmmm well it
seems awfully phallic to me. As if the being had the anatomy of both
genders...a kind of hermaphrodite if you will. Carmen castrates the being
thus leaving only as female. As a female now...it is no longer threatening
and can be destroyed by the macho men.
Insects (notice the recurring fear element of insects in sci-fi) Aliens,
Mimic, this movie, Naked lunch,...im drawing a blank now...but I think part of
the fear of insects comes from the fact that they (how about even in Temple of
Doom...with the cave filled with bugs which leave Kate Capshaw screaming) oh
and there is Arachnaphobia...are so elusive...and everywhere. If you see one
cockroach you're in trouble say the experts, but insects are then upon you
before you know. ALso bugs multiply so rapidly, and because their life span
is so short, they can adapt to anything humans throw at them. Remember the
only thing left after a nuclear war, may very well be insects. (You know what
I thought dumb about the scene where they were on Planet P or whatever that
place was called? The insects were EVERYWHERE. THeir defences were far
superior, they bounced back like nothing...and the guy says "Nuke em." I
thought why are these people running around if they are using nukes...but I
guess that might just be a saying huh?
About the fort...I thought that fort was started by the Mormons? I thought
they said that they were told not to build the fort, but they did and were
slaughtered. It was called Fort smith or something like that. Maybe it was
military after the fact, but I understood it to be a fort built by religious
separatists, then after they were killed, the military used it because they
didn't have time to build anything better. Am I wrong?
Julien
----------
From: For discussion of feminist SF, fantastic & utopian literature on behalf
of Allen Briggs
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 1997 10:20 PM
To: FEMINISTSF@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
Subject: Re: [*FSFFU*] Starship Troopers
I caught the late afternoon matinee of _Starship Troopers_ and found
it to be rather cartoon-ish. It bears only a slight, superficial
resemblance to the book (at least as I remember it). *sigh*
If you do go, don't expect a movie version of the book. At all.
I've heard it described as, "loosely based on the back cover of
the Heinlein novel."
There's spoiler stuff below because I just had to rant some...
Anyway, I'm going to try and keep quiet about this from now
on because I have a desire to rant about it...
-allen
PS. For newcomers on the list... I'm a 27 year-old computer
programmer with a long-time love of Science Fiction, Feminism,
and Gay (and Lesbian, and Bi- ;-) Rights. I'm just getting
more into femsf as I find it (and write down recommendations
that come across this list). I was raised as a liberal Quaker,
but don't now claim any church affiliation beyond that.
I tend to enjoy "hard-sf" and "eco-femi-utopias" as well as
some cyberpunk and the occasional fantasy. Authors that I
like are Heinlein (can't help it ;-), Asimov, Bear, Slonczewski,
Piercy, Diane Duane, Sheri Tepper, O. Butler, Nicola Griffith
(I haven't picked up Slow River yet, though)-:, Le Guin, Pat Murphy,
and a host of others. I'm currently making my way through the
"New Legends" anthology put together by Bear and Greenburg(?)
that I picked up at ICFA last March. I was at ICFA because my
wife was presenting a paper there.
*** Spoiler stuff ***
The eviscerations didn't bother me too much. Probably because Alien/s
was worse and at least parts of this looked a bit like Nickelodeon "slime"
or "goop" or whatever they call it. I didn't find the special effects
looking that great. The bugs didn't move realistically to me, nor did
the ships. Some of the props looked like painted cardboard and seemed
as flimsy. The death and dismemberment came across as kind of
comic-book-y. It didn't seem real to me at all. I was surprised that
Diaz's character wasn't choking on the fake blood.
Was it just me, or did the bugs look something like the aliens in
Alien/s? Coincidence, or are these monsters some sort of an amalgamation
of some common fears?
Some of the plot changes were understandable. Some seemed completely
gratuitous. The whole love interest thing seemed to fit both
categories. The whole Nazi thing was annoying. The weaponry was
ludicrous. The surrounding technology was unbelievable (yes, only a
Hollywood set designer would build a fort with supporting structures on
the outside and without being sure of the security of the foundation.
I'm a pacifist, though, so what do I know? And the asteroids? The bugs
are clear on the other side of the galaxy. That's 100,000 light-years.
And they're propelling ROCKS from there? At sub-light speed? In
response to human incursions into their space? And this is set in the
23rd century? That's a bit too much disbelief for me to suspend.
Oh. On the point that Barbara, I think, mentioned. I think it's pretty
clear that Carmen is not a virgin (unless I completely misread "my
father won't be home tonight."), but I'm not sure if that affects
your argument.
I came away from this movie kind of like I came away from _First
Knight_, actually. I felt like so much more could have been done
and that the subject matter was completely misunderstood by everyone
from the screenwriters to the producers and hence the audience.
...and was it just me, or did the mouth of the "brain" bug resemble
a sinister view of a part of human anatomy just a little bit? [*]
Anyway, I think I'm going to have to read the book again to see how
skewed my memories are. I can't imagine what they'd do with _Tunnel
In the Sky_...
ALL that said, the only feminist aspect of the book that I recall
was Heinlein's assertion that women have better reaction and
decision-making times and therefore make better pilots than men.
And that was barely implied by the movie, so I'm thinking that
this is off-topic...
[*] Frank and graphic description of what I mean that I will probably
regret sending when the morning rolls around follows.
Please delete now if you will take offense, and please don't try to
psycho-analyze me based on this.
The mouth of the "brain" bug looked to me like a vulva with the
brain-sucking attachment. After it sucked the brains out of Carmen's
partner and was oozing toward her, it looked like it was leaking semen.
Reading (probably) waaaay too much into it, it took a woman (Carmen)
to remove the brain-sucker so that the men (specifically, the ultra-man,
drill-sarge-dude) could bring the bug in, but of course, Private Zim
gets all the credit. Blech.
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