More Starship Troopers spoiler discussion...
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> Having read too much Freud, here was my take on Carmen's interaction with the
> smart bug...
Well, that's actually the point I was working toward, I think, although
I hadn't gotten to thinking of it as hermaphroditic.
> Their defences were far
> superior, they bounced back like nothing...and the guy says "Nuke em."
Actually, I've started re-reading the book, and the "cap troopers" do
carry and use small-yield nukes. The one's that Johnnie's using in the
raid (on a non-Bug alien race) at the beginning of the novel are 2
kiloton (1/5 the size of the Hiroshima yield). In the book, the team of
M.I. that Johnnie's in are equipped with armored suits that are kind of
like walking, jumping, almost flying tanks. Johnnie's just been
field-promoted and has been entrusted with 3 or 4 nukes to use wisely.
In the book, there are no women in the M.I. At least, in boot camp
(which is much more primitive and harsh than in the movie), the recruits
make a point of not having any women around ANYwhere in the boot camp.
That's something that the movie has improved on, perhaps.
> About the fort...I thought that fort was started by the Mormons?
I think that was a different fort. I got the impression that Fort John
Smith (or whatever) was in a quarantine zone in the Utah desert--perhaps
a zone set apart for "teams of government scientists" to study bugs
outside of the lab.
I am finding, on my re-read, that a lot of the propaganda aspects of
the movie are present, but it's not clear if the author is satirizing
it or not. From what (very) little I know of the man, it could be
either. On the one hand, he does seem quite serious when he says (and
I think Marina would agree ;-) that force has decisively settled many
issues throughout history. On the other hand, I get the impression that
he is critical of the militarized society and the military life. It's
certainly hard to marry and have children as career military in this
world... ;-) On the re-read, so far, though, I am getting the
impression that it's a war story and is not meant to be a cautionary
tale at all, but is, indeed, meant to glorify military service.
One thing that is consistent with the book is the Rodger Young (the
dropship/troop ship). The last page of the novel gives us a historical
note about Rodger Young. He was apparently a 25 year-old private who was
(post-humously) awarded a Medal of Honor for action in WWII
(single-handedly destroying an enemy pillbox that had his platoon pinned
down--he was wounded three times while en route and died from the third
wounding).
Anyway, to sum up--the book doesn't have much of a feminist aspect
(aside from the matter of the pilots), but the movie does improve on
the book. Even Johnnie's mother is a stronger character in the movie.
Actually, though, come to think of it, some might say that Carmen is
weaker in the movie. In the book, "Carmen wasn't my girl--she wasn't
anybody's girl; she never made two dates in a row with the same boy and
treated all of us with equal sweetness and rather impersonally."
Here's a little bit on the pilots from the first chapter of the book:
Then the ship's breaking program hit us and I stopped shaking.
Eight gees, I would say, or maybe ten. When a female pilot
handles a ship, there is nothing comfortable about it; you're
going to have bruises every place you're strapped. Yes, yes, I
know they make better pilots than men do; their reactions are
faster, and they can tolerate more gee. They get in faster, get
out faster, and thereby improve everybody's chances, yours as
well as theirs. But that still doesn't make it fun to be slammed
against your spine at ten times your proper weight.
I'll be quiet now... ;-)
-allen
--
Allen Briggs - end killing - briggs@macbsd.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:10 PDT