It's way too cloaked to be an effective piece of satire. It's funny if you already 'get it' but the majority of people who watch it just will straight up fly over their head.
I'm not even talking about CHUDs, just regular people. It's almost subliminal winks. It's like David Lynch's Dune handing out pamphlets before the movie. If you can't explain the ideas within the film then how good is it really? Once you read all the references through guides like the Chapo episode or various articles, then you can understand how consistently the film portrays an imperialist fascist society through a heavily concealed propaganda film. It's all there, and it's clear the film is about that- but only if you do research before or after.
In a way it's kinda elitist. You only get it if you are enlightened/educated enough to get it. If the idea of satire is to heighten real life ideologies to expose the hypocrisies or faults, this works, but it's also about audience and spreading the message. It's a bit circle jerky.
If I remember the film correctly, the anti-fascism message is unevenly lumped all at the start and is kind of minimized after the first act. It needed to be reinforced more throughout the film. When I watched it as a kid I did not pick up on the anti-fascism and only absorbed an anti-military anti-war message.
I dunno, "SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP" was a pretty blatant call-out. It's not Verhoeven's fault if Americans have a blind spot for this shit because action movie go pew pew. Also, if a bunch of blonde, blue-eyed hwites living in Buenos Aires doesn't trip something in your brain, then I don't know what to tell you.
It's way too cloaked to be an effective piece of satire. It's funny if you already 'get it' but the majority of people who watch it just will straight up fly over their head. I'm not even talking about CHUDs, just regular people. It's almost subliminal winks. It's like David Lynch's Dune handing out pamphlets before the movie. If you can't explain the ideas within the film then how good is it really? Once you read all the references through guides like the Chapo episode or various articles, then you can understand how consistently the film portrays an imperialist fascist society through a heavily concealed propaganda film. It's all there, and it's clear the film is about that- but only if you do research before or after.
In a way it's kinda elitist. You only get it if you are enlightened/educated enough to get it. If the idea of satire is to heighten real life ideologies to expose the hypocrisies or faults, this works, but it's also about audience and spreading the message. It's a bit circle jerky.
If I remember the film correctly, the anti-fascism message is unevenly lumped all at the start and is kind of minimized after the first act. It needed to be reinforced more throughout the film. When I watched it as a kid I did not pick up on the anti-fascism and only absorbed an anti-military anti-war message.
I dunno, "SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP" was a pretty blatant call-out. It's not Verhoeven's fault if Americans have a blind spot for this shit because action movie go pew pew. Also, if a bunch of blonde, blue-eyed hwites living in Buenos Aires doesn't trip something in your brain, then I don't know what to tell you.
NPH walks in to the set in an SS uniform while they're having a funeral for a soldier with a green nazi flag on it.
It could not be any more blatant. It literally slaps you in the face.
Right?!
To be fair, you have to have a high IQ to understand Starship Troopers
I didn't get it the first time I watched it!