Yes, he described Palestinians as “the bugs” and said some other really fucking ignorant quotes from that movie without the slightest understanding of Paul Verhoeven’s intent (his effort may have been doomed from the start; he even scolded actors on set for “not getting it” and just enjoying the fascism).
I have some license with what I say because I’m moving and transferring out of state in a few weeks but I also don’t want to have a bad mark on my record by saying something particularly scary about the IDF, so what should I tell him on Monday?
I love Starship Troopers but this is actually a major problem with it. The film might be a satire of fascism (and liberalism) but it’s definitely not a pro-communist film. The bugs are never depicted as anything other than bloodthirsty, chaotic monsters (though they are able to outmaneuver the humans a few times since the humans are even worse). This is partly excused by the fact that the movie is supposed to have been made within the Starship Troopers universe, but it’s also because the writer/director are ultimately libs. We desperately need left artistic works which just blatantly say that communism is good.
The only time we see the arachnids is when they are being invaded by the federation though, we never get a glimpse of civilian arachnid life. They aren’t so much bloodthirsty as fighting for their homes which humans are attempting to colonize. They only appear as “bloodthirsty chaotic monsters” because we’re shown them through the lens of the fascist humans. I agree it’s not a pro-communist film, but that wasn’t the point of it
This is acktshully quite an apt comparison! In parallel with the ““resumption”” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the media omit to mention that the war didn’t start with the attack on Buenos Aires, but with the establishment of colonies in the bugs’ space. They are just as much otherized (in the movie, by their obvious non-human nature), and we’re fed daily with apologetic propaganda for their eradication by any means necessary. If you can refine that, I think that’s worth mentioning to him.
Tell him you don’t want to worry him, and you cannot put your finger on exactly what it is, but something about him reminds you of how someone you knew looked right before they died suddenly of an unexplained brain hemmorrage. Tell him it’s probably nothing. Then tell him to please, please “be careful” if he experiences symptoms such as let’s say being tired or having a headache, because you just want him to be safe. Then tell him it’s probably nothing again. Then tell him you’re just worrying because all the doctors said this made up dead person was perfectly healthy and they obviously were not because they just died out of nowhere. Then apologize for making this about you and your personal life stories, tell him once again it is probably nothing and that he shouldn’t worry. Then tell him out of nowhere that he is one of the bravest people you have ever met and you just wanted to say that. And then you can leave.
Tell him the director grew up in Nazi occupied Netherlands and that he has directly stated that everything in the movie is a parody meant to show that the humans are fascist bad guys, like I’m pretty sure it’s on the DVD commentary
I had a similar opportunity to argue that with a biological family member, with cited sources, and he retreated to “WELL HEINLEIN SAID…” and swore up and down that Heinlein wasn’t a nazi (just #1 with nazis apparently). He had no real citable differences between what he believed and what nazis wanted except maybe manners and @Civility@hexbear.net
