New ‘Starship Troopers’ Neill Blomkamp

[Meridian]

It's very different, a lot of the book is essentially explaining Heinlein's personal philosophy/making a case for how the military has the potential to shape you and society like nothing else. The rest is talking about the particulars of power suits and their management and pretty girls in skirts. The bugs almost don't even feature.

The book is also very pro-war (in the sense that the author believes that only veterans should be allowed to vote), which is ironic as Heinlein spend WW2 working in a naval dockyard (with Isaac Asimov and L Sprague deCamp) and never saw a shot fired in anger. It's hard to see how a serious film of the idea (if not the book directly) can be anything other than a right-wing fantasy.

 

[PlacidCasual]

It's very different, a lot of the book is essentially explaining Heinlein's personal philosophy/making a case for how the military has the potential to shape you and society like nothing else. The rest is talking about the particulars of power suits and their management and pretty girls in skirts. The bugs almost don't even feature.

Having read a lot of Heinlien I never bought the idea that it was his personal philosophy unless he has said so somehwhere. Because he offers up many many quite radical different societal models across the range of his books so it doesn't immediately strike me that Starship Troopers should be his own favourite version when compared against the many others he offers us.

But I'd love to see an actual book adaption, Starship Troopers is one of my favourite novels of that era.

 

[Zefan]

Having read a lot of Heinlien I never bought the idea that it was his personal philosophy unless he has said so somehwhere. Because he offers up many many quite radical different societal models across the range of his books so it doesn't immediately strike me that Starship Troopers should be his own favourite version when compared against the many others he offers us.

But I'd love to see an actual book adaption, Starship Troopers is one of my favourite novels of that era.

Right, I meant more his perspective on how things might be in that context rather than what he wished would be.

The book is also very pro-war (in the sense that the author believes that only veterans should be allowed to vote), which is ironic as Heinlein spend WW2 working in a naval dockyard (with Isaac Asimov and L Sprague deCamp) and never saw a shot fired in anger. It's hard to see how a serious film of the idea (if not the book directly) can be anything other than a right-wing fantasy

It's important to highlight that it's service to the state that of all kinds that is linked to the right to engage in politics, not just military. Even still, the vote being linked to military service has nothing to do with being pro war, does it? You can advocate for military spending, join the military, and even fight in wars without being pro war.

 

[ttaskmaster]

The book is also very pro-war (in the sense that the author believes that only veterans should be allowed to vote), which is ironic as Heinlein spend WW2 working in a naval dockyard (with Isaac Asimov and L Sprague deCamp) and never saw a shot fired in anger.

It's the idea of Service to the state. This Service can take many forms, with the military side being depicted in the novel, but it is usually dangerous and it's the willingness to fight and die to protect society, that shows someone as suitably responsible to wield the power of the vote and thus the direction of society.
Hence the in-book debate about inalienable rights and the explanation of how humans have no rights except those they are willing to actually fight for.

I don't think Heinlein was especially pro-war. He presents it as something inevitable to be endured, but not enjoyed, with great emphasis on glorifying the lowest and frequently ignored echelons of the military. He also makes it clear in his later books that Service is volunteer-only, with only about 10% of Citizens actually doing military Service. There is no conscription, for any kind of Service, which is in stark contrast to his real-life experiences of military service.