Starship Troopers

2003-07-27 - 12:13 a.m.

I'm not really able to comment on the treatment of Hussein's sons, in case you were wondering. Mainly because the whole idea seems to put society back about 200 years. I'm not quite able to comment without resorting to foaming at the mouth.

But really, what is there to say about that?

In an oddly related twist, I've picked up a Robert Heinlein book, Starship Troopers, in part to see if my opinions I formed of him a couple years ago (they should be in the archives somewhere...) still held, namely that he was a really smart fella, but I can't agree with most of what he says/said. I don't think reading one anthology was enough to give me an idea of the man and his views, so I wanted to read something else.

I chose Starship Troopers, because I'd seen the movie, and knew sort of what to expect.

The movie, the first time I saw it, made me spitting mad. The whole film, while "entertaining" (I wasn't really bored during it), grated on me throughout its run. The mores of the film seemed completely counter to what I believed, the movie itself seemed to try to justify war, oppression, classism, and general thuggish brutality...

But, I saw the movie a couple more times, and I suddenly realized that maybe it was meant to be a satire. Maybe I was supposed to be spitting mad. Perhaps the movie was showing me such an ugly (in my opinion) world because it wanted me to see what an alternative was, should I decide my views should be changed. The thing about that movie, though, is that I'm not sure it's a satire, at all. If it's a satire, it is possibly one of the shrewdest, subtlest films of its sort.

I'm only partway through the book - I'll be finished in a day or so, I expect - but there are a few observations I've made.

First, I once said that his craft as a writer suffered, and I take that back. He's a fine storyteller (except when his particular dogma starts coming through). I think I said something about his story ideas being brilliant, but the story itself fell down during the narrative, which isn't a fair judgement to make from one short story anthology. I suspect he's more of a novelist, which is why Starship Troopers is reading so well.

As for the content, this is one of the more difficult books that I've tried to read. So much of the ideologies in it are very challenging to me, and it's difficult to read a chapter wherein a rough description of my ideals are trampled over.

I'm hoping, maybe, for a final reprieve in this book, a return to some sort of morality, that maybe the book's journey away from civil trappings into a savage battleground, both literally and in tone and message is just a part of the journey, is - like the movie - simply showing the alternative...

But I've read Heinlein before, so I kinda suspect I won't like the ending.

Ah well, it's good to challenge yourself, to look beyond your own ideological universe.

And I'm still not smart enough to rebut him. Grumble.

Cheers,

The Magus

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