The issue is Starship Troopers is not fascist, it is more obvious in the book compared to the film. The society is described as multicultural and multiracial with only a very competitive merit based society. While “citizenship” is stuck behind service, it includes all kinds of service, and the army is required to take all people who wish to become no matter their physical state. Not being a citizen does not stop people from engaging in commerce or becoming wealthy or voicing your opinions on topics. Citizens really only get the opportunity to vote and preference in government jobs and programs.
The only real box i can think of is restrictive voting, but even then the path to voting rights is open to everyone. The only other definitive fascist thing is the speedy trial and execution in the movie, but that can be vague authoritarianism to future policing and evidence. We don’t get to know enough about the economics of ST to really say.
You said you could only think of one box it checks, so I gave you more boxes.
Now you’re telling me no individual box mentioned is inherently fascist.
Do you see how you’re moving the goal posts?
How many boxes does a government need to check before it can be considered fascist? Does it have to contain a Consul guarded by people in tunics carrying fasces or it’s just Sparkling Authoritarianism?
it is more obvious in the book compared to the film.
The film was loosely based on the book and was explicitly written as a critique on fascism and the book. Verhoeven and Neumeier have said as much.
But also, I don’t think you know what fascism is. There’s always people in a fascist state that have a good quality of life. The question is what happens to people that don’t fit in the state mold? What happens to enemies of the state? Who gets classified as an enemy of the state? Who holds power or can hold power in the state? The fact that to be a citizen you’d have to start by joining the state party is de-facto a fascist state.
If you were part of the Nazi party in germany as a non-jew/communist/or someone with a disability. Life was pretty good. So good that US newspapers had Hitler as person of the year and sung him praises. They had commerce and a strong economy with most people having great lives. Nazis were popular and liked by the people because they saw them as making their lives better. And you could get a high ranking position in the government by joining the military and serving a term.
In the film, the enemies were the Arachnids. War started because of the colonization of arachnid territories and extermination was the next order of business. Even though Arachnids are depicted as being thinking and intelligent beings. That was the point of the final scene “It’s afraid!”. Rather than try to understand or communicate with the alien/foreigner/etc, the government prioritized extermination and learning to make it fear them.
The issue is Starship Troopers is not fascist, it is more obvious in the book compared to the film. The society is described as multicultural and multiracial with only a very competitive merit based society. While “citizenship” is stuck behind service, it includes all kinds of service, and the army is required to take all people who wish to become no matter their physical state. Not being a citizen does not stop people from engaging in commerce or becoming wealthy or voicing your opinions on topics. Citizens really only get the opportunity to vote and preference in government jobs and programs.
The society as described by Heinlein definitely ticks many of the boxes for fascism, much like platypuses tick many of the boxes for being a mammal.
The only real box i can think of is restrictive voting, but even then the path to voting rights is open to everyone. The only other definitive fascist thing is the speedy trial and execution in the movie, but that can be vague authoritarianism to future policing and evidence. We don’t get to know enough about the economics of ST to really say.
You don’t think The Federation was nationalistic or militaristic?
Neither of which are inherently fascist.
You said you could only think of one box it checks, so I gave you more boxes.
Now you’re telling me no individual box mentioned is inherently fascist.
Do you see how you’re moving the goal posts?
How many boxes does a government need to check before it can be considered fascist? Does it have to contain a Consul guarded by people in tunics carrying fasces or it’s just Sparkling Authoritarianism?
Nationalism and militarism are not inherently fascist. A society can be nationalist and militarist and not be fascist.
The film was loosely based on the book and was explicitly written as a critique on fascism and the book. Verhoeven and Neumeier have said as much.
But also, I don’t think you know what fascism is. There’s always people in a fascist state that have a good quality of life. The question is what happens to people that don’t fit in the state mold? What happens to enemies of the state? Who gets classified as an enemy of the state? Who holds power or can hold power in the state? The fact that to be a citizen you’d have to start by joining the state party is de-facto a fascist state.
If you were part of the Nazi party in germany as a non-jew/communist/or someone with a disability. Life was pretty good. So good that US newspapers had Hitler as person of the year and sung him praises. They had commerce and a strong economy with most people having great lives. Nazis were popular and liked by the people because they saw them as making their lives better. And you could get a high ranking position in the government by joining the military and serving a term.
In the film, the enemies were the Arachnids. War started because of the colonization of arachnid territories and extermination was the next order of business. Even though Arachnids are depicted as being thinking and intelligent beings. That was the point of the final scene “It’s afraid!”. Rather than try to understand or communicate with the alien/foreigner/etc, the government prioritized extermination and learning to make it fear them.