Starship Troopers: Failure of Democracy (HD)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters cite it as an example of the film's satire of militarism and fascist propaganda delivered deadpan.
What it is
A two-minute classroom scene from the film Starship Troopers in which a teacher lectures on why only veterans earn the right to vote, titled Failure of Democracy.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2018 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Cites dmreedy · 2018-11 · on “The Predictions of Robert A. Heinlein, from the Cold War to the Waterbed”
I think there's more depth to the film than you might be giving it credit for. There's a lot of goofy heavy-handedness on the surface, but there are some layers underneath, in the writing and the arcs of the characters The guys at Red Letter Media did a pretty good breakdown of it[0] all in all. But even just consider the scene in the beginning when Rasczak is teaching the class about citizenship[1]. It's goofy and funny on the meta-level, because, well, it's Michael Ironside, and he's saying things that at first pass sound insane . But there's a whole lot in that dialog, and it's all played deadly straight. And then compare Rico's genuine, "I don't know" there, to where his character is at
Cites dragontamer · 2020-07 · on “How “Starship Troopers” Aligns with Our Moment of American Defeat”
> devolved into a bunch of people running around with guns shouting randomly at giant bugs. That was part of the satire actually. When a pro-militaristic society knows nothing but violence, they continuously look at the problem through a violence-only lens. > It basically stripped away all the interesting science fiction bits The propaganda bits and sarcastic take-down of fascism is the big part of the movie. [LINK] Its probably easier to see the sarcasm with all of the Federal News Network clips in a row? Or maybe the "Failure of Democracy" speech? [this video]
Cites mLuby · 2022-06 · on “We need to make adulthood more desirable”
Teacher: Why are only [veterans] allowed to vote? Student: It's a reward for doing government service. Teacher: No. No! Something given has no value. Teacher: What's the moral difference between a civilian and [veteran]? Student: A veteran accepts personal responsibility for safety of the body politic, defending it with his life. A civilian does not. -Starship Troopers classroom scene [this video] (Heinlein had some weird ideas and the movie's satire isn't obvious enough to those who most need it to be.)