The uniforms were inspired by Starship Troopers, a 1997 space epic about a future Earth governed by a fascist regime that wages war against giant alien bugs
I really should make this a copypasta, with how often it seems to come up:
No Heinlein was not pro-fascist. That much becomes very obvious if you read, like, literally any of his other books. His politics shifted over his lifetime, but he was broadly an outspoken libertarian, and remarkably progressive for his era.
He explored concepts in his books through the process of writing them. Starship Troopers was one such book. Stranger in a Strange Land was another, started before and finished after Starship Troopers, and presenting basically the polar opposite political ideology.
There is a wide realm of literary subtext between “obvious satire” and “full-throated support”.
I don’t want to be rude, but it really seems like you heard someone on the internet say Starship Troopers was fascist and Heinlein was pro-fascist for writing it, without really evaluating either of those claims for yourself.
The concepts explored were not fascism. The main political concept explored was tying voting rights to civil service, and the vast majority of that service was non-military. What about the book made you think it was exploring fascism?
Yeah, ever since reading it, I’ve been confused by seemingly everyone’s complete certainty that Heinlein was portraying the militarism of the troopers as a good thing. I thought it was abundantly clear that we were being specifically shown that the “bugs” these yokels were firebombing were just people, in their homes watching TV, as the alien invaders rocket jumped from rooftop to rooftop, indiscriminately killing anything that moved. IIRC, everyone in the book seemed to have a gut feeling that the original attack on earth was actually retaliatory at least, or a false flag at worst.
I thought it was about as pro-military as fucking Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, it makes it a big point that there’s a deep camaraderie borne out of being forced to do awful things together, but it also looks as deeply into those awful things as it can, while it’s being told from the perspectives of indoctrinated “children ardent for some desperate glory”
Maybe I need to reread it and look for more of the authorial pro-fascism stuff. I don’t think that Heinlein put a lot of effort into trying to convince anyone that the troopers were bad, but all the signs were there by authorial intent, IIRC.
For me it was the part of the book where people didn’t get to vote until their term of service was over, but the people who could vote could vote to increase the terms of service indefinitely, and this was all shown as a good thing. I read it as a perfect satirical demonstration of how limiting the franchise will always lead to fascism, but apparently mine wasn’t the intended interpretation, because it wasn’t satire.
I never finished Stranger in a Strange Land because I found it shockingly sexist
the part of the book where people didn’t get to vote until their term of service was over, but the people who could vote could vote to increase the terms of service indefinitely
What does that have to do with fascism?
I never finished Stranger in a Strange Land because I found it shockingly sexist
Uh, there are sexist characters, but they’re supposed to seem backwards and regressive. It’s supposed to reflect the sexism of the time in a way that makes it obvious why it needs to be abandoned.
I really should make this a copypasta, with how often it seems to come up:
No Heinlein was not pro-fascist. That much becomes very obvious if you read, like, literally any of his other books. His politics shifted over his lifetime, but he was broadly an outspoken libertarian, and remarkably progressive for his era.
He explored concepts in his books through the process of writing them. Starship Troopers was one such book. Stranger in a Strange Land was another, started before and finished after Starship Troopers, and presenting basically the polar opposite political ideology.
so he explored concepts of fascism, he didn’t satirize them.
yeah…that’s better.
There is a wide realm of literary subtext between “obvious satire” and “full-throated support”.
I don’t want to be rude, but it really seems like you heard someone on the internet say Starship Troopers was fascist and Heinlein was pro-fascist for writing it, without really evaluating either of those claims for yourself.
The concepts explored were not fascism. The main political concept explored was tying voting rights to civil service, and the vast majority of that service was non-military. What about the book made you think it was exploring fascism?
Yeah, ever since reading it, I’ve been confused by seemingly everyone’s complete certainty that Heinlein was portraying the militarism of the troopers as a good thing. I thought it was abundantly clear that we were being specifically shown that the “bugs” these yokels were firebombing were just people, in their homes watching TV, as the alien invaders rocket jumped from rooftop to rooftop, indiscriminately killing anything that moved. IIRC, everyone in the book seemed to have a gut feeling that the original attack on earth was actually retaliatory at least, or a false flag at worst.
I thought it was about as pro-military as fucking Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, it makes it a big point that there’s a deep camaraderie borne out of being forced to do awful things together, but it also looks as deeply into those awful things as it can, while it’s being told from the perspectives of indoctrinated “children ardent for some desperate glory”
Maybe I need to reread it and look for more of the authorial pro-fascism stuff. I don’t think that Heinlein put a lot of effort into trying to convince anyone that the troopers were bad, but all the signs were there by authorial intent, IIRC.
For me it was the part of the book where people didn’t get to vote until their term of service was over, but the people who could vote could vote to increase the terms of service indefinitely, and this was all shown as a good thing. I read it as a perfect satirical demonstration of how limiting the franchise will always lead to fascism, but apparently mine wasn’t the intended interpretation, because it wasn’t satire.
I never finished Stranger in a Strange Land because I found it shockingly sexist
What does that have to do with fascism?
Uh, there are sexist characters, but they’re supposed to seem backwards and regressive. It’s supposed to reflect the sexism of the time in a way that makes it obvious why it needs to be abandoned.
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