Starship Troopers analysis

Johnny’s relationship with Carmen

Verhoeven is a great action director, but I don’t feel he is the best person when it comes to political satire, even though he succeeds every now and then. To me, it is as if he sculptured the movie with blunt tools. One way that this becomes evident is when he and Neumeier discusses their feminist intentions with the movie. In a way they succeed and that is in their portrayal of an equal society. This is most clear in the dialogue and balance of power. For example, they make use of the freedom that a futuristic depiction gives in when Johnny’s mother says ‘I hope you don’t ruin your life over some silly girl that wants to look handsome in a uniform’. The number of women in high military posts are also big, even though they are in the fleet and head quarters and not in the mobile infantry.

However, they fail in the portraits of the love relationships. I believe these adds to an indistinct feeling in the movie as the time could have been spent on clarifying the main message instead. They talk about how surprised they were when the test audience said that the wrong girl died. The audience could not forgive Carmen for dumping Johnny and then become interested in Zander. Verhoeven and Neumeier thought this was odd as it was, from their perspective, an expression for her, in a feminist way, choosing to go career instead of family.

For me it is obvious why the audience could not forgive Carmen. Johnny is obviously more in love with Johnny than she is in him and much points on him joining the military because of her. He never denies that she was the reason, when others imply it. When Carmen then dumps him after thoughtlessly luring him in to the service, which he will be tied to for at least two years, she obviously stand out as a bad person. It has nothing to do with her choosing career, but that she puts someone that love her in a bad position. The same would probably be true if turned around, even though it is easier for men to get away with it, but my main point is that it feels like a misinterpretation of feminism by the creators.

Another way of reading Carmen is to see her as a metaphor for the Federation. Johnny gets in love with her, but when when Carmen tries to prove he loves him, the result is a forced ‘I love you’. In the same way the relation to the Federation is not that mutual. He is lured in at a false basis. When the Federation don’t need to give the impression it loves him any more, Carmen breaks up with him. When he realizes his mistake and tries to go home, his old life is erased. Next time he meets Carmen she represents a military elite that a far away from the actual fights and looks down on the mobile infantry, leading to a fight on the base. Last time they meet, Carmen is in distress and Johnny rescues her even though she is in enemy territory.

Johnny has been lured in to fight for the Federation, realised his mistake, but transformed into a citizen that is prepared to sacrifice his life for the Federation. This can be a forced way of reading a deeper meaning from Carmen’s character, and the Verhoeven and Neumeier does not mention it during the audio commentary. But it can still be relevant as a subtext that the audience reads without knowing it and can also be a part of the reason why they reacted the way they did during the test screenings.

With all this said it is however noteworthy to note that the movie in some circuits have achieved cult status. If this is because of the gory parts, the political satire, or a combination is hard to say, but although it weak parts it manages to attract a devoted audience. For me it is still a favourite. But from a point where I mainly liked the content and style it has now become interesting in other ways. Like whether Verhoeven manages to reach his goals or not, and how that kind of failure can still be filled with a force that gives it many other qualities. Two sequels have been made. Both of them lacking everything that made the first one good and none of them directed by Paul Verhoeven. Perhaps this force lies with him and perhaps he is the only one who knows how to use it.

Tags: essay, Starship Troopers, theory