Nightbound
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2018–2022
2:05 · 297K views · Jun 14, 2012
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.
HN commenters cite it as an example of the film's satire of militarism and fascist propaganda delivered deadpan.
3 comments from Hacker News
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 the end of the film. I think it recommends itself to a lot of different levels of examination, without sounding like you're trying too hard. --- [0] [LINK] [1] this video
> 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
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.)