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Starship Troopers - 1396 Words

The Novum presented in Starship Troopers is the rule of the Veterans and the resulting primacy of the military. This Novum sets the novel up as a utopic pandering to a readership demographic that the author himself is a member of. This is a normative sci-fi construction. Starship Troopers deviates in that the true target readership is the young man who has not yet been given a chance to join up. He is meant to gain a favorable understanding of the military man by sharing in his dream. The dream then - the world created – is the persuasive device. Heinlein begins by claiming historical inevitability for his Novum. Once our decadent civilization falls, the veterans; as the faction best equipped to counter anarchy, will simply take over†¦show more content†¦Sleep is the most highly thought of means of recreation for a soldier (45). This ultimately represents a yearning for the simplicity of the pre-modern. The complacency that one was birthed into in previous centuries is, in the military, presented as conscious lifestyle choice. On the matter of preference of placement within the military structure, Rico’s recruitment officer speaks dismissively of a â€Å"that† â€Å"being what you think would make you happy.† (28). The allure of the military lifestyle is not having to be concerned with one’s own happiness. Happiness is portioned out according to the decisions of men like Rico’s placement officer whom â€Å"you could relax and take it easy with† (32). That this easiness and happiness is built upon faith in a Chinese Legalism and a utilitarian calculus is un-concerning to Rico. That same placement officer has quotas and his first duty is to those quotas, people will suffer because of that. Similarly, the method through which complexity and moral ambiguity is avoided has caused suffering. The suffering of the Temporary Third Lieutenant on the HMS Chesapeake (154) is the price paid for a rigid and easy to u nderstand law of behavior that expects no field philosophizing. Rico as emblematic of the military man in general, does not what to think, does not want to know, and does not want to ask. This shown to not be as we would expect a discipline required of him but instead a favor grantedShow MoreRelatedStarship Troopers Essay619 Words   |  3 PagesStarship Troopers is a classic novel written in 1959 by retired Navy Lieutenant Robert Heinlein. At the time that it was published Starship Troopers was controversial yet won the Hugo Award in the 1960’s for being one of the best science fiction novels. One of the controversies surrounding the book is the main character’s history teacher’s view on violence and how violence â€Å"has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.† The book had such a cult following that there has been a filmRead MoreStarship Troopers2190 Words   |  9 Pagescan have crushes on each other, but the dark primal sexual ne eds and pleasures of adult life are totally absent (making the Heinleins world less believable); I bet even many real life teenagers have love lives more rich than anything seen in Starship Troopers. We have no idea about the art, music, recreation, romance, food, or larger non-military society of earth in the 22nd century. We have only the most unconvincing portrayal of the future family with a reconciliation taking place between RicoRead MoreHeinlein : New York : Putnam1526 Words   |  7 Pages Heinlein, R. A. (1959). Starship Troopers. New York: Putnam. INTRODUCTION: The author of this book was born on July 7,1907 in a town in Missouri. He graduated in 1929 from the Naval Academy, later on in his life Heinlein got sick which made him have to retire in 1934. After retiring from the Naval Academy he moved to California and was a professor of physics and mathematics at the University of California. In 1939 Astounding Magazine Company bought his first science fiction story and choseRead MoreEssay on The concept of earning ones citizenship2721 Words   |  11 Pagesfederal service in Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers† vers. 1.0 1996 Online. Internet. Available http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah 4 Oct. 2002 This Paper explores and attempts to more clearly define the nature of federal service Robert Heinlein wrote about in ‘Starship Troopers.† He does a great job of proving that even remarks that Heinlein made about his own book are incorrect. There is a great deal of controversy as to whether the ‘Starship Troopers† was a Fashist statement or not. This paperRead MoreMovie Analysis : Military Science Fiction1172 Words   |  5 Pagesdiscovered he had to battle evolving creatures that resembled everyone else. A matter of whom to trust was added to the need for survival. Survival amidst creatures dominating worlds was next. Johnny Rico had to battle world destroying Arachnids in Starship Troopers. The plot of survival has turned from a single person to an entire race. Megahitler further expounded on the plot of engaging a potentially dangerous enemy. After quite an interesting conversation with a nine-meter-tall representation of AdolphRead More A Canticle for Lei bowitz and Starship Troopers: The Movie Essay1904 Words   |  8 PagesA Canticle for Leibowitz and Starship Troopers: The Movie In this paper I intend to explore the attitudes toward the value of individual life vs. the value of a community as a whole expressed in A Canticle for Leibowitz and Starship Troopers: the Movie by analyzing their treatment of information control, euthanasia, and the idea of obtaining happiness through a sense of purpose. Starship Troopers may be a satire of a fascist state or an apology for fascist ideology or neither (I don’t pretendRead MoreEssay about Our America: Your Duty1516 Words   |  7 PagesIn the movie Starship Troopers, there are two classes of people, Civilians and Citizens. What are the differences? Citizens are the men and women, rich or poor that serve in the Federal Service; service guarantees citizenship. This is a short period in which a person serves in the military. A universal service that requires young (Americans) citizen, men and females: healthy and the disable, to obligatory serve an allotment of time. Basically, you have to earn the right to be called a citizen; thisRead More Impact of Pulp Magazines on American Culture Essay583 Words   |  3 PagesRice Burroughs (author of the Tarzan, Mars, and Pellicidar series), Lester Dent (author of the Doc Savage series), Walter Gibson (author of the Shadow series), Erle Stanley Gardner (author of the Perry Mason novels), Robert Heinlein (author of Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land), Robert E. Howard (author of the Conan stories), Robert Heinlein, Daishell Hammett (author of the Maltese Falcon and the Thin Man), Steven Crane, and Tennessee Williams. Such famous authors of great American literatureRead MoreThe Impact of Computers1014 Words   |  5 Pagesby computer animation, texturing, and graphics to make him more realistic then the older version when they used a man in a costume to play Godzilla. This wasn t the only movie made with computers. Movies like Jurassic Park, Wing Commander, Starship Troopers, Star Wars SE, and the latest Star Trek Movies used computers to make them look more interesting and realistic. There are even movies completely made by computers like Toy Story and A Bugs Life. Not only movies used computer animations andRead MoreRhetorical Analysis : The Tesla Wasnt God And Thomas Edison WasnT God986 Words   |  4 Pagesthat the readers view is already swaying before they even read the first sentence of the text. He uses a similar example later on in the text when he quotes Robert Heinlen, another popular writer responsible for science fiction classics such as starship troopers. He quotes Heinlen’s stance on innovation, writing, â€Å"When railroading time comes you can railroad--- but not before† (Robert Heinlen). This is yet another example of rhetorical strategies present within the article used for dramatic effect. Knapp’s

Comparison of a Clockwork Orange and Lord of the Flies free essay sample

Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. †Ã‚   How do Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange and William Golding in Lord of the Flies reflect violence and social responsibility? Both Lord of the Flies, first published in 1954 and A Clockwork Orange, published eight years later, focus on the inherent human capabilities for evil as well as good. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously posits that ‘whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil’ and it is clear from both novels that it is this absence of love as a driving force that prevent both Alex and Jack from moving beyond the simplistic notions of good and evil and choosing a socially responsible path that looks beyond the self. Both narratives reflect the growing concerns in British society at the time: A Clockwork Orange is scathing in its attack on the supposed values of communism, inspired by Burgess’s stay in Leningrad, and by the undercurrent of violence that filtered into Britain as a result of gang culture. Golding’s concerns seem to stem from his first-hand experience in World War II and the horrors which he encountered as a member of the Royal Navy. The novels share a common theme: the notion of good and evil among young males. In Lord of the Flies, Golding establishes very early on a clear narrative framework in which a microcosm of society can be examined. His initial meeting in Chapter One between Ralph and Piggy is deliberately paced to allude to the ways in which power can be wielded in society. Ralph’s keenness to impose superiority over Piggy paves the way for his insistence on rules and domination among the other boys: ‘I’m chief then. His intentions may be rooted in a desire to be socially responsible and offer rational solutions, however, his ‘tribesmen’ quickly become disillusioned with the notion of peace and order which he aims to instil, and their inherent desire for ‘bad’ comes to the surface. Alternatively, Golding may be wishing to refer to the inequalities in society and the ways in which the subjugated will invariably ‘rise up’ against their oppressors . Burgess’s cast of characters are clearly children. They speak in a clipped, often immature manner – ‘We’d better all have names†¦I’m Ralph’ – and their actions perhaps lack the foresight of adult experience, such as the indecisiveness and lethargy in building a shelter. Yet Golding makes it clear that the essential actions of these children are within us all. The fact that these are twelve or thirteen-year old children does not obfuscate the principle that evil is innate and that the concept of fairness, or social responsibility, is something that must be learned or imposed by government. Again, perhaps Golding wishes to allude to the ways in which it is not always the socially responsible who wield the power and that the base and evil seen in Nazi Germany can occasionally, with staggering consequences, triumph over the rational. Whereas the boys in Lord of the Flies speak in a relatively straightforward, colloquial English, A Clockwork Orange’s most striking stylistic touch is Burgess’s use of invented, or ‘borrowed’, words with which he bestows the novella’s fifteen-year old protagonist and narrator, Alex. This meta-language, called nadsat, is a blend of Standard English, Russian, British slang and original coinage and initially distances us from Alex until the reader is able to infer the meanings of several key terms. At the point at which we begin to comfortably translate, for example, ‘viddy’ as watch, ‘droog’ as friend or ‘horrorshow’ meaning very good (from the Russian ‘khorosho’), the reader has formed an almost subconscious intellectual bond with Alex. His speech is full of rhythm and onomatopoeia, and so alive with melody that even Alex’s most violent and reprehensible acts are rendered, at the very least, engaging and lacking in the overt sadism one would expect from such behaviour. When Alex rapes the writer’s wife early in the narrative, Burgess writes: ‘†¦I ripped away at this and that and the other†¦and real good horrorshow groodies they were that then exhibited their pink glazzies†¦while I untrussed and got ready for the plunge. ’ His savagery is undeniable but it is rendered behind a facade of exuberant wordplay and elaborate euphemism. Alex is intelligent and quick-witted but the dystopian society in which he lives offers no outlet for his potential and, therefore, he actively rejects the notion of social responsibility in favour of criminality. It is possible for the reader to be both repulsed by his actions and to be sympathetic to his lost cause. Similarly to the ‘leaders’ in Lord of the Flies, Alex is equally revered for his wilful violence but turned upon by his own tribe when they have had enough. The treatment of women in a ‘man’s world’ is disturbing in both A Clockwork Orange and Lord of the Flies and furthers the notion of a rejection of social responsibility. The aforementioned rape in Burgess’s novella is highly stylised and the alarming abuse of girls, or ‘devotchkas’, as young as ten treated matter-of-factly: ‘†¦if they would not go to school they must still have their education’. However, the near-climactic passage in Golding’s work in which Jack and the boys kill the sow is almost more brutal in its portrayal and clearly works as an extended metaphor to represent the sexualised male aggression over the female. Golding is chilling in his description. The boys ‘[force] a spear still deeper’ into her flesh after the initial entrapment and ‘follow her easily by the drops vivid blood’. Later, ‘the hunters [follow], wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood. ’ When Jack mounts the sow, he stabs ‘downward with the knife’ and ‘leans with his whole weight’. When she finally dies, ‘hot blood [spouts] over his hands and he and the other boys are ‘heavy and fulfilled upon her’. Golding explicitly emphasises through the use of the pronouns ‘her’ and ‘she’ the sex of the pig and the language clearly refers to the passionate fervour associated with not only violence but also sexual domination. It is at this point of the novel that the boys’ ultimate rejection of social responsibility is complete. While Ralph and Piggy, the novel’s moral arbiters, look on in disgust, they are powerless in the face of the raw, masculine group mentality of the others. In Golding’s relatively neutral third-person narration, Robert ‘stabilized the thing in a phrase which was received uproariously’, the phrase in question: ‘Right up her ass! ’ Arguably, the horror of the misogyny of the scene is heightened by the exclusively male culture that has been constructed on the island. A feminist reading may also see it as telling that the least stereotypically masculine characters in Lord of the Flies, Simon and Piggy, are killed by the other boys. Their deaths serve to represent not only the dominance of males in society but also the rejection of typically feminine characteristics – reason, diplomacy and sensitivity. Although clearly an allegory for human nature in its entirety, Lord of the Flies also represents a world without adult intervention and the tenets of social responsibility that come with maturity make way for the baser aspects of free-will. Burgess also examines the absence, or ineffectiveness, of adult role-models in A Clockwork Orange. Alex’s parents appear largely absent in his life and their suspicions about his nocturnal habits are hardly pressed: ‘Not that I want to pry, son, but where exactly is it you go to work of evenings? ’ Burgess names Alex’s Post-Corrective Adviser P. R. Deltoid – a name of artificiality and coldness, state-sanctioned and reminiscent of the faceless anonymity of communist regimes of the time and hardly the kind of supportive counsel a disturbed teenager might need. When Deltoid asks of Alex: ‘You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents, you’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside you? ’, there is no clear answer offered. This may be the question the reader wants answered too, but Burgess refuses to openly judge Alex. He is by far the most alive and charismatic character in the narrative and the reasons behind his choice to brutalise others remain ambiguous. Like Simon in Lord of the Flies, Deltoid fails to understand the rationale behind brutality. Alex believes, just as Jack does, that it is more honourable and authentic to act on impulse than on rational, responsible thought: ‘[t]his biting of their toe-nails over what is the cause of badness is what turns me into a fine laughing malchick. They don’t go into what is the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop? ’ Deltoid does not, or chooses not to, understand Alex and it is his falsified recommendation that leads to Alex serving a fourteen-year prison sentence. When Deltoid spits in Alex’s face during his incarceration, we actively abhor the role of the state in his downfall, despite his own inarguably abhorrent crimes. It is, ironically, in the prison chaplain, or charlie, that Alex finds most comfort and companionship. In earlier chapters, Alex rejects the notion of religion – he calls God ‘bog’ and ridicules the word of a clergyman in the newspaper – but Burgess creates a sympathetic outlet for Alex in the form of the admittedly flawed chaplain. The chaplain finds the potential in Alex and portentously warns him about the possibility of correction: ‘The question is whether such a technique can really make a man good†¦Goodness comes from within†¦Goodness is something chosen†¦When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. This perspective contrasts with the policeman’s earlier statement at the time of Alex’s arrest which appears to suggest the inevitability of a cycle of brutality: ‘Violence creates violence’, said the top millicent’. Perhaps Burgess is claiming that with more understanding guidance and compassion, A lex’s fate may not have been sealed in the way it is about to be. Alternatively Burgess, himself raised in a staunchly Catholic home, may be espousing the relative virtues of religion over those of politically motivated states. Burgess may be saying the socially responsible doctrines of organised religion are a force for good. Biblical references also litter Lord of the Flies. In a sense, the anonymous beauty of the island reflects the untarnished Garden of Eden. If Piggy and Ralph make an unusual Adam and Eve, they do symbolically represent a new start and the hope of a new life. When the plane crashes we are led to believe that it is during wartime and the children might therefore be the planting of new seeds while the adult word implodes. The opening to the novel is written with descriptions of ‘shores fledged with palm trees’ and ‘high ledges of pink granite’, utopian visions that share something in common with life before human intervention. Simon’s depiction mirrors that of Jesus – he takes himself away to the glade in the forest to meditate and he arrives at a number of truths the other boys are unable, or oblivious, to see. Simon’s conversation with the Lord of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels. Simon is eventually sacrificed for his beliefs and his unwillingness to adopt the lifestyle of the savages. While Burgess is more direct in his depiction and discussion of religious ideologies, Golding clearly alludes to the stories of Christianity. However, his disturbing portrayal of the killing of the sow, which may be a link to the ritual of religious slaughter, suggests a more judgmental view on organised religion. The endings of both novels suggest a clear sense of closure in their respective narratives. Golding employs deus ex machina to return the remaining boys to reality. It is a fire signal, a recurring symbol for civilisation and common sense in the novel, that alerts the officer to the island but not the one Ralph had intended to be seen but rather one set by the other boys as a way to kill him. The officer, however, does not instil a sense of relief in Ralph. Golding mocks the officer and the illusion of British patriotism: ‘I should have thought that a pack of British boys†¦would have been able to put up a better show than that’ and suggests that the ycle of violence will continue in the adult world just as it has always done. On the other hand, in A Clockwork Orange, Alex’s discontentment with violence after his reprogramming leads him to consider an alternative future in which he can reclaim the role in society he had once lost, albeit a homogenised and stereotypical one with a wife and a son. It is telling that in the original American publication of the novel, the final chapter was excluded, against Burgess’s wishes. Without Alex’s renouncement of violence, Burgess said, the novel would have been ‘irredeemably evil’. It is no surprise that both Lord of the Flies and A Clockwork Orange are still relevant and widely-read today. Oppression, subjugation, sexual violence, tyranny and misogyny are still rife in the world and discontentment among people continues to lead to uprisings against corrupt or totalitarian states. Although the social responsibility of the ‘average’ person and also of the ruling class is reflected in these novels, it may not be true, after all, that ‘goodness is chosen’. Rather it is in human nature and, therefore, the way of the world that evil exists. Word count: 2245

Marvin Hugley Jr. Essays (3303 words) - Film, Film Noir, Neo-noir

Marvin Hugley Jr. Eric Nelson Cinema 107 5/8/17 LA Confidential and Film Noir One of the most influential film movements in the 1940's was a genre that is known today as film noir. Film noir was a recognizable style of filmmaking, which was created in response to the rising cost of typical Hollywood movies (Buss 67). Film noir movies were often low budget films; they used on location shoots, small casts, and black and white film. The use of black and white film stock not only lowered production costs, but also displayed a out of place disposition that the conventions of film noir played upon. It is these conventions: themes, characters, lighting, sound, and composition, which are seen in the movie LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). This paper discusses the techniques used in LA Confidential that link the movie with the typical cinematic conventions of the film noir style. Film noir often tackled subjects that dealt with common underlying themes: corruption, deceit, mystery, etc (Sobchack, 271). One of the most well-known and acclaimed pioneers in film noir is the movie The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941). This film was based on a private investigator, Sam Spade, hired to investigate a case. The Maltese Falcon is now viewed as the typical film noir style movie because it contains traits and qualities of filmmaking that were adapted by film noir filmmakers. Film noir started during the mid 1940's and has been a popular film style ever since, yielding such contemporary movies like The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995), Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994), and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998). These films have proved that film noir is not a method dedicated to past decades, but rather an innovative style of film that influences movies today. LA Confidential, like other contemporary film noirs utilize many stylistic qualities that the earlier film noir movies grasped. Often film noir movies were based upon corruption, usually in an urban type setting. Location in these movies would often consist of nighttime scenes in a busy city. Los Angles, the location of LA Confidential, is a typical setting for film noir movies due to its "newer" west coast image and the absence of rural traditions. The city was chosen largely because of its informality. People living in a city do not interact with each other as people of a small town might. Film noir played upon the idea of loneliness and solitude; two traits that are easily found in a big city (Monaco 246). Nighttime scenes were chosen because of the mystery that comes with darkness. Night projects a feeling to the viewer that he or she would not absorb in the daytime, very much the same way horror movies play themselves upon the night. Just like the basis of the big city, film noir acts upon the conventions of mystery and suspense: it is easier for the filmmaker to play with the viewer's emotions if he or she is placed in a setting of uneasiness. The nighttime images in LA Confidential portray that anxiety and allow the mystery of the plot to expand. This use of nighttime and darker images lends the movie to take advantage of the stylistic low-key lighting. The movie begins with the narration of Sid Hudgens, editor for Hush Hush magazine, a sleazy tabloid concerned with getting a news story no matter what the consequences are. Typical of film noir, the story is adapted from a tabloid or pulp fiction novel. Sid Hudgens describes a town of beauty, filled with beaches, people, and economic potential. He tells how anyone can achieve the American dream in Los Angeles and how it truly is the greatest place to live. Sid's voice suddenly turns sour as he reveals the truth about Los Angeles: an image is sold to the gullible; a pleasant image sent throughout the media. Unfortunately, it's all a lie. The story continues with the addition of Edmund Exley to the Los Angeles Police Department. Exley is a skilled detective with all the book smarts a cop could possess. Usually, the protagonist in film noir would have an inner conflict between what he feels is right, and what is expected of him. In the movie,