Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="scottdunphy" data-source="post: 1356174" data-attributes="member: 14250">Fascist, perhaps. But you used the term "totalitarian". I don't see any evidence for that being the case in the book or the movie. These are not the same thing. Johhny Rico had a choice, he could join the service or go into his dad's business. His dad, and what seemed like most of society, was against someone of his social background joining the service. More to the point, the veterans were against anyone joining the service who wasn't serious about it. Even when earth was attacked there wasn't a draft. As for the rest of society, it seemed fairly normal (although the book and movie focus on the service so we don't really know).Personally I would prefer the type of government in the book. I think everyone should have to earn the right to vote so it would mean something again. It's still a democracy and (apparently) a free society. The reaction to it as fascist has to be taken in the context of the 60s when the book was published and there were a lot of very radical left organizations and people taking over our college campuses. Some of these same people later thought of Heinlein as a new-age guru because of "Stranger in a Strange Land". Clearly Verhooven (sp?) was poking fun at some of these elements in his film, but I don't think he potrayed a totalitarian government either. Personally I am a fan of the movie too (put I still want some power armor).On a slightly different note, are you using anything from the new film (due out this year)? Did you get a sneak peak? Is it good?</blockquote>

Verification