#40: Starship Troopers: Nazis, Propaganda, and Michael Bay

Hollywood blockbuster action movies are about beloved protagonists, the overcoming of evil, and plenty of explosions. But sometimes they're about the existential reality that each of us barely teeters on the line of fascism. Yes, that is right. General Snobbery wishes you to know, you might be a fascist!

Jake Busey, Son of Gary

Starship Troopers is the film today! Sean and Matt venture back to 1997 once again to explore what is their favorite #emerging topic: how do action films directed by non-Americans differ from those directed by Americans? Have you ever considered this question? "Do you want to know more?" Then press the play button, you filthy little fascist!

They were just attractive, vibrant youths who wanted adventure and wanted to serve their government. That is where our story opens! Johnny Rico was one of these young men, played by Casper "the friendly" Van Dien. We follow Johnny, along with his friends Carmen, Dizzy, Carl, and Byron Hadley as they serve their government, become citizens, and kill Bugs! And o yea, they also become fascists!

Doogie Howser the Nazi

At the surface, Starship Troopers is a typical, cheesy sci-fi movie about humans with guns and gross aliens with goo. The comedic writing is not only typically timed, it's totally predictable. In short, there is nothing new or good about this movie. Until you realize director Paul Verhoeven did that on purpose, making a brilliantly tight satire with a pigment, and scary, message. The meassage - war makes fascists of us all! Paul Verhoeven is Dutch, just like Ævart.

If you wish to know more about how fascism emerges in everyday life, watch Starship Troopers. You might also consider reading some Heidegger, because that man was actually a Nazi.

Join Sean and Matt as they continue the dasein of high-budget Hollywood and continue discovering what exactly it means to live toward explosion.

Also, Jake Busey.

#39: Con Air Face Off: Being-Toward-Explosion

“I want to take his face… OFF!” screams Sean Archer acting as Caster Troy as portrayed by Nicolas Cage as portrayed by John Travolta. The fact that sentences like this accurately describe scenes from John Woo’s Face/Off indicate the truly special nature of this 1997 Hollywood action film. But do not take this for a standard Hollywood action film, listener. For as we discover in this snob, Face/Off is in fact one of the most Chinese films ever made. 

How does Con Air fit in? Well, it also stars Nicolas Cage, it’s also an action movie, and it also came out in 1997. While it may be a lot less Chinese than Face/Off, it still stars Steve Buscemi. This is a movie that is as Amurrikan as it gets. And that’s not just because Nicolas Cage has long flowing locks. It’s also because Jerry Bruckheimer has long flowing locks. (Keep in mind, listener, this film came out before Jerry B. was absorbed into his dominant personality, known now as “Michael Bay”.) It’s also because there’s a lot of explosions, strange/misplaced humor, John Malkovich, and a very angry Colm Meaney. What a meanie! 

So join us in this mashup of iconic 90s action movies, listener. Whether we are talking about Cameron Poe, Castor Troy, Cameron Troy, or Castor Poe, you can never be sure whether or not we are really talking about Sean Archer, ready to impale us with a Scientology harpoon at any second. In our Heideggarian mission, we are riding this 90s action movie ship in our inevitable Being-Toward-Explosion. What kind of explosion culminates it all? Well, that depends on how Chinese you are willing to get. 

May we all be receptive to the presence of the Tao. 

Episode Progression:
3:25: Shout-outs
8:20 : Con Air
46:00 : Face/Off

#38: The Sandlot

Patrick Renna, played by a young Matt White

The Sandlot. Part baseball love story, part sexist manifesto for young boys. Perhaps even the root of the male perception that has prevented girls from playing ball for years. These hermeneutics are largely accepted as the limits of this 1993 film. 

Darth Vader in The Sandlot

But on today’s episode, we travel beyond the limits of these hermeneutics and unpack just how American this film truly is. From a Mexican kid named Benjamin Franklin to a neighbor named Darth Vader, this film serves as an allegory for the young psyche developing beyond the fears that contain it. Our collective dreams, captured in “this magic moment”, mystically intertwined with America’s (sexist) pastime and the progression from primitive culture into industry: it’s all here, packaged together in a film that stars both Patrick Renna, Private Cowboy, and Babe Ruth (aka John Goodman). And all of it stands before the great Hercules, the most powerful archetype of them all. 

Join us, listener, on this wayward adventure through a classic American film. Let us never forget Scotty “Smalls”, nor let us forget the grandiose stache of Benny “The Jet” in the wake of his stealing home in the big game. The big game for us? Life, my friend. Let us live it. Let us all retire into the tranquility of The Sandlot, with Hercules, Vader, and John Goodman at our side.   

The Jet's 'stache, after he stole home