Starship Troopers is the 1997 action movie that inspired Helldivers 2. Directed by notorious Dutch weirdo Paul Verhoeven, Starship Troopers was widely reviled when it came out. Some people just plain didn't like the movie. But others, including people who should've known better, totally missed the point. Because Starship Troopers is satire. Helldivers 2 borrows the tone and premise of Starship Troopers, poking fun at the American military industrial complex. Looking back at how the film was received — and how many people just Didn't Get It — can help us understand Helldivers 2 now. Polygon's Patrick Gill explains the whole dang thing.

0:00 What's Starship Troopers?
1:51 Critical response to Starship Troopers
3:11 What is fascism?
4:47 Why didn't people "get" Starship Troopers?
5:43 Part 1: the Book
8:47 Part 2: Missing the joke
13:22 Part 3: Missing the context
18:33 Part 4: The satire isn't perfect
22:11 Part 5: Bad guys love fascism
24:09 Why do we care?

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