I’ve started reading Jumper by NameDoesNotMatter. I would like to formally apologise about all the harsh things I’ve ever spoken about that film.

Fine, the cast is unlikeable and the action scenes are just fisticuffs in the air, but my god, in comparison to the teenage dreck that is the book, it’s a masterpiece. At least they tried to build a credible back story for the main character.

In the book, he literally thinks everyone is out to sexually assault him (and somehow they seem to), he solves his problems by throwing money at it, instead of any actual creativity, and the author desperately tries to portray him as a mature-for-his-age adult, despite the fact that his first reaction to anything is crying followed by petty revenge.

I’m just flicking through the pages, pausing at any plot bits, and then flicking on.

  • soli
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    7 months ago

    Starship Troopers is Heinlein not Dick, and it’s fascist nonsense. Verhoeven was right to throw the book in the bin after two chapters and the movie rules.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Heinlein experiments with loads of social structures and governments. Starship Troopers is the fascist example, not an example of all his work.

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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      7 months ago

      It’s been a while since I’ve read it but what was fascist about it? That only people who served got to vote? It was either/or iirc, you could not vote while in the military, only after you left, and if you did you could not return. Not exactly Nazi Germany.

      • livus@kbin.social
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        7 months ago

        Only ex military caste have power because they are the only people who can vote or hold public office.

        There’s this respected teacher guy in it who goes on about how violence solves everything, hero’s main trajectory is for him to become really on board with that setup. Bunch of capital punishment, whipping etc.

        • GCanuck@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. There were other paths to citizenship (iirc something akin to the peace corps and perhaps even business success? It’s been a while since I read it). But it wasn’t just military. It’s just that military was the easiest for most people.

          • livus@kbin.social
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            7 months ago

            Been a long time since I read it too but basically you had to do federal service and military was the most popular branch of that. But the book is mostly interested in military and high up characters talk about their military background etc. It’s definitely fascist.

    • Chris Jolly Holcomb@mas.to
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      7 months ago

      @solitaire I do think there is still an undercurrent in the book that maybe this isn’t all okay. In that sense I always thought of the movie just surfacing that an making it a major theme. For me at least I’ve never seen them as opposing each other the way a lot of people do. But then again there’s a lot of people out there that didn’t realize the Empire in Star Wars is supposed to be facist, so there’s a lot to be said for not being subtle.