Paul Verhoeven came on board to direct Starship Troopers with such films as RoboCop and Total Recall under his belt. The director was clear that he wanted to make a statement about fascism and propaganda within a satirical style in order to make a comment on militarism and the media’s involvement in the recruitment of civilians into the military. Throughout the film, we see the Federation use media to broadcast news and give updates about the galactic war. Verhoeven chooses to use web based point and click imagery as a way to reveal a futuristic society based in the 23rd century.
Verhoeven chose to be influenced primarily by screenwriter Edward Neumeier’s script rather than by Robert A. Heinlein’s novel which was purchased in order to use elements of his story as well as the title, Starship Troopers. Verhoeven found the novel boring and couldn’t get his way through it thus, made the decision to throw out the book and work solely from the script as he felt it was too right-winged.
The director also used irony and hyperbole as devices in order to create a satirical style for the film. We see this in abundance with the Federation ads that are strategically placed throughout the film. For example, the military wants people to join their force; the soldiers cavalierly give their automatic weapons to children with no care as to whether the weapon goes off. Lastly, we see Verhoeven’s ability to create a futuristic world set in space, which was critical for this film. And after his experience making Total Recall he had the capacity to create the visual effects which got the film nominated for an Oscar.
