In the season one finale of Fascism on Film, we turn our attention to Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997), a film that functions both as a raucous sci-fi action movie and a biting satire of fascist ideology. Initially dismissed by critics as a celebration of militarism—“a thoroughly Nazi movie,” in the words of one reviewer—Starship Troopers has since been reevaluated as one of the most incisive cinematic critiques of fascism ever made. Verhoeven, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland, deliberately mimics the style and imagery of propaganda films like Triumph of the Will to lure audiences into cheering for a fascist future where only veterans can vote, war is endless, and propaganda is indistinguishable from news.

We explore the film’s aesthetic seduction: its cast of “empty-headed Aryans,” its fetishized uniforms, its co-ed locker rooms, and its glorification of violence. Even as the film mocks fascism, it never signals its satire overtly, creating what we call a “litmus test” for viewers—those who fail to recognize the joke may end up embracing the ideology being parodied. This, we argue, is what makes Starship Troopers so unsettling and so brilliant. Viewers cheer for Johnny Rico and his comrades as they hunt down alien “bugs,” all while overlooking that the so-called villains are fighting a defensive war. In fact, as the film slyly suggests, the humans are the aggressors, and the bugs—literally throwing rocks—are facing an invading genocidal force armed with nuclear weapons.

Throughout the discussion, we highlight how the film satirizes not just fascism but also the war movie genre itself, pointing out how tropes of heroic death and noble sacrifice are deeply tied to fascist values. The film’s final scenes—replete with propaganda reels and gleeful declarations that “the enemy is afraid!”—reaffirm the chilling insight that fascism is not just a historical danger, but an emotional and cinematic one. In the end, we reflect on the power of cinema to seduce, to mislead, and ultimately to expose. If you leave the movie still cheering for the humans, then maybe you missed the joke—or maybe the joke is on you.