So Who was Rooting for the Bugs.

[Road_Element]

Just asking.

[Darth Geek]

I still got no indication whatsoever that the bugs were doing anything deliberate to attack humans in the first place. They were somehow hurtling meteors across the galaxy. But I got the idea it was in all directions to distribute their spores, not an attack on Earth. The humans took the attack to their home planets. And I really don't get why, with all of their space fleets, Earth doesn't have defenses to blow a few rocks out of the way.
Was that supposed to be part of the 'satire', that it was a 1984 type situation where the fascist government had essentially made up an enemy for the people to fight and concentrate their hatred on?

[Johnny Unusual]

Was that supposed to be part of the 'satire', that it was a 1984 type situation where the fascist government had essentially made up an enemy for the people to fight and concentrate their hatred on?

Sort of.  The motivation of the bugs is intentionally ambiguous, because the important thing isn't so much that they are good and bad so much as "they are the enemy and we are going to murder them because they are the enemy."  If I had to guess, the spores theory is a good one and they just happened to hit the angry hornets nest that is Earth.

So yeah, as a fan of the film, I say you are well within your rights to choose the other side.  The movie is telling you to root for the humans, but it is telling you this sarcastically.

[Darth Geek]

Was that supposed to be part of the 'satire', that it was a 1984 type situation where the fascist government had essentially made up an enemy for the people to fight and concentrate their hatred on?

Sort of.  The motivation of the bugs is intentionally ambiguous, because the important thing isn't so much that they are good and bad so much as "they are the enemy and we are going to murder them because they are the enemy."  If I had to guess, the spores theory is a good one and they just happened to hit the angry hornets nest that is Earth.

So yeah, as a fan of the film, I say you are well within your rights to choose the other side.  The movie is telling you to root for the humans, but it is telling you this sarcastically.

The comparison to a hornets nest is a good one.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

That is assuming that the screenwriters thought that stuff out.  When it seems more like they simply took bits and pieces of the book they thought would look cool on screen and shoehorned them into something vaguely resembling a plot.

Given what is in the movie I wouldn't root for the bugs so much as root against the fascist leadership on Earth.

[Darth Geek]

Was there more in the book about the bugs' intentions?

[Johnny Unusual]

Not to my knowledge.  The movie was ironically pro-fascist.  The book was just pro-fascist.  In fact, it was like something for someone with a fascist-fetish.

[RoninFox]

Fascist-Fetish is the name of my Italian Language Punk Rock band.

[Nunyerbiz]

It's been many years since I've seen this... but I will likely pick it up for Rifftrax purposes. I'll say one thing about Verhoeven during his salad days, the guy made good B-movies. Nothing he has done is as stupid as it would appear on the surface and nothing is as deep as those bending over backwards for 'hidden genius' would have you believe. Even when I saw it in the theater, I thought the satirical aspects were really spot on. While they were done purposely over the top in almost clown-hammer style, so was Goebbels' work with the Reich... And now with the benefit of hindsight we all say: How the fuck did people fall for this shit in the first place?

[CJones]

Was there more in the book about the bugs' intentions?

As I recall, there was actually less in the book. The bugs just show up out of nowhere towards the end to give the main character something to fight. However, in the book they had ships, so at least in made more sense that they'd be able to reach Earth.