Starship Troopers(the film) is an interesting example of 'death of the author' because every Verhoeven tells us about the film is directly contradicted by what the film itself shows.

We're told that the terran federation is a fascist dystopia, but what we SEE is a prosperous society with true racial and gender equality, and everyone is free to pursue their own path. The only real limitation is that you cant vote if you havent served.

We're told that the bugs are supposed to be victims who are only defending their homeworld from invasion. What we SEE is the bugs are violent monsters who lack either the ability or willingness to communicate with humans, making any kind of co-existence between the two impossible.

We're TOLD that the main characters have been propagandized into throwing away their lives for nothing, but we SEE them volunteering to protect earth, and heroically achieving their mission that will lead(eventually) to victory.

Oh and Verhoeven had this to say about the shower scene: "The idea I wanted to express was that these so-called advanced people are without libido. Here they are talking about war and their careers and not looking at each other at all! It is sublimated because they are fascists"

But then we SEE in the rest of the film, characters flirting, being stupidly horny, hooking up, and none of it being presented as weird or unique to the world.

I submit that, perhaps it is not fans of Starship Troopers who misunderstood the film, but Verhoeven.

I mean it's kind of the guy's specialty. Look at Robocop and try to remember that it was supposed to be anti-violence, and then shows stuff like Robocop shooting a wannabe rapist in the dick. The guy tried to make an anti-police brutality movie and made like the ultimate copaganda flick. He's so absolutely myopic in how he views the world and so absolutely certain that people see everything the way he does that he doesn't even realize that he's just filming himself shooting his own message in the foot over and over again.