Joe Dante’s Small Soldiers Analysis and Thoughts

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Arthur gets to be vindicated as the gang finally talks Small Soldiers. The 1998 Joe Dante action-comedy about toy soldiers come to life. He’s pitched it for a long time, and it’s finally on the table.

At Odds with Small Soldiers

If you take one part Toy Story plus one part Gremlins, you get Small Soldiers. A military tech company buys out a toy developer and launches a line of action figures that “play back”. To get the product ready in time, the developers incorporate military tech that pushes the AI to the limit. The toys come to life and go to war in the suburbs of middle America in this silly satire from cult director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling).

This week, on the show, we discuss the pastiche elements of Joe Dante’s style and how that works with post modern theory. We also talk masculinity and the toy aisle, ideology and the US industrial military complex. So grab your favorite 90s gear and follow us into combat.

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