Variable Star By Heinlein and Robinson

Cam Turner writes "In late August, Slashdot reported that a lost Robert A. Heinlein novel was mere months away from being released. True enough, it was completed and released on October 18th, 2006 by Spider Robinson, himself a distinguished speculative fiction writer. On the back cover, John Varley is quoted as saying "Completing a book from notes by a dead author is almost always a mistake. But apparently Robert A. Heinlein isn't really dead. He was at the side of Spider Robinson as he wrote this book." I'd have to agree. This story is a valuable addition to any speculative fiction collection, even that of a purist Heinlein fan." Read the rest of Cam's review. Variable Star author Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson pages 320 publisher Tor Books rating 8.5/10 reviewer Cam Turner ISBN 076531312X summary An excellent additon to your speculative fiction collection.

In the afterword Spider Robinson describes how he came to be the writer who took Heinlein's eight pages of notes — penned in November 1955 — and turned them into a full length novel released half a century later and 18 years after Heinlein's death. He describes it as "literally the most difficult and intimidating challenge that could be handed to a science fiction writer." However, as a lifelong fan of Heinlein's work, Robinson said "I wanted to read a new Heinlein novel so badly that I didn't care if I had to finish it myself."

The protagonist, Joel Johnston of Ganymede, is a man of his late teens or early twenties. His life as he knows it falls apart when his fiancé turns out not to be who she says she is. As he struggles to regain control of his identity and his direction in life, he decides to join a starship as it travels 85 light years — and 20 ship years — to found the colony on a newly discovered Earth-like planet. Variable Star is the story of his journey, his regrets and the friends he makes en route.

Identifying the antagonist is a little more complicated — as it is with many of Heinlein's novels. It could possibly be his struggle with adapting to his new life in a small colony of only 500 people, his regrets over leaving the love of his life, or his tenuous escape from her family's vast influence. Regardless, the possibilities weave together to create a richly imagined story that is a believable description of how events might unfold for a character in Joel's position on a long journey between the stars.

The rest of the characters are also vivid and well constructed. At no time did they act counter-intuitively to their rich back stories. Certainly each character is revealed and built up over the course of the book, but I found their actions and motivations to be entirely believable and flawed in the way that only humans — even future humans — can be.

Heinlein fans will recognize many nods to the Future History timeline. From Leslie LeCroix being the pilot of the first moonship to the Covenant (and Coventry) that brought enforceable peace and tolerance to the human civilization after the fall of the Prophet. Robinson also incorporates many of the various sexual ideas that Heinlein had in his works like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land, however he doesn't go into as lavish and descriptive detail as Heinlein often did.

As a downside, I don't think that Variable Star is going to be as timeless as some of Heinlein's better works. Robinson managed to work into the Future History (timeline two) nods to both the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq wars. Reading through them jarred me back to reality momentarily and thus detracted from the story. Robinson is careful not to mention these events by name, but readers for years to come may find their mention distracting. It's true that we'll look back on these events in the future as part of our violent history, but invented wars would have served the same purpose in terms of story development and would have allowed the reader to stay in the imaginary world.

As mentioned, the outline was created in 1955 and, as expected, fits perfectly into the Heinlein Juvenile and Young Readers works of that time. It appeals to teenage boys and furthers Heinlein's propaganda agenda about the colonization of space. It is not what Heinlein would have described as "adult" fiction and has a single, linear storyline and a well defined main thread. Teenage readers will be able to identify with many of the struggles Joel faces through the course of the book and Heinlein fans will get a kick out of seeing how Robinson weaves in numerous references to Heinlein's earlier works. For other adult readers the story is still a fantastic, quick and entertaining read.

In the afterword Robinson makes a point of mentioning that the notes Heinlein left behind contained no climax or ending. Robinson tells the story of how both were inspired by some audio clips of Heinlein interviews in the 80's and extrapolated from his views on the true future of humanity. That said, the climax was not a typical Heinlein climax and was entirely unpredictable up until the exact moment it occurs.

To be honest as the number of remaining pages dwindled I began to wonder how exactly Robinson was going to get where I thought he was going in the pages he had left. I feared a Neil Stephenson-like abrupt ending was the fate of the story and characters I had come to love. I was very happily surprised with what I got. The ending fits the situation, motivations and expected behaviors of the characters so perfectly that, in hindsight, I can't imagine it concluding any other way.

Ultimately I give this book an 8.5/10. Robinson has done an excellent job of writing a strong story with strong characters as well as paying homage to the Grand Master and the vast legacy of richly imagined universes he left behind. Make no mistake, Variable Star isn't of the same caliber as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Stranger in a Strange Land, but it certainly holds up against many of the novels that have been nominated for the Hugo or Nebula awards the last few years. It might not win next year, but I'd be surprised if it didn't at least make both of the final ballots.

Lastly, potential buyers of this book should note that profits from the sales will help fund the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for innovation in commercial manned spaceflight, a goal Robert A. Heinlein considered crucial to humanity's long-term survival.

Aside: I haven't yet had an opportunity to read anything else by Spider Robinson, but I am now a fan of his work and intend to work my way back through his collection too. Does the Slashdot community have any suggestions on where to start?

Cam Turner is the author of Beginning Google Maps Applications, an internet software developer, a father and a long time Heinlein fan.

You can purchase Variable Star from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Yeah RAH

[stoolpigeon]

I wrote up a few of my impressions of the book in this journal entry.
 
I've thought about the book quite a bit more since. I did not make the same connection to 9/11 that the reviewer made. There were similarities, but the description could have fit another set of events that would be in our future. Heinlein did this himself and so I took it the same way - as referring to events that have not happened yet.
 
I think part of the appeal RAH's juveniles hold is the naivete they present. By mixing in some of the 'worldliness' of the later novels, a bit of that is lost. Sometimes it felt like watching an old Andy Griffith re-run and having Aunt Bea drop the occasional f-bomb. I don't think someone new to Heinlein would notice it, but having re-read those older works many times, it was a bit jarring.
 
I had pre-ordered my copy and read it right away. Of course, you can't really go back. It's not Heinlein, it couldn't be. But it is pretty close and I guess it speaks volumes about how many of us feel, that we would be willing to grasp at those straws. And as excited as I was to have had two 'new' Heinleins come out, I hope they are done and will just let his body of work stand as it is. The great thing is the works we have can still be just as powerful. Hopefully somewhere right now, some young kid is getting chills, just like I did, as he reads about Johnny Rico's combat drops. Or maybe some other kid is closing their copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and feeling that same sense of loss, and hope that Mike is still alive in their somewhere.
 
I used to wonder why Hollywood wasn't cranking out movies based on Heinlein now that special effects are so good. But after what they did to troopers, I hope they stay away from all the rest. I think his biggest impact will be with all of those like Spider Robinson and myself, who found the master at our public library.

Re:Yeah RAH

[bcrowell]

I also disagree with some of what the slashdot review said.

1. They quote Varley, saying "...Robert A. Heinlein isn't really dead. He was at the side of Spider Robinson as he wrote this book." No way. Robinson's style is extremely different from Heinlein's. Nobody who's familiar with Heinlein's style could read this book and not realize it wasn't by Heinlein. Robinson divides the book 50/50 between slapstick humor and serious stuff, and IMO didn't do a very good job of integrating them to make a stylistically consistent whole.
2. What the review said about teenagers as the target audience is a little off-base. Some parents might be OK with having their 13-year-old read this book, but others definitely won't. There's lots of no-apologies promiscuous sex (including gay sex), and lots of positive descriptions of drug use (meaning drugs that aren't in the socially approved pharmacopia in the U.S.). I personally wouldn't mind having my daughters read it when they reach their teen years, or even now, but I would definitely want to talk to them about it. In any case, this material is jarringly different from anything included in Heinlein's 50's juveniles.
3. The reviewer talks about how it fits into the Future History. Actually, the Future History is separate from, and often inconsistent with, the world presented in the juvenile novels, and this book mixes them together. E.g., we have Nehemiah Scudder references, which are clearly dealing with the Future History universe, but also the telepathic twins communicating faster than c, which are a feature of one of the juveniles, and don't exist in the Future History. I also felt that Robinson was far less skilled at making the science plausible than Heinlein would have been. (Heinlein was an engineer, and worked on space suits for the military during WWII.)

Spider Robinson's work

[foniksonik]

Is mostly comedy in a recently past setting mixed with a lot (I mean as in a whole several acres lot) of bad puns... and songs with bad puns and puns within puns. Its good sci-fi don't get me wrong but you should know what you're getting into before you start reading Robinson ;-p

Anyways, start with any of the Callahan series and work your way forward or back (there's a lot of time travel so it doesn't really matter which way you go, you'll feel as if you'd been there before regardless).

Most importantly, enjoy the reading... that's why he writes apparently, to entertain which is admirable in this day... oh yeah and all the novels I've read by Robbie are set in the late nineties so expect some feelings of de ja vu... and yet it's still science fiction eh?

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

[Nefarious Wheel]

...and work up from there, building your pun tolerance as you go. Fun guy to read, think I've got them all on the shelf, don't think I've read any of Spider's books just once.

Re:Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

[EPAstor]

Disclaimer: I'm male.

It's not that Heinlein actually puts women down. In fact, I thoroughly agree with you that he essentially worships them. However, he does so in a fashion that some modern women find offensive, in that he assumes certain basic aspirations on biological grounds. As I recall (I haven't read Friday in a few years now), Friday is one of his worst books that way, largely because he takes the questionable step of narrating from the point of view of a female protagonist. The result is that the basic prejudices that he had (which, by the way, almost all members of either gender have in their mental conception of the opposite) come through in spades, and end up feeling almost directly sexist.

Where Heinlein differs from modern radical feminism is in his explicit upholding of the view that men and women have distinctly different roles to play in society. This break doesn't appear to be based in prejudice, but rather in his basic feeling that the average woman actually has far more significance, and thereby deserves better treatment, than the average man. Even this is not inviolable for him... several of his female characters break stereotypes right and left.

The primary way to defend Heinlein from these accusations, though, is to highlight how much POWER he attributes to women in each novel... Just as an on-the-fly interpretation, a one-sentence summary might be: "Men die for the world... Women live for it." Heinlein's world could almost survive without men; the essential role of women is beyond question, both biological and societal. The world revolves around women - men are an accessory of the real power. Hell, just look at his rather extreme views on sexuality and marriage... In each case, his societies give far more power to the women involved than the typical modern realization - and much more than did the society Heinlein was raised in! The Moon is a Harsh Mistress presents particularly good examples of this. In this context, and in every one of his non-dystopian visions of the future, one of the most despicable things any man can do is to force his views (and/or actions) on a woman.

Re:Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

[TheRaven64]

I agree. I found that Heinlein seems to be aware of his sexist bias and try to overcompensate for it. Instead of producing female characters who are actually interesting though, he manages to just take two-dimensional ones and give them some kind of special ability or extra attribute as a substitute for a personality. As such, his female characters really, really grate on the nerves of anyone who's ever had a conversation with a real human female.

Stephen Baxter I can't stand because he feels the need to destroy the universe at the end of every one of his books that I've read (as well as butchering H.G Wells' Time Machine, and basing the entire plot of one of his novels on horrendously obviously flawed mathematics). Kim Stanley Robinson I enjoyed, but found hard work to read. Orson Scott Card wrote one good book twelve times. I'd recommend Alastair Reynolds; I found his books to be quite hard to read at the start, and much harder to put down at the end.

Re:Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

[wbd]

Funny you should mention this. Spider Robinson wrote about this sort of response Heinlein seems to get from some women. (and remember, Heinlein's novels were largely written before 1980...hell, mostly before 1970. Attitudes have changed....and mostly seem to catch up with Heinlein, frankly.)

See his article "RAH, RAH, R.A.H." which you can find a copy of on the Heinlein Society site:

http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/works/articles/ rahrahrah.html

The two relevant passages:

(2) "Heinlein is a male chauvinist." This is the second most common charge these days. That's right, Heinlein populates his books with dumb, weak, incompetent women. Like Sister Maggie in "If This Goes On--"; Dr. Mary Lou Martin in "Let There Be Light"; Mary Sperling in Methuselah's Children; Grace Cormet in "--We Also Walk Dogs"; Longcourt Phyllis in Beyond This Horizon; Cynthia Craig in "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"; Karen in "Gulf"; Gloria McNye in "Delilah and the Space-Rigger"; Allucquere in The Puppet Masters; Hazel and Edith Stone in The Rolling Stones; Betty in The Star Beast; all the women in Tunnel in the Sky; Penny in Double Star; Pee Wee and the Mother Thing in Have Space Suit--Will Travel; Jill Boardman, Becky Vesant, Patty Paiwonski, Anne, Miriam and Dorcas in Stranger in a Strange Land; Star, the Empress of Twenty Universes, in Glory Road; Wyoh, Mimi, Sidris and Gospazha Michelle Holmes in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress; Eunice and Joan Eunice in I Will Fear No Evil; Ishtar, Tamara, Minerva, Hamadryad, Dora, Helen Mayberry, Llita, Laz, Lor and Maureen Smith in Time Enough For Love; and Dejah Thoris, Hilda Corners, Gay Deceiver and Elizabeth Long in "The Number of the Beast--. "[1] Brainless cupcakes all, eh? (Virtually every one of them is a world-class expert in at least one demanding and competitive field; the exceptions plainly will be as soon as they grow up. Madame Curie would have enjoyed chatting with any one of them.) Helpless housewives! (Any one of them could take Wonder Woman three falls out of three, and polish off Jirel of Joiry for dessert.) I think one could perhaps make an excellent case for Heinlein as a female chauvinist. He has repeatedly insisted that women average smarter, more practical and more courageous than men. He consistently underscores their biological and emotional superiority. He married a woman he proudly described to me as "smarter, better educated and more sensible than I am." In his latest book, Expanded Universe--the immediate occasion for this article--he suggests without the slightest visible trace of irony that the franchise be taken away from men and given exclusively to women. He consistently created strong, intelligent, capable, independent, sexually aggressive women characters for a quarter of a century before it was made a requirement, right down to his supporting casts. Clearly we are still in the area of delusions which can be cured simply by reading Heinlein while awake.

and

(2) "Heinlein can't create believable women characters." There's an easy way to support this claim: simply disbelieve in all Heinlein's female characters, and maintain that all those who believe them are gullible. You'll have a problem, though: several of Heinlein's women bear a striking resemblance to his wife Virginia, you'll have to disbelieve in her, too--which could get you killed if your paths cross. Also, there's a lady I once lived with for a long time, who used to haunt the magazine stores when I Will Fear No Evil was being serialized in Galaxy, because she could not wait to read the further adventures of the "unbelievable" character with whom she identified so strongly--you'll have to disbelieve in her, too. Oddly, this complaint comes most often from radical feminists. Examination shows that Heinlein's female characters are almost invariably highly intelligent, educated, competent, practical, resourceful, courageous, independent, sexually aggressi

Launching into Fictons

[Doc Ruby]

If you want a great intro to Spider Robinson, try starting with Time Travelers Strictly Cash, the hilarious (and poignant) first book in the "Callahan's" series. It's short, fantastic, and has some non-Callahan's short stories.

If you want a great intro to Robert A. Heinlein, try starting with practically any of his dozens of first-rate books published from 1939-73, during which he defined "science fiction", leading a group of prolific writers. There's some good stuff later, but not nearly as reliably inspired or executed.

Re:Launching into Fictons

[krell]

Time Travelers Strictly Cash, the hilarious (and poignant) first book in the "Callahan's" series. "

"Time Travelers Strictly Cash" is actually the second Callahan's book from what I recall (and from what Robinson says in the link you gave). It has been a while since I have read them (back then there were only two), so I don't know if the reading order even matters.

I just don't get it

[jbrader]

I have read a ton of SF over a huge range. Everything from the genre's most literary (Olaf Stapledon and Phillip K Dick) to the really fun but maybe not so deep (Alastair Reynolds and Ben Bova) and from way back in the 19th century (Wells, god I love The Time Machine) to stuff published within the last couple of years. I can't even begin to estimate how many hundreds of novels and thousands of short stories I've read since I was 11 or so and discovered Arthur C Clarke (the author who got me started down my geeky path).

But, for the life of me I cannot understand the appeal of Heinlein. I've tried s few of his novels (Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and The Number of the Beast [that's the right title I think, anyway it was so bad I actually tore it in half before i used the pages to get the kindling going in my fireplace]) as well as a number of short stories in various collections. Where he's not ridiculous he's offensive, and I'm usually very difficult to offend. And his politics strike me as something that would come out of a bright but not terribly nice 14 year old.

So can anybody clue me in? What am I missing?

Does anybody else agree with me or am I the lone voice of geek dissent out here?

Re:I just don't get it

[Nefarious Wheel]

So can anybody clue me in? What am I missing?

I think it might help if you think about the era Heinlein was born into -- culturally WWI and environs. Although his style is archaic by modern mores it helps to consider him as a bridging phenomenon -- we got where we are today by shifting from where we were then, and it's great to have some record of the steps in thinking between then and now. For example, in his day the military was the only visible source of integrity, people didn't challenge authority and women were perceived as without any career path beyond mother, nun or nurse.

Heinlein challenged everything, including the reader and most definitely himself. His SF was as real as he could make it -- before the advent of ubiquitous computing he and his lady sat in their room working iteratively through mounds of spherical trig functions by hand in order to get his orbits believable. That's character, that is. My wife says he's the most eminently readable author she's ever violently disagreed with.

Re:I just don't get it

[jfengel]

Number of the Beast is definitely not his best work. I'm totally sympathetic with tearing it in half. But if you've read Stranger and Moon is a Harsh Mistress, then you've read most of his best stuff. If it's not to your taste, I really wouldn't try to change your mind.

The thing to notice about Heinlein is that he's really more of an ideas guy than a character guy. There are at least two others you might consider reading: Time Enough for Love and Starship Troopers. The former is really a collection of short stories, and in his short stories he gets to do the speculative-sci-fi without his failures as a character writer becoming too apparent. The latter is more in the vein of Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which is really about political systems with a sci-fi frame.

If the short stories appeal to you, his future-history series has some interesting entries. Technologically they're way out of date, but they have a good deal of pulp appeal, and a few of them are genuinely touching.

So what's to like about Heinlein? He had some interesting thoughts on politics, with some nice foresight into the way technology would allow changes in society. That's very classically sci-fi. He spans that period from early pulp to the beginnings of sci-fi with real literary merit, with Stranger as a kind of pinnacle from a literary standpoint. If nothing else, Stranger was incredibly influential at the time, though I'm sure it seems outdated today. (I haven't read it in years.)

My own tastes run to his middle works. His early pulpy stuff is often too juvenile, and the sexual liberation that he examined in Stranger became rambling and unfocused in everything after that. (Though his finale, To Sail Beyond The Sunset, struck me as a remarkable throwback and a fitting capstone to his works.) Try Time Enough for Love and Starship Troopers; at the very least as light sci-fi you should be able to read them pretty quickly.

Re:I just don't get it

[eriks]

I actually just finished reading "Number of the Beast", for the first time, having read (and at least liked, mostly very much) almost everything else he had ever written.

I can understand thinking that characters in the NotB are sexist, but I think that he is actually hard on his characters for their sexist attitudes, they often learn the hard way that their sexism is harmful. Case in point, when "Sharpie" is (ultimately) deemed the best commanding officer of the crew, not because she is a man or a woman, but simply because she has the best skills for the job.

"To Sail Beyond the Sunset", which I also just read for the first time, is the life story of Maureen Johnson Smith (Long) -- and sort of picks up where NotB leaves off... it (I think) demonstrates Heinlein's very strongly anti-sexist (by his generation's definitions anyway) attitudes. It is his "craziest" and probably "sexiest" book, being his last, and having gotten to be (apparently) an even older and dirtier old man. But I enjoyed both books immensely, entertainment value alone was worth it.

I literally jumped for joy when I got to meet Lazarus Long again in NotB and tSBtS. Read I may sometimes disagree (sometimes strongly) with some of his (which are possibly Heinlein's actual) philosophy, but I find that I agree strongly with most of the really important things he has to say. Read "Notebook of Lazarus Long" for a thorough sampling, including such (still apropos) gems as:

Always store beer in a dark place.

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.

Rub her feet.

Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid.)

I sincerely doubt that he was a capitalist, at least not in the current sense of the term. Perhaps his ideas could be classified as Anarcho-Capitalist, or even Anarcho-syndicalist.

One of his most important (because it's the most true) social ideas (imho) is that one of society's (in the US) biggest problems is prudishness about sex. It was the case when he started writing, and continued to be so throughout his writing career, so I think he kept turning up the volume on that particular issue. And perhaps he was a "horny old goat" to boot.

Anyway, I like Asimov (even) better also. Foundation rocked my world, and his robot novels are some of my favorite novels, period. In any genre of fiction (and I like a lot of non-scifi).

So why do geeks love Heinlein? I think it's because he cuts through a lot of bullshit, and is entertaining for those that like his particular brand of wit. Also for the pure action/adventure style of his writing (particularly in novels like Friday), which admittedly, isn't very "literary". It's pulpy, but fun.

I mean come on, "Pantheistic Multiple-Ego Solipsism"? Most geeks eat that kind of shit up.

I've never read Starship Troopers, although I'm sad to say I watched the "movie" they made "from it". I wish we had the technology so I could erase those two hours from my head.

Speculative Fiction?

[glrotate]

Come on. It's sci-fi.

Re:Speculative Fiction?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

That's what I thought. I wonder who the first prick was that suggested using "speculative fiction". To me, it sounds like some ego thing, snobbery and such. Maybe that's the topic of a Google search some other day.

Heinlein is from Mars, Robinson is from Venus

[Dachannien]

He'll never truly be discorporated, as long as we continue to grok him.

Try a few more books

[DG]

Starship Troopers is brilliant stuff; utterly unlike the irony-laden movie of the same name.

Glory Road is a happy and entertaining romp with a nice twist at the end that'll get you thinking.

Friday is very similar; a good yarn with some things that'll get you thinking.

And I also like J.O.B. as a morality play of sorts.

Try those ones on for size and then report back if you've changed your mind.

DG

RAH as written by SR

[autophile]

"Computer, we have to get out of here!" yelled Joel, "Quick, what's the haversine of 0.6?"

"Well," replied the computer, "I'd haversine right on the dotted line, just look at those luscious legs!"

"Why, thank you, Computer!" simpered Friday, "I knew wearing high heels on a spaceship was a great idea!"

And that's Heinlein and Spider, right there :(

--Rob

Are you perchance female ?

[EMB Numbers]

Are you perchance female ?
I have known several women who called Heinlein a misogynist. He certainly had unconventional ideas about gender roles and complex relationships. His widow must be a saint.

Heinlein has also been criticized for only having one character, and that character is recycled for both heroes and heroines. One woman I know calls Heinlein's heroines "femaleins."

I love Heinlein, and I think it is ironic that Lois McMaster Boujold (a woman and my favorite author) has in some respects picked up the mantle for Heinlein IMHO. For those who enjoy Heinlein, you will love Boujold... It is Heinlein with more distinct characters.

Re:Are you perchance female ?

[WalksOnDirt]

I find Bujold ok, but a little boring. Probably too much characterization, of which Heinlein had plenty for me. If fact I'd love to find some more science fiction authors like Doc Smith and Keith Laumer: No time wasted in character development by them at all.

It was Heinlein.

[Grendel Drago]

With the exception of some guy in 1889 (it didn't catch on), that prick was Heinlein himself.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

[brassman]

The article author hasn't read Spider's other books? Hasn't heard Spider sing "A Boy Named Spider" (his own Weird Al retelling of Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue")?

Wow, you got some good reading ahead of you, fella.

Spider has something else in common with RAH -- and I'm glad I got to tell him so, on a CompuServe chat one day:

Why Spider Robinson Has My Eternal Gratitude http://brasscannon.com/rah.html

Re:Dune

[aquabat]

I liked the film version of The Running Man, probably because I haven't read the book, if what people tell me about it is true.

I think I got the major points the film was trying to make:

1) the shock and horror conveyed by the extreme popularity of torture and murder made into a game show, especially the audience participation aspect.

2) the hipocracy involved in having a hero named Captain Freedom, whose purpose is to distract people from their lack of same.

3) the irony of Captain Freedom's interpretation of his job, and his ignorance of role he plays in the system.

4) the meta-irony expressed by people watching the film, who watch it as a game show. In other words, they get into the superficial story, and miss the deeper issues of the above points. I think film is ideally suited to this effect.