Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

My Art as Experience professor looks like Scarlett Johansson. That doesn't mean I have to like her. Right now we're "studying" film, which is interesting to me now that I've taken Digital Video. Anyway, for class we had to pick a film from a list of approved titles on which to write a critical paper. Jenny and I chose Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb because it is one of my brother's favorites. I informed Nate of my recent cinematic achievement, to which he replied, "I guess you know who's behind the flouridation of water now..."

Stanley Kubrick’s critically acclaimed cold war comedy describes the frivolous efforts of the United States’ top bureaucrats to keep the world from ending. When insane Air Force Colonial Jack D. Ripper deploys an airborne B-52 to drop an atomic bomb on the Soviet Union, the race is on to stop that plane. Unfortunately, Ripper invoked a protocol to keep this aircraft from being recalled by any radio frequency besides the one for which only he knows the prefix (and he’s not telling). As time runs out, the Soviet ambassador informs the U.S. president and his advisers that any attack on the U.S.S.R. will trigger their Doomsday Machine and usher forth the end of all human, plant and animal life on earth.

Dr. Strangelove opened 1964 to an America that had gotten accustomed to living on the brink of nuclear war. When seen in the context of its release date, this is a very important film because it confronts conspiracy theory and government mismanagement in addition to the idiocy of war. Through his deft use of satire, Kubrick presents war as the most absurd of notions. He portrays War-Room antics with pure lunacy as generals banter across the table and world leaders small-talk over the phone. The film explores the wages of war, of mishandled government policy, and of fear. It describes how our own human fallenness, rather than surging technology, will be our eventual downfall.

The film employs black and white cinematography which emphasizes the archaic nature of the themes presented. War is not progression; it is regression. The lighting in the War-Room is especially effective at conveying the ominous decisions being made. Stark contrasts between light and dark accentuate mortality which is juxtaposed against the fluffy nature of the counselors’ dialogue for added irony. In all of the scenes at the Air Force Base, banners and posters read, “Peace is our Profession,” even as different U.S. military branches open machine-gun fire on one another. This sardonic motif further solidifies the two-faced nature with which the military operates.

I’d recommend Dr. Strangelove to any student of humanity or history. My laughter throughout the movie encouraged me to think more deeply about the issues being portrayed. Although this is satire, man’s depravity is valid. In a world ruled by fear (where not even drinking water is safe), anything can happen. This is true in my own life as well. How often have I based my own decisions on faulty theories and bogus assumptions? When I make perceptual mistakes, nuclear holocaust might not hang in the balance, but then again, maybe one day it will.