第一次写Kubrick Commentary

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1964), also known as Dr. Strangelove, is a black comedy film based on Peter George’s novel Red Alert(1958). The story of the film starts with a United States Air Force commander ordering a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. Then the film depicts the reactions from several characters’ perspectives: the president of the United States, the advisors in the war room, crew members of one aircraft, and a British officer. According to the ambassador of the Soviet Union, once the U.S. Air Force attacks their territory, their doomsday machine will be triggered, which has the ability to destroy the entire globe. In the end, the attack happens and people in the war room listen to Dr. Strangelove, a former Nazi scientist, planning the future of the human race.

Nuclear anxiety in the context of the Cold War is the film’s main focus. From the title of the film, the director clearly states the major topic, which is attitudes toward (nuclear and atomic) bombs. Dr. Strangelove also utilizes a variety of details to portray people’s anxiety about the bombs. For instance, when the command to attack the Soviet Union is made, the captain has to decode himself to believe that the command is made in reality. After understanding the outcome of the attack, the presidents of both the United States and the Soviet Union panicked. The British officer tries to persuade the officer to revoke the command. The dramatic reactions from characters from different parts of the army indicate their anxiety about the nuclear and atomic bombs. Besides, when talking about the consequences of the attack and the doomsday machine, Dr. Strangelove mentions frightening scenes such as hundreds of year’s radiation, which enhances the characters’ fear of nuclear and atomic attacks. In the real world, at the end of World War Ⅱ, the United States’ utility of atomic bombs against Japan made nuclear anxieties to a new gravity (Lubot 1177). The increase in nuclear anxiety then leads to the public’s concern about the durability of democratic government. In 1946, Congress granted the authority to control and manage nuclear technology solely to the president with the 1946 Atomic Energy Act. If the president has the power to control the button that could destroy the entire nation just as the officer in Dr. Strangelove, “all other powers are trivial by comparison” (Lubot 1177). Therefore, the transition of presidential power received more concerns, which reached a peak during the Cold War.

After John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, nuclear anxiety further flourished because of the lack of firm leadership in the United States when the Soviet Union advanced its nuclear weapons. With such a complicated social context, Dr. Strangelove uses black comedy to reveal the pressure and tension in the United States during the Cold War. In Dr. Strangelove, the president of the United States relies heavily on Dr. Strangelove, the generals, and even the ambassador of the Soviet Union to make decisions at urgency, which implies the president’s incapability and the public’s lack of trust in the leadership. Due to the rising nuclear anxiety and related leadership issue, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment became part of the U.S Constitution in 1967 (Lubot 1197). Though the Amendment does not contain specific nuclear-related contents, it reinforces the presidential succession procedure and introduces flexibility caused by unforeseen situations such as nuclear attack into the Constitution.

As a Kubrick fan, I watched all his thirteen feature films. I adore his boldness in camera technique as well as content creation, but I also realize that his films could enhance the spread of conspiracies in the public. In Dr. Strangelove, there are several interesting moments when the characters’ behavior contrasts with their slogans or reality. For instance, when the general and the ambassador of the Soviet Union are fighting, the president of the United States says, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight here. This is the war room.” The prohibition of violence inside a war room where conducts much bigger violence creates a sense of absurdity, which could be interpreted by the audience as satire or the truth that was hidden by the government. Therefore, as an Academy Award-nominated film, Dr. Strangelove requires the audience to recognize the satire inside the nuclear-related story themselves, but the audience still has the freedom to interpret as they want, which might enhance the growth of conspiracies. Though the film has a disclaimer that it is fiction at the beginning, Dr. Strangelove fits the political conspiracy theorists’ imagination of presidential power and international relations under nuclear anxiety, which could influence the people’s trust in the governments negatively. The political conspiracy theory, QAnon, for instance, started their movement based on their implied access to the secrets of U.S. nuclear energy.

Another motif of Dr. Strangelove is sex. For instance, crew members on the aircraft read Playboy magazines for entertainment. When the general is in the war room, his lover calls and flirts with him on the phone. Even when the attack happens, Dr. Strangelove mentions that for the human race’s reproduction needs, the man-to-woman ratio after a nuclear attack should be one to ten, which the men in the war room consider a paradise. In addition to these direct mentions of sex, the film also uses bombs as an implication of sex. When the captain of the aircraft sits on the bomb, his excitement and insanity are depicted the same as a man enjoying sex (Macklin 55). Interestingly, when disabled Dr. Strangelove becomes so excited talking about reproduction that he miraculously stands up, the bomb with the captain explodes. The simultaneity implies that human civilization goes back to its beginning when sex is only for reproduction and the real doomsday machine is sex (Macklin 57). By utilizing the exaggerated example, Dr. Strangelove reveals the idea of misogyny and objectifying women under patriarchy.

In conclusion, Dr. Strangelove illustrates the nuclear anxiety of the public and the lack of trust in leadership in the United States during the Cold War period. Though as many other Kubrick films, it might lead to political conspiracy theories, Dr. Strangelove portrays the context of the birth of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. At the same time, it implies that women are objectified during wartime, which is a retrogression of civilization.

Reference:

1. Lubot, Rebecca C. "A Dr. Strangelove Situation: Nuclear Anxiety, Presidential Fallibility, and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment." Fordham L. Rev. 86 (2017): 1175.

2. Wolfe, Gary K. "Dr. Strangelove, Red Alert, and Patterns of Paranoia in the 1950’s." Journal of Popular Film 5.1 (1976): 57-67.

3. Macklin, F. Anthony. "Sex and Dr. Strangelove." Film Comment 3.3 (1965): 55.