The film Dr.Strangelove
was based on the serious book,
RED ALERT, by Peter George. The director of the film Stanley Kubrick
transformed the serious book into a black comedy that burlesqued the
global nuclear destruction and the
typical American Cold War mentality.Kubrick
altered the message that the author Peter George offered his readers in the novel. In fact, Kubrick was
struck by so many paradoxes of US
nuclear policies and strategies that he forced himself to alter the genre to
convey his concerns effectively. Dr.Strangelove
is an anti- war film which shows the absurdity of the nuclear war and the basic male instinct of killing. Kubrick
satirizes the anti-communist hysteria in the US during the period of the cold
war and immature values of its leaders. This irrational paranoia led to the
self –destructive and extremist policies.
The film represents a period of history. The film can notbe understood unless the
readers know something about the
political ideology of 1960’s.At the end of the 2nd world war,
America emerged as a world power and world powers Britain and Germany were devastated by the
war. America homeland was untouched by the
war, Germany the greatest enemy was defeated ,America found a new
ideological enemy that would be able to compete with US for the world power.
The struggle of dominance between these nations began as soon as the
World War ended. These started piling up the weapons of atomic bomb. This attitude shaped the foreign policies of these two
nations up to the extend that it was assumed that the third world war would be
in atomic war. This conflict or the cold war dominated the foreign policy of
these countries for almost fifty years.The next decade was marked by paranoia of nuclear war and
anti-communist obsession.American leaders and public were trying to put up a
resistance against communism. Americans believed that the conflict with Soviets was ideological and so in order
to protect the American way of life, they
should struggle socially as well. The American
government propaganda against communism let people assume that communism
was bad and communism also means a dictatorship which was against the
democratic spirit of the American nation. Politician Averell Harriman said that
in dealing with Russians ‘’ we might well have to face an ideological crusade
just as vigorous and dangerous as Fascism and Nazism”(Clarfield 82) He compared the advance of the Soviets
into Eastern Europe to, ‘’a barbarian invasion of Europe’’ (Clarfield 82). The
Soviets were considered to be as dangerous and barbaric as Nazis, thus making
them a thread to US power. Some politicians like Senator McCarthy capitalized
on the anticommunist obsession in order to gain popularity. Even though the US
was the most powerful country in the world,’’ the nation plunged into a crisis
of fear. Frustratedin Korea and terrified by the Soviet bomb , many Americans
vented their anger on domestic scapegoats who could be conveniently be blamed
for the Soviet threat’’.( Clarfield and
Wiecek 143) The government used, ‘’a powerful confluence of federal
,state, and local agencies that were dedicated to finding , exposing and trying
to suspect communists through the use of infiltration and informants.( Peterson
and Moser) Paranoia of communism was so widespread that the government supported
the outrageous violations of the constitution. The consequence of the paranoia
was extremist policies built on the misunderstanding of communism. It was
argued that Soviets were determined to destroy America and ultimately the US
would fight ,’’to preserve our way of life’’. They ‘’replace the iron curtain
with an open door.”(Clarfield and wiecek 138) The government believed that the
US,’’ should develop all weapons necessary to thwart communist aggression. They
brushed aside moral arguments as ‘’fool hardy
altruism’’. (Clarfield and W iecek 132).The government thought that
communism was so bad that it was necessary to do anything to stop it ,even
doing something immoral.A competitive arms race between the Soviet Union and
the US began because each nation wanted to have an advantage in a potential
conflict. If this conflict occurred ,it would lead to the destruction of the
world due to the proliferation of more destructive nuclear weapons.
This
conflict between America and Soviets was depicted well in the film
Dr.Strangelove. General Ripper, an Air
Force base commander, orders a squadron of B-52 to drop a hydrogen bomb on
Soviet Union’s military targets. He is the only one who knows the code to call off
the mission. At the pentagon, the US
president speaks with the joint chiefs in the war room about the problem.
General Turgidson sees this as an opportunity to completely destroy the,
’’Commie bastards’’ but the president is a pacifist and he invites the Russian
ambassador into the war room. Together they call the Russian prime minister and warn him about
attack and also explain that it was unintentional. while talking on the phone
the prime minister reveals the existence of their ‘’doomsday device’’ .These
bombs would be automatically detonated in the case of a nuclear attack and it
would also destroy all the plants and animal life on the earth. This
device can not be neutralized. The whole world is kept oblivious of the device and
its destruction. At the Air Force Base, an army unit permeates to arrest Gen
.Ripper so the code can be asked, but he kills himself to avoid torture.
Fortunately, his senior officer is able to deduce the code ‘’OPE’’, written in his hand writing
on the writing pad. The bombers respond to the code and return except one pilot
Major Kong whose radio has been damaged.
In the war room, Dr.Strangelove, a disfigured ex-Nazi scientist,(name
Strangelove was loosely based on the real man named Werner Von Braun whom the
United States rehabilitated in order to know about the missile design)suggests
a plan to save a few thousand Americans by hiding them in a deep mine shaft for
100 years until the radiation returns to a safe level. Finally, Major Kong who
does not get the message of aborting mission, succeeds in dropping the bombs
and the doomsday device is triggered, resulting in the destruction of the
world.
The
political ideology of America in 1950 and 1960 presented the obsession about
communism. Most of the politicians did not have much understanding of communism
and it result was the destructive policies of US. It is very much evident in
the major characters of the movie. For example,General AmericanTurgidson continually makes fun of
communism and says they are stupid. Turgidson thinks that communists are not as
good Americans. He says ‘’I’m beginning to smell a fat commie rat. Supposing
Kissov is lying about the fourth plane, just looking for an excuse to clobber
us………..The Russkie talks big but frankly ,we think he is short of know how. You
just cant just expect a bunch of ignorant peons to understand a machine like
some of our boys’’.
Then he also
says ‘’ If we have done nothing to suppress their retaliatory capabilities , we
will suffer virtual annihilation,…..if on the other hand, we were to
immediately launch an all out and coordinated attack ……we ‘d stand a damn good
chance of catching ‘em. We would therefore prevail, and suffer only modest and
acceptable civilian casualties from their remaining force which would be badly
damaged and uncoordinated.’’ So Turgidson was of the opinion that American
civilian causalities would be acceptable if Russia was destroyed. He did not
think about both America and Russia ,he wanted to destroy all of Russia even if
some American citizen were killed. Thus,
he valued the destruction of communism
more than the innocent lives of American citizens.
The another
main character General Jack Ripper was also did not have much knowledge about
communism.He even said ‘’on no account
will a commie ever drink water……..water is the source of life….And as humans
beings .you and I drink fresh water,……..pure water…..’’ He thought that
communists did not drink water. Kubrick believed that the misinterpretation and
hatred of communism which resulted in paranoia of Ripper led to the nuclear
attack and then the annihilation of the world.
Arthur M.
Schlesinger Jr. in his foreword to American History /American Film:
Interpreting the Hollywood Image (1979 )
recognized the relationship between films and their audiences. He noted that an
audience was an active collaborator with film maker ,’’seizing from the film
what it needs for its own purposes of tutelage and fantasy’’. This collaboration
occurs when the audience recognize similarities between its world and the film
maker’s celluloid world. So this film had a huge impact on the audience and
critics both. They gave mixed responses.
The film made audience draw some comparisons between the characters and
contemporary figures and sentiments. The deranged General Ripper(Sterling
Hayden) who ordered the 843rd bomb wing to attack the Soviet Union,
represents conservative thinking of the 1950’s and early 1960’s that believed
that an international communist conspiracy had insinuated American society.
General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott)
represented military commanders such as General Curtis LeMay, commander of the
Strategic Air Command and exponent of utilization of nuclear weapons,
and to stop the spread of communism. President MerkinMuffley (Peter Sellers
), whose character was drawn from the
appearance a liberal diplomat, Adlai Stevenson. He failed to prevent the
disaster created by Ripper and suggested that US nuclear policies would only
lead to destruction and war. Kubrick constructed the character of Dr.
Strangelove also Pter Sellers to criticize certain members of the scientific
community and man’s in ability to
control the technological progress.
Some
audience laughed and also became worried about what they regarded as a nuclear threat, others flouted at what they regarded as anti-American propaganda.
Newspapers such as the New York Times and magazines such as Commentary provided
forums for the opinion of the critics, intellectuals and the public. Letters
were printed that praised and criticized
Kubrick’s film. In a letter to the Times, a critic Lewis Mumford pointed
out Kubrick’s criticism of the public’s ‘’cold war trance’’ Film critics
debated the worth of the film which often centered on Kubrick ‘s political
message rather than the motion picture’s artistic qualities. In 1978,
Lawrence Suid argued that Kubrick made
film to ‘’warn nation about the possible dangers of the safeguard system’’ Suid
also argued that Kubrick’s message was lost in the audience laughter, yet
letters and reviews indicate that some audience members recognised the realism
of the film. Another critic Margot
Henriksen,argued in her article Dr. Strangelove ‘s America :Society and
Culture in the Atomic Age (1997), that Kubrick warned audience that,if they
failed to challenge the cold war consensus, their fate would be same as
President MerkinMuffley’s
In his essay
‘’ American Historical Review’’ John E. Conner, examined the use films as a historical documents. He proposed that the historian
should attempt to ‘’understand how a film represents or interprets history’’
,to confirm theories about ‘’ then current social and cultural values’’, to
uncover ‘’factual data not otherwise available’’, and trace the history of film
and television. He suggested that in order to understand a film’s contemporary
impact , a historian must understand the audience experience .This experience
can be understood through the study of ‘’other films current at that time, the
novels ,the news, and magazines stories and other social or cultural influence
that may have oriented the viewer at some specific place and time in the past
to respond to the film in one way or the other.’’ So Dr. Strangelove
represented and interpreted the contemporary events and the way in which
Kubrick reflected and challenged contemporary values and beliefs.
Some
Americans accepted Kubrick’s warning of the nuclear destruction. Initially, the
film became a reference to 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Gold
water, who appeared willing to wage nuclear war to halt the spread of
communism. Dr. Strangelove became an icon for those who questioned the nation’s
cold war policies .By the early 1980’s Dr. Strangelove had become a point of reference for the historians
, journalists, and politicians. So the American political ideology was very
evident in the film.
WORK CITED
1.Stanley
Kubrick, How I learned to stop worrying and love the cinema, ‘’Films and
Filming 9 (June 1963): 12-13 Peter Bryant, Red Alert (New York: Ace Books ,
1958)
2. Kubrick,
‘’How I learned’’ 12.
3. Gene D. Phillips, ed., Kubrick, How I learned ,” 12-13.
4. Lewis Mumford, Strangelove Reactions,’’ New York Times, 1
March 1964, sec.2 , p.8.
5. Lawrence Suid ,’’ The Pentagon Conformity: Dr. Strangelove
American History/American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Images ,eds.
6. John E. O’ Connor, ‘’History in Images /Images in History:
Reflections on the importance of film and Television Study for an understanding
of the past. ‘’American Historical Review 93 (December 1988).
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