The film Dr. Strangelove also commonly referred to as How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, by director Stanley Kubrick’s is created in a comic and satirical genre. The film begins by revealing the truth but as it progresses twists develop. Dr. Strangelove depicts what would happen if competing world superpowers would have their trigger-finger on a doomsday device. With daring humor, the film builds up a momentum that resorts into explosive overstated dialogues once it was established that the doomsday would not only cause World War III but possibly annihilate the whole world. One is mesmerized at how the producer and director Stanly Kubrick managed to depict such a complicated matter such as a nuclear war in a humorous way. While there were times in the film when one is afraid to laugh due to the uncertainty and suspense of the next events, Dr. Strangelove is undoubtedly one of the most atypical films ever created.
Satire in the film has been used to give the movie a comical outlook despite the intricacy of the subject. As seen in the film, satire uses comedy as a social commentary. Satire has in the longest time been accepted as the usual genre that can be used as a political critique. The reason why caricature is most preferred when criticizing a political forum is that it is not easily detected and it is easier to present your criticism under the disguise of comedy and humor ( Movie: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? , 1964). In the film, satire is used to criticize the norm upheld of mutually assured destruction which implied that the use of military weapons by the military would obliterate both sides of the dispute. Dr. Strangelove was particularly perturbing given the then just occurred Cuban Missile Crisis of 1964 which is the same year that the film was released.
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Kubrick applies satire in the movie to assess and critique the political environment surrounding the Cold War. The irony in the film provided a mild and distance criticism of the then prevailing political climate that at the same time provided the audience with a reflection of the absurdity of the issue. The film presents an actual acquittal of the military and the various means in which military bodies in the multiple superpowers contributed to the aggravated the Cold War. The military is depicted to be full of masculine pride which curtails any possible effects of peacemaking and arbitration. Although Dr. Strangelove was created in the midst of the sobering Cold War, the film was praised by critics for its brilliant and ingenious use of humor on a delicate such a subject.
Many people would perceive the use of satire on the subject matter of nuclear war as being insensitive. However, the director established a perfect setting for a comedy with precision in its dialogues and characterizations. A significantly large number of people have argued that the film presented a sense of relief and distraction from the simmering Cold War which threatened the beginning of a possible World War III. Additionally, the film teaches on the various reasons why peace and negotiations are evaded in war ( Movie: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? 1964). For instance, the doomsday device used in the scene is unrealistic and representational of the political positions held by the United States of America and the Soviet Union. These superpowers were on the verge of causing massive destruction of property, and human life had the conflict aggravated from the dialogues. The doomsday device was the dialogues between the two countries in the real war. Dr. Strangelove does not only criticize the events in history but offers a different perspective of the events that occurred.
The film also shows the efforts mandated to maintain the standoff between the two superpowers. It is within everyone’s comprehension that the effects from the war would have been irreparable. Thus, the director used the concept of world annihilation to symbolize the impact of the conflict not just in the two countries but possibly the whole world. Dr. Strangelove shows the events leading to the ultimate moment where both nations are ready to pull the trigger and how the decision would have considered as the most logical one in that scenario ( Movie: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? , 1964). Hence, Kubrick explains the logic and unrealistic circumstances of Nuclear Deterrence. Therefore, using humor to illustrate the absurd occurrences of the Cold War and the underlying factors that placed the whole world at that particular intense position is helpful in reducing the tension amongst people and revealing the absurdity of war generally.
Stanley Kubrick uses various filming and lighting techniques to increase the effects of the film and add to the excitement. The innovative comedy was notably different from other comedy productions at the time because the director, Kubrick, did not in any instance cue the live audience on the way to react or the scenes that would respond. Stanley Kubrick achieves this by avoiding many close-ups in the film or showing one character in a frame for long. Instead, the producer used wide shots portraying numerous characters in one frame. The use of timing in the film was also commendable as Kubrick used timing to enunciate humorous moments. Dr. Strangelove is an exceptional film that used the mastery of brilliant editing and filming skills to bring out the various themes and events without necessarily emphasizing on a single character. Consequently, the film is still relevant to this day because of its practical and impactful script and editing techniques.
Reference
Movie: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? (1964, November 10). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjcsBtrWARM
