Dr. Strangelove

The first time I saw this movie, it was an assignment from my high school English teacher, and I remember how how much I liked. This would be the second, and I liked it even more. The entire film is filled with comedic appeal including slapstick and satire, yet equally includes the incredibly serious topic of nuclear war. Because of this, Stanley Kubrick managed to make a film that is quite enjoyable while also memorable even to this day. As sad as it is, people today can relate to the theme. Nuclear war has become an even more real possibility with the evidence of countries like North Korea and Iran obtaining the ability to build and fire nuclear weapons. Instead of just troubling over the likelihood of war, this movie can turn a positive spin on the whole situation, and make us laugh. For example, the use of irony. I mainly observed this twice in the movie. The first being the gunfire and fighting next to the billboard that reads “Peace is our profession.” I also saw irony in president Muffley's claim “You can't fight in here! This is the war room!” Such antics make the film hilarious

Of course with every movie we watch in class, as well as pretty much any movie ever, there are some hidden and not so hidden messages involved. First off, I noticed a huge criticism on the governments of the worlds nuclear powers. The entire plot was brought forth because of the United States' inability to control their own military force. Once Plan R was set into motion, there was nothing that could be done by the president or his uppers about the situation. They had to end up fighting and killing their own men to gain access into their own airbase. This also introduces the topic of corruption in the military. Ripper, despite being a high ranking military officer is also insane. This is a huge hit on the U.S. Army.

However, broken government is not limited to the United States. The Russian leader, Dimitri, is not such a great leader himself. From what we can tell, Dimitri is always drunk, partying, and doing little or nothing to support his country. From my point of view, this is a huge critic on Russian government as well.

Perhaps the largest theme, aside from war, was the danger of miscommunication. Throughout the entire film, no one can get in contact with anyone. All the radios and phones are down for the people who need them the most. This, in my opinion, was a criticism on us as a whole, and how much we rely on technology. Apparently, once a few radios are turned off, the world turns to nuclear war. It's almost as if technology is bad for us, which is a theme we observed in “The Gods Must be Crazy.” According to these movies, Technology will be the death of us.

Overall, my favorite move so far. (My appologies for being a tad late... )