The opening of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, starts with a physical act of love, represented by the refueling B52 bomber, a turgid protrusion from the fueling plane, ejaculating into the storage tanks of the bomber, presented more tastefully than I have written, with gentle music. This is a running theme throughout the movie, men chewing cigars, bodily fluids, affairs and the discussion at the end of the film about how to survive. In combining aspects of a horrifying doomsday war, sex and comedy, Kubrick directed a compact story that expresses deep truths about human nature and modern warfare.
The leaders shared humanity runs through the entire story. Turgidson accuses Kiss-off of being a "degenerate" after the Russian ambassador implies that Kiss-off is hard to reach because he is having an affair. This coming from the mouth of Turgidson, whom we saw with the only female character earlier in the film; his secretary, in a bikini at 3 A.M. Military personnel look the same in black and white, no matter if they are in the army, navy or air force. The President tells the Soviet Premier "I am just as capable of being as sorry as you are."
A beautiful part of this film is that it holds inside jokes for people who have a priori knowledge of the issues and culture surrounding the questions of nuclear warfare. When Dr. Strangelove mentions the "Bland Corporation" that is a reference to the Rand Corporation, a think tank that has written thousands of papers on military issues, and its renaming is a witty comment on their nature. The overall subject of the film is mutually assured destruction; also known as a type of Nash equilibrium. Shortly, the equilibrium states that if players of a game cannot benefit from a change in strategy, then it is in their interest to keep their strategy. In other words, if everyone will lose when one player does something the other players are unwilling to do, all players have an interest in maintaining the status quo.
Dr. Strangelove illustrates that this only works if the players involved are rational and sane. And it makes the assertion that while the leaders may all be striving for sanity, we all have the seeds of insanity within us.
The Dr. Strangelove character is fighting himself, his sane half being his ungloved hand, his insane half being his gloved hand. There are insane elements to all of the characters: Turgidson arguing that the United States could win, while a folder in front of him has "World Targets in Megadeaths."
The very basis of mutual destruction is attacked in the film: even if the Soviet doomsday machine was not secret, that would make no difference given the circumstances of an insane U.S. general sending attacking forces without authorization. The doomsday machine itself is an insane device, inhuman, designed to set itself off automatically because "...it is not something a sane man would do" says the Soviet Ambassador.
It is possible to find many meanings in the various names of the characters and I'd like to focus on the british officer, Group Captain Mandrake. Mandrake is referenced in the Bible as the "love plant". Mandrake is also poisonous, in keeping with Mandrake the character being poisonous to the plans of General Ripper. The christian view of love and peace being the central message of the new testament is central to message boards on the air force base, where "Peace is our Profession" is everywhere. This is also linked to what General Ripper was doodling before he shot himself, "Peace On Earth" and "Purity Of Essence." One is not necessarily part of the other.
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