Dr. Strangelove In Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick took a serious issue and turned it into a political comedy. He was able to illustrate a satire of the hazardous notion of a nuclear war and the insane individuals who were coordinating it, and furthermore, addressed the issue of stereotyping. This movie was created in 1964; today in 2005, we still have nuclear weapons. Yes, the United States and other countries still have nuclear weapons, however, a question does arise, do we still have insane individuals coordinating war plans and security procedures? If you are expecting to find the answer in this essay, do not continue reading for that reason, the answer will not be found in this essay.
The reason being is the answer needs to be realized and determined by every individual, not just me. However, if questioned that in Dr. Strangelove was there an individual who was insane and should he have not been placed in command of a military base, then I would have to answer yes there was such an individual. This individual was General Jack Ripper. I think that it was not coincidental that Kubrick named this individual Jack Ripper, but purposely did so. The real Jack Ripper was a serial killer.
Not only does the name fit with the character in Dr. Strangelove, but also the images and actions often associated with the serial killer. Silent and cruel attacks, nighttime, darkness and dense fog are a few images associated with the serial killer. In the movie General Ripper was in a dark office, he ordered Wing Attack Plan R to bombard the Soviet Union with a nuclear bomb before they could respond, and right before killing himself he was in a cloudy / smoky room. The Wing Attack Plan R is my analysis of the silent and cruel killings. The cloudy / smoky room is the dense fog.
And finally the darkness of General Ripper’s office fits with the darkness image. What was the purpose of General Ripper when looking at the movie as a whole? It is my analysis that Kurbrick was not just showing America the stupidity of nuclear war, but was also showing that the United States government often makes mistakes. One mistake, not just in the movie but in life, is the allocating of power to an individual who is not fit, whether mentally or physically, to have this power. When these individuals are allocated this power their actions can have a worldly consequence. When speaking that an individual is not fit mentally or physically, one’s mind tends to involuntarily think insanity, retardation or some other deformity.
For an example of an individual who we think to be insane, is one who believes there are aliens on earth, and lives life as though the aliens are attempting to read his mind. These individuals are not fit to be in the position to order planes to bomb nuclear warheads, but what about the individuals who think killing and war is a game? That was just a thought to keep you thinking. Also, when analyzing Dr. Strangelove I acquire that Kurbrick is not just trying to show Americans that the government makes mistakes, but is also showing something else. This something else is the fact that their death from an act of aggression, whether it might be from a country the United States is at war with or from a terrorist organization, might be calculated as an acceptable civilian casualty. This is something every American should be outraged about.
Yes, in war there are causalities, but should at anytime there be an acceptable number of civilian or solider causalities. This is an intention that when analyzing Dr. Strangelove that I judge Kurbrick was seeking to get across. Besides pointing out that the government makes mistakes and has set acceptable casualty numbers, I also noticed that Kurbrick challenged stereotyping in the film. There are many types of stereotyping that occurred in 1964, but Kurbrick concentrated on young women stereotyping. In 1964 young women with big breasts and blond hair were stereotyped into a category that the movie showed.
What exactly was this category? This category had a young woman holding a secretarial position with a male boss, who not only had her answer the phone and type his letters, but also got to have a romantic relationship. The stereotype situation in Dr. Strangelove was the bedroom scene; showing Ms. Scott on the bed answering the telephone and telling the person on the other end her reason for being there. Her stated reason was that she was finishing up some secretarial duties for General Buck Turgid son. Was she really there performing secretarial duties? My assumption, based on the shown evidence, finds Ms.
Scott was performing a secretarial duty for that time period, but was not typing letters or serving coffee. What secretarial duty? Allow your mind to do the wandering and imagining it is meant to do; because I have my own thoughts and ideas, but like I said before, my answer is not going to be found in this essay. In conclusion as you sit there and wonder why I did not put many of my thoughts and answers in this essay. When given someone else’s thoughts and ideas an individual either agrees or disagrees and hardly ever uses their imagination. This essay allows readers to get a deeper look into Dr. Strangelove from what my imagination had me analyzing, but also allows leeway to the reader’s imagination..