Analyzing Cold War Satire in Kubrik’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Analyzing Cold War Satire in Kubrik’s  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

            As a primary function, satirical film exaggerates human fallacies. None could be more deserving of this criticism than the build-up of atomic arms and the unfathomable consequences associated with the policies of mutually assured destruction practiced during the Cold War. The systems put in place by the superpowers (U.S.S.R. and the U.S.) to deter pre-emptive nuclear strikes seem, on the surface, to be sensible; if that is a term that can be applied to such a dangerous notion. It contends that if the use of nuclear weapons would result in the total destruction of both nations then no one would enter into such a conflict. The only problem is that with all systems there exists a fallible human element. This is the premise behind Kubrick’s film; that a mentally flawed general might single-handedly start a series of events that would result in the destruction of all life on the planet.

            In my opinion, it is through the character of Mandrake (Peter Sellers) and the locked office scene that is of particular importance in this discussion. Sellers’s performance is compelling as it is through the juxtaposition of his character’s sanity against the insanity of General Ripper that we gain an understanding of just what such a situation might look like. Ripper has trapped Mandrake in his office just as a real-world nuclear episode would (metaphorically) trap humanity into the consequential ramifications of such a scenario. He realizes the madness of Ripper when he delivers a diatribe concerning Soviet fluoridation conspiracies yet is unable to convince the base commander to recall the air wing set to attack the U.S.S.R. unprovoked.

            May I suggest that a favorite scene of mine was the payphone scene where Mandrake attempts to reach the president with the CRM code needed to avert disaster? The role of technology within nuclear weapon systems is a reoccurring theme throughout the film. We find that dispatched air wings cannot be recalled without a specific code. That may be fine if the person who originally sent the order were available (or within their capacities) to recall it. Then, consider the unfortunate damage to the bomber’s communication systems that further complicate the situation. There is the complex technology of a Soviet “doomsday device.” All of this technology and the one person who can save the whole world from destruction is limited to a simple pay-phone. It’s laughable, and at the same time frightening. Mandrake can’t at first place the call as he does not have enough change! He can’t make a collect call either prompting him to ask for a Coke machine to be shot up. Time is of the essence and the world hangs in the balance. Consider that ludicrous notion in that; a nuclear war could be started for want of a quarter.

Works Cited

Dr. Strangelove; Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Hawk Films. Released by Columbia Pictures Corp., 1963.