“Hey, Andrew. Do you know what movie I thought was really funny when I was your age?” my father asked.
“Oh no,” I whispered to myself. Then I replied, “I’m kinda busy right now, but if you tell me, maybe I’ll watch it over the weekend.”
I’ve been burned too many times before. It’s not because I don’t like comedies, but I just don’t share my father’s sense of humor. And I’ve seen many of his favorites, including It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Animal House, and Airplane! Maybe it’s because I don’t get the jokes, but I seldom laugh at movies made in the 20th century. So when the 1964 black comedy, Dr. Strangelove, hit my radar, I approached it with deep concern. I didn’t want to lose two hours of my life that I’ll never get back.
I learned about Dr. Strangelove after watching Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory. I loved the 1957 anti-war film and was eager to explore more of Kubrick’s works. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb received my attention because it is also a war movie. But it’s a satire, so I decided to pass. However, my interest was renewed when my history teacher highly recommended the film.
“Hey, dad. Since you are thinking about old movies, have you ever seen Dr. Strangelove?”
“Of course! It’s a classic. I loved it!” he replied.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah...but is it funny?” I hesitantly asked.
“It’s hilarious! One of the funniest movies ever!”
Not what I wanted to hear. I knew I was in trouble, but I decided to watch it anyway.
Dr. Strangelove explores the potential for a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War. Kubrick’s black comedy tries to find humor in something so horrible. But will a 21st-century audience, less familiar with the Cold War, find it funny?
Nuclear explosion (wikipedia.org)
Surprisingly, Dr. Strangelove is actually funny. I probably got only half the jokes, but it was still enough to keep me mildly amused. Every line of dialogue is carefully designed to support the satire with ridicule, irony, or sarcasm. It reminds me of The Office, but with much higher stakes. Instead of selling paper, the bumbling workmates try to prevent the end of the world.
Although the 1964 film remains enjoyable, I imagine Dr. Strangelove’s impact on my generation would be far less than when it first came out. Because today, nuclear catastrophe is seldom considered the most significant existential threat. But I was curious how it affected people of previous generations.
“Hey, dad. So how worried were you about nuclear war when you were a kid?”
“It’s not something I thought about every day, but it was always in the news,” he replied. “It was very different than these days.”
“So did you learn to ‘stop worrying and love the bomb’?” I asked sarcastically.
“Very funny. Ha, ha, ha,” my father responded equally sarcastically. “But seriously, I guess when the wall came down, things got much calmer.” He was referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, weakening America’s biggest enemy. “But there were other things we worried about afterward. AIDS was in the news every day for a long time. Then we had 9/11, and everyone started worrying about terrorists. But as you know, there are much bigger things to worry about these days.”
“What things? Do you mean climate change?” I asked.
“Climate change!?” my father responded in frustrated anger. “What the hell are you talking about? That’s all fake news!”
“But what about the scientists? Are they all wrong?” I desperately pleaded. “Aren’t you worried about what’s going to happen to our planet? What about all the hurricanes, floods, and fires?”
“Are you talking about the forest fires in California?” My father replied with a snide grin. “Don’t be an idiot. Everyone knows those fires were caused by Jews in space with laser beams!”
“Do you have any proof?” I asked.
“Do you have any proof I’m wrong?” my father answered. “But anyway, that’s not our biggest problem. We have blood-drinking satan-worshipping pedophiles that stole our election. What can be worse than that? It’s the end of our freedom as we know it!”
Qanon supporter (nbcnews.com)
That was my attempt at satire. My father is not a conspiracy theorist. But our fictional dialogue illustrates why Dr. Strangelove may not have the impact it did in the past. Kubrick presents insane or corrupt fictional characters that are in positions of power. But they seem tame compared to real people in government today.
In Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick presents General Ripper as insane. Ripper believes that the Soviet Union is responsible for fluoridating our water supply to pollute our “precious bodily fluids.” That’s hardly shocking when we currently live in a country that can elect a person to Congress who believes gun-control advocates staged school shootings, 9/11 was a hoax, and the Clintons murdered JFK Jr.
The British actor Peter Sellers has three roles in the movie, including the title character. Dr. Strangelove is an ex-Nazi scientist who works for the U.S. government. He still has “strange love” for Hitler as he mistakenly calls the U.S. president “Mein Fuhrer” and uncontrollably gives the Nazi salute. Today we had a president who openly called far-right protestors in Charlottesville “fine people.” He was also hesitant to denounce white supremacists and called anti-semitic rioters “patriots.” In 1964, having the government employ a closet Nazi was satire. It’s not very funny today. It’s too close to reality to be satire.
Peter Sellers as Captain Mandrake, President Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove (wikipedia.org)
The comparison of the 1964 fictional film with current reality is interesting. As conspiracy theories gain greater importance in our culture, one has to wonder whether disinformation is an existential threat to our society. When bigotry is normalized and people are less reluctant to hide their hateful views, we have to question how far we have come since 1964. Although Dr. Strangelove did not entertain from beginning to end, it is certainly thought-provoking and worth watching.
Andrew’s Grade: B
Comments