· American Studies UWA ·

   AS30020: America in the era of the Cold War

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Review Of Dr Strangelove from the perspective of a British CND Activist

•        The CND were the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and were therefore
completely against any nuclear involvement from either the USA or Russia
•        In 1964 Harold Wilson won the General Election with the labour party
which pleased the CND as most were left wing.
•        The film is a blatant ‘dig’ at the American system when it comes to
international conflict possibly involving nuclear weapons. It suggests
that the powers behind these weapons are incompetent, unreliable and in
most cases are complete ‘cowboys’. (pun intended)
•        Due to the fact this film was released in the mid 60’s, it was able to
look at a nuclear war in a satirical sense, due to the advantage of
hindsight, plus the fact that the nation, and indeed the world are
currently more concerned with the Vietnam war.
•        The characters portrayed in the film are created with the sole purpose
of making the audience laugh… and their names certainly help this,
especially with characters such as Brig Gen Jack D Ripper, with a thirst
for firearms and golf (haven’t we seen this before? ‘COUGH Eisenhower
COUGH’), Miss Foreign Affairs who seems to have every man on base wrapped
around her finger, and Col ‘Bat’ Guano who has a tendency to talk… well
you get the idea.
•        The standpoint of Dr Strangelove is also bought into question,
especially once he reveals his ‘Nazi soft spot’. His idea of creating a
nucleus of people comprised of the elite of American citizens, with only
the most beautiful and smartest people admitted also sounds familiar.
•        Many funny underlying jokes, such as ‘You can’t fight here, this is the
war room’ and the friendly fire fight between American soldiers underneath
the proud banner, ‘peace is our profession’. I’m sure we’ve all heard that
before.
•        After taking into consideration its satirical context, DR Strangelove is
an acceptable film. If somewhat trigger happy when it comes to dropping H
Bombs. And with us being against that sort of thing, it doesn’t really
make sense us recommending it. Ah well.

 

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 · American Studies UWA ·