The Dry Dr. Strangelove

Unlike some of my classmates I found Dr. Strangelove to be funny. This may be because I like to watch movies that have satire and dry humor in them. This movie had a lot of it and had me laughing randomly the whole time. The main point that I found funny was that although the actors had serious facial expressions, their dialogue didn’t match. What they were saying was random and funny, because they looked so serious saying it. The best example I can think of explaining this, is comparing this movie to the show The Office. How the main character Michael Scott keeps a straight face while he says crazy things.


STILLMAN ARTICLE

I thought both articles gave very good viewpoints on the Dr. Strangelove. The first article read was the most recent one by Grant Stillman. The article brings up many interesting points from the film. One main point of the article is that all the themes from the movie have an origin to them. For example, when the film shows Dr. Strangelove in the wheelchair it could have represented sexual frustration in political leaders. Stillman writes “the wheelchair motif is harder to source with confidence, but it probably has some inspiration in the sexually frustrated, war-scarred, intellectual hus- band of Lady Chatterley in D.H. Lawrence’s novel, which was going through hard-fought obscenity trials for release in the early 1960s” (Stillman 494). He also goes on to say “politically powerful figures were really overcompensating for being im- potent in some hidden way, and that could have been indicated by the wheelchair” (Stillman 494). Like we discussed in class part of the theme of the movie was about sex symbols in the movie. The wheelchair could very well be one. Other symbols in the movie could have been the plane in the beginning of the movie getting fuel from another plane, or how the secretary was dressed as she lay out on her bed.

(Another sex symbol from the movie)

RICHARDSON ARTICLE

The other article that we read in class came out in the summer of 1964. I didn’t really agree with author’s distaste with the humor in the film. Richardson writes about the humor “one feels that those responsible for the film have settled for rather worn gags and bits of political sniping that have become just too fashionable and easily accepted to have a place alongside the work's better moments” (Richardson 251). Although I didn’t agree with the author’s opinion, I do think there were some cheesy moments to the film. One cheesy part was about the coca cola machine. But I did find scenes in the war room to be very funny. I think that’s what made the movie better.

PRODUCTION

(shows the lighting in the war room)

I thought the way the movie was shot and produce was done very well. All of the customs’ and set designs looked very real. This made me believe in the story. I also liked how the director took advantage of the lighting in the film. Richardson describes the lighting in the war room by saying “the use of light and shadow in the "War Room" so that it seems an endless subterranean world where footfalls echo ominously” (Richardson 252). Another aspect I liked about the movie was the shooting scene on the base. All the guns looked very real, and the way the scenes were shot they looked very realistic to what a real fight scene would look like. The only drawback was that I didn’t really see anybody get shot.

(Favorite part from movie)

Work Cited

Kubrick, Stanley, dir. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the

Bomb. 1964. Columbia Pictures, 2009.

Stillman, Grant. "Two of the MaDdest Scientists." Film History. 20 (2008): 487-500.

Web. 17 May. 2010.

Richardson, Jack. "'Strangelove' and 'the Silence.'" The Hudson Review. 17.2 (1964): 250-255.

Web. 17 May. 2010.