Stop Worrying
By: Erin Huang-Schaffer
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" Stanley Kubrick and Peter Sellers were geniuses. But did I really need to point that out?
I'll admit, it took me a while for the genius of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) to sink in. I had to see it a second time to really get the humor of it. And it took a little research on the film's production history to finally realize Peter Sellers plays three different characters.
Dr. Strangelove, a comedy about the Cold War and having the worst possible events unfold, is very dark and very funny. Could it get any better than seeing Sellers humorously play an ex-Nazi mad scientist (the film's titular character), a weak, serious, and balding American president (Merkin Muffley), and the mildly effeminate British group captain of the Royal Air Force (Lionel Mandrake)? I do not believe so, "Mein Führer".
I highly suggest looking up Dr. Strangelove on Wikipedia, because there are so many amazing things that went into the making of this political satire.
I did notice how Kubrick's films, while widely considered to be masterpieces, often tend to be difficult to connect to emotionally. In his most famous films, which characters do we connect to most? Thinking about 2001: A Space Odyssey, there were times when I felt Hal 9000 showed more heart than the human protagonist.
Perhaps Kubrick was purposefully trying to portray human beings as unsentimental, dark creatures in order to place a larger focus on the beauty of the film itself? There was very little musical score playing under the scenes, which tends to romanticize the film to varying degrees. But I also feel that as a viewer you have to put in more effort to take in the effect of the dialogue, seeing as most people have become so accustomed to letting the music cue which moments you need to pay attention.
One thing to take in mind when you see this movie is that you need to let it be. Don't have your own expectations, just recognize when the movie is trying to do something brilliant in its own way. Kubrick was not about pleasing the masses, he was an artist who would successfully get his point across, often in the most incredible ways.
I'll admit, it took me a while for the genius of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) to sink in. I had to see it a second time to really get the humor of it. And it took a little research on the film's production history to finally realize Peter Sellers plays three different characters.
Dr. Strangelove, a comedy about the Cold War and having the worst possible events unfold, is very dark and very funny. Could it get any better than seeing Sellers humorously play an ex-Nazi mad scientist (the film's titular character), a weak, serious, and balding American president (Merkin Muffley), and the mildly effeminate British group captain of the Royal Air Force (Lionel Mandrake)? I do not believe so, "Mein Führer".
I highly suggest looking up Dr. Strangelove on Wikipedia, because there are so many amazing things that went into the making of this political satire.
I did notice how Kubrick's films, while widely considered to be masterpieces, often tend to be difficult to connect to emotionally. In his most famous films, which characters do we connect to most? Thinking about 2001: A Space Odyssey, there were times when I felt Hal 9000 showed more heart than the human protagonist.
Perhaps Kubrick was purposefully trying to portray human beings as unsentimental, dark creatures in order to place a larger focus on the beauty of the film itself? There was very little musical score playing under the scenes, which tends to romanticize the film to varying degrees. But I also feel that as a viewer you have to put in more effort to take in the effect of the dialogue, seeing as most people have become so accustomed to letting the music cue which moments you need to pay attention.
One thing to take in mind when you see this movie is that you need to let it be. Don't have your own expectations, just recognize when the movie is trying to do something brilliant in its own way. Kubrick was not about pleasing the masses, he was an artist who would successfully get his point across, often in the most incredible ways.