Let's start with a joke this time
It is said that Spielberg went to heaven after his death, but was stopped by an angel. The angel said: movie directors cannot go to heaven. At this time Spielberg saw Kubrick walking slowly into the gate of heaven and shouted: Isn't that Kubrick? Why can he enter! The angel replied: Oh, it was God himself, but he always thought he was a director.
All of Kubrick's films explore the nature of the world, just like God. His old man understood how the world works very early, so he went to film without going to university. Really talented people have always done it. They have already reached the pinnacle of life in a wave of All in Ollie when others are still trying to prove themselves. "Dr. Strange Love" discusses two issues, the nature of power and the relationship between people and tools. The former topic can be seen as a continuation of "Road to Glory"; the latter topic can be seen as the prologue of "2001 A Space Odyssey". The relationship between sex and violence in "Doctor Strange Love" and the thinking about human alienation are widely used in "Full Metal Shell", and the corresponding can also be found in his most controversial last film "Eyes wide shut"; some The lens language of the instrument switches on the aircraft was used in "2001 A Space Odyssey". Combining with other films in Kushen's career, it is increasingly felt that Kushen does not need to grow. This is a person who overlooks all living beings at the end from the beginning, and he is God himself.
The theme of the film-how to stop fear and fall in love with the nuclear bomb
First of all, start with the title. Although the title "Dr. Strangelove" is a supporting role who only appeared in the film for a few minutes, the role itself is the embodiment of the chain of command of the US military in the film. The biggest feature of Dr. Qi Ai is not that he is a Nazi, but that he can't control his right hand. The story of the film is exactly a farce caused by the loss of control of Arm (that is, the arm is also the armed force). The three story lines, the Pentagon War Room, the Air Force Base, the B-52 strategic bomber, and the troops on the offensive base correspond to Dr. Qi Ai’s brain, right arm, and left and right hands. After the President (brain) learned that Air Force Brigadier General Jack Ripper (right arm) exceeded his authority and ordered Major Kong’s aircraft (right fist) to throw nuclear weapons at the Soviet Union, he tried to regain control of Ripper on the one hand, and on the other hand ordered Colonel Guano (left hand, " "Bat" Guano means bat shit) knocking out the right hand, which perfectly corresponds to the problem of Dr. Qi Ai's "struggling with each other". At the end of the film, the nuclear bomb has been thrown out. At this time, the president and generals are listening to the "Human Essence Preservation Project" with great interest. Dr. Qi Ai got more and more excited as he talked about it, and finally stood up miraculously! The doctor's brain regained control of the body. This is the president's reconciliation with the military, and it is also a symbol of changing from fear of nuclear bombs to falling in love with nuclear bombs. Moreover, the two of them are played by the same actors, in a particularly neat confrontation.
So what does Strange love mean? The subtitle of the film gives the answer-How I learned stop worrying and love the Bomb. This Strange love refers to the love for nuclear weapons, and the whole film is about the process of how everyone changes from fear of nuclear war to love of nuclear war. If you understand the film from the mood rather than the plot, the end of the film is a happy ending rather than a tragedy. Lieutenant Colonel Kong was immersed in the excitement of riding a nuclear bomb to the ground; the president and generals were immersed in the vision of a better life after the nuclear war; and the only sensible person in the film, Captain Mandrake, was doing nothing, and he never had any opinion. It is important because he is a British officer who is outside the chain of command, but Qi Aibo, as a German, participated in the highest-level military conference and was accepted as his own. The ending of the atomic bombing clip with We will meet again, destruction has never been so elegant.
So why is there something wrong with the chain of command and cannot be restored? These are the two topics discussed in the film, the nature of power and the reliability of machinery.
The nature of power
In the first scene of the film, the Brigadier General Jack Ripper of the Air Force base in the air base orders the Lieutenant Captain Mandrake to execute the R order. The dialogue in this scene is like this:
[General Jack Ripper] Do you recognize my voice?
[Capt. Mandrake] I do, sir. Why do you ask?
[General Jack Ripper] Why do you think I ask?
[Capt. Mandrake] Well, I don't know, sir. We spoke just a few moments ago, didn't we?
[General Jack Ripper] You don't think I'd ask unless it was pretty damned important, do you?
[Capt. Mandrake] No, I don't, sir, no
This conversation was quite strange. The general asked the major whether he could hear his voice and emphasized that it is very important to recognize the voice. As for why it is so important, the two of them talked over and over again for a long time without explaining. Later, when the general issued an order to "annihilate all enemies" to the base defenders, he also emphasized that people are greater than ranks and uniforms:
I am going to give you three simple rules.
First: trust no one, whatever his uniformor rank, unless he is known to you personally.
The first rule of engagement between the generals and the base defenders is: no matter what military uniform or rank the attacking enemy wears, he must attack, unless you know the person. The most important role of the military uniform and rank is to distinguish the enemy from us and confirm the power, which is the so-called "Solute to the rank, not the person". General Ripper disrupted this basic principle of army organization at the beginning of the movie. He clearly believed that power comes from individuals, not ranks. All soldiers under his leadership are subject to his personal orders, not his status as base commanders.
Later Captain Kong mentioned that the execution of the R order was a retaliatory action that would be destroyed. The premise for the execution of this order is that Washington is gone. Therefore, when Captain Mandrake listened to the radio and found that everything was normal, if Washington was still there, then the R order was illegal and Ripper's ultra vires act, so he immediately went to Ripper to confront him. In the concept of a British officer, he obeyed the base commander, not Ripper personally, so he didn't understand why he heard Ripper's voice. The confrontation was very exciting. Ripper kept his back to the camera and couldn't see the expression. It became clear during the debate that the president did not order, but Jack Ripper had exceeded his authority, so Mandrake wanted to recall the fleet. Seeing that he couldn't convince Mandrake, Ripper removed the folder, revealing the pistol on the table, followed by a close-up shot from the back, and the long backlog of emotions exploded, and Mandrake's momentum suddenly weakened.
Ripper's power is not because of his military rank or because of him personally, but because he has a gun. This is also the basic principle of the Cold War. It is not whoever makes sense to listen to whoever, but whoever has the atomic bomb will have the final say.
The drama in the war room follows the same logic
General Turgidson took a call from the secretary between the president's questioning, and promised to go back early to spend the Spring Festival evening at a critical juncture in the world. Hehe, General Patton, who had big eyebrows and eyes, was also so wretched in private.
The President of the United States urgently called Kissoff, the chairman of the CPSU, after learning of the R order. It was 4 a.m. Washington time and 12 noon in Moscow time. The Soviet ambassador reminded Kissoff that he should not be in the office at this time and was already drunk. This is indeed the case. It seems that he often gets drunk at noon. The ambassador’s explanation is:
Our Premier is a man of the people, but heis also a man, if you follow.
On the phone, the president and the chairman spent more than half of their time greeting each other and emphasizing personal friendships. As the chairman of the CPSU at 12 noon, he should not have the right to be an individual, let alone get drunk. It seems that Kissoff also confuses personal power with state power.
The personal elements in the crew are the least, but there are still some elements that mean that the crew actually regards the aircraft as their own private space. For example, the captain reads the core journal "Playboy" during work hours, and his mouth is still full of chewing tobacco; the crew members are constantly eating, chocolate gum, etc.; the top-secret file safe has pictures of beautiful women in swimsuits, etc. Wait. But these do not affect the crew's performance of their duties. Their degree of unseriousness is inferior to that of General Turgidson. This guy not only has a leg with the sexy female secretary, but also makes private calls at the critical moment of the earth’s destruction, constantly in the Pentagon. After eating chewing gum, they took off their military uniforms, rolled up their sleeves and hooked up their shoulders with the president. The higher the level, the more uncontrolled the power and the greater the harm, and these people simply regard power as their own toy.
The struggle between people and tools
There was a conversation when General Jack Ripper and Captain Mandrake were arguing about the order:
Do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
He said war was too important to be left to the generals.
If the war cannot be handed over to the soldiers, who should be handed over? Remember how HAL defended himself in "2001: A Space Odyssey"?
Thismission is too important for meto allow you to jeopardize it.
Therefore, major events such as war should be handed over to the machine, which is the most reliable. The problem in the film is not the machine, it is Jack Ripper who suddenly became nervous. If the entire chain of command is executed by the machine, there will be no such mess. Both the Soviets and the Americans hope to automate the destruction of each other. People may not only go crazy, they may also be misled by the enemy's false orders, and they may also make rational judgments like Captain Mandrake that superior orders are illegal. , Only the machine can eliminate all interference with the will to execute power. Jack Ripper said "R for Robot" when he gave the R command, and Mandrake also repeated "R for Robot". Every officer wants his subordinates to execute orders like robots. No wonder General Turgidson said excitedly when he heard that the doomsday machines were real: "I wish we had one of their doomsday machines!" At the time of the order, he said "R for Romeo" instead of "R for Robot", which seemed humane and romantic. The clown in "Full Metal Shell" also said "Marine don't want Robot", which is obviously wishful thinking of the soldiers.
But power is relative, the soldier is the general's Robot, and the general is the president's Robot. The President does not need General Turgidson to make any judgments and decisions. He asks objective questions just like Captain Kong asks about the amount of fuel leaked from the aircraft.
General Turgidson, what's going on here?
How soon will planes penetrate Russianradar cover?
Are you in contact with Ripper?
Are there any Army units stationed nearBurpelson?
General Turgidson, is there really a chance for that plane to get through?
But this is not to say that people can achieve 100% control over the machine. All the president’s decisions are made based on General Turgidson’s answer. All the crew members’ efforts are to make the machine run normally. From this perspective, people are controlled by the machine. It's not impossible to manipulate it.
The most perfect, harmonious line without any fighting or thinking in "Doctor Strange Love" is the B-52 representing the machine. The crew members perform tasks as meticulously as Robots and follow the procedures. It is not so much that they are flying the plane, as it is that they are actually part of the plane. All crew members on the plane wear white flight helmets, professional and technological, and only those who are not on duty can take off their helmets. When receiving the R order, Captain Kong took out the cowboy hat from the safe and locked the helmet in the safe. Since then, he has always been a cowboy image, adding personal recognition to this action.
The language of the crew in the film is quite interesting. When the captain operated the dazzling pile of switches, Kushen used zoom in on the switches, which was a typical lens language for expressing emotions. It was especially obvious in the last bombing scene. At this time, the aircraft had been shot and the communication system was broken and it was unable to receive the command to terminate the mission. The background music is still the unchanging "Jonny comes marching home" variation. The reminder of constant oil leakage means that no matter whether the mission is successful or not, they will not be able to march home, and none of the crew members are timid, and no one is discussing whether they are still alive. , They operate as accurately as a machine, accurately reporting oil leakage, just like robots. When opening the bomb bay door, I used the front and back shots for several failures, as if a man-machine conversation is a human-machine contest. Humans were not afraid of this contest. The plane seemed very timid. The "Open" light in the magazine did not light up all the time, and the Close flashed and flickered, as if using words to refuse the bomber's command. Finally, Captain Kong chose the manual mode without fear, entered the magazine, rode on the nuclear bomb and started repairing the machine.
This section is really wonderful, a classic last-minute rescue. The navigator continuously reported the distance to the target position, 8 miles, 7 miles, 6 miles, 5 miles... audiovisual language guided the audience to sweat from the perspective of Captain Kong! Must succeed! But this is obviously not the last-minute rescue, but the last-minute destruction! The consequence of Captain Kong's success is the destruction of the world. At this moment, it is no longer known who the villain is, and everything is crazy.
Like "2001: A Space Odyssey", man finally defeated the machine, Captain Kong really succeeded, and then the earth was destroyed. The audience could no longer distinguish whether Captain Kong was too late or did not want to return to the cabin. Anyway, these were irrelevant details in the destruction of the world. Anyway, he rode a nuclear bomb and shot it to the ground with joyous cheers. This was the only one of the crew. Emotional expression. It was Jack Ripper who let them die, but we can see from Kong's actions that he actually agrees with Jack Ripper's philosophy.
Power and sex
The first shot of the film is a huge metal tube, which looks like an XX. The next is two planes refueling in the air, as if two big dragonflies are mating. It turns out that the metal tube is the fueling tube of the plane. The background music here is very soothing, Try A Little Tenderness, yes Kushen drove again, his old man drove very strangely. The first set of shots set the tone for the whole film. This is a film about power and sex. The names of all the characters in the film are also related to sex, but here, sex is more like a satire of power.
US President MerkinMuffley: To screw something up
Air Force Commander'Buck' Turgidson, the Bucks don't say anything, Turgid means swelling. Feng Tang's favorite words, you know
Base Commander Jack Ripper: This is Jack the Ripper. The case has not been solved so far, killing 5 prostitutes in a row.
Captain Mandrake: It means "plant of love" in Hebrew. To put it bluntly, it is an aphrodisiac.
Major Kong: King Kong! It's the orangutan flying in the Empire State Building. Is there any explanation?
Chairman of the CPSU: Kissoff means rejection, but there is a kiss in it, ambiguous
Ambassador of the Soviet Union: De Sadeskie, Marquis de Sade, "120 Days of Sodom", what about it?
What kind of wind did Jack Ripper draw to start a nuclear war? This is his answer:
Well, I first became aware of it during the physical act of love. Yes, aprofound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed.
Luckily, Iwas able to interpret these feelings correctly.
I can assureyou it has not recurred.
Women sensemy power and they seek the life essence. I do notavoid women. But I do deny them my essence.
It actually stems from the emptiness after a certain lingering, so it is strange but reasonable to destroy the world.
Metaphors about sex can be seen everywhere in the film. The life-saving bag of the B-52 unit contains "3 lipsticks, 3 pairs of nylon stockings, a box of condoms, and PEP Pills (AIDS blocking drugs). Captain Kong feels that this is enough for a man to pull S Vegas had a great weekend. Why do you bring these? Who knows, it might be a morale boost.
The relationship between General Turgidson and the secretary is quite interesting, and the secretary is also the only female character in the film. Their appearance was at 3 in the morning. The first discussion about the nuclear war was completed by Turgidson on the phone through the secretary. This guy was thinking about shirking responsibility, and promised "Your old Buck will" before going to the Pentagon. be back before you can say blastoff." This buddy seems to be driven only by sex. The room is not quite right. It seems that this kind of decoration with mirrors everywhere is more common in Dongguan, and it has gained a lot of strange knowledge.
On the eve of the destruction of the world, everyone was immersed in Dr. Qi Ai's vision of a better life in the future. The core of future life is reproduction. There is not much else to do. A man with 10 women is a necessary sacrifice for the future of our race.
OMG, who doesn't want this "sacrifice"! Even the Soviet ambassador praised "I must confess, you have an astonishingly goodidea, Doctor"
Oh, that's what these big people think in their minds.
Satire
In addition to sexual issues, there are many wonderful ironies in the film.
The argument in the war room is a farce. The Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadeskie and Turgidson fought, and the president stopped them: You can't fight here it's the war room. The big men never start a war. They hold a meeting and make a phone call and the world is destroyed.
The slogan of the Air Force Strategic Bomber 843 Wing is "Peace is our profession", which is very ironic and has appeared many times. Obviously "War is our profession". But everyone says so, and in reality they say the same, defending peace or something.
The book on the bunny girl's buttocks that Captain Kong read was the famous "Foreign Affairs" magazine of "Foreign Affairs". Affairs also means an affair. Diplomacy is just a fig leaf for war. The bunny girl Tracy Reed is also the actor of the general secretary. It’s great to be a general! I want to be a general!
The U.S. Air Force has infinite resources, but in the end it has to make a public phone call to the Pentagon and steal from the Coke machine without coins. Colonel Guano was shot in the face by Coke. Coca-Cola is the trademark of American Emperor!
Finally, Captain Mandrake guessed that the password should be a combination of P, O, and E. There are only two clues to him, Purity of Essence and Peace on Earth. The former is Jack Ripper’s fantasies, and the latter is the ideal of Captain Mandrake as a Spitfire pilot in World War II. Maybe both are wrong. Because the password is OPE, it may be Simple action, Operation.
As an American friend, Captain Mandrake, a British officer, looks like a stranger everywhere, and as a former Nazi Doctor Strange Love, he is very popular.
Maybe the world in God's eyes is so ridiculous.
View more about Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb reviews
