"Dr. Strange Love" was filmed in 1964, at this time during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Under the background of the arms race, everything seemed calm, but the war was actually on the verge of breaking out. In the movie, Kubrick overturned this superficial calmness in reality. From the very beginning, he asked the commander of the US Strategic Air Force Base, General Jack Ripper, to order the hydrogen bomb attack codenamed R. The whole film only uses three closed scenes that cannot be communicated with each other to present the whole story of an absurd nuclear event to the audience. Just like Kubrick's other films, it is difficult for the audience to identify with the protagonist in the film. It is difficult for people to understand their extreme thinking and weird actions.
The film is composed of four key characters of the war frenzy, namely General Riper, commander of the base, General Teguidesan in the war room, Colonel Conger, the bomber commander, and Dr. Qi Ai. The outbreak of the nuclear war was caused by the ultra vires actions of General Riper, who was extremely anti-communist and preached the theory of "pure body fluids". His remarks were actually a condensate of the American arguments during the Cold War, but his arrogant thinking made him hide this. His collective view was transformed into actual actions against the direct Soviet Union. His theory of "pure body fluids" has surpassed the ideological category and has risen to the height of racial discrimination, which is consistent with the views of General Teguidsan that appeared subsequently. Even his suicide in the bathroom at the end was a manifestation of his extreme arrogance. He chose not to surrender to anyone, thinking that he had the most proud faith and the purest body fluids. When the adjutant Mandric asked him when he had such thoughts, he replied in a serious manner that he felt weak and empty after making love. This comical dialogue added a layer of absurdity and irony to the outbreak of nuclear war. The original arrogance theory is a feeling of emptiness that arises from the limits of human desire. It contains Kubrick's metaphor of arrogance in human nature and his meaningless satire of war.
It can be seen that General Teguidesan is another arrogant from the fact that he has been chewing gum during the meeting and made aggressive words and deeds when meeting the Soviet ambassador. In the dialogue with the president, he tried his best to persuade the president to agree to this devastating and adventurous war. In order to achieve a satirical effect, Kubrick specially set this character as a devout Christian. When he talked to his lover on the phone, he did not forget to remind her to pray, condemning the Soviet ambassador as a degenerate atheist, and leading everyone to thank God after learning that 30 planes were repatriated. Such a setting reflects Kubrick's irony of the immutable evil in human nature and his distrust of faith. In a country like the United States, which is predominantly Protestant, his rebellious setting is very risky. He does not shy away or even deliberately mocks. What is left is far from black humor, but serious thinking about the entire mankind. And warnings.
As the commander of the frontline battle, Colonel Conger, in addition to observing orders to take action, still did not forget or could not help making his heroic declaration. When he received the R plan to attack the Soviet Union, he was emotional, and said to his subordinate crew members impassionedly: "I think if you don’t have such strong personal feelings about fighting, you are simply not human...I dare you Said that as soon as this thing is over, you will be waiting in line to be promoted and rewarded, regardless of your race, color, or belief." In his first instinct of American arrogance, he believed that they would become nuclear warriors. winner. Little does it know that a nuclear war will only cause both losses and the destruction of mankind as a whole. Kubrick finally let the frontline war madman ride a nuclear warhead and detonate the doomsday device in an excited shout. This plot setting is undoubtedly a kind of comical "resistance art" of his, serious nuclear warfare with absurd scenes. Ridicule.
Although Dr. Qi Ai does not have many scenes, using his name as the title of the film shows that he is a core figure and plays a metaphorical role in highlighting the theme. Although he was in a wheelchair, even the President had to respect him for three points. He has strong verbal agitation, emotional excitement, overbearing and tough attitude, and his arms that always make Nazi postures involuntarily make it obvious that he is reminiscent of the Nazism that was hit hard after World War II but still remains. The film also ends with him stretching out a Nazi gesture and saying "My leader, I can go!". It can be said that the entire film, including the first three war madmen, contains this kind of Nazi satire deliberately arranged by Kubrick. The reason why he was named after Dr. Qi Ai is not because of this small and neurotic character, but because his thoughts symbolize the origin of the nuclear war and the cold war, that is, the hegemonism that promotes the theory of "ethnic excellence" and the worship of "leader". This is what Kubrick wants to be truly ironic in this film. The human arrogance behind this kind of war is the most terrifying.
View more about Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb reviews
