Daniel Cohen - Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

The thought of an old black and white movie discussing the consequences of nuclear war doesn’t exactly conjure images of an enjoyable night at the movies, much less a hilarious one. Yet Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) manages to do just that. In fact, Director, Writer and Producer Stanley Kubrick manages to create a film that is the greatest work of dark comedy ever made. Kubrick ingeniously intertwines terribly real plot elements with laugh-out-loud irony and thinly veiled satire, creating a film that is immensely enjoyable yet still teaches a moral. 

A dark comedy is generally distinguished from a regular comedy by its serious subject matter. A common solution to this apparent paradox is the use of irony. Good dark comedies make use of irony to inventively to push the plot along, while still creating a humorous effect. This is in contrast to less well thought out comedies like M*A*S*H.  M*A*S*H uses irony, but it is used in the same way as silent slapstick comedy. That is to be funny, but not to actually function as a plot element. In M*A*S*H the plot is only moved along by non-comedic elements. In Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick uses irony freely, and most of the plot points are in fact humorous.

The most notable example of this type of humor in Dr. Strangelove occurs about 20 minutes into the film. But the incident is more easily understandable if you have a vague idea of the plot: The film, which takes place during the peak of the Cold War, begins when a mentally unstable U.S. Air Force General orders his planes to drop nuclear bombs on Russia. The President and his advisors feverishly try to recall the planes, but are unable to find the code to do so. The Russian Ambassador comes to the War Room at the Pentagon to meet with the President, and gets in a scuffle with the Air Force Chief of Staff. The President, breaking up the fight, shouts “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!” While this is something that the character of the President could very well have said, it is deeply ironic and riotously funny. Like a good dark comedy, this statement pushes the plot along (by breaking up the fight) yet entertains the viewer with its irony.

Other dark comedies employ similar tactics, but what distinguishes Dr. Strangelove is its superb command of the medium. Unlike other dark comedies, almost every line in Dr. Strangelove meets these criteria. From the “Peace is Our Profession” signs behind a vigorous gunfight, to an army colonel’s refusal to shoot the lock off a Coca-Cola machine so one of the characters can call the President, saying “If you can’t get the President on the phone, you’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.” Dr. Strangelove distinguishes itself with its consistency. Other dark comedies have their humorous moments, but if you pay attention, almost every single scene has a seriously humorous image or line of dialogue.

There are many who would argue that Dr. Strangelove does not deserve a place above all other dark comedies (Although Dr. Strangelove holds a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes.com, a movie review aggregation site). One of the most interesting arguments was written days after the film’s release in 1964 (You can read it here). The author argues that although Dr. Strangelove is witty and clever, it displays “contempt for our whole defense establishment, up to and even including the hypothetical Commander in Chief.” This seems to be a bit off the mark. The film is obviously not supposed to be entirely serious, and one of the most important functions of comedy for a society is to point out its flaws. As such, I find the aforementioned review to be almost totally baseless. The film is trying to be comedic, not offensive, and I think the author of the review didn’t acknowledge that.

In light of this, I think that Dr. Strangelove is entitled to its place atop the pyramid of comedy. It sets itself apart from the rest of the pack through its consistent and clever use of irony. Although there are a few reviewers who disagree with me, the sheer number of overwhelmingly positive reviews shows that even the majority of the critics are on my side. So next time your eyebrows furrow with contempt at the though of a historical black and white movie, remember Dr. Strangelove. In fact, next time you’re browsing Movies on Demand, you might even want to watch it. And no, I’m not being ironic.

Works Cited

Crowther, Bosley. "'Dr. Strangelove': Kubrick Film Presents Sellers in 3 Roles." Rev. of Dr. Strangelove. The New York Times 30 Jan. 1964. NYTimes.com. The New York Times. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/013064kubrick-strange.html>.

Dr. Strangelove, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. By Terry Southern, Peter George, Gilbert Taylor, Anthony Harvey, and Laurie Johnson. Prod. Victor Lyndon and Ken Adam. Perf. Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and James Earl Jones. Columbia Pictures, 1963. DVD.