This movie was a large joke. Not that the message it is sending is a joke but the entire movie made fun of the American's approach to nuclear war and how one person could blow the world into oblivion. As discussed in class and the meeting you see exactly how destructive one person who has the right amount of power and a trigger happy brain who is paranoid and crazy that could send this world into destruction. The film emphasises how we might not have the right people in power and they are either overly excited to go on a killing spree or like the president is shown that he doesnt have enough "balls" to make a decision. This is successfully depicted in the scene where the president is talking on the phone to the leader of Russia. They talked to each other like five year old's would. Like, "no your not as sorry as me", they make my stick is bigger then your stick arguments the whole time. Which brings me to my next point about the vulgar penis and genetalia references made throughout the entire film. The male superiority complex that send these men into their basic demise. The president himself has the name Merkin Muffley which is a reference back to female genitalia which signifies that he is like a female and completely insufficient and has no backbone or ability to stand up for himself throughout the entire film. Then you have Jack the Ripper who is responsible for all the D-day mess in the first place. This is ironically placed because Jack the Ripper is an infamous murderer of prostitutes back in the day and Mandrake is a sexual stimulant of aphrodesiac if you will. Referencing to another sexual connotation.
Yes, the film deals with the larger picture of the possibility of destruction and what could happen in a nuclear war and the wrong people in power. But the underlying messages are what show out over anything else.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Underlying messages are definitely the backbone of the film. Kubrick films typically are much more than just a movie. Every detail is accounted for, and usually has some meaning (ie, President Merkin Muffley, Mandrake, etc...as you said). I found it interesting that Kubrick had so many sexual references though, opposed to other references more applicable to the time period such as race and gender (although the implication that Merkin Muffley is feminine, and therefore lacking 'balls' is a pretty straight-forward gender reference).
ReplyDeleteYou have a very, very cool way of getting the point, and getting right to it in your writing about it. A bit more direct discussion of the reading would have been good--such as discussing why Kubrick chose to make his point through satire. But you definitely cover the basic themes in a nice, concise way.
ReplyDelete