Strangelove
Act 3 Scene 1 - Strangelove
(The Smoker has just finished watching Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
TS: I wonder if Kubrick knew what kind of an impact Dr. Strangelove was going to have on our view of the Cold War.
C: Whaddya mean?
TS: Y'know, showing the absurdity of creating a Doomsday device. But especially the danger of giving so much power into the hands of an individual without the ability to check that power.
C: What? You think they did that then, but don't, now?
TS: Well, just judging based-off of the potential realism of the fundamental plotline of the movie when it was made, versus now. Now we would just laugh at the possibility of a similar series of events.
C: Like they didn't laugh then?
TS: Oh, no! I'm sure they laughed then, too. But at the same time, there was that underlying uneasiness felt by the audience. I mean, it was considered a dark comedy. If it was released now, I mean, with a similar but more current storyline, people would just think it was funny, because the ideas that caused fear then, don't even seem possible today.
C: So you mean people today don't walk away from the movie thinking there might actually be some nut-job out there who is able to destroy the world on a whim?
TS: Yeah, exactly. All comedy. No darkness.
C: What of it?
TS: I wonder how responsible the movie itself was for this shift in our view of controlling and safe-gaurding our nuclear arms.
C: Maybe our nukes were being safe-gaurded the whole time, but the public was kept ignorant of that fact, for the sake of making the Soviets think we were that crazy, and volatile.
TS: Hmm. That'd be possible, too. I guess.
C: ...
TS: But, still--
(The Smoker looks down to see that Cigarette has burnt itself into oblivion. He sighs, and tosses the filter into the ashtray)
(The Smoker has just finished watching Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
TS: I wonder if Kubrick knew what kind of an impact Dr. Strangelove was going to have on our view of the Cold War.
C: Whaddya mean?
TS: Y'know, showing the absurdity of creating a Doomsday device. But especially the danger of giving so much power into the hands of an individual without the ability to check that power.
C: What? You think they did that then, but don't, now?
TS: Well, just judging based-off of the potential realism of the fundamental plotline of the movie when it was made, versus now. Now we would just laugh at the possibility of a similar series of events.
C: Like they didn't laugh then?
TS: Oh, no! I'm sure they laughed then, too. But at the same time, there was that underlying uneasiness felt by the audience. I mean, it was considered a dark comedy. If it was released now, I mean, with a similar but more current storyline, people would just think it was funny, because the ideas that caused fear then, don't even seem possible today.
C: So you mean people today don't walk away from the movie thinking there might actually be some nut-job out there who is able to destroy the world on a whim?
TS: Yeah, exactly. All comedy. No darkness.
C: What of it?
TS: I wonder how responsible the movie itself was for this shift in our view of controlling and safe-gaurding our nuclear arms.
C: Maybe our nukes were being safe-gaurded the whole time, but the public was kept ignorant of that fact, for the sake of making the Soviets think we were that crazy, and volatile.
TS: Hmm. That'd be possible, too. I guess.
C: ...
TS: But, still--
(The Smoker looks down to see that Cigarette has burnt itself into oblivion. He sighs, and tosses the filter into the ashtray)
posted by The Smoker at 5:16 PM
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