Dr. Strangelove/ Kyle Cross
The representation of technology in this film portrays a very negative impact of its role in society. I think Jason Burgess' reference to Col. Kong's B-52 bomber owning him says a lot about technology's power over us. In Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, it seemed that everything on that plane went wrong that could up until the very end, where Col. Kong had to manually override the H-bomb deployment with his own 2 hands because the automatic deployment failed. I think that scene symbolized something. Man created that H- Bomb, which I think represented the culmination of technological advances in the most grim way possible, something that can take thousands of lives or possibly destroy the human race. Not only was the plane vulnerable to technological failures, but also radio equipment, telephones with severed connections and a faulty coke machine. The role of technology in our society can't be denied and even though during the nuclear age most technological advances were for military purposes in order to take lives, many advances in technology have been created to save lives. A quote from Burgess' reading sums it up perfectly, "And it isn't that ordinary human virtues are inadequate to ordinary human vices, but rather that neither vices nor virtues, being human and passionate are much use in a world dominated by inhuman and passionless machines." I think the their were 2 major roles in the film, roles held by humans and by technology. Roles played by the actors were full of life, some cooperated together,some were insane, but nevertheless they were lovable and had character. These actors appeared to be at the mercy of technology and did their best to overcome the obstacles it imposed.