Dr. Strangelove Mikhail Karpich
According to Burgess’ review, General Kipper, Guano, and col. Kong are represented as lovable lunatics and not as incompetent or villains in the Dr. Strangelove satire film. I strongly agree with this assessment. During Kubrick’s preparation for filming Dr. Strangelove he came to this belief, “a psychotic general could engage in what Kahn termed ‘unauthorized behavior,’ and send bombers to Russia,� according to the article Dr. Strangelove (1964) Nightmare Comedy and the Ideology of Liberal Consensus by C. Maland. This is what the plot of the movie came to be. General Kipper, Guano, and Kong were definitely not incompetent they knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it. They were aware of the risks, consequences, and results of sending bombers to the Soviet Union. Of course they were making these decisions based on their own beliefs. Their motives, logic, rationale, and reasoning were skewed in what they wanted to accomplish. I believe that man’s striving is described well by J. Burgess in the “Anti-Militarism� of Stanley Kubrick reading for this week, “Its processes are governed by decisions of thought and feeling rather than by formulae of the counsels of caution.� These military leaders are not portrayed as villains either. They are doing what they think is best for there country. General Kipper, upon ordering the attack, stated that it was the military leaders that used to take action during war and not the politicians who knew nothing about war. General Kipper was just doing what he felt was the best course of action against the “Communists.� They are definitely lovable lunatics in that sense. They are serious and crazy in what they are doing but at the same time they are presented humorously.