Martine Schroeder, Dr. Strangelove
The film “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb� was a lot different than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting the film to be more old-school, slap-stick funny and very clean with little dirty humor. However, the film used dark, mocking, and sarcastic humor and it even made use of some sexual jokes and references. I do think that the seriousness of the subject of nuclear war was downplayed through the use of humor. The film did make light of the subject of nuclear war, but I think that this was a good way to handle this particular situation.
At this point in America’s history the whole country was terrified of nuclear war. Making the whole situation seem a bit less critical through comedy aided in easing peoples fears. If this film was a serious drama about nuclear war I think that it would have only added to the fright and tension that Americans had about a potential nuclear war.
When watching something more serious and realistic it is easy for a person to put themselves in that situation and get scared, and when something is being mocked and not taken seriously it is not as scary in peoples minds and lightens the situation. So by creating a film that was making light of such a serious subject helped people to not think so seriously and intensely about nuclear war.
Although this film was not one of my favorites to watch, I think it did a good job of making light of a very serious situation and potentially took away some of the tensions people were feeling.