Reflection of Dr. Strangelove. By Thanh Diep Truong
In my opinion, Dr. Strangelove did portray the military unfailrly. This was clearly seen the the scenes on the ariplane flying to Russia. One of the pilot was reading playboy while controling the plane, the other one was eating and drinking. Then they made it sound like the soldiers were usually "horsing" around on the air. The captain even wasn't wearing his uniform; he had on a cowboy hat instead of his captain hat. When the U.S. military being portrayed as too relaxing and lack of disciplines, I felt that was really unfair for the soldiers of the country. I think at any given times, the one out in the front lines should be respected and honored. When they were portrayed such as lackers and undisciplined group of people, their honored and pride were somehow taken away, more or less. I think Kubrick should had focus all the humor on the government instead, not the military men, making them look not so well trained in the public's eyes.
Except for those humors on the military, I think the humors from the scenes of the meeting room and the rest were good. I believe they did get the points across. Everyone should relax, don't worry too much about the nuclear war. Everything is ok, the bombs are not that big of a deal. One of the best piece in the movie when there was shooting at the office, and right at the scene where the shooting was happening, on the back ground was a giant sign "Peace is Our Profession". I found that funny and significiant. It was like a way of saying the government can do anything to bring peace to the country, they can shoot, fight, kill, or even use the nuclear bomb to keep the peace. I think the movie brought its message across clearly and loudly. Even when a nuclear bomb is dropped, everything would be fine like before. Recall the scene when the men on the plane received code for plan R, which is to attack Russia. They were getting ready to reach there target and drop the nuclear bomb, the captain and every men on board were so relaxed and the captain himself said something like "After this thing is over, you will get some kind of promotion". No one in the movie seemed to take it seriously. Right after the plane received the code for plan R, the captain called the general on land to comfirm, but he didn't bother to take the call and let his secretary lover answer it instead. When he was in the meeting with the president, his secretary even called and they talked informally like the meeting was going on. Moreover, one of the most important pieces in the film is the conversations between the President of the U.S. and the President of Russia. They were always chatting like old time buddies and they knew each other really well. They were portrayed as if they were just having a small little fight and it could be over tommorow. I thought those were halarious scenes, and the points were brought across pretty well.