By the time Churchill dropped the iron curtain across Europe, America was giving up on the idea of a cooperative relationship with the Soviet Union. Foreign policy was being dictated by such blatant anti-communist and anti-Russian works as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, as well as the founding of NATO. All of these were aimed at containing communism in its current spheres of influence as well as protecting any innocent neighbors of these evil little bubbles of Marxist descent.
[...] Ripper informing RAF captain Lionel Mandrake that all radios are to be confiscated due to the fact that Burpelson Air Force Base is now in “Condition Red.” To be in “Condition means that “Plan has been initiated which in turn means that the US is retaliating against a Soviet Union nuclear attack on American soil. “Plan includes a provision that allows a lesser military official to set the plan into motion it if the president becomes incapacitated in anyway. Ripper sets “Plan into motion through this loophole even though the president, while completely incompetent, is not incapacitated in accordance to how “Plan would define it. [...]
[...] Not a bad profit for a movie in1964, especially one with such a heavy underlying. However, Strangelove” and its often crude sense of comedy could please an audience who were not looking for a pacifistic message let alone one that was interested in putting up a middle finger to the Cold War administrations. An interesting side-note and perhaps proof of Kubrick's painful and arguably brilliant irony in regards to the notion of evil communists, is that actor Sterling Hayden, who played grain alcohol drinking, [...]
[...] His impotence in the War Room is made all the clearer by his name derived from slang terms for the female pubic area. The names as well as the lack of any important female in the film suggest a point trying to be got across by Kubrick as well as Turgidson's remark to his “secretary” to go ahead and start her countdown without him; he'll be back before she blasts off. There is a lot of build up happening during the Cold War between the USSR and the US to say the least and a release is inevitable. [...]
[...] The General is quickly rebuffed by President Muffley after proclaiming “Gentlemen, you cannot fight in the War Room.” However, Kubrick suggests that the Cold War is not one sided by having the Ambassador secretly photograph the Big Board with a pocket watch/camera combo even after is had become clear that the Doomsday Machine will be triggered by the renegade plane of Major Kong. Even as the world is ending, the politics and policies of the Cold War are still in effect. [...]
[...] She is also the pinup pictured in the copy of Playboy that one of the crew of The Leper Colony is enjoying in the beginning of the film. Whether this is to be noted by the audience is unsure but either way a message of Girls Allowed” is being sent unless there for sex. In addition to the lack of females, all of the main characters have suggestive names. The name Buck Turgidson broken down can be taken to mean a swollen male animal. [...]
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