Scheduled Film for 11 December 2009

DR. STRANGELOVE
Assigned Film for 11 December 2009

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Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) was director Stanley Kubrick's first film after Lolita (1962). Peter Sellers was so popular in Lolita that the studio insisted he play several parts in the film, which he does, including the title character.
    The film belongs to the genre of "black comedy," that is, a comedy about a serious subject, in this case nuclear war. In terms of register or tone the film is a satire. The script mocks the cold military jargon used in discussing tens of millions of human casualties.
    In terms of subtext, as in the case of Lolita, the movie explores various displacements of sex, from the famous opening shot showing refueling planes as an act of copulation to the final orgasm in the form of nuclear mushroom clouds exploding.
    The film begins on a famous love ballad, "Try a Little Tenderness," lushly arranged, and concludes with the nostalgic World War II British hit, "We'll Meet Again," just at the moment when viewers know that no one will be alive to meet again, at least not in the near future.
    The script is full of sexual wordplay, including Jack D. Ripper (named after London's notorious sex killer, Jack the Ripper); Merkel Muffley (both names evoking words associated with female pubic hair); Buck Turgidson, whose name evokes penile tumescence ("turgid"); and the title character, among others. One military target, Laputa, is an apparent pun on "la puta," Spanish for "whore."
    For this is a film about strange love, or, rather, the displacement of normal love/libido, as in Lolita. As in Lolita, the film is full of scenes that show men without women with displaced pleasures, such as viewing the Playboy centerfold, puffing a giant cigar, as in the case of General Ripper; chewing gum, in the case of General Turgidson, etc.
    The only man-woman encounter in the film proves the point of sexual displacement. For General Turgidson and his mistress are in separate rooms as she lies alone on the bed, he in the bathroom, a typical place of solitary sex, as we saw in Lolita. 
    In an extraordinary moment, Turgidson crawls across his bed to his mistress to say goodbye, not once touching her! Similarly, General Jack D. Ripper, makes clear that, though he doesn't avoid women, he keeps his (seminal) fluids to himself.
    Even the final scene, when Dr. Strangelove imagines underground bunkers where there are ten women for every male displaces real sexual encounters with merely pubescent locker room talk.
    Thus sexual failure is seen as the basis of war, in this case, a nuclear holocaust. The inability to have a normal orgasm forces these military people to have a displaced orgasm (the nuclear mushroom explosions that end the film).
    Closure is achieved on the symbolic level, beginning with the simulated copulation of the refueling planes in the beginning of the movie, to the tune of "Try a Little Tenderness" and ending with a sexual climax in terms of nuclear explosions. The War Room members, previously seated, now stand erect, as does the presumably crippled Strangelove who exclaims, "I can walk!" The only potency these characters have is for war.
    The main song in the film is the Civil War song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," which is, of course, ironic, since no one comes marching home in a nuclear war, an irony repeated in the film's final song, "We'll Meet Again," when we know the earth will be radioactive for 93 years!
    The weakness of the film is its simplistic psychosexual analysis, as if violence could be that easily understood. This is drugstore Freud.
    Moreover, while seeming to criticize sexual displacement the film takes pleasure in the same sort of displacement in its images and subtext. Yet a movie showing money instead of sex as the root of all wars would have dulled viewers to tears.
    In terms of tone, the movie often comes closer to slapstick than true satire. In fact, Kubrick originally planned to end his film on a pie fight, typical of slapstick comedies in the silent era.
    Production design shows only isolated spaces inhabited only by men (apart from General Turgidson's mistress). Otherwise we see no ordinary citizens, only secluded military locations, such as a nuclear airplane, the War Room, and General Jack D. Ripper's office.
    The point is to make the real victims of nuclear war--the ordinary citizen--invisible, with no real control over their destiny; while those who plan the doom of these unseen citizens are hermetically sealed from the real world. This realizes General Ripper's dictum that war should be left to the generals, not the politicians.
    Apart from studying this movie from the point of view of chapter three, we can also address issues related to the "Auteur Theory," since last week's film, Lolita, was also directed by Kubrick. In fact only two years separate the two films. The student should study this film in relation to Lolita and try to detect a directorial signature in the two films. For the Auteur Theory argues that great directors will manifest a style (or signature) in the same way that a Van Gogh painting looks like a Van Gogh (similar brush strokes, compositional design, color schemes, etc.) or a Beethoven symphony "sounds like Beethoven."
    The complete movie is in 11 parts on youtube. Click below for the first part.

Try a Little Tenderness

TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS

Oh, she may be weary Young girls they do get weary Wearing that same old shabby dress But when she gets weary Try a little tenderness  You know she's waiting Just anticipating For things that she'll never, never, never, never possess But while she's there waiting, without them Try a little tenderness (that's all you gotta do, this is for you)  It's not just sentimental, no, no, no She has her grief and care But the soft words they are spoke so gentle It makes it easier, easier to bear  You won't regret it, no, no Young girls they never forget it Love is their only happiness But it's all so easy All you gotta do is try a little tenderness  Oh, she may be weary Young girls they do get weary Wearing that same old shabby dress, yeah yeah But when she gets weary Try a little tenderness, yeah yeah  You know she's waiting Just anticipating For things that she'll never, never, never, never possess, yeah But while she's there waiting, without them Try a little tenderness (that's all you gotta do)  It's not just sentimental, no, no, no She has her grief and care But the soft words they are spoke so gentle, yeah It makes it easier, easier to bear, yeah  You won't regret it, no, no Some girls they don't forget it Love is their only happiness, yeah But it's all so easy All you gotta do is try, try a little tenderness  Squeeze her, don't tease her, never leave her You've got, you've got, you've got   Just try a little tenderness, oh yeah yeah yeah

 
We'll Meet Again
we'll meet again, don't know where, dont know when.
but I know well meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through , just like you, always do,
till the blue skies drive the dark clouds, far away.
So will you please, say hello, to the folks that I know,
tell them I wont be long,
they'll be happy to know that as they saw me go I was singing this song .
We'll meet again, dont know where,dont know when,
but I know well meet again. some sunny day
(choir) we'll meet again, don't know where, dont know when. but I know well meet again, some sunny day. Keep smiling through, just like you, always do,
till the blue skies drive the dark clouds, far away.
So will you please, say hello, to the folks that I know, tell them I wont be long,
they'll be happy to kno that as they saw me go I was singing this song.
But i KNOW we'll we'll meet again, don't know where, dont know when.
but I know well meet again, some sunny day