Dr. Strangelove

During a time of nuclear proliferation, proxy warfare, the Hays Code, and a constant paranoia that any day your life, country, and world could be over with the press of a few buttons, Stanley Kubrick made one of the first films to not only question American society and economic policies, but also a great satire and a joke of this nuclear scare. Sexual references, hilarious names for political and military officials, and making a joke of American society at this time really questioned the “American liberal consensus.” While most World War II movies depicted America as a country that is good against an evil and corrupt enemy, Kubrick makes a hilarious point that in nuclear war, heroism is non-existent or possibly very, very short lived. Kubrick also uses key terms such as a “doomsday device” and the president’s lack of knowledge about really anything to drive home government’s ignorance towards how bad this policy of nuclear proliferation really is.
During the time of Communism, both America and Hollywood were paranoid about a breach of Communism in society and the industry. The idea of water fluoridation and the contamination of our “precious bodily fluids” were hilarious but also was a real American concern at this time. I found this political cartoon that expressed the extent of this concern:



America’s answers to communism and evils of the world were Capitalism, Democracy, and technology. They would “keep us safe” during this time of tension. What America failed to recognize was its own problems such as civil rights, and the eventual problems spending money on nuclear weapons that would arise. America and its government really seemed to have its concerns and priorities very mixed up during this time.
I had a hard time thinking of a current satire of the “War on Terror” but as pointed out by a friend of mine and a further thought of it, Borat is kind of a satire not only of the Iraq war, but on the Middle East as a whole. It points out some opinions that some American people really do have against people of Middle-Eastern descent and very bad stereotypes this war has been given against Middle Easterners.