Watch “Duck and Cover,” a nine-minute Civil Defense film from the 1950s, embedded below. How would you compare its treatment of potential nuclear annihilation to the treatment in Strangelove?
6 thoughts on “Strangelove–Group 3”
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Watching Duck and Cover, it seems to me that the film is trying to address the fears of the Cold War era during the time, where the idea of “nuclear annihilation” was real and that nuclear bombs could have been dropped at any time in the US. I also thought it was interesting that the film had the addition of the “Turtle”
and the cartoons implemented into the filming of real kids going under tables, and informational ways to “duck and cover.” Furthermore, it seemed that with adding cartoons into the film, the producers were trying to address American people’s fear of a nuclear bomb actually dropping and try to stop any panic that was going on during the this time. In addition to this, everything within Duck and Cover would signify that the nuclear threats during the time were not serious and that everything was under control.
In contrary to Duck and Cover, in Dr. Strangelove, we see a more satirical filled, original, and expressive way of showing the same fears that Americans were facing during the time of the Cold War. Dr. Strangelove also has a clear plot, with the American general trying to execute a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Dr. Strangelove seems to try and express the fears of Americans with real-world scenarios and scenes of what could and would have happened if nuclear destruction did occur and the careless use of this destructive bomb that was created. We see this in the very last scene, when the Soviet Union annihilates a “doomsday device” and nuclear annihilation occurs in both the US and the Soviet Union.
“Duck and Cover” is a completely serious work produced to protect US citizens from a potential nuclear bombing. The work is incredibly serious, but so hilariously absurd because it does not know how hilarious it sounds. The idea that simply ducking and covering is enough to save you from the impact of a nuclear bomb is hilarious. Any physicist who worked in the Manhattan project or was aware of it would tell you how disastrous the bomb was. Kubrick’s film on the other hand is hilarious, but it does not see itself as a hilarious film, it tries to be serious about nuclear weapons. So when comparing the two, one work really takes itself seriously and is hilarious in its approach and on the other side we have a work that tries to be funny, but has serious messages. What is most saddening about comparing both these pieces is that not much has changed in the last 50+ years and nuclear annihilation has become worse.
https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
Both pieces try to get us to view the bomb threat as a serious matter. However, Kubrick’s film is much better at informing us about the bomb. The frames that expose us to the impact of the bomb is more than enough to warn us that this is a weapon that will wipe everything in a large radius. “Duck and Cover,” however trivializes the damage that the bomb will do and while it seriously tries to inform the public of what to do, it fails because it minimizes the threat of nuclear arms. This is in large part, I believe, why a large people in the US are not serious about nuclear arms when they should be. The US through propaganda and minimization of the nuclear arm threat have minimized the very real consequences of nuclear annihilation.
Aside from the obvious difference between the two films in the audience and in tone, I think that the main two differences I found intriguing were what the bomb means in each and the part of the explosion that was chosen to be included. In Strangelove, the bomb is the physical connection between the satirically fail-ridden governments of the U.S. and Russia and the actual doomsday that they can inflict. There’s this WWI-esque disconnection (haha also literal disconnection from the radio) between the individuals in the war room who are not down in the conflict and the men in the actual plane who are deep in it and prepared to drop the bomb. For the officers and ‘politicians’, the bomb represents fear. For the men in battle, the bomb represents power and a more intimate relationship with death. In the Duck and Cover movie, there’s an explicit introduction of both ideas. The presentation of various realistic scenarios (at the school, for example) brings an immediate reality to the fear of death that is separated from Strangelove through the satirical nature of the film. The other main difference to me was what part of dropping a bomb was included. In Duck and Cover, the explosion of the bomb and destruction of civilian surroundings is depicted through real visuals and cartoons. Here, it’s the fireball and the horrifying damage that matters, as this is used to teach kids to duck and cover. In Strangelove, the explosion is really the final destination, while the impending doom of a nuclear attack is the main focus. We only see explosion visuals at the end in a cathartic sequence, while the tension and fear in an impending attack are the main feelings that go along with nuclear war.
Outside of the diffrence of audience, Duck and Cover is meant for young children and Dr.Strangelove’s adult audience. I found the treatment of nuclear annihilation to beinteresting in both films. The Duck and Cover video reminded me of the earthquake safety training I experienced as a small child. Beyond the very action of duck and covering there is a strong emphasis on individual safety and trusting the leadership of adults, which is not present in Dr.Strangelove. I also thought it was interesting that the Duck and Cover video doesn’t seem to mention where the atomic bomb would be coming from or from who, which in my mind creates this association that this is similar to a natural disaster. It almost feels like the atomic bomb just exists as a presecense in society, making it a villain that can be overcome by the sheer willpower of the viewer. Whereas in Dr.Strangelove there is no escape inhalation,since all of their attempts to stop the attack on Russia fail. The whole situation comes about due to human error and the lack of communication. As the movie points out that adults and by extension the government are not in control of what is happening nor are they actually protecting us from nuclear annihilation. Rather it just seems to be a contest of who has the most and the biggest. Instead of alllivatign fears through normalizing a possible atomic attack, the movie pokes fun at the whole situation and kind of implies that survival is impossible for normal people.
I was struck at the omnipresent threat of nuclear annihilation in Duck and Cover compared to Dr. Strangelove. The video goes through scenario over scenario about which is the best way to duck and cover, bringing this threat to every aspect of domestic life. If I watched that video as a kid, I would probably be stressed out about a nuclear attack constantly.
In Dr Strangelove, the parodic nature of the film hides the threat almost since every character is as ridiculous as the plot. With the film being released soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the nuclear threat that so many have just personally experienced is reduced to a manageable size and by laughing along with the jokes about the whole chain force command, the audience regains their own dominance/power over nuclear bombs that used to loom over them. The “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” aspect of the title shows the film is about restoring American psyche on the surface level at least (we can hopefully go over if that is sincere or not on Friday).
To begin, the main difference to me between the films is that Dr. Strangelove is meant as a satire to the Cold War and Duck and Cover is meant to be real and informational. Dr. Strangelove is a fictional story with amusing character names and a storyline that is comical. It is also filled with many sexual jokes and references, and it has many unrealistic elements such as the USSR having a doomsday device that destroys the entire planet. The film focuses on the idea of the opposing countries having a backup plan in case a nuclear bomb is set off. On the other hand, Duck and Cover wants to educate people in the U.S in the case of a nuclear explosion. They want children to especially remember what to do as evidenced by the protagonist being a cartoon turtle. The viewers are supposed to believe that they can survive a nuclear explosion by ducking for cover as the song suggests. The government feels like they have control and power and can help civilians survive by promoting this video. With Dr. Strangelove, the government is in shambles and there is chaos throughout the movie with Commander Ripper believing in a Russian conspiracy and launching an attack. Therefore, Dr. Strangelove treats nuclear annihilation as a joke and I think the director does not really believe the world will see nuclear warfare and the end of the world as we know it. In Duck and Cover, the government believes in the threat of nuclear warfare and takes it very seriously. However, I do not know if people watching this video actually believe that ducking and covering is enough to survive. As a viewer, I would be very skeptical. Schoolchildren most likely believed it since they were probably very young and not aware of the world when watching it.