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The
Brownstone Journal >>
Issues >> Vol.
X Spring 2001
Dr. Strangelove, Cat’s Cradle, and
the Threat of Nuclear Destruction: Satire and Dark Humor
Matthew Aumiller (CAS XX) is a junior
in the College of Arts and Sciences, double majoring in English
and classical civilization. He currently works as a bike messenger
and will be studying at Oxford this fall. This paper was presented
as a mid-term paper in Joseph Boskin's 'American Pop-Culture:
Film & Humor' class in the fall of '00. The author thanks
Greg in B-17 for ideas and suggestions.
Satires seek to diminish a subject or institution
by making it contemptible or laughable. Stanley Kubrick’s Dr.
Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb and Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle are satires which employ
dark comedy and thereby reflect the cultural fears of the early
1960s. Created within two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis
of 1962, both the novel and the film use satire and gallows
humor to undercut the anxieties and trepidations of the American
populace in the shadow of nuclear war. Similar in several aspects,
but composed independently of each other, Dr. Strangelove and
Cat’s Cradle were direct products of nuclear threat culminating
in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The works end in an apocalyptic
state caused by a certain vehicle of destruction: in Dr. Strangelove,
the Russians construct a “Doomsday Device” that leads to nuclear
warfare, whereas in Cat’s Cradle, a brilliant scientist formulates
“ice-nine,” a product that turns the entire planet into a barren
and frosty wasteland. The stereotypical ex-Nazi German appears
in both works further revealing American anxiety in a post-WWII,
Cold War period. Both works arise as satires undercutting the
fear, helplessness, and hopelessness of the American public
during the threat of nuclear destruction.
Satire grows out of skepticism, discontent, and fear, and its
roots go as far back as Horace and Juvenal (Abrams 1103). Interdependent
and intertwined with dark comedy, the satire operates in the
void of resolution to a problem–the satire prefers to end in
hopelessness:
A leading critic concurred: ‘Like Shakespeare’s dark comedy,
Black Humor condemns man to a dying word; it never envisions,
as do Shakespeare’s early and late comedies, the possibilities
of human escape from an aberrant environment into a forest milieu,
as a ritual of triumph of the green world over the wasteland.’
Boskins 87-88
Sometimes set in a relative dystopia, satires rely upon subtle
wit rather than outright slap-stick comedy. Satire is more common
in European comedy. Satire is more common in European cultures
than in America; American humor is fast-paced and filled with
visceral humor and often mimics the speed of urban environments.
It thrives on incongruity and irony rather than subtle satire,
often invoking an aggressive tendency (Boskin, class notes).
For example, early American comedic films were silent, relying
upon action and expression rather than words. The films of Charlie
Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or the Marx Brothers exploit aggressive
slapstick and physical humor much more than the cynical and
dry British Monty Python movies or the Canadian sketch comedy
Kids in the Hall. While the latter two examples are quite modern,
the American physical humor extends into contemporary culture
with the like of Jim Carrey or Tom Green.
Satires often reveal their identity to the reader or viewer
within the first few moments. Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle
both quickly exhibit critical elements. Kubrick’s film makes
its purpose clear through the second half of its lengthy and
often abbreviated title: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bomb. What is there to love about a bomb that destroys
civilization? The satire becomes clear through the interaction
between the words “Love the Bomb.” There is nothing to love
about nuclear destruction. Another example takes place in the
opening sentence of Cat’s Cradle when Vonnegut writes “Call
me Jonah” (11). This immediately resonates as a reference to
the first sentence of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. If any Americans
remember anything about Moby-Dick from their high school English
courses, they know that the first line of the novel is “Call
me Ishmael” (Melville 23). First, Vonnegut puns on calling himself
Jonah, the biblical figure who is swallowed by a whale. Moby-Dick
revolves around Captain Ahab chasing a great whale. However,
Vonnegut also satirizes the biblical story of Ishmael underlying
much of the plot of Cat’s Cradle. The footnote on “Call me Ishmael”
from editor Charles Feidelson Jr.’s 1964 edition of Moby-Dick
reads:
The biblical Ishmael, son of Abraham by the slave Hagar, was
sent forth into the wilderness with his mother because of the
jealousy of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, on behalf of her own son,
Isaac. In accordance with the prophecy of an angel, Ishmael
was ancestor of a vast nation, but he and his descendants were
visited by a fate that the angel had also prophesied: ‘And he
will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and
every man’s hand will be against him.’
Gen. 16:1 et.al. (23)
Cat’s Cradle follows Ishmael’s Biblical narrative. The protagonist
survives the planet’s destruction by taking refuge in a bomb
shelter with his attractive but dim-witted lover, Mona. Like
Ishmael cast into the wilderness with his mother, the protagonist
is cast into a frozen and desolate Earth where only he and his
lover survive, Vonnegut’s satire cuts through several layers
alluding to both Moby-Dick and the Bible with subtle wit and
intelligence. Kubrick and Vonnegut choose the satire genre to
portray the unease and discord in American society by examining
an un-American situation: identity loss. For example, Kubrick
films Dr. Strangelove in black-and-white as if to say nuclear
war is a black/white, cut-and-dry issue. But Kubrick’s choice
of black-and-white film means that most of Dr. Strangelove occurs
in a gray tonality: the gray quality of the film recalls the
phrase “gray-areas” and undercuts America’s indecision and lack
of answer to the nuclear threat.
Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle are similar in plot and characterization
because they both contain devices that eventually destroy the
world, and they both use the stock mad-scientist character.
Dr. Strangelove discusses a “Doomsday Device” that will trigger
nuclear war if Russia is fired upon. Cat’s Cradle describes
a piece of matter similar to dry ice, which, if it comes in
contact with moisture, will turn the planet into ice. This “ice-nine”
is similar to the idea of the “Midas Touch,” only whatever ice-nine
touches turns into ice instead of gold. And, inevitably, both
the Doomsday Device and ice-nine release their wrath upon a
world that seems to have reached Armageddon.
Likewise, both Kubrick’s film and Vonnegut’s novel rely upon
the archetypal mad-scientist character and the Nazi. Dr. Strangelove
is a wheelchair-bound, ex-Nazi, nuclear scientist who works
for the United States as a weapons strategist. Wearing dark
glasses and sporting a black glove on his right hand, in which
he holds a cigarette, Strangelove seems to possess a split personality.
Strangelove must restrain his gloved hand from giving the Nazi
salute. Importantly, the glove is placed on his right hand;
as the expression of the “right-hand-man” goes, the right hand
is traditionally dominating. The gloved right hand suggests
that Strangelove is indeed a Nazi. The presence of the Nazi
in the War Room in such an esteemed position plays a crucial
role in the satire of the film: Kubrick raises the level of
irony by placing an ex-enemy with Nazi affiliation in charge
of the United States’ weapons. His name is satirical in itself,
“Strangelove” is a fitting choice because in America’s mind,
an ex-Nazi is incapable of love; “strange” suggests the inappropriateness
of an ex-Nazi in the War Room with such great responsibility.
A similar character appears in Cat’s Cradle named Dr. Schlicter
von Koenisgswald. Koenigswald’s job requires him to take care
fo the ailing president of the remote island of San Lorenzo,
‘Papa’ Monzano. Vonnegut writes:
“If you aren’t ‘Papa’s doctor,” I said, “who is?”
“One of my staff, a Dr. Schlicter von Koenisgswald.”
“A German?”
“Vaguely. He was in the S.S. for fourteen years. He was a camp
physician at Auschwitz for six of those years.”
“Doing penance at the House of Hope and Mercy is he?”
“Yes,” said Castle, “and making great strides, too, saving
lives right and left.”
“Good for him.”
“Yes. If he keeps going at his present rate, working night
and day, the number of people he’s saved will equal the number
of people he let die–in the year 3010.”
Vonnegut 127
Koenisgswald possesses a vague past. Normally a physician is
a healer; however, Koenigswald was a physician who let many
Jews die in the Holocaust. At Auschwitz, the Jews had little
hope and the Nazis had little mercy, and Vonnegut employs satire
so that a former “death doctor” works at a hospital of “Hope
and Mercy” to aid patients.
Dr. Felix Hoenikker represents the mad-scientist archetype in
Cat’s Cradle, and his son writes the following about him:
Have you ever read the speech he [Dr. Hoenikker] made when
he accepted the Nobel Prize? This is the whole speech: ‘Ladies
and gentlemen, I stand before you now because I never stopped
dawdling like an eight-year-old on a spring morning on his way
to school. Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and
sometimes learn. I am a very happy man. Thank you.
Vonnegut 17
Dr. Hoenikker’s naiveté and advice to “never stop dawdling”
reveals his childishness. Vonnegut satire lies in the notion
of a man who acts like a child yet is capable of building a
device of mass destruction.
In Dr. Strangelove, both the President and General Buck Turgidson,
officials in the highest realm of the United States government,
act like children in the War Room. In the President’s phone
call to the Soviet Premier to discuss the nuclear war at hand,
the President put cordiality before the actual fact:
The President to the Soviet Premier: Well now, what happened
is...ah...one of our base commanders had a sort of ...well,
he went a little funny in the head...you know...just a little
funny. And, ah...he went and did a silly thing...Well, I’ll
tell you what he did. He ordered his planes...to attack your
country...ah...Well, let me finish, Dmitri...Let me finish,
Dmitri... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?...Can
you imagine how I feel about it, Dmitri?...Why do you think
I’m calling? Just to say hello?...Of course I like to speak
to you!...Of course I like to say hello!
Dr. Strangelove, Peter Sellers
The president sounds like a kid trying to explain to his mother
that he broke her favorite flower vase. During a time of nuclear
crisis, there is no time for the President to confirm with the
Soviet Premier, Dmitri, that he is well like or that the President
enjoys chatting with him. Also, the President sounds too conversational
for the situation by calling the Soviet Premier by simply his
first name. Would President Kennedy have referred to Khrushchev
as Nikita? At another point in the War Room, General “Buck”
Turgidson wrestles Kissoff to the ground and the President yells,
“You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” (Dr. Strangelove,
Peter Sellers). This single line embodies the satire: a War
Room by definition is a place where important United States
officials meet to plan large scale fights. The President’s command
is so highly insightful that it nearly turns the subtlety of
satire into bombastic stand-up comedy.
Other dialogue within the War Room represents gallows humor.
Functioning in an interdependent relationship with satire, gallows
humor, or dark humor as it is sometimes referred, undercuts
the enormity of a highly morbid situation:
Perched on the edge of personal destruction, gallows humor
confronts a seemingly hopeless situation. It is an unmistakable
index of group morale, and elan de resistance; its absence reveals
either resigned indifference or a breakdown of the will to resist.
Boskin 41
Kubrick uses General “Buck” Turgidson to speak two penetrating
lines that qualify as gallows humor:
Turgidson: I don’t think it’s quite fair to condemn the whole
program because of a single slip up.
Turgidson: I’m not saying we wouldn’t get out hair mussed.
But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops.
Uh, depending on the breaks.
Dr. Strangelove, George C. Scott
Turgidson does not see his dialogue as funny, but the audience
catches the gallows humor because the intent of the lines pokes
fun at the very un-funny possibility of nuclear war and mass
destruction.
Gallows humor and the appearance of Dr. Schlicter con Koenigswald
recall the tenuous struggle for survival during the Holocaust.
During the Holocaust, a time of mass genocide as serious and
un-funny as nuclear destruction, Jewish victims used humor as
a means to overcome. Without a collective humor–a means of escape–many
could not have carried on. The psychiatrist Victor E. Frankl,
a prison for three years at Auschwitz, remarked:
A stranger would be surprised to find art in the concentration
camp barracks and ‘even more astonished to hear that one could
find a sense of humor there as well–[if] only the faint trace
of one,’ and ‘then only for a few seconds or a few minutes.’
Gallows humor, in short, has its limitations. Nonetheless, Frankl
described humor as a ‘soul weapon’ in the struggle for self-preservation:
‘It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the
human makeup, can afford an aloofness and ability to rise above
any situation, even if only for a few seconds.’
Boskin 42
For Jewish prisoners, humor was a means of escape from a torturous
environment. Humor acts as a binding agent to bring man together
against all odds, and without the sense of community and brotherhood
brought by collective humor, survival through the Holocaust
would have been even more difficult.
Threats of world devastation and nuclear war prompted the creation
of both Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle. In the late 1950s
and early 1960s, an escalation in nuclear testing elicited a
great public fear of nuclear warfare, prompted by the WWII bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; in October of 1962, the Cuban Missile
Crisis occurred (Henriksen 197). During October of 1962 many
Americans feared for their lives. Adults constructed bomb shelters
while children practiced bomb drills instead of tornado drills.
The public took steps to prepare itself for nuclear war:
...Americans found themselves becoming accustomed to the rather
bizarre accoutrements of civil defense and thermonuclear warfare.
Popular periodicals and survival advertisements reported and
promoted the shelter craze, and through these mediums in the
culture revealed the growing domestication of shelters and a
variety of strange survival products and institutions. A Life
magazine cover of September 15, 1961, featured a man outfitted
in a ghostly-looking ‘civilian fallout suit’; the man has his
arm and hand raised above his head, as if to physically repel
the fallout, and the caption announced the magazine’s major
story: ‘How You Can SURVIVE FALLOUT.’
Henriksen 205-206
Americans lived with the day-to-day necessity of preparing
for the possibility of nuclear war culminating in October of
1962. Judging by the publication dates of both the film and
the novel, Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle seem to have been
released as satiric responses to contemporary American policy.
Cat’s Cradle was published in 1964, while Dr. Strangelove was
released in 1964. As a result, both works describe the shelters
from a destructive event. Near the end of the film, the President
and Dr. Strangelove discuss the solution of a large scale fallout
shelter. In Cat’s Cradle, the protagonist escapes with his companion.
Mona, to a fallout shelter designed by the former president
of San Lorenzo, ‘Papa’ Monzano:
And at the foot of the ladder we found a state secret. ‘Papa’
Monzano had caused a cozy bomb shelter to be constructed there.
It had a ventilation shaft, with a fan driven by a stationary
bicycle. A tank of water was recessed in one wall. The water
was sweet and wet, as yet untainted by ice-nine. And there was
a chemical toiled, and a short-wave radio, and a Sears &
Roebuck catalogue...
Vonnegut 175
Most insightful is the presence of the Sears & Roebuck
catalogue. The catalogue operates on two levels: first it serves
as dark comedy because if the world is destroyed, there will
be no company to fill any order places. But more importantly,
the catalogue serves as a real-life representation of major
magazines and companies advertising for fallout shelters and
survival equipment. Both works are satirical cultural products
of American fear and concern.
Both Dr. Strangelove and Cat’s Cradle uniquely satirize an America
filled with straightforward comedy. Even more unique is that
both works appeared in a void of patriotism. While the United
States banded together for WWII, Cold War skepticism and a lack
of identity serve as the cultural background for the two works.
Also, America was (and is) obsessed with improvement: building
bigger and better SUV’s and “supersizing” a McDonald’s combo
meal. Likewise, America improved their weapons of mass destruction
until a point where they could no longer improve on a nuclear
arsenal capable of destroying the entire world. The end result
of a large supply of nuclear arms is not a content resolution;
rather, with no more improvement necessary. America becomes
a land of fear and distress. Both the film and the novel rely
on gallows humor to find some kind of solution to a period of
anxiety and turbulence. Both Kubrick’s and Vonnegut’s works
are humanitarian cries for relief in a period of high stress
as well as an indication of identity for the American populace.
Life reflects art just as art reflects life, and both works
use satire and gallows humor to undercut the fearful American
perspective towards nuclear destruction in the late 1950s and
early 1960s. TBJ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M. H. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
6th ed. vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993.
Boskin, Joseph. Rebellious Laughter. Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press, 1997.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
the Bomb. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Sterling Hayden, George
C. Scott, and Peter Sellers. RCA Columbia, 1964.
Henriksen, Margot A. Dr. Strangelove’s America. Berkely: California
University Press, 1997.
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. Ed. Charles Feidelson Jr. New York:
Bobbs-Merril Company, 1964.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle. New York: Dell Publishing, 1963.
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