To the Love of Nuclear Bombs [英文影評慎點哈哈]

The Cold War was a period after WWII, during which, the United States and Soviet Union developed great tension. The movie Dr. Strangelove depicts a story where General Ripper single-handedly decides to drop a nuclear bomb in Russia under his paranoia. This satirical movie successfully shows the unrealistic fear of communists. It also illustrate on the nuclear weapon issue.
General Ripper is paranoid over the Fluoridation of water, which he thinks is a scheme by the Communists to pollute Americans』 「Precious Bodily fluids」. He came up with this theory based on his sexual impotence, as well as the bias that all communists drink Vodka only. It is clear that Ripper’s worries are only the demons of his own mind. This reflects on the mindset of many politicians and civilians during the cold war, that they are worried about threats that they have created on their own. Further more, water is the source of all lives and it is in every aspect of human life. Using water pollution as Ripper’s concern, the director reflects how people worry about Communist infiltration in their lives. During the Cold War, many were haunted by the idea that political and military leaders, even their colleagues and neighbors may be communists. Also, just as humans are composed of water, people were terrified of Communist assimilation, that they would all become 「atheistic, immoral commies」.
With his unrealistic paranoia, General Ripper launched the plan R, a nuclear strike on Russia. The plan R was originally developed for retaliation, to make sure that The Soviet Union would be fearful to sneak attack. American planes are kept in two hour flying distance from designated bombing locations at all times. The point of this nuclear plan is to make sure that both countries would not dare to attack due to the catastrophically outcome of a possible nuclear attack. This threaten strategy has developed into a pointless competition of weapons. Each country is worried about a nuclear gap.
The movie mockingly put an end to both the threaten policy to keep peace, and the nuclear race. First, by launching the nuclear bomb, General Ripper goes against the point of the threaten policy. Ripper actually uses the weapon that was only supposed to exist as a threat to keep peace. The president, along with many politicians in the war room opposes to this decision, and certainly, Russia is not happy about being bombed. Knowing that both sides would not be happy if either country actually launches a nuclear attack, why does nuclear weapons exist in the first place? The director points out how ridiculous the existence of such a destructive weapon.
 Also, the director ridicules the fascination on 「gaps」, especially the nuclear gap. The United States competed with the Soviet Union in developing nuclear weapons. The point of this race was to see that which country could build the scarier weapon to scare the other country not to attack. As the weapons advance, they are going to be able to attack larger areas, and, if one side strikes, the other would retaliate. The director takes this concept to an extreme and planted the 「dooms day device」 in the movie, that if Russia is attacked, the entire human race would be wiped out. As Dr. Strangelove points out, that the essential point of having such a device is to make it turn on automatically when strikes occur and no human effort would be able to stop it. With this condition, this dooms day device is a time bomb that humans made for themselves. The director makes it clear that this race in weapon competition is pointless and would only lead to the destruction of the human race if anything happens.
The movie also touches on nuclear regulation policies. In reality, the launching authority of a nuclear weapon lies in the president, as well as a few commanders. In the movie, to make the problem stand out, the director gives General Ripper the power to launch the nuclear weapon, without any restrictions. As in the movie, it is not right to give one man the power to destroy the entire world. So as reality, making that number thirty or fifty would not make a difference. It is not right to give few people the power to decide the destiny of so many lives. Also, Ripper firing the nuclear bomb solely based on his ridiculous paranoia points out the flaw in having the launching power to a person instead of the congress. One crazy person could destroy the earth.
         The full title of the movie is 「Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb」 General Ripper thinks that he would be able to stop worrying by launching the bomb. He saw nuclear weapon as a solution. However, he ignored that the point of the nuclear race is that the other side would be able to retaliate. Nuclear bomb is not the solution to keeping peace, nor is the race in making them.
        The Cold War was based on many false beliefs and paranoia. The strategy of a weapon race to keep peace is ironic just by its name. This pointless competition would only lead to massive destruction that neither side would want. The Cold War was a war over nothing. It was more self-destructive than destructive to the enemy.