I actually wrote my second paper over this movie, so yay. I get to write about it even more. The main goal of this particular film was to essentially satirize every aspect of the Cold War. Every fear and conspiracy from nuclear war to fluoridation is discussed in varying length throughout the film.
General Buck Turgidson is actually a perfect embodiment of American sentiments towards any and all Russians during the span of the Cold War. In most every scene that includes the Russian ambassador, the exchange between Turgidson and himself often result in humorous arguments. People during the Cold War in America were just as quick to judge Russians as General Turgidson was, proving just how true-to-life his character is. General Jack Ripper's fear of fluoridation is also another technique to satirize the War. This is shown in the scene where he tells Group Leader Mandrake that he's convinced that fluoridation is a Communist plot because he isn't able to "give his essence" to women when making love.
This and many of the other ideas are excellent satirical points mainly because of their accuracy. They are so true to the feelings and thoughts among Americans during the time period that the people watching the movie can see just how ridiculous some of the things they believed in really were.
Though the movie is apocalyptic in nature, we're actually being told the story from before the events that ended the world transpire. This isn't an approach most apocalyptic works take, as most mention the events that created the world they take place in in passing, if at all. I think that, out of all the stories we've read so far, Stephen King's short story in Wastelands is the most similar to the film in form. Though the causes for the apocalypse were totally different, they both tell the story of how things happened instead of the world after.
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