Additionally, the film utilizes a large number of wide shots eliciting the idea that the characters are emotionally distant from reality and don't exactly understand what is going on regarding the war. Interestingly enough, the shots in the meeting room are very similar to the shots in the meeting room during another Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, another film that deals with the negative relationship with humans and technology.
In the article, there is a talk about how this film satirizes the liberal consensus that the American state of time is, for the most part, perfect. Throughout this film, you can feel this assumption that what these characters are going through is heroic in the same sense that World War II was: that they are passionately fighting for their country and the survival of democracy in itself. In reality, this is a foreign conflict that could potentially end in a global nuclear holocaust; almost like their fighting for who's going to end the world first.
The newsreel aspect is very interesting. Being black and white, it is much like watching a reel or newspaper from the 50's or 60's. It adds an element of realism to such a bizzarre film. While watching, you know it is fake, but the formal elements convince you that this could possibly happen.
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about the wide shot in the meeting room being tied to their emotional distance from what's really going on - yes. When I see that scene, I think of a bunch of figure heads. It conjures up for me members of the U.N. or E.U., sitting on what's best for they're country, never getting past their differences, and just not getting anything done. But the way it's shot in this film makes these leaders seem more distant than ever. Shouldn't they be huddled around something? Engaged in deep, serious conversation about how to save the world? Instead they're all basically clueless, each in their own special way.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that in this instance, the distance between them is technology. I mainly say this because it's what they're all having so much trouble grasping. How the bomb works. How to stop it. How to survive it.
I also like your description of how the wide shot helps tell the story, and of the emotional distance it creates (Kubrick's good at that). I wasn't sure what you meant about the color until you started talking about the black and white worldview, at which point it made very good sense.
ReplyDeleteSo why, in your view, was everybody in the movie quite so enthusiastic about the prospect of nuclear holocaust?