Dr. Strangelove

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

1964

Click on the image to see the original trailer for Dr. Strangelove

This space is set aside for a contextualizing narrative about the primary source. Please contact us if you’d like to submit an essay.

Add to the discussion

The initial conversation addresses some of the questions that are used to analyze a primary source, but not all. With your teacher’s guidance, please record your insights on the following, and submit them to the site for publication:

  • Given the circumstances during which this movie was made, could it have been presented as a drama and not a comedy?

  • What was Stanley Kubrick’s status in the film industry as of 1964? How does this film factor into his overall legacy?

  • What does the reception of this movie tell us about American audiences and society at large, and its attitudes about the Cold War as of 1964?

  • How was this movie received in different parts of the world?

Listen to the original conversation

Gallery

Submit pictures, video and audio of other media related to ideas about the Cold War in the early 1960s. Where does Dr. Strangelove fit in?