Stanley Kubrick's (Anti)War Odysseys | Fear and Desire | Paths of Glory | Dr. Strangelove | Full Metal Jacket #128

Queen is Dead - A Film, TV and Culture Podcast

Tis' Kubrick Month!

Dhruv, Amartya, and Hemant will spend the entirety of July revisiting and discussing 10 (of 13) Kubrick-directed films (the Horror and Noir films will be discussed in October and November, respectively!) plus 1 conceptualized and obsessed over by him but eventually directed by his dear friend, Steven Spielberg.

In Part 1 (of 4), we focus entirely on the one genre he repeatedly returned to throughout his career—the War Film.

This allows us to begin with "Fear and Desire" (1952), the feature-length debut that he outright disowns. Understandably, too -- because it only occasionally hints at his incredibly accomplished directorial (in particular, cinematographic) abilities.

Then, we move on to his three extremely accomplished films covering three different periods of war. The ray of humanity (and morality) in "Paths of Glory" (1957), set during WWI, is nowhere to be seen when we get to the absurdly crude (but horrifyingly prescient) comedy of the Cold War in "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and the even cruder cruelty of the Vietnam War in "Full Metal Jacket" (1987).

Is this shift towards irony, detachment, and amorality resulting from him increasingly becoming untethered to the studio system? Is it because the wars themselves encouraged its pawns and players to embody these attitudes?

Listen to the full episode to hear us ask and then try and answer these questions whilst also situating each of these films within the context of other war films around the same subject matter.

Or just listen to the full episode to discover how we connect Stanley Kubrick to Salman Khan!

TIME CODES

Stanley Kubrick - Early Influences, Lasting Legacy: [00:00 - 22:28]

The (Anti)War Films: [22:28 - 34:22]

"Fear and Desire" (1952): [34:22 - 50:36]

"Paths of Glory" (1957) : [50:36 - 01:08:42]

"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) : [01:08:42 - 01:47:11]

"Full Metal Jacket" (1987) : [01:47:11 - 02:27:22]

Closing Thoughts: [02:27:22 - 02:33:04]

Books & Reviews Referenced in this Episode -

1. "Kubrick: An Odyssey" (Nathan Abrams & Robert P. Kolker).

2. "Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb -- Stanley Kubrick" (Dhruv Goyal). https://inreviewonline.com/2024/02/01/dr-strangelove/

Audio Excerpts -

1. "Stanley Kubrick; A Life in the Pictures, Intro." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNuzGlLqxNU&t=75s&ab_channel=FilmMasterKubrick.

2. "Fear and Desire Trailer." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDy7E6pNBSc&ab_channel=KinoLorber.

3. "Paths of Glory Trailer." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmDA60X-f_A&t=109s&ab_channel=criterioncollection.

4. "Have to answer the Coca-Cola Company." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ9B7owHxMQ&ab_channel=UHFknob.

5. "Full Metal Jacket - Born to Kill/Peace Button." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMEViYvojtY&ab_channel=markbrady.

6. "Dr. Strangelove Ending." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4VlruVG81w&ab_channel=Laurenan69.

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