Daniel R. White’s Nietzsche at The Altar: Situating Devotee explains that when we are able laugh at something, then we become able to disarm it and question its authority. White is referring to the effect that laughter has on Joseph Heller’s and Stanley Kubrick’s respective satires Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove. Many have accused these works of being classified as war fiction due to the fact that they are set in wartime settings. But this classification is wrong because Heller’s and Kubricks depictions of horror are not due to war. They are depicted as a result of individuals being subject to the arbitrary control of an impersonal bureaucracy that does not understand nor care about them. Catch-22 depicts Heller’s bureaucracy in the eyes of Yossarian who sees it through the eyes his protagonist. His impersonal, ambitious and uncaring superiors have a monopoly on his life. General Ripper orders a huge nuclear strike which, if successful will cause the Soviet Doomsday Device to explode and trigger a nuclear catastrophe. General Turgidson urges President Muffley not to go to war. Mandrake is the one who fights against the bureaucracy and works to prevent the impending nuclear catastrophe. A review of the satirical methods used further demonstrates that bureaucracy is under scrutiny and critique in every novel. Kubrick, Heller, by presenting a bureaucratic society in which people are subject to the arbitrary authorities of their detached superiors, and using satirical tactics, induce people to laugh at absurdities and recognize horror, not just of war.
Catch-22, Dr. Strangelove have been categorized as war-genre works by many critics. However, this classification is flawed in that neither work has the important attributes of other works. Peter G. Jones writes in War and the Novelist. He says that the “war genre” books are meant to encourage individual reconciliation with the trauma of combat and adjust to the general forces of war. Jones also notes that the books record quick responses and options for accommodation. This definition is based on an analysis of the most well-known war genre works. It focuses on the psychological effects combat has on individuals and how they cope with it. It’s clear that neither Catch-22 nor Doctor Strangelove are about “individual reconciliation to combat.” Both Heller, Kubrick and others focus on the characters in the bureaucracy. Heller admitted that he was not interested in Catch-22. Merill 16 says that I was more interested in the bureaucratic relationships than in my personal life. Kubrick, Heller, and others show that the horrors of Heller’s worlds is not caused by war. It is because people are subjected to the arbitrary, impersonal, omnipotent, unaccessible bureaucracy. Individuals are subjected in Dr. Strangelove to the authority arbitrary and impersonal bureaucrats. Their isolation from war renders them unable comprehend the implications of their actions. General Ripper is able to endorse nuclear war thanks to his detachment from the conflict. General Turgidson’s use of the Big Board as a means to track progress in war emphasizes his isolation form the emotional realities. Randy Rasmussen noted that the beloved Big Board of General Turgidson is a glorified moviescreen, giving him an abstract, simplified, and manageable image of nuclear war which is very different from what we experience outside its borders. Turgidson considers war a mere game. Soldiers, for him, are numbers and not human lives. Turgidson fails to understand the reality of war as he and other advisers celebrate the Big Board’s display of the bombers responding. The Big Board is not accurate and does not accurately reflect the reality Major Kong, his crew, and the B-52 Bomber B-52 that was not recalled code. Turgidson is able to maintain a detached attitude from the realities and war, which allows him advocate total commitment. Maland 708: I don’t think there will be more than ten-to twenty million deaths – depending on what breaks. Turgidson is willing and able to sacrifice millions of people as he doesn’t have a personal connection with them. Kubrick uses this incident to show how bureaucracy is flawed. Its members are disconnected and have no personal connection to those whose lives they touch. They cannot see the consequences of their actions.
General Ripper supports nuclear war, just like Turgidson. He is not subject to the reality of war. Kubrick uses several camera techniques throughout Dr. Strangelove in order to emphasize General Ripper’s role as a bureaucrat that controls people and affairs from a distance. Kubrick first films Captain Mandrake in action in a busy room, before introducing Ripper. Kubrick then cuts to Ripper sitting behind a computer. Mandrake and Ripper then cut to Mandrake. Mandrake experiences war more directly than Ripper, while Ripper is more distant and insulated. Ripper shutting down his office window’s blinds symbolically cuts off all contact with the outside world. Rasmussen states that Ripper is able “to sustain his illusions regarding a justified nuke war by being shielded from…the ordeals of the troops” (Rasmussen 25, 26). Ripper, on the other hand, experiences war at a personal level. Ripper doesn’t feel the war personally and can therefore not understand the “ordeal that his troops are going through.” This is why he is able to support, order, and justify the use of nuclear weapons.
Dr. Strangelove is not in a war but rather a bureaucratic system which allows distant, impersonal individuals absolute authority over subordinates with whom they do not have a relationship. Ripper takes control of all radios owned privately by Burpleson Airforce station personnel to demonstrate the extent his authority. Ripper severs the connection between Burpleson Airforce base personnel and the outside world by confiscating all radios. Kubrick then creates a microcosm in bureaucratic society. All employees report to their direct superiors only and are denied access above them to the chain. Ripper has the power to shape and control perceptions of his subordinates because it is unchecked. Rasmussen notes that “General Ripper imitates the outside world through his ivory tower.” His voice rings in Burpleson as his commands are carried out by his subordinates” (Rasmussen 15). Ripper declares that the Soviets have launched an attack on Washington. He orders Burpleson security personnel to secure the base. Ripper has such complete control that even though troops see the approaching army wearing American uniforms that they believe Ripper is telling the truth, the security forces accept Ripper’s words as fact and decide to steal the uniforms. Burpleson security troop members are forced into submission to the orders of their superior officers, demonstrating the harm bureaucracy can do to their mental health. Kubrick demonstrates how bureaucracy causes people to lose control and fall prey to the wills of their distant superiors.
Mandrake’s personal experiences demonstrate how the bureaucratic hierarchy can have devastating effects on individuals. Mandrake learns that Ripper is exceeding his authority. However, he is unable to do anything since it is against the rules for subordinates to challenge their superiors. Mandrake must, even though Ripper acknowledges to Mandrake’s belief that the Soviets are not attacking, “maintain formal respect for the General”(Rasmussen 16). Kubrick captures Ripper in a very low angle close-up, which makes him appear more powerful and larger than he really is. Mandrake is rendered powerless when Ripper exposes his pistol. He asserts his authority and power to restore order hierarchically. Mandrake knows Ripper has committed suicide but cannot stop the disaster. He meets Colonel Bat Guano (U.S. Army). Guano is shocked that a man of such low rank can have business talking to the highest government officials after Mandrake explains the situation (39). Guano, a bureaucratic subordinate, cannot have access the president. Mandrake finally contacts the president. His trials however, emphasize the futility, inaccessibility, and futility, of protesting in the bureaucratic structures. Mandrake’s disillusionment is made worse by the expectation that he will obey. Kubrick’s world is not about the war, but how bureaucratic systems render individuals powerless to make changes or control their own lives.
Similar to Mandrake the predicament of Yossarian in Catch-22 results from the impersonality and distance of the bureaucracy waging war. Catch-22 is a war in which bureaucrats experience the war via aerial photos, an impersonal medium. Colonel Korn explained that the roadblock was not important to him. Colonel Cathcart wanted to finish the mission with a good, clean aerial photo that he wouldn’t mind sending through the channels. (Heller 338) Korn’s comments emphasize the disconnection between reality and what soldiers experience. The officers, unlike soldiers who feel the horrors on an emotional and physical level, experience war on an impersonal and aesthetic level through aerial photos and forms. This is in contrast to soldiers, who are able to experience them on a more tangible level. Doc Daneeka’s name is listed on the flight log for a crashed plane. This makes it clear that Doc Daneeka has been declared dead. Doc Daneeka, even though he wasn’t on the plane, was still alive. He “realize[s] that he really [is] actually dead” (Heller 355). The forms declare he’s dead and shape reality. Heller states that Doc Daneeka is biologically alive even though paperwork and forms determine their existence. Heller said that one dying boy is equally good. The soldiers are not considered individuals by the officers. Colonel Cathcart, who sees twelve soldiers’ deaths as an opportunity for him to send out twelve letters more and make his name known in Saturday Evening Post (Heller292), is guilty of this indifference. Problem with bureaucracy? It is made up of too many people who are too distant and unpersonal to comprehend the impact of their actions upon the individuals they control.
Like Dr. Strangelove’s detachment from the bureaucracy, Catch-22 is problematic due to the extent to whom individuals in bureaucratic societies must surrender to the omnipotent bureaucrats. Jones points out that “in bureaucratic societies…people are trained not to submit to the processes and circumstances they find themselves in” (Jones 51). Catch-22 is a bureaucratic attempt to control individuals’ lives by stifling individual thought. Group Headquarters creates rules to prevent soldiers from questioning the government’s policies (Heller 44). Group Headquarters has the power to forbid young men from questioning official policy (Heller 44). To ensure its authority is not challenged, the bureaucracy must suppress individual thought and incite mass conformity. Dobbs, who is seeking Yossarian’s permission for his plan of killing Colonel Cathcart says that Yossarian has succeeded in quelling individual thought. Tell me that it is a good idea. Okay? It’s a good idea? (Heller 237) Dobbs has been made docile by the bureaucracy, which has taken away his ability to think independently and removed him from any autonomy. The bureaucratic society does more than control its constituents’ thoughts. It also controls their physical beings. Captain Black arrests Chaplain Tappman and takes him to Group Headquarters. He falsely accuses him of subordination. Chaplain tappman begins to realize the power of bureaucracy. They could do anything they pleased to him. These men might beat him up right there in the basement without anyone intervening to save him. Tappman’s realization of the power of bureaucrats to “intervene to rescue him” is a recognition of the horrors that unchecked societies can do to individuals and subject them to the control of detachable superiors who show little concern for the welfare of their health.
Yossarian’s personal experiences show how bureaucratic authority can be arbitrarily imposed on individuals. Yossarian realizes, after Snowden’s suicide, that “strangers he does not know [shoot] against him with cannons ever time he [flies] high in the air [to drop bombs upon them]” (Heller26). Yossarian is forced to look at his situation. Yossarian does not want to risk the life of his family, so he resists any orders. Although he wants the bureaucracy’s apparent arbitrary demands to be justified, he is disallowed from attending the information sessions and starts asking questions (Heller 44). Yossarian grows frustrated with Colonel Cathcart’s decision to increase the number missions arbitrarily. Major Major attempts to speak to Yossarian directly but Major Major sneaks out of his window to avoid Yossarian (Heller 112). This scene (Heller 112) and Major Major’s subsequent decision to not allow anyone into his office (Heller117) illustrates the inaccessibility of bureaucracy.
Although the bureaucratic system has a disproportionate amount of authority over individuals’ lives, the harms it causes are obvious. However, it is not accessible to them and therefore inaccessible. Yossarian no longer wants to bow to the omnipotent bureaucracy. He refuses not to wear his uniform and drops bombs in random places. Finally, he runs away. Major Danby attempts force Yossarian back to the system. Yossarian patiently explains this to Major Danby: “The escapists and the true escapers are those that allow the malign bureaucracy control their lives. A strong man chooses not to live according to his own terms.” (Jones 47). Yossarian’s dilemma and Heller’s Catch-22 problem is not war. It is the impersonal, inaccessible bureaucracy’s control over people’s lives that robs them of their freedom and denies them any justification for its apparent arbitrary authority. Yossarian can escape the bureaucratic tyranny and regain control over his life by running away.
An analysis of each novel’s structure and stylistic techniques supports the view that Dr. Strangelove and Heller are about individuals’ helplessness, subservience, and dependence in an arbitrary, detached, and omnipotent bureaucracy. Joseph J. Waldmeir says of Catch-22’s structure that “Plotless really”…Faced a chaotic structure and endless repetitions which can be quite funny, one begins to feel that [the novel] would be better if it was better made” (Waldmeir 163). The structure of Catch-22 is disjointed is not accidental. Heller directs reader’s attention to its satirical component, which is just as important as its plot, by obscuring it. Both Dr. Strangelove (Catch-22) and Catch-22 portray bureaucratic societies. The satire serves to critique and deconstruct them. Leo Braudy explained that satire asks viewers to “compare what’s happening with a recognizable truth” (Braudy, 59). Although satire can be characterized by exaggeration, it is still based on a plot. The analyst can then refer to a recognizable reality that is consistent with the plot. Heller, Kubrick and others deconstruct bureaucratic society with satire.
Kubrick employs many techniques in Dr. Strangelove. These include making the viewer laugh and rejecting bureaucracy. Dr. Strangelove was initially intended to be a movie about Red Alert. However, Kubrick realized that he needed to remove things “which were either absurdly or paradoxical in order for it to be funny” (Philips89). So he wrote “an absurd black comedy, allegorical humor, populated more with caricatures than fully-developed characters” (Philips 15,). Kubrick’s conscious decision to make the film satirical was important as it shows that the humor conveys meanings which are essential for understanding the film’s message. The film’s humor can be seen right away. The opening scene depicts a sexual act. In this scene, the refueling process of a Bomber becomes a symbol for phallic symbols as the camera pans. Kubrick also names General Jack D. Ripper, General ‘Buck ‘Turgidson, and Burpleson Airforce base. Humor is another way to express humor. Kubrick’s satire is humorous because it reveals the absurdities and symbols of bureaucratic society. Bakhtin explains that laughter is a sign of rejection. “Laughter demolishes fear and piety in front of an object, or before a world, making it familiar and easy to investigate. So, Kubrick’s critique of bureaucratic society is augmented by satire.
Kubrick uses humor in Dr. Strangelove to not only make fun of the world but also use humor when portraying Ripper, Turgidson and other characters. Kubrick wants his readers to be able to enjoy the absurdity of these characters. Kubrick shows Mandrake the Plan R story by using a very low angle close up (Falsetto 29). The viewer can’t help but laugh when Ripper talks with the phallic cigar sticking out of his mouth.
Kubrick’s comedy portraying Ripper is not serious. This phallic photo is not random because it refers to Ripper’s justification of ordering execution Plan R. (Philips, xix). Ripper’s justification for war is questioned and his character is questioned. His theory, which is laughable and palpable, emphasizes his insaneness. Ripper creates a phallic gun from a golfbag to protect himself against troops. The gun’s phallic appearance reminds viewers of Ripper’s absurd theory, while the bag in which it is stored reminds them of Ripper’s relationship to bureaucracy. Kubrick is mocking that, for bureaucrats such as Ripper, war is just a game. Turgidson is a symbol of the bureaucratic system, just like Ripper. He is also a subject for satire.
Turgidson is no longer able to speak because of his prominently photographed phallic cigar. Kubrick emphasizes this with close camera shots. Turgidson’s behavior is so bizarre that even though he isn’t speaking, it can be difficult to take him seriously. He chews his gum obsessively, pouts when President Muffley refuses his plan, and then he instigates a wrestling match against the Russian ambassador. Kubrick makes Ripper and Turgidson laughable by making the reader laugh. Kubrick’s satirization of Ripper/Turgidson undermines their authority as well as the authority of bureaucratic systems they represent. Kubrick’s comedy induces laughter which signifies acceptance of the absurdities of bureaucratic systems.
Heller’s Catch-22 critique of bureaucratic society is reflected in his narrative methods. Catch-22’s chaotic structure does not happen by accident. It is an intentional tool to get the reader to consider more than the plot. Heller does more than want to tell the story. He wants the reader analyze the humor and uniqueness of the book. Heller’s humor focuses on the descriptions of those who make up the bureaucracy’s upper echelons or their policies. Heller’s satiric portrayal of the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade by Captain Black, which was a campaign launched by Major Major to retaliate for his promotion, mocks bureaucratic society. Heller writes that “The Glorious Lovealty Oath crusade was terrible for the ass” because it made it more difficult to organize combat crews. The squadron was crammed with men, who were singing, signing and pledged their loyalty, which made it impossible for them to move forward with the mission. But…Captain Black…strictly enforced the doctrine ‘ContinualReaffirmation ‘…, which was designed to trap any men who had fallen out of favor since they signed a loyalty agreement the day before. Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade & Continual Reaffirmation were created to showcase the inefficient bureaucratic policies. Black is trying make Major Major look disloyal by not allowing Major Major to sign a loyal oath. Ironically, Black allows his petty quarrels and impedes the war effort.
The irony is that these policies, while intended to support the war effort by ensuring loyalty and help it organize crews, actually make the joke. The Continual Recognition is a hilarious example of absurdity. It seems that it can actually be used to eliminate disloyal soldier and make them disloyal. Although the situation is absurd and extreme, Heller’s humor is funny because it shows the reader the true nature of bureaucratic inefficiency. Heller’s humor makes it easy for the reader not to laugh at the flaws of bureaucratic systems.
Heller uses humor in Catch-22 to ridicule bureaucratic officials who hold the same values as Heller. Craig points out that the satirists are shown as fools or knaves by their subjects (Craig 27). Heller creates the illusion that officers are fools by making them say things they don’t understand. Colonel Cargill addresses the men with an inspiring speech. He says, “You’re American Officers.” That statement can only be made by officers from the United States Army. It’s funny because Cargill asks men to think about the statement. But, when one takes a closer look at the statement, it becomes obvious that it is absurd. It’s merely a statement about fact and not an assessment of men’s capabilities. Cargill’s inspiring speech is therefore not very inspirational. Heller’s satire is often self-deprecating and “statements that denigrate the meaning they just advanced” (Craig 26,). Heller 64 describes Colonel Cathcart by writing, “Colonel Cathcart was courageous and never hesitated in volunteering his men for any target” (Craig 26). Cathcart is brave enough to offer his services to any target he sees fit, but he doesn’t have to be brave to do so. Heller doesn’t directly state that Cathcart was a coward. But the insinuation of Heller is clear. Heller uses the self-negating phrase to make absurd, but seemingly valid, arguments. Major Sanderson then rebukes Yossarian, saying that he doesn’t respect obsolete traditions or excessive authority. You are dangerously and depraved.
Sanderson’s argument about wartime sacrifices and individuals having to give up some rights is valid, but Sanderson’s argument is undermined by Yossarian challenging “excessive power and outdated traditions”. Heller therefore uses the self-deprecating sentence as a control over how arguments are presented. This forces the reader to see their absurdity and then reject them. As Craig notes, “‘a sympathetic reader, laughing at its satirized subjects, feels himself to be a member of a select aristocracy based on virtue and intelligence….Catch-22 allows its readers to celebrate their ethical superiority over, and distance from, the military machine and bureaucratic machine, which are made to look ridiculous and insane in the novel'” (Craig 27). Kubrick’s satire makes it easy for the reader to see and laugh at the absurdities and manifestations in the bureaucratic process and to distance from them.
Kubrick as Heller show us that the worlds they depict are not a result of war. It is because of the bureaucratic inaccessibility and arbitrary authority it wields over the lives the people who are under its control. After he laughs at Heller’s bureaucratic society, Kubrick acknowledges its absurdity. The criticism Kubrick makes in Dr. Strangelove can be seen as being directed at the military bureaucracy. However, Heller’s criticisms are not. Heller sets his book at the end (WWII’s) to criticize the military bureaucracy. Heller also does everything possible to dissociate the satirical attack from the actual war on Nazism (Merrill 52). This ensures that his criticism won’t be viewed as inextricably linked with war or the military. Heller is deliberately vague to avoid any indelibility regarding his criticism of the military and military, as opposed to Kubrick’s explicit link to the military bureaucraty during the Cold War. Catch-22, though it is set in wartime context, is meant to be humorous and warn about the bureaucratic structures of the business world. Heller floods the novel in nonmilitary references to this end (Merrill 12,). These references to business and Heller’s intentional ambiguity when relating them to war are what keep the novel timely.
Catch-22 can be described as a novel war story. Both Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove were written intentionally. Heller’s critics and Kubricks humor are applicable to today’s society. They warn against the totalizing bureaucratic systems present in the business sector, which may affect these individuals.