Good afternoon. Your presence at this conference assures me that you are all aware of the importance of the ways of thinking of a particular era to texts composed during that period. The Cold War period, otherwise known as the ‘After the Bomb’ period, is a particularly important era in regards to this idea, as it was during this time that many widespread notions, beliefs and values were questioned and challenged. Using Samuel Beckett’s 1953 absurdist stage play Waiting for Godot (which I will refer to as Godot) and Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical film Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (which I will refer to as Strangelove) as examples, I will discuss ideas regarding the individual’s role in politics, religious paradigms and the existence of humanity itself, and the questioning of each of these ideas that occurred during the Cold War period.
Cold War texts featured extensive explorations of what it means to be an individual within the post-World War II political sphere. The political cynicism that fuelled many composers of literature and art during this period was heavily centred around the low valuing of individual lives by political powers, and the commonly held political viewpoint that the ‘needs of the many’ outweighed the ‘needs of the few’. We see this clearly demonstrated in Beckett’s Godot in the play’s opening, when Vladimir asks Estragon if it was the “same lot as usual” who ‘beat him’ the night before the action of the play commences, to which Estragon replies: “The same? I don’t know.” The inclusion of this exchange at the beginning of the play establishes the recurring references to violence that appear throughout the play, which imply that the low valuing of human life has led to violent aggression towards others becoming something of a societal norm within the world of the play. More importantly, however, the use of repetitive, ambiguous language in this exchange exhibits the culture of amnesia that defines a great deal of the dialogue between the characters of the play, through which people are quickly forgotten due to their lack of value and importance. Through this dialogue, Beckett paints a grim prediction of a potential aftermath to the low valuing of the individual within political machinations during his time. Following on from this, we see the relationship between the political and the personal more distinctly represented through the relationship between Pozzo and Lucky. Towards the conclusion of two characters’ stage time in Act 1, Lucky performs a long-winded, disjointed monologue that slowly begins to agonise the other characters as it progresses. Pozzo soon silences Lucky by having Vladimir remove his hat (which is implied to be the source of his ‘thinking’), stating “That’s an end to his thinking!”, and soon reasserts his power over him through a series of commands. This section of the play highlights Beckett’s cynicism regarding the treatment of individuals by political powers of the Cold War period, as it symbolises the silencing of people with opposing or controversial viewpoints during this time.
The role of the individual within the political sphere following World War II is also displayed prominently in Kubrick’s Strangelove, predominantly through the character of General Buck Turgidson, a United States Air Force general played by George C. Scott. Throughout the film, Turgidson is portrayed as being aggressively patriotic and a passionate defender of a jingoist approach to the threat of a nuclear holocaust. When a nuclear strike against the Soviets is commissioned without the issuing of an official war order, Turgidson attempts to convince President Merkin Muffley to let the attack continue, calling Muffley “To choose between two… post war environments. One where you got 20 million people killed, and the other where you got 150 million people killed.” From this piece of dialogue, the ideology of ‘the needs of the many’ outweighing ‘the needs of the few’ is clearly presented, which demonstrates the low valuing of individual lives in political discourse. Later in the film, when Soviet ambassador Alexi de Sadeski informs the President that the Soviet Union has created a ‘doomsday machine’ which would eradicate all human and animal life on Earth, we see a close-up shot of Turgidson, who almost looks pleased with this information, as his suspicions regarding the Soviets have been confirmed. This implies that officials such as Turgidson are more concerned with their paranoia of the actions of opposing nations than the lives and wellbeing of the individuals of their own nation. Both Godot and Strangelove demonstrate the low valuing of individual lives during the Cold War period, and explore the lack of meaning of the individual within the post-World War II political sphere.
Texts of the Cold War period were often sceptical and challenging of religion. Due to the atrocities caused by those in power during World War II, specifically the detonation of nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many began to question the religious paradigms that were seemingly fundamental to human society at the time. The society portrayed in Godot is very much a godless one, with the mentions of religion (specifically Christianity) that do appear throughout the play seemingly reflecting Beckett’s cynicism towards it. This is demonstrated visually through the tree that is included in the set of the play, which is verbally described by the characters as being dead, having “no more leaves”. Though one could view the tree as being representative of humanity, there are also implications regarding the ‘tree of a life’ – a concept common to many religions. The tree’s dead appearance therefore serves as a metaphor for the the death or disappearance of religion in the world of the play due to its supposed irrelevance in the post-World War II period. In contrast to this, the lead characters in Strangelove (specifically those meeting in the Pentagon’s War Room) are portrayed as practicing Christians, with General Turgidson standing on a table and leading the other officials in the room in prayer. Despite the use of a low angle shot at this point, which traditionally implies high status and would therefore assert the power of the Christian faith, George C. Scott ’s overacted portrayal of the character throughout the film, as well as the film’s overarching satirical nature, suggests that this is more of a mockery of Christianity than a demonstration of its force.
There are also ideas specifically regarding the Holy Bible in both Beckett’s play and Kubrick’s film. In Godot, when Vladimir asks Estragon if he has read the Bible, he replies by stating “I must have taken a look at it”, later adding “I remember the maps of the Holy Land. Coloured they were. Very pretty.” The former line of dialogue implies that the Christian Bible has lost a great deal of significance in both the world of the play and the reality Beckett was influenced by. The latter quote showcases the more comical aspects of the play, as, despite the book being the holy text of a once widespread religion, the only feature of the Bible that Estragon states he can remember is a map of the Holy Land. This reinforces the belittling of the Bible and overall lack of religion in the world of the play. The Bible is also used as a symbol to represent similar ideas in Strangelove during a briefing by Major T. J. Kong to the other pilots in the plane he commands. In this scene, we see a close-up shot of a miniature-sized book titled ‘Holy Bible and Russian Phrases’. This has two distinct connotations. Firstly, it implies that Kubrick views Christianity as being directly linked with warfare and violence. Secondly, it can be viewed as Kubrick satirising the supposed significance of the Christian faith. Either way, this shot encapsulates the general cynicism towards religion during the Cold War period. The cynicism towards religion that is presented in both texts clearly demonstrates the questioning of religious paradigms during the Cold War period.
Cold War texts also present a world defined by futility and meaningless. The post-World War II period saw a significant shift in philosophical paradigms, with many questioning the purpose or significance of existence and humanity. This idea is presented in Godot through Vladimir and Estragon’s discussion of when and where they are meeting Godot. As the two characters trade dialogue, the sense of doubt and uncertainty regarding these details increases. Beckett’s use of stichomythic verse towards the beginning of the play, to highlight the repetitive nature of the lead characters’ situation, in which nothing of importance ever occurs, and the characters’ obsession over minute details relates to the sense of futility and meaninglessness in the Cold War period. The futility of mankind is represented in Strangelove through a reoccurring variation of the popular American Civil War song ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’, which is the only music used throughout the film (excluding the opening and final scenes). The theme (used predominantly during scenes featuring Major Kong’s plane) is sparse and quite empty in instrumentation, relating it to the ‘emptiness’ and lack of meaning in humanity. The repetition of this theme, much like Beckett’s use of stichomythic verse, links to the perception of human existence as being repetitive.
The rise of nihilism as a prominent philosophy during the Cold War period led to the establishing of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ movement, which focused largely on a lack of meaning or purpose in humanity. Both Beckett’s play and Kubrick’s film display absurdist features largely through their use of contradictions and juxtapositions. At the conclusion of the first act of Godot, which is considered to be the work which popularised the ‘theatre of the absurd’ style, Vladimir exclaims “Yes, let’s go”, which is, in the script, immediately followed by a stage direction that states ‘They do not move.’ The juxtaposition between the action and dialogue at this point signifies the futile, meaningless existence of humanity. Kubrick’s Strangelove, also portrays similar ideas through the use of contradiction. The ending of the film displays a montage of nuclear explosions set to Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’, which is incredibly unfitting to the situation due to the cheerful and optimistic tone presented in the song’s music and lyrics. The juxtaposition of the visuals and audio in this scene creates a darkly comedic tone similar to that of many works in the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ style (such as Godot). Subsequently, the message that Kubrick is communicating in this scene is similar to that of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ movement as a whole, in that mankind is not destroyed by a meaningful conflict, but the careless detonation of a nuclear weapon (or ‘Doomsday Device’ as it is referred to in the film). The title of the song played in the scene – we’ll Meet Again’- suggests that mankind will be rebuilt, only to be destroyed by the same acts of carelessness, demonstrating the repetitive, vacuous nature of humanity. Both texts’ portrayal of human existence as futile and meaningless demonstrates the major shift in philosophical paradigms that occurred during the Cold War period.
As the texts discussed have evidenced, the Cold War was a period that saw a great amount of shifting perceptions and ideas. Through the course of this speech, I hope I have demonstrated to you how the ways of thinking that were communicated through the themes of these showcase the profound impact the era had on art and literature as a whole.