I’ve watched Dr. Strangelove once, a few years ago and I feel like Threads has helped make me feel absolute disgust at quote about repopulation. Like obviously when I first watched it I was like “yikes”, but the context of Threads(the movie shows what the aftermath of a nuclear attack would look like; goes a at least ten years in the future) just helps paint a really horrific picture?? 

With Dr. Strangelove being a satire, the head goons in charge and the world they inhabit are absolutely insane. I mean a man eagerly trying to get a bomb to deploy, acting as if he’s at the god damn rodeo, is like the epitome of that horrible universe. With Threads being a realistic look at the before and after of a nuclear attack, we get a good look at normal people who are against the US and the Soviets fighting each other and we get a look at people scared that pacifism will get everyone killed, thus some angry protesters in the film, shouting “Go back to Russia”. 

The goons in Dr. Strangelove are insane for considering who gets how many women, because - as a character in Threads put it perfectly- “ This time they are playing with at best the destruction of life as we know it and at worst total annihilation. You cannot win a nuclear war! Now just suppose the Russians did win this war… What exactly would they be winning? Well, I’ll tell you! All major centers of population and industry would have been destroyed. The soil would have been irradiated. Farm stock would be dead, diseased or dying. The Russians would have conquered a corpse of a country.”

I’m grateful I’ve watched Threads, despite how terrifying it is. The movie really made me think so fucking hard about the consequences of a handful of people deciding the fate of millions with nuclear weapons. I’m not saying that before I watched Threads, I was blindly for eradicating innocent people with nukes, but watching it has really given context to a situation I hope we never have to face. And the quote above really helps sell that context.

I don’t think the insanity of Dr.  Strangelove and the anxiety of Threads could really coexist in a movie together because I believe the tone of each movie makes for a differnt story to tell? Does that make sense? Anyways, I honestly fear that the anxiety and insanity would be rampant at an awful level if a nuclear attack were to happen now, in real life. As much as I like to try and see the good in people, I honestly think the government - while they would seriously be discussing importance of fuel, food shortages and so on - I really think they’d also be discussing insane things like how many women each man gets in order to help repopulate the earth. And the reason for me thinking that would be a possibility is 100% attributed to the current US President. You may roll your eyes at that, but I’m sorry; I’ve been following the news that comes out of this administration to an unhealthy degree and it’s really made me doubtful of theirs(or any other governments -because if it can happen here it can happen anywhere) ability to sit down and set realistic goals for taking care of the people in the event of nuclear war. 

 The anxiety of Threads is terrifying because it’s very plausible in our world and the insanity of Dr. Strangelove is terrifying because it sheds a light on sociopaths, modeled by their time in government and/or other positions of power, treating the access and use of nuclear weapons as a dick measuring contest.