Doctor Louis Makepeace Strangelove
[Merkwürdigliebe]
ALIASES:
Dr. Strangelove
FAMILY BACKGROUND:
Strangelove was not a character in the original book 'Red Alert' and was actually invented for the movie. However, in the Dr. Strangelove novelization he's featured more prominently, although similarly to the movie he lurks in the background of the War Room until Muffley addresses him.
"Our hero was metaphorically born on June 26th in the early-sixties. He was
at the time in his mid-thirties. No comet, star, thunderstorm, or other
phenomenon heralded his birth. There were no eagles, nor trumpets. He
slipped unobtrusively into the world, and people at large were not
immediately aware of his emergence. His name was Strangelove. Doctor
Louis Makepeace Strangelove."
CRIMINAL HISTORY:
Before coming to work for the U.S. government, Strangelove worked at the Slag Institute of Science as a lecturer for 15 years. During his time here he wrote and published a book on his theories regarding nuclear strategy, which is what led to the U.S. government taking interest in him.
"Strangelove’s argument presents the same theme as he has already
developed in his book. It is this:
Since the enemy has the bomb it is necessary for us to have it also as in
this way it can be guaranteed that neither will use it. Thus primarily the
bomb is a weapon for peace.
But Strangelove explains it is not only a weapon that ensures nuclear
peace, but conventional peace also, because neither we nor the enemy
would initiate conventional war since whichever side appears to be losing,
it would certainly resort to their nuclear weapons. Because the enemy know
they dare not do this, they would never start even a conventional war.
In the final analysis possession of the bomb is a vital contribution to the
peace of the whole world."
BUSINESS:
As of the events of the movie, Strangelove works as the "Director of Weapons Research and Development" within the U.S. government. His German [and Nazi] background gives us the implication that he was hired under Operation Paperclip, however Peter George's earlier backstory for him does not include this. [In fact his earlier backstory doesn't make any mention of Strangelove being German or a former Nazi]
MODUS OPERANDI:
In the movie, Strangelove is portrayed as a very cartoonish and stereotypical German mad scientist. His most prominent and mysterious characteristics are his wheelchair and gloved hand, both implied remenants of some horrific scientific accident. Strangelove suffers from Alien Hand Syndrome [although other interpretations assume his right arm/hand is mechanical], which causes him to randomly nazi salute in some bizarre phallic metaphor [the more excited he gets about nuclear annihilation the more he salutes]. And! Despite the wonderful erectile imagery his arm adds to the movie, the entire thing was actually improvised by Peter Sellers as they were filming. Strangelove's weird little voice was also developed by Sellers as some amalgamation between a regular German accent and the voice of Austrian-American photographer Weegee. Furthermore, Strangelove's character is mistakenly thought to be based on Henry Kissinger but this is not true! In reality Strangelove makes up this weird combination of Herman Khan and Werner Von Braun.
OTHER NOTES:
Dr. Strangelove is my personal favorite character from the movie and he's really visually the most striking and memorable character. He reminds me a lot of a little earthworm. Just squirming and squirming. Most of the fandom picks him to self-ship with. Which is mildly amusing to me.
