MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Consider a viewing environment in which the audience could somehow participate in the content that the director has created and presented. In interactive spectatorship, defined by film theories Adam Lowenstein as “a mutual exchange between [film] and audience” this type of viewer participation is made possible. In films that fall into this category, the creators work creatively to establish an environment that can be altered by the viewer, turning the act of watching into an immersive experience. In a sense interactive spectatorship exists in a gray area between spectator and film allowing the director to beckon for the audience to reach out and play with the subject matter without physically altering it. One such film that plays on the space between viewer and screen is Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Become the Bomb. Kubrick’s film about nuclear holocaust presents itself as an interactive playground where the viewer is given the opportunity to connect with characters, set design, and objects on screen. This extension of creative control allows the viewer to participate with the director in elements of the film, emphasizing collaboration through the act of viewing. In an analysis of interactive spectatorship in Dr Strangelove, one can interpret the film as a type of game that Kubrick plays with the audience. There are several levels of interactive elements embedded in the film, from filling in the absent side of a phone call to being able to understand the Russian language. When looking at the way Kubrick allows for spectator collaboration, one finds that Dr. Strangelove displays a unique viewing experience which immerses the audience in the cinematic environment while allowing them to control their involvement with the movie.