A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick - 1971

The classic Kubrick film, A Clockwork Orange, like much of Kubrick’s work is a multifaceted and multilayered spectacle that is at times enthralling and as often cringe inducing, yet no less dazzling.  Originally a novel by author Anthony Burgess, the film was adapted for the screen, both written and directed by Stanley Kubrick (Internet Movie Database, 2014).  The film featured a young Malcolm McDowell in the role of Alex McDowell who was accompanied by a supporting cast that included Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, and Aubrey Morris (Internet Movie Database, 2014) among many others.

In short, the movie follows Alex DeLarge through a series of criminal escapades, including rape and murder, ultimately leading to a rift among his gang of followers that results in Alex being sentenced to prison.  While in prison, Alex learns of an experimental aversion therapy which promises an early escape from his sentence.  Following a grueling process which leaves Alex unable to experience violence or sex without becoming extremely nauseous, Alex earns his early release from prison.  Unfortunately, Alex is greeted by the outside world with much the same enthusiasm that he applied to his earlier violence.  Through a series of unfortunate encounters, Alex winds up the guest in the home of one of his earlier victims, a writer whose wife he and his gang had raped and who Alex had beaten so badly that he was left crippled and in a wheelchair.  One might expect that this results in Alex’s final comeuppance, and indeed it seems so when Alex is coerced into attempting suicide by leaping from an upstairs window.  As it turns out, however, the final mea culpa rests with the government that arguably mistreated poor Alex who incidentally survived his fall.

The film is presented chronologically, dutifully establishing Alex and his gang’s violent ways and outlining his brutal path into the experimental program, which ultimately led to the completion of the circle in Alex’s being reunited with one of his victims.  One very interesting element, which serves as both a symbolic representation of the film and perhaps even foreshadows some of what is to happen is Kubrick’s repeated references to Beethoven, and specifically to his Ninth Symphony.  Indeed, the movie’s original trailer, which makes no secret of the violence in the film, is set to the Beethoven work (see below Clip 1, (MoviesHistory, 2014)).

Alex, in fact, becomes enthralled by Beethoven’s Ninth, which in the movie becomes his undoing, as the music is also linked with his conditioning against sex and violence.  This is the very device that ultimately drives him to attempt suicide, as his captor (originally his victim) blasts the music until Alex can no longer stand the sickness he feels.  Kubrick’s use of Beethoven is interesting on two fronts.  There is first the link to violence, which is thanks in large part to Hitler and Nazi Germany’s repeated use of Beethoven’s Ninth during the reign of the Third Reich (Hyong, 2011).  There is a slightly deeper and probably lesser known link to violence in Beethoven’s original inspiration for the symphony’s pinnacle movement coming from a particularly violent Schiller poem (Hyong, 2011).  In these ways, the symbolism behind Kubrick’s use of Beethoven is fairly direct.  There is another link though, one that is perhaps slightly ironic.

Kubrick also took advantage of the fact that Beethoven was at one time was culturally recognized as a link to utopian society (Hyong, 2011).  Given Kubrick’s portrayal of a dystopian London, it would seem that he may have been taking a bit of a stab at either our perceptions of Beethoven, or more likely our perceptions of society, utopian or otherwise.

Fin



References:

Höyng, P. (2011). Ambiguities of Violence in Beethoven's Ninth through the Eyes of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. German Quarterly, 84(2), 159-176. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1183.2011.00109.x

Internet Movie Databse. (2014). A Clockwork Orange. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

MoviesHistory. (2014, March 23). A Clockwork Orange – Official Trailer [1971]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmm5jeeH8mY