Clockwork Orange
(Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
When released in 1971 it was relesed without cuts by the British Film Board of Classification (BBFC). It ran for 5months before being pulled from cinemas on demand of the director himself, Stanley Kubrik. This incidentally created a mystery surrouding the film, causing a "cult" status to surround it. Having said that, it is reported that the author of the book on which the film is based, Anthony Burgess, was not impressed with the film either!
It is notoriously controversial owing to the effects the film may have had on society; on its release, critics and the authorities alike were worried about how dissafected youth audiences might go out and start aping the behaviour of Alex (Malcom McDowall) and his "droogs".
Some pointers:
The first person narration in the film makes the audience complicit and intimate with the proagonist; or should that be antagonist, since Alex is more of an anti-hero...? you decide...
Aside from strikes, blackouts and the 3 day week, 1970's British culture and society also witnessed the rise of feminism (with the likes of Laura Mulvey); in this vein, the rape scene in the old theatre can be read as mysonginistic.
Although often described as one of the great anti-heroes of popular culture, Alex deLarge can be seen as a heroic character as he is essentially a young man moving alone through a barren landscape, making a statement by being himself whilst fighting against a harsh, oppressive governmental society.
After the group break into the "cat-woman"'s house, alex is tricked by and eventually abandoned by his "droogs" and is shortly imprisoned by the state authorities. Some argue that the state can be seen as a kind of faceless father figure for alex, however he is used by the state as a political tool; the state believes that they can cure the evils of society (ie. sex, violence, drugs and gang culture as epitomised by alex and his "droogs") by employing a technological body of knowledge. In Alex's case, the cure is worse than the problem as the scientists exact their own brand of violence - the aptly named Ludovico technique - upon Alex.
The intent of the film is obviously differrent to that of Burgess's original book - in his text, Burgess argues that man can become good through an act of free will, while the film perhaps argues that Alex becomes evil through free will, sinve the last image of the film contradicts the dialogue. The final quote, "I was cured" is ironic compared with the final image of alex indulging in yet another bout of his self-styled "ultra violence".
