Essay on Analysis of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange

What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but

Anthony Burgess’ novel presents commentaries upon the design of society as a whole, questions of societal placement being indicative of moral righteousness, what it means to be a man, and the deeper, more primal urges of every individual. The Clockwork Orange’s gratuitous use of violence together with the intense reputation of Kubrick’s work raises questions of the purpose of this violence. The question is how is violence demonstrated as art within Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange?

In part one of the novel, we witness the ability of free will that Alex possesses and his ability to choose between good and evil through contrast presented by darkness of night and lightness of day. At the beginning of the novel, Alex and his droogs (friends), Pete, Georgie, and Dim are at the Kovova Milkbar, roaming the streets and committing violent acts during night. Alex and his droogs encounter an old man who is drunk and is singing a sentimental song. Alex instantly chooses the path of evil with the free will that he encompasses, and along with his droogs they beat the old man while laughing at his misery. The old man complains about the “stinking world” and says, “It’s a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old like you done, and there’s no law nor order no more.” (Part 2, Chapter 2, Page 12) At night, Alex uses violence and chooses to beat, rape, and murder innocent people because it shows that he has freedom of choice and has authority and power in society. Alex’s interpretation of darkness and night is, “The night belonged to me and my droogs and all the rest of the nadsats (teenagers), and the starry bourgeois lurked indoors…” (Part 1, Chapter 4, Page 33). In contrast,

Then we tripped him he laid down flat and heavy and a bucketload of of beer-vomit came whooshing out.  That was disgusting so we gave him the boot, one go each, and then it was blood, not song not vomit, that came out of his filthy old rot.  Then we went on our way." (Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, 18)This is particularly true in regards to his victims throughout the story. One of the first examples is seen in the book when he attacks an innocent old man returning from the library. However in the film, it’s a drunken tramp sitting in an alley. This minor detail entirely effects the impression Alex has on the reader, being that the innocence of the old man is less conceivable to commit vicious acts of violence against. This contrast continues and increases in vulgarity as the book progresses, he rapes two ten-year-old girls he’s gotten drunk on Scotch and soda in a horrifying chapter that escalates in casual

The dance piece was composed of several story lines and plots. There was a piece in which it there was a guy and a girl who with their dance movements expressed hate and love. Other dances expressed the path to finding freedom, loneliness, and time.

The piece has no overt plot; it just consists of the performers trying to bring about natural unconfined movements from the influence of the ambient audio of nature. Some dance phrases have semblance to a specific animal, while others are animal-inspired abstractions.

Although lines, technical form, and tricks were being executed beautifully the Beethoven out played the dancers and I craved the larger dynamic of the group I had seen previously. Once exhaustion set in, I then saw the unison at the end differently each dancer became more authentic, with more to offer the rich context. A line of gestures formed while the dancers added an interesting groove, each finger gun alongside each surrender became a conversation within who is fighting and who’s questioning. The dancers move up stage fading from sight, and we are left with only their silhouettes.

Choice and free will are necessary to maintain humanity, both individually and communally; without them, man is no longer human but a “clockwork orange”, a mechanical toy, as demonstrated in Anthony Burgess’ novel, “A Clockwork Orange”. The choice between good and evil is a decision every man must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and control his future. Forcing someone to be good is not as important as the act of someone choosing to be good. This element of choice, no matter what the outcome, displays man’s power as an individual.

Character in both novels use unsuccessful escape methods to cope with their loss of identity. Alex, the protagonist in A Clockwork Orange, turns to classical music such as Beethoven when his gang members question his hierarchy within the group. Alex describes his bedroom where he goes after an argument with his gang members : "the little speakers of my stereo were all arranged round the room, on ceiling, walls, floor, so, lying on my bed slooshying the music, I was like netted and meshed in the orchestra." (Burgess. 37). We see Alex return to his bedroom many times after confrontations where his identity is disputed. Eventually, Alex is conditioned to feel sick whenever he hears classical music so Alex loses this escape method as he can no longer listen to classical music. Also, Alex relies heavily on the use of drugs when he is unable to deal with his loss of identity, " officially sanctioned "milk bars" that serve a variety of drug tonics to send one off on incoherent fantasies" (Gottlieb). These "milk bars" are locations where young

Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, a critically acclaimed masterstroke on the horrors of conditioning, is unfairly attacked for apparently gratuitous violence while it merely uses brutality, as well as linguistics and a contentious dénouement, as a vehicle for deeper themes.

painting which also ties into the scene being set at night in the darkness. Contrast is used well to

Vivaldi's “winter” one of the amazing parts to Vivaldi's work of art known as Four Seasons does an outstanding job showing the poetry through the music. He starts off from the very beginning of the piece with teeth chattering. If you were to take a look at the poem he is referring to the very first line is “Frozen and trembling among the chilly snow”. Vivaldi demonstrates these actions by using fierce, fast, and high pitched sounds all throughout the piece. He then continues to demonstrate the second line around the one minute and thirty second mark by using a violin to demonstrate the “Horrid Winds’ (line 2 Stanza 1).

or the sweet strings of Ludwig Van, he is soon on his knees in pain and agony.

     The created patch-work language of Nadsat in the novel, A Clockwork Orange, satirizes the social classes and gang life of Anthony Burgess’s futuristic society. The most prominent of these tools being his use of a completely new language and the depiction of family life from the eyes of a fifteen year old English hoodlum. Burgess effectively broke arcane traditions when he wrote A Clockwork Orange by blending two forms of effective speech into the vocabulary of the narrator and protagonist, Alex. Burgess, through his character Alex, uses the common or “proper” method of vernacular in certain situations, while uses his own inventive slang-language

Violence plays a major role in the history of cinema. Both Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino have produced a litany of films that have imagery or plots that include violent acts. However, their different directorial visions and styles make it so that Hitchcock and Tarantino films are nothing alike. This is because Hitchcock's objective was to make the audience feel afraid, tense, and anxious for the protagonist, whereas Tarantino's objective is to illustrate the absurdity of violence by elevating the macabre to the level of humor. Both Hitchcock and Tarantino are brilliant directors who use violence in their films to achieve a desired effect.