Clockwork Orange And The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction Essay

A Clockwork Orange is a modern science fiction classic that should not be missed. Anthony Burgess describes a very dark and disturbing near future that is scary mostly because it seems so possible. Young thugs and gangs run amok leaving a wake of violence. The only thing more terrifying is the State and their way of dealing with criminals.

For the scope of this essay there will be exploration into three main issues. Firstly, whether or not the desirability of art is in its—replicable—physical forum, or in its provenance. Next, the concept of and the extent to which revamped art can be considered

Foster is partly guided by responding to his opening reference to Walter Benjamin’s “The Artist as Producer.”

The earliest forms of art had made it’s mark in history for being an influential and unique representation of various cultures and religions as well as playing a fundamental role in society. However, with the new era of postmodernism, art slowly deviated away from both the religious context it was originally created in, and apart from serving as a ritual function. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and philosopher during the 1900’s, strongly believed that the mass production of pieces has freed art from the boundaries of tradition, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependance on ritual” (Benjamin 1992). This particular excerpt has a direct correlation with

Their focus was that “consumers” are tricked into the believing that they have a free will and are capable of choosing for themselves. This comes from the fact that they believe there is little discrepancy between the outputs of any two artists, writers, or studios. Horkheimer and Adorno argued that the culture industry is built on be in style, not truth, and that close examination is generally discouraged. Those who do not integrate their lives with the current culture industry will be subject to “economic impotence…intellectual powerlessness,” and a reputation as “an eccentric loner.” This can be explained as being the one person everyone leaves out of parties because they don’t meet the social or cultural requirements the group has set forth. They elaborate further on this final point, saying that while “formal freedom is guaranteed,” there is still social control exerted by almost every system such as churches, schools, and other organizations. This is seen more often in today’s time where people are given the option to choose what they want to do, but in reality those who don’t conform to the “norm” will be shunned in

In his novel A clockwork orange, Anthony Burgess explores contradiction/duality as a ultimate reality. His understanding of this phrase reflects the world as a set of fundamental and coequal oppositions of forces, and this is evident throughout the novel (Sparknotes, 2015:1). In the following essay we will be exploring the concept of contradictions/duality as portrayed in the novella by referring to the following contradictions namely; good versus evil, commitment versus neutrality, free will versus the “Clockwork orange”, man versus government, youth versus maturity and intellect versus intuition.

Imagine every night being the blackest of nights, where even the police do not stop the criminals lurking in the corners. This is the world in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, where a dystopian society in which juvenile delinquents roam free to terrorize the night is chronicled. Your Humble Narrator, Alex DeLarge, is a member of this appalling culture of teenagers. Over the course of the novel, he performs unspeakable acts of ultraviolence with his droogs, which land him behind bars in Staja, the state jail, for a prescribed fourteen years. After failing to reform, Alex receives an experimental corrective cure called Ludovico’s Technique, which induces a vicious physical reaction to acts of violence. When finally healed of his violent

The grace of evil in A Clockwork Orange is a recurring paradox throughout the novel and also implies a deep religious connotation. The main foci are the several aspects of evil, violence, and sexual acts committed by Alex and his gang members. However, Anthony Burgess has cleverly incorporated similar paradoxes to that of grace and evil, along with a different dialect to aid in masking the true harshness that lies underneath the violence. The other paradoxes include the extremes of night and day, good and bad, and black and white.

Art has been a part of history before Christ was born and along the flow of time different styles and movements revolutionized what art means to the creator and audience. On the flow of time one of the branches that stood out in style, color, and expression through repetition was Impressionism. An artist that helped revolutionize Impressionism in his time was Oscar-Claude Monet, but the piece that stood out was the “Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur.”

In his article Benjamin criticizes the mechanical reproducing. In the beginning of his article Benjamin states that “a work of art has always been reproducible”; by student artist to practice, by masters, and by people who want to make profit. That was in the old times then he compares that with new “mechanical reproduction of work of art” which he thinks it is too excessive. “The Greek knew only two procedure of technically reproducing works of art: founding and stamping. Bronzes, terra cottas, and coins were the only art works which they could reproduce in quantity. All others were unique and could not be mechanically reproduced.” (Benjamin 2) He believes if something is unique then it should not be reproduced just like Greeks did in the old times. I really like how he lists and explains all other methods of reproducing which are; during the Middle Ages lithography was used then

Ethics and morality to some individuals seem to be an idea that is just blurred in their mind of judgment. As if, it is a foreign concept that is incomprehensible due to how abstract their level of thinking is. Back in 1972, Stanley Kubrick adapted the novel A Clockwork Orange into a film whose contents and motifs could make even the most unwavering squeal and squirm. However, the mind of Alex in the film is a marvel in itself to where delving deep into his mental being and his thought processes are enough to recommend a viewing if not for the fact that the legend Stanley Kubrick directed the work. It's the conditioning that Alex goes through and his psyche that needs a thorough analysis to fully grasp the stories intent towards the viewer.

Anthony Burgess has been heralded as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. Although Burgess has over thirty works of published literature, his most famous is A Clockwork Orange. Burgess’s novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government. The main character, Alex, is an "ultra-violent" thief who has no problem using force against innocent citizens to get what he wants. The beginning of the story takes us through a night in the life of Alex and his Droogs, and details their adventures that occupy their time throughout the night. At fifteen years old, Alex is set up by his Droogs—Pete,

Much of what Benjamin discusses in his essay has to do with what he describes as the “aura” or spirit of an artwork. He discusses this spirit and how it is obtained, lost, given and received. He suggests that the aura of an artwork we know and understand today is much different from how it was understood in the time and place of its production. The aura Benjamin speaks of is obtained because of the artwork’s uniqueness and authenticity, which in turn is lost due the act of mass production. In describing this

Within this paper I will describe Adorno and Horkheimer best known work in their article, The Cultural Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. I will describe in great detail their concept of the culture industry and its mass deception on society. Then, I will compare Adorno and Horkheimer’s view of the creator and receiver to that of the Birmingham School touching on both their similarities and differences. Lastly, I will explain both schools influence on sociology and sociological research concerning mass cultural production and describe how an empirical study based on both schools would compare.

“Modern painting, breaking through old conversation, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world.”(Gropius) The birth of modernism and modern art goes back to the Industrial Revolution, a period that lasted from the 18th to the 19th century, in which rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology profoundly affected the social, economic, and cultural conditions of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Before the 19th century, artists created art pieces for wealthy people and institution places like the church where they can create art works about storytelling of religious or mythological scenes . These arts were there to instruct the viewers.However, this changed when during the 19th century many artists began to create works that were about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.