Nietzsche’s Good and Evil Taken to the Extreme in the Chaotic Society of A Clockwork Orange.
When it comes to a prime example of questioning morality in Kubrick’s films - A Clockwork Orange is a go-to case study of free will and the morality of judgement and punishment. The film is an analysis of humanity and explores topics such as aversion therapy which is not just a dystopian fantasy but exists in the real world. It analyses punishment and examines the justice system both with portraying the classic punishment method like the prison and the rehabilitation method.
Gehkre states that:
The clockwork metaphor has long been a tradition of western sciences, both physical and social. Dreams of predicting and controlling human behaviour have
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With the help of Alex’s perspective, the film also criticises the choices society makes. Going back to Nietzsche’s views on morality, it is worth noting that he condemns the Judeo-Christian morality as too strict and unhealthy. However, using that philosophy A Clockwork Orange again shows the opposite as the society and law system’s ethics are very much radical and they believe that the only way they could eradicate the crime and chaos in society is to take people’s right of choice. In their criminology analysis of A Clockwork Orange Lichtenberg, Lune and McManimon (2004) sum up the main issue concerned in the film with the statemen confirmed by the prison chaplain that: If there is no choice, there is no morality. Therefore, Kubrick’s film focuses on some important questions and problems that are shown as issues of a dystopian society but are also truly problems present in contemporary society as well such as: could the spectator blame the establishment for being cruel and immoral if they are trying their hardest to eradicate relentless crime or is taking someone’s free will and right to choose an inhuman thing to do overall? The title of the film ties in with Alex’s journey and character development as he is transformed and programmed as a machine not able to
The use of the phrase “viddy him swim in his own blood while we counted the takings”, shows how criminals such as Alex and his “droogs”, can get away with such vicious acts of crime so often that it has become a hobby for them as they take so much enjoyment from the acts. Also the casual tone depicted from the text suggests the careless nature that Alex has towards the vulgar acts. These combined together add to the theme of corruption in society in ‘A Clockwork Orange’.
Again I agree with Carr’s theory on changing the brain’s thought processes because the proof is in the history of mankind. When Carr stated the fact of how the clock had made a huge impact on how we go about our day, I realized its significance. Modern culture is completely shaped by time, when we eat, sleep, work, and much more. I have seen this first hand when I worked with Native Americans. They do not rely on time frame, and kind of live, work, and do as they feel and the setting of day. Knowing the clock has made such a huge impact on our lives, I
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.
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, develops a fictional account of a violent futuristic society, while integrating commentary on current political and social issues.
In the year 1962, there was a boy by the name of Alex DeLarge, and he was the leader of a gang called the “droogs.” He has three best friends named Georgie, Dim, and Pete who also make up the entirety of the gang along with Alex. One night, the boys decide to get very drunk on milk laced with drugs, and go out on a streak of horrible violent acts. They beat an elderly lady, fight a rival gang, steal a car, almost kill a man named Mr. Alexander, and rape his wife. After the next day, the droogs gang confronts Alex wanting more high-rewarding crimes. He beats his friends to a pulp just to show them he is the boss. Just after this they break into a rich lady’s home where Alex kills the
The use of music as a motif in (Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange 1962)] creates a lens so that the viewer is able to recognize the trend that violence has to destroy an individuals identity. Although Alex (Malcolm McDowell) clearly associates violence with his own individual identity and sense of self, he consistently reveals the impossibility of remaining an individual in the face of group-oriented violence. The images that music create coincide the destruction of Alexs identity, either through compliance to a groups style of violence or through failure to embrace the similarity of group actions associated with violence. As the movie progresses, musical imagery follows the exit and return of his personal identity as a role of his
Similarly, the character of Alex McDowell and his actions are presented with methods comparable to that of Bonnie and Clyde. Stanley Kubrick stresses the violence in A Clockwork Orange as a way to show the full extent of his harmful maniacal ways. Narration alone can only tell us so much about his personality and isn't able to comprehensively encompass the significance of the violence attributed to Alex. It isn't until we see the crimes being committed in vivid detail that we are able to recognize the true nature of Alex’s moral extent. This illustrates him as the character he is meant to be as per the novella written by Anthony Burgess. We learn through wide angle shots of the moments leading up to the raping of a helpless woman, that Alex is entirely comfortable with the sadistic action and even finds it amusing. Upward facing camera angles that specifically place his face as the focal point are used during this scene and many others like it to enunciate his sinister appearance. They are used to show that as a person, Alex enjoys these all to pernicious behaviors. The excessive realness of the scenes only supports our understanding of his lack of humanity. Alex’s aggressiveness is magnified by the way he senselessly beats the old man under the bridge and the husband of the raped woman. Incorporating an undisturbed shot of him doing so allows it make a greater impact on the audience's perception of the character. Just as in Bonnie and Clyde, violence is shown with no
“What’s it going to be then, eh?” is the signature question in Anthony Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Novel that not only resonates with the moral identity of the anti-heroic protagonist, Alex, but also signifies the essential choice between free will that perpetrates evil and deterministic goodness that is forced and unreal. The prison chaplain and the writer F. Alexander voice the most controversial idea in the novel: man becomes ‘a clockwork orange’ when robbed of free will and tuned into a deterministic mechanism.
Imagine a violence filled society where young gangsters run rampant and crime is at every corner. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, presents a futuristic society where ordinary people find themselves the targets of violent crime. Among these gangsters is fifteen year old Alex and his band of “droogs.” Alex and his gang of troublemakers spend their days robbing and beating up innocent men and women they encounter, all while assuming they are invincible to the consequences that could come. However, Alex’s actions catch up with him one day when he is imprisoned for assaulting a woman.
Anthony Burgess’ novel, A Clockwork Orange has been called shocking, controversial, and horrifying. A Clockwork Orange is controversial, but to focus merely on the physical aspects of the work is time wasted. Burgess is concerned with the issue of ethics. He believes that goodness comes directly from choice; it is better to choose the bad than to be forced into doing the good. For taking away a person’s free will is simply turning them into a piece of “clockwork”; a piece of machine containing all the sweet juices of life, but incapable of being human.
A Clockwork Orange demonstrates the philosophically issues of free will and determinism through how the main character was treated in the movie. It also addresses important issues such as ethics, philosophy of the mind, free will and determinism, and the problem of perception. Philosophers such as John Hospers, B.F. Skinner, and Jean-Paul Sartre have different views on the issue through their theories of how individuals are or are not responsible for the free will choices that they make in life. The main character in the movie was a very violent , and reckless person. He participated in sinful acts such as being a gang member, raping women, being involved in fights, etc. These actions resulted in him being sent to prison and eventually being brainwashed into doing things out of his character. The three philosophers have very different interpretations of how the main character should have been dealt with and the reasonings behind his actions.
The book A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess, revolves around the main character named Alex, a fifteen year old criminal whom everyone is scared to be around. Alex and his droogies commit various crimes such as theft, rape, and murder. Alex is eventually caught and put into jail for two years. While in prison he learns of a way that he can get out. It is called Ludovico’s Technique, which means Alex can not commit any crimes or listen to his favorite type of music, classical. Ludovico’s Technique takes away his free will and he is eventually changed back by the totalitarian government. The totalitarian government reverses Ludovico’s Technique by using hypnopaedia. This book has many different aspects, therefore, it can be
In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author Anthony Burgess tells a story about a young man name Alex and his friends, every night they go around and start committing violent acts. In the novel Alex expresses his freedom of choice between good and evil. The freedom of choice is a decision that every person must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and to take control of his own future. This Freedom of Choice, no matter what the outcome is, displays person power as an individual, and any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will take way the person free will and enslave him. In this novel the author uses this symbolism through imagery. He shows that through the character of
A Clockwork Orange, a novel written by Anthony Burgess in the 1960’s takes place in dystopian future in London, England. The novel is about a fifteen year old nadsat (teenager) named Alex who along with his droogs (friends) commit violent acts of crime and opts to be bad over good. In time, Alex finds himself to be in an experiment by the government, making him unable to choose between good and evil, thus losing his ability of free will, and being a mere clockwork orange. A “clockwork orange” is a metaphor for Alex being controlled by the government, which makes him artificial because he is unable to make the decision of good verses evil for himself and is a subject to what others believe is right. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The technique is a scientific experiment designed to take away moral choice from criminals. The technique conditions a person to feel intense pain and nausea whenever they have a violent thought. The key moral theme of A Clockwork Orange is articulated during a chat between the alcoholic prison chaplain and Alex two weeks before he enters treatment. He reflects on the moral questions raised by the treatment that will force Alex to be good. “Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed on him?” The government experiment fails to realize that good and evil come from within the self. The Ludovico Technique messes with Alex’s internal clockwork. He transforms into a being that is unable to distinguish good from evil. The altering of his personality makes him, “as decent a lad as you would meet on a May morning, unvicious, unviolent…inclined to the kindly word and helpful act,” but his actions are dictated only by self-interest to avoid the horrible sickness that comes along with evil thoughts. He has no real choice, “he ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature of moral choice.” Being stripped of his free will, Alex is no longer a human he is the government’s toy. “Choosing to be deprived of the ability to make an ethical choice [does not mean] you have in a sense really chosen the good.”