Saturday, July 9, 2011

Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a Movie Directed By Stanley Kubrick. Its an adoption of Anthony Burgess satiric grotesque novel of the same name. The book was published in 1962 and the Movie was made in 1971. Written By Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is one of the most experimental, original, and controversial novels of the twentieth century. The basic questions of the freedom of will and choice are hidden in the dark satire of the violent tale. The main themes spotlighted in the film are violence in a police state, teen delinquency, technological control, and dehumanization. The film was prohibited in the beginning because of the violence scenes and Kubrick had to replace several scenes to get it R-rating mark. The question of the free will got the central place and passes as a red line through all the plot of the Movie. Even take place in the near future. The story is told By the main character Alex who is a leader of a small group of teenagers who entertain themselves stealing, fighting, breaking into houses, killing and raping. Alex is described not only like a young gangster but also like a big music judge. Hes fond of classical music and Ludwig von Beethoven with his 9th Symphony is among his preferences. Violence and classical music make a very frightening mixture and make remember about the evil geniuses who preferred to torture and kill people listening to the music. The robe and beat not for money as they have enough of them. Like Alex says himself:

The Korova Milk Bar sold milkplus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and ma ke you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence. Our pockets were full of money so there was no need on that score, but, as they say, money isnt everything.

But Alex is not cruel to others only but to his own droogs also. One day tired of his bad attitude friends decided to betray Alex and leave his without conscious in the house of one of their victims. Alex is caught By the police and becomes the participant of the experiment meant to get read of the social vices and evil in the society. By watching the violence scenes combined with the drug which causes death-like nausea as a part of the behavioral theory of conditioned-reflex therapy Alex is inoculated the firm hostility to violence. The scenes of violence were demonstrated accompanied By the Beethovens music and now Alex is not able to listen to his favorite composer. But the positive habits have negative side. Alex is totally deprived of his free will and can not choose his behavior and reactions to the situati ons any more. Very soon hes let out of prison and becomes a free man. But left defenseless, Alex gets at once into trouble. Now he becomes a victim of violence himself, totally unprepared to cope with the real world when he is returned to society which is not cured of all social vices as he is. Hes beaten By his friends and left in the forest alone and when he manages to get to the house to save himself he finds himself in the house of one of his victims. Hes locked in the upper room of the houses and drops himself out not being able to stand the Beethovens music playing. Finally he gets to the hospital. The failure of the governmental experiment with the Alexs treatment makes his a strategic weapon in the hands of their opponents. MINISTER:

I can tell you that I... and the Government of which I am a member are deeply sorry about this, my boy. Deeply sorry. We tried to help you. We followed recommendations had been made to us that turned out to be wrong.

Finally the minister proposes Alex the way back By canceling the results of treatment. But Alex doesnt want that. The last scene of the Movie shows the hypocrisy of the society driven to absurd as we see Alex making love to a woman on the piles of snow while two rows of ladies and gentlemen applauding them. I was cured all right his last words sound triumphantly and sardonically. But the watchers get another opinion and a feeling that Alex still is a programmed mechanism without free will but with another kind of program this time.

The Movie is very symbolic. The names of the heroes, the name of the Movie and a lot of artistic details help us to receive the authors message. Everything serves to make us think about the moral questions and our role in solving them. How can evil be deleted in the modern society? How far can go the influence of the society on the individual, his free will and choice? If the state can deprive an individual of his free will using higher objectiv es and principles of good for everyone? These are the question the authors of the book and Movie would wish to provoke in our minds By the violent and provoking images. These are the words told By the author of the book put in the basement of the Movie Anthony Burgess concerning the title of the book ...I do not think so because, By definition, a human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a Clockwork Orange--meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a Clockwork toy to be wound By God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State. It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The opinion of the authors of the Movie and the book is clear and I fully agree with it. God and Evil always existed in the society but their existence given the opportunities to realize the f ree choice and free will of an individual. If the free choice between good and evil is one of the main characteristics of the human, the effort to deprive the individual of this choice can be regarded as an effort to deprive an individual of humanity. The ability to think, to make conscious decision and free will are among main characteristics which differentiate the people from the animals. Human model of reactions and behavior is consisted of something more than just natural and behavioral instincts and this something makes us humans.

Conscious and motivated bad deeds can be turned into good ones till the time the person has will and can perceive the arguments. Both book and Movie express the idea that man can not be completely good or completely bad. We can judge our good deeds only in comparison to bad ones and each moment of life we make the moral choice for good and bad decisions. Era is human nature said the philosopher. And the correction of these mistakes is another moral choice makes people more and more human. The importance of good and evil realizations of human nature is a main idea of the Movie. The authors try to prove us that causing a lot of evil the main character Alex stayed more human than after the treatment which has demolished all the evil sides of his personality and left him not moral choice. Choosing good or evil pattern of behavior we can become good or bad for the society or surrounding but still stay human creatures. Deprived of this choice and following blind instincts even if they bring only good to the society we lose our human nature, our free will and freedom of choice. The mixture of good and bad sides of the personality is very typical for Kubricks Movies. He doesnt want to separate them as they are both closely connected in our min ds, behavior and actions. Dark side is present in every personality and in the Movie we could see two variants the way it can influence. In the beginning we can see the result of the total control of the behavior By the black side on the example of Alex and his friends and we can see the life of the main character totally deprived of his evil side. Both extremes are dangerous for both the person and the society. The truth is as always somewhere in between. We can not demolish all the evil in the world and in our minds but its in our power to control it and to work on turning all the impulses and thoughts to good. The problems arise when the freedom of moral choice of individual is opposed to the social good for everyone. The question put on the center of the Movie is if the freedom of choice is a justified sacrifice for the comfort of all the citizens. In the Movie the state tried to take the control on the behavior, thoughts and even natural instincts of the main character Alex in the name of creating the ideal society where no violence and evil exists. But the result was lamentable and even the government had to confess the absurdness of the idea of the artificial control on the free choice. Te thesis of the Movie is that deprivation of the freedom of choice is equal to moral death of the individual and we also could see that it has almost led the physical death also. The idea of the authors is that there is no such a social good that could justify the limitations of the moral freedom and will. Evil, chosen consciously is better than the forced good. And even more. Good can not be regarded as good unless its a deep persons conviction.

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Author:: Aaron Schwartz
Keywords:: Clockw ork,Orange,Movie,Directed,By,Stanley,Kubrick
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