Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is one of the most
controversial movies ever made. The movie
is based around a thug named Alex,
a teenager, who finds happiness in about any
perverse action. Alex, who seems
to find glory in rape, lust, and murder, tells
the story from his point of
view. The movie examines the usual cliches of
"individual freedom". It seems
as if Alex suffers from an attempt to
exercise his own vitality within a
social structure too severe to support it.
The film is not only a social
satire but also a "fairy tale of
retribution" and a "psychological
myth",(Kagan) all constructed
around the truth of human nature. Each night
Alex and his companions commit
stylized but meaningless acts of violence
including rape, robbery, and mugging.
One such night they find themselves
out at a house far off in the country. The
overly modernistic house has a
sign lit in the front that says "home".
The four boys slither to the
front door where they act as if one of them is
hurt. Once they are permitted
to enter, Alex and his gang rape the woman and
leave the old man there a
cripple. After the horrific event, which Alex
describes as "an evening of
some small energy expenditure," the boys
end back up at the Milkbar for a
nightcap. The Milkbar is a place where spiked
or laced drinks, called
milk-plus, are served. The next morning Alex is
confronted by his probation
officer because his officer thinks that he was
involved in the previous
night's wrongdoings. He keeps a calm demeanor
throughout the whole thing and
denies all charges. That night Alex and his
droogs go about their mischievous
ways again. They attempt to enter an older
woman's house the same way they
entered the previous night, the woman will not
let them. So Alex finds his
way inside and once inside he struggles with the
woman, who has already
called the cops, and ends up clubbing her with an
enormous phallic sculpture,
killing her. When he goes back outside, his droogs
turn against him and smash
a milk bottle over his head, leaving him for the
cops. Alex is questioned by
the police and then accused of murder and sent to
prison. During his stay in
prison he acts like an upstanding member of society,
helping at group liturgy
and reading the Bible regularly. Because of this Alex
is chosen to take part
in an experimental rehabilitation called the "ludovico
treatment". For the
treatment Alex is strapped to a chair and forced to
watch horrific scenes of
rape, murder, and brutality with the use of eye
openers. The constant viewing
of the material makes him sick, and to even think
about it makes him
nauseated. The material is accompanied by classical music
including
Beethoven, which in turn has the same affect of sickness when listened
to.
After some time he is tested to see if he will regress into his former
self.
He is tested by having different people perform acts such as
violence unto Alex,
hoping to enrage him. After each test is completed Alex
is set free. The satire
on conditioning is fairly clear-cut: we are shown
that society is actually based
on power and dissembling; it follows that a
man conditioned to be
"good" in all circumstances is continuously vulnerable.
Alex is
confronted with multiple situations from his past upon his release.
He becomes
the butt end of the events to close the movie, including: a hobo
whom Alex beat
up returns with his hobo friends to beat Alex up, Alex's own
parents take in a
renter at their house who kicks Alex out, Alex's droogs
become policemen and
turn on him, and finally the man who he left a cripple,
at the beginning of the
movie, tries to kill him like Alex killed his wife.
The basic paradox of the
movie is free will, and the importance of a man's
power to choose how he will
act and what choices he wants to make; even if it
is violence and destruction.