{"id":38276,"date":"2017-03-10T11:24:48","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T18:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=38276"},"modified":"2020-12-13T18:16:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T01:16:59","slug":"clockwork-orange-a-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=38276","title":{"rendered":"Clockwork Orange, A (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;If you need Pretty Polly &#8212; you take it.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Poster-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-38278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Poster-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Poster-91x128.jpg 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Poster.jpg 534w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a dystopian British future, an ultra-violent thug (Malcolm McDowell) who has committed a series of heinous crimes with his &#8220;droogs&#8221; (James Marcus, Michael Tarn, and Warren Clarke) is arrested and sent to prison, where he undergoes a new conversion therapy known as the &#8220;Ludovico Technique&#8221;. Upon release, Alex (McDowell) feels ill at the thought of violence or sex &#8212; but what future lies ahead for this reformed delinquent?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Dystopia<\/li>\n<li>Gangs<\/li>\n<li>Juvenile Delinquents<\/li>\n<li>Malcolm McDowell Films<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Rape<\/li>\n<li>Revenge<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>Stanley Kubrick Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary writes, Stanley Kubrick&#8217;s adaptation of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Clockwork_Orange_(novel)\">Anthony Burgess&#8217;s dystopian 1962 novel<\/a> &#8212; written after Burgess endured the brutal beating and rape of his wife by AWOL GI&#8217;s during a WWII blackout raid &#8212; remains a &#8220;visually brilliant [yet] thematically reprehensible&#8221; film. Peary asserts that &#8220;because Alex is meant to embody our savage, anarchic impulses, Kubrick figured we&#8217;d identify with him&#8221;, and &#8220;manipulates us into <em>accepting<\/em> Alex in relation to the world&#8221;. He notes that as &#8220;played by McDowell&#8230; Alex is energetic, handsome, witty, and more clever, honest, intelligent, and interesting than any of the adults in the cruel world&#8221; &#8212; and that &#8220;without exception, Kubrick makes Alex&#8217;s victims more obnoxious than they are in the book [and] their abuse at Alex&#8217;s hands more palatable by making them grotesque, mannered, snobbish figures&#8221;. Peary points out how many &#8220;distancing devices&#8221; Kubrick uses, including &#8220;extreme wide angles, slow motion, fast motion, surreal backgrounds, [and] songs that counterpoint the violence&#8221; &#8212; which, by the way, is all &#8220;very stylized&#8221; when Alex perpetrates it, &#8220;but when it comes time for him to endure violence&#8230; is much more realistic&#8221;. We&#8217;re led to pity Alex, who is &#8220;like an alley cat declawed before being returned to the streets&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Peary&#8217;s no-holds-barred reviews of <em>A Clockwork Orange<\/em> in <em>GFTFF<\/em> (and his <em>Cult Movies 2<\/em> book) are incisive, compelling, and worth quoting at greater length. He notes that Burgess stated, &#8220;If we are going to love mankind, we will have to love Alex as a not unrepresentative member of it; it is preferable to have a world of violence undertaken in full awareness &#8212; violence chosen as an act of will &#8212; than a world conditioned to be good or harmless.&#8221; However, Peary points out that &#8220;the mankind Kubrick shows us is totally alien to us and not worthy of our love. And even <em>before<\/em> he undergoes the Ludovico treatment, Alex&#8217;s violent acts don&#8217;t seem to be made through <em>free choice<\/em>, but are reflexive, conditioned by past violence &#8212; he is already a clockwork orange (human on the outside, mechanized on the inside).&#8221; Ultimately, the &#8220;film&#8217;s strong, gratuitous violence is objectionable (as is the comical atmosphere when violence is being perpetrated), but the major reason the film can be termed fascistic is Kubrick&#8217;s heartless, super-intellectual, super-orderly, anti-septic, anti-human, anti-female, anti-sensual, anti-passion, anti-erotic treatment of its subject&#8221;, with &#8220;all emotional stimuli&#8230; lumped together as being harmful&#8221;, and &#8220;all art&#8230; pornographic&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>In <em>Cult Movies 2<\/em>, Peary adds that &#8220;the film is like a Sunday sermon where the fellow up on the pulpit suddenly realizes there is no moral lesson that applies to his listeners&#8230; Kubrick [simply] teaches paranoid individuals&#8230; that you can&#8217;t cure the habitual thrill criminal&#8221;. He concludes his essay in this book by noting that &#8220;once Alex is arrested and the look of the film shifts away from dreamlike pop art, the picture becomes excruciatingly dull&#8221;. I&#8217;m essentially in agreement with Peary: I&#8217;ve avoided a re-watch of <em>A Clockwork Orange<\/em> for years, and don&#8217;t plan to revisit it again &#8212; but it&#8217;s infamous (and beloved) enough to warrant one-time viewing by film fanatics. (Meanwhile, the cinematography and sets are indeed memorable, as is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wendycarlos.com\/+wcco.html\">Wendy Carlos&#8217;s synthesized score<\/a>.) Be forewarned that some scenes are almost unbearably misogynistic and\/or brutalizing; if our world is actually headed in this direction, we have reason to be very scared indeed. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Malcolm McDowell as Alex<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-McDowell.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>John Alcott&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Cinematography.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Many hideously memorable sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Kick.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Eyes.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Effectively stylized, futuristic sets and visual design<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"369\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-38285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Clockwork-Orange-Sets2.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Wendy Carlos&#8217;s memorable synthesized score <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, as a dark cult classic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066921\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/cloc.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1971\/12\/20\/archives\/a-clockwork-orange-dazzles-the-senses-and-mind.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/sciencefiction\/a-clockwork-orange-1971.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3542cloc.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=1814&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If you need Pretty Polly &#8212; you take it.&#8221; Synopsis: In a dystopian British future, an ultra-violent thug (Malcolm McDowell) who has committed a series of heinous crimes with his &#8220;droogs&#8221; (James Marcus, Michael Tarn, and Warren Clarke) is arrested and sent to prison, where he undergoes a new conversion therapy known as the &#8220;Ludovico Technique&#8221;. Upon release, Alex (McDowell) feels ill at the thought of violence or sex &#8212; but what future lies ahead for this reformed delinquent? Genres,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=38276\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38276"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57697,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38276\/revisions\/57697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}