I've seen Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange three times in the theatre, the first being by myself because everyone I knew it the time was terrified that seeing it might warp them in some way, and the other times I watched it with my friend Joyce and then with my friend Ruth Ann. I mention this in such detail because the two women expressed no particular sense of uneasiness, and I considered then and still do that these were and are among two of the wisest and most wonderful women ever, despite my apparent need for alliteration. Anyway, I was originally quite troubled by the movie and I'll tell you why. It's a troubling movie. That's why.
Whenever something this well done runs counter to everything you believe in and hold sacred, you are going to feel uneasy. Technically, no film before or after has exceeded the brilliance of A Clockwork Orange, from the use of oppositional colors during the opening titles to the overlay of synthetic classical music during the same entrance into the nightmare comic world of Alexander DeLodge. "There was me, then, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Carova Milkbar trying to make up our razoodocks what to do with the evening." Even if you've seen this film only one time, I guarantee you'll remember that bit of nadsat commentary as the camera at first lingers on the lizard-like huffing face of our friend and humble narrator and then inches back effortlessly to reveal the world in which his story is taking place, a world in which everything has mechanical connotations, including sex, violence, and criminality. Sex is not just sex; it's the old in-out. Violence isn't just violence; it's the old ultra-violence. And crime isn't just crime; it's accompanied by music, old music made by new machines.
I watched this movie for the umpteenth time this morning and was disturbed all over again. There they stood at the mouth of some blue drained alley with the old drunk burbling away. Alex jammed his cane into the old man's belly and with a tight close up, inquired of the man who had remarked of the stinking world, "Oh? And what's so stinking about it?"
The movie is terrifying because you can't help but worry that if Hitler had had Kubrick instead of Leni Riefenstahl, the bastard just might have won the way more overtly. The audience gets programmed just as the Alex character in the film gets programmed. And in exactly the same manner. Oh, I know. I went on about that subject about a year ago here and that is true. But dammit, the movie is still every bit as good and every bit as horrible as it ever was and yet I have a hunch that we as an audience or we as a people have just possibly not risen above our own prurience.
Of audience manipulation Kubrick is a master, as anyone who has enjoyed The Shining can attest. But relocating the audience around the chessboard or being relocated is insufficient for an engaging evening. We still require an interesting story and here as well we are met head-on with the response to our challenge. Kubrick, as with novelist Anthony Burgess, wastes no time getting down to business. Visually, sartorially and otherwise, A Clockwork Orange does not so much pull us in as it grabs us by the collar and drags us into the admittedly comic shenanigans of the despicable teenager played to perfection by Malcolm McDowell.
So what is my problem? My problems are many, but the one I wish to mention in passing is that within the larger context of the director's work, it is reasonable to inquire if just possibly all the psychological shifting wasn't just a magnificently artistic way of camouflaging a deep misogyny. Just like Ray Davies, you and I do not want to die in a nuclear war, but we don't necessarily enjoy the fact that Dr. Strangelove used women as objects, just as they were used in Lolita, just as they were used as either officious bitches or sheer ugliness and stupidity in The Shining. Oh, but that's just part of the auteur's genius at work, they say. Very well, then that is one particular type of genius who is free to stay the hell away from me because I have changed and can no longer put up with this type of betrayal of talent. It turns out that I rather like women. My mother, for instance, was a woman. And I can't say that my initial and prolonged discomfort with A Clockwork Orange and its anti-rehabilitation, anti-statist proclivities are any more palatable today than they were back in 1971 when the film first came out. The only difference is that I no longer have the intellectual burden of needing to rationalize the vacuousness and evil that is ultimately celebrated here in the name of freedom of choice. Better a million Alexes than a system in which he could not be free to exist. That's what they said then and it's been repeated everywhere since from Baghdad to Virginia Tech. Fuck it.
Hot Pages
- Wife saw bullet hole while Skyping with soldier
http://news.yahoo.com/wife-saw-bullet-hole-while-skyping-soldier-17015...DALLAS (AP) - An Army nurse showed no alarm or discomfort before suddenly collapsing during a Skype video chat with his wife, who saw a bullet hole in a closet behind him, his family said Sunday. | Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark's family released a statement describing what his wife saw in the video feed recording her husband's death. | "Clark was suddenly knocked forward," the statement said. "The closet behind him had a bullet hole in it.news.yahoo.com - Box Office Shocker: 'Avengers' Opens to Record-Shattering $200.3 Million
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/box-office-shocker-avengers-opens-record-...Joss Whedon'sThe Avengers has set a new bar in opening to a walloping $200.3 million at the domestic box office, the largest debut ever and kicking off summer 2012 in high style. | The 3D tentpole -- marking a major victory for Disney and Marvel Studios -- easily dethroned Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which opened to $169.2 million last summer, then the largest number in history. | Avengers opened a week ago overseas, earning a whopping $441.5 million through Sunday.movies.yahoo.com - George Lindsey, known as Goober Pyle, dies
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=726280NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. According to his imdb.com profile, the actor was 76. | A press release from Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made.tv.msn.com - http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hollande-defeats-sarkozy-french-el...Torn election posters of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, May 6, 2012. (Francois Mori/AP) | François Hollande won the French presidential election on Sunday, capturing more than 51 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and become France's new president, according French television. | Sarkozy, who has held the French presidency since 2007, grabbed 48.1 percent, according to the polls.news.yahoo.com
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660Socialist Francois Hollande has been elected as France's new president, early estimates say. | He got about 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off, according to projections based on partial results, against 48% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. | Mr Hollande would be the first French socialist president since 1995. | Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries.www.bbc.co.uk
- Police eye Churchill Downs death as homicide
http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/7896406/2012-kentucky-derby...LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The discovery of a man's body Sunday in the stable area of Churchill Downs was being investigated as a homicide, but there is no connection to the race track or the Kentucky Derby, police said. | "At this point we don't have anything pointing to the fact that this had any association with Churchill Downs or the Derby itself," said Alicia Smiley, spokewoman for Louisville Metro Police.espn.go.com - Sarkozy concedes after French presidential runoff
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/06/world/europe/france-election/index.html?...Paris (CNN) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy conceded to challenger Francois Hollande Sunday as results from exit polls and official tallies in the runoff election came in. | "I take the responsibility for this loss," Sarkozy said from his Paris campaign headquarters, as members of the crowd shouted, "No!" | "I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people, and more than ever I have the love for my country deeply ingrained in my heart," Sarkozy said.www.cnn.com - http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/06/11565975-army-wife-watche...U.S. News - Army wife watched husband die on Skype, says bullet hole was in closet behind him RSS MSN Hotmail More Autos My MSN Video Careers & Jobs Personals Weather Delish Quotes White Pages Games Real Estate Wonderwall Horoscopes Shopping Yellow Pages Local Edition Traffic Feedback Maps & Directions Travel Full MSN Index Bing msnbc.com sites & shows: TODAY Rock Center Nightly News Meet the Press Dateline Morning Joe Hardball Ed Maddow Last Word msnbc tv Home US World Politics Business Sports ...usnews.msnbc.msn.com
- http://www.weather.com/National and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report The Weather Channel - weather.com Make it Your Weather Select non-U.S. weather.com website United States (English) United States (English) United States (Spanish) UK & Ireland (English) France (French) Brazil (Portuguese) Germany (German) India (English) Italia (Italiano) Fahrenheit is Selected °F Change to Celsius °C Sign In Weather.com Gold Notify My Profile Sign Out Weather Local National Forecast Severe Weather Alerts Hurricane Centralwww.weather.com
- Socialist Hollande triumphs in French presidential poll
http://www.france24.com/en/france/2min/20120506-france-socialist-holla...Socialist Hollande triumphs in French presidential poll - FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012 - FRANCE 24 France24 (EN) Connect Join the France 24 community here Log in FRANCE 24 latest world news report FRANCE 24 latest world news report Socialist Hollande triumphs in French presidential poll - FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012 - FRANCE 24 Enter the terms you wish to search for.www.france24.com - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/06/george-lindsey-dead-andy-grif...NASHVILLE, Tenn. - George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was 83. | A press release from Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made. | Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971.www.huffingtonpost.com
- Signs that your date is a player
http://yahoo.match.com/y/article.aspx?articleid=8625&TrackingID=526103...You must have Yahoo! Messenger installed on your computer before installing the Match.com on Yahoo! plug-in. | I have Yahoo! Messenger installed! I want the Plug-in! | I don't have Yahoo! Messenger installed, but would like to. | View Photos of Local Singles for Free | © Copyright 2012 Match.com, L.L.C. wec1-006fec1-001s- | Whether you're interested in casual dating or a serious relationship, it helps to know what the person you're interested in is expecting.yahoo.match.com - http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/06/11433311-the-most-and...The United States is more peaceful now than at any time in the past 20 years. Nevertheless, violence still cost the economy at least $460 billion in 2010, through a combination of lost productivity and direct costs, according to a new report published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the report in order to identify the most and least peaceful states, as well as how much they spend on violence. | Louisiana, which is the least peaceful state, has the highest rate of homicide.bottomline.msnbc.msn.com
1 comment:
Alexander DeLodge?
Post a Comment