A Clockwork Orange

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange is a film that immediately captured my interest this summer. From the eclectic soundtrack to its camerawork dripping with symbolism, I was both engrossed and awe-struck by this film’s ability to convey messages about our world.

Opening with a red block of colour with the non-diegetic ominous music playing not only represents the film’s themes of violence, sexuality and nobility, but also demonstrates the power that music has throughout the entirety of the film to illustrate and create different feelings within the audience. During Alex’s kidnapping by former Droogs who then became police officers, the scene cuts to the soundtrack as he is beaten to create a more intense atmosphere which made me connect with the protagonist’s pain. Furthermore, the scene is representative of an overarching theme of Nazism which is present throughout the film. Once friends of Alex, the Droogs are now willing to use their newfound position of power against someone they now find themselves feeling superior to, much like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany.  This is supported within the scene of Alex being brainwashed as a montage of clips of the war and men in Nazi uniforms plays with fast-paced editing before him and the audience to expose how Hitler abused his power. However, Kubrick blurs images of people lower and upper class, showing supremacy and weakness on both sides, making the film more distinctive as it emphasises the equality between people when uniforms and labels are stripped.

Strong contrasting images further reinforce this concept, for example within a long shot of the Droogs in the distance, their shadows reach the camera and are almost monstrous and black, whereas the characters are dressed in white and are small. Their white costumes connote purity and mirrors the milk they drink throughout the film to make them appear more innocent, yet these colours are used ironically to contrast against the violence that pursues. The use of Beethoven’s 9th symphony over a variety of shots of violence also underlines this, for example when Alex and a woman are fighting after he breaks into her house, the camera acts as a handheld and moves around the two in circles, as though the audience is waltzing to the music. As classical music typically reflects class and tranquillity, the unusual pairing of it with dark pictures creates a disorientating effect to add to the hypnotic sense to the film and almost mocks the rich.

As the scene of the Droogs entering another house to damage crescendos, he begins to sing Singin’ in the Rain from the 50’s musical to show his happiness. By singing a show tune whilst about to rape a woman, Kubrick summons the perception that, more so in the past, women were seen as objects or props rather than as real people. This theme runs throughout the film, for instance when a gang of men attempt to rape another woman on stage almost glorifies the subservience of women to men; however, this idea was incorporated to ridicule status and inequality.

By creating a mass of underlying themes within both the novel and film A Clockwork Orange, adapted in 1971, the film reveals its unique identity and array of colours, lighting and camerawork to make this a favourite film of mine this summer as the disturbing, almost surreal images made me question the brutality of our society.