The film A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick has caused numerous controversies since its release in 1971. Harsh critics say that it is brutal and that it is best not to watch it at all, while on the other side, also great connoisseurs of the film art claim that it is a masterpiece of one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. What is certainly an interesting aspect when thinking about this film is that it asks some essential questions, but does not provide definitive answers. If does, we need to think about those answers pretty deeply. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - VIOLENCE AND HUMAN NATURE.pptx
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2. FILM BASED ON THE NOVEL
• Stanley Kubrick’s film “A Clockwork Orange” caused a lot of controversy at the time
it came out (1971).
• In some places (countries) it was banned due to explicit scenes of violence, in some
places it was not desirable to be shown, in one period, the director himself withdrew
this film from the cinema.
• And, in some places it was shown in its entirety only much later.
• Filmed based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess, it did not adhere
to the details of the novel’s story in every segment.
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5. A CATHARTIC ROLE
• What the critics of the film may have missed at the time is the fact that if a film
depicts violence and deals with the topic – it does not necessarily mean that it
propagates violence at the same time.
• On the contrary, films, like other works of art, often have a cathartic role – by
evoking certain feelings, they actually purify and eliminate such feelings.
• The action of the film takes place in a specific geographical area, but its story, like its
messages, is universal.
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8. VIOLENCE AND REVERSED ROLES
• One of the key questions is – do those who due to circumstances, because they are
weaker, suffer violence, and then when they get into a position of having any power,
do they behave the same as those who did violence to them?
• So they become violent and often enjoy these violent acts.
• Is violence and the law of the stronger something that is immanent to the human
race?
• Therefore, the one who is stronger is always, by the nature of things, violent, and the
one who is weaker is forced to suffer and submit. Until the roles are reversed...
• The history of the human race shows that this is very often the case, but that, of
course, it is not always the case.
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14. VIOLENCE AND THE ELIMINATION
OF FREE WILL
• Another key question in the film is: whether human nature can be changed by
violently and artificially eliminating free will?
• It is possible, but, as we see in the film, such a predator inevitably becomes a victim,
even of the weakest creatures, as it were, from the bottom of natural and social
selection.
• An intriguing film that will always make us think deeply.
• Malcolm McDowell gave one of his most memorable roles.
