Essay: "A Clockwork Orange" Cinematic Techniques Help Curate Theme

In the film A Clockwork Orange, director Stanley Kubrick explores themes of free will, morality, and humanity through the story of Alex, a charismatic, psychopathic delinquent who engages in “ultra-violent” crimes such as rape, assault, and murder. Alex undergoes rehabilitation that consists of psychological conditioning which ultimately transforms him into a “harmless zombie”. Despite Alex’s extremely gruesome and nausea-inducing acts, many audiences nevertheless continue to “like” Alex—this is partly due to his charm and humor, but can also be attributed to Kubrick’s aesthetic techniques and technical devices that distance the viewer from the acts of horror. Kubrick’s distancing techniques include the employment of ultra-wide and somewhat distorted lenses, the vivid, colorful sets and costumes, the application of upbeat music during violent or cringe-worthy scenes, and finally, designating Alex as narrator. By being able to view the movie with an aloof “spectator sense” while simultaneously identifying or sympathizing with Alex, audiences are able to actively view the film, and hopefully, contemplate his or her own morality, rather than simply dubbing it as an appalling film about some psychotic “monster.”

Alex’s actions are undoubtedly difficult to witness, but there is one scene in particular that is especially repulsive. This scene involves Alex and his “droogs” viciously assaulting F. Alexander, a writer, then violently raping his wife. Throughout the entire scene, Alex gleefully sings and dances to ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. This song choice is obviously incongruent to the horrific events occurring in the scene. This discrepancy “reflects Alex’s joy in contrast to the ‘humiliation and horror’ to which he subjects his victims.” (Ireland, 2014) Furthermore, it aids in providing a distancing tool between the viewer and the inhumane atrocities. This notion is reinforced in an article titled “Singin’ Over Rainbows: The Incongruent Film Song and Extra-Filmic Receptio,” where author David Ireland asserts that the audiences’ sense of “inappropriate detachment” is heightened by the “startlingly ironic deployment of familiar upbeat music.” Ireland also goes on to argue that this “inappropriate detachment” experienced by the viewer mirrors Alex’s reaction to his own action. (Ireland, 2014)

This technique of playing familiar, upbeat music during a violent scene is also employed when Alex murders “the cat lady.” In this particular instance, a classical tune titled “Rossini: La Gazza Ladra-Overture” softly plays in the background then amplifies as the scene intensifies. It is not an unusual or new concept for classical music to be incorporated in the soundtrack of a horror or gory film; but rather than using the classical tune to create a suspenseful or chilling tone that is congruent with the film, A Clockwork Orange uses it in order to emphasize the irony of the film, and again, create a layer of distance between the audience and the movie. This method works by presenting Alex as even more psychopathic and gives the film an unrealistic tone, making the viewer feel “less bad” or more easily able to stay engaged with the movie. Additionally, “Most of the ultra-violent scenes, which include rape, gang-rape, murder, violence and sexually violent fantasies, are performed to the sound of classical music by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and the like” in order to “shock his viewers by the use of these works as catalysts for such extreme psychopathic behavior.” (Hanoch-Roe, 2002)

Moreover, the use of classical music in the film, especially as Alex’s single source of admiration, criticizes the widely-held notion that art, classical music, and/or “being cultured” can make a person morally superior. In an interview Stanley Kubrick is presented the question: “Alex loves rape and Beethoven: what do you think that implies?” to which he replies: “I think this suggests the failure of culture to have any morally refining effect on society. Hitler loved good music and many top Nazis were cultured and sophisticated men but it didn't do them, or anyone else, much good.” (Ciment, 1982) It also contributes to the cynicism of the film: the only “humane” aspect of Alex was his passion for classical music, specifically Beethoven’s Ninth; however, this passion quickly became the very thing that dehumanized Alex, causing him to attempt suicide.

A couple other techniques that we see being used in both of these particularly violent scenes, and all throughout the film, include ultra-wide, distorted lenses and vivid, colorful sets, props, and costumes. The usage of the ultra-wide, distorted lenses creates an illusion of reality and gives the film, or the particular scenes, a feeling of anti-realism. It seems as though the violent acts are just part of an extremely vivid “bad dream”. It also allows the film to maintain its goofy, absurd, comical tone during these gruesome scenes. As for the colorful costumes and sets, as well as for the erotic décor, Kubrick explains that he did this in order to “suggest a slightly futuristic period” for the story. The presence of erotic art is mostly seen in the Cat Lady’s home. “The assumption being that erotic art will eventually become popular art, and just as you now buy African wildlife paintings in Woolworth's, you may one day buy erotica.” (Ciment, 1982) This further distances the viewer from the film, as it is set in an “unrealistic” time period that have not, or will not, experience.

Furthermore, the usage of bright, vivid colors is very apparent in Alex’s home— “When Alex’s room is somewhat ascetic in decoration and color but indicates an inhabitant of some aesthetic taste, the rest of the apartment is garish, filled with unpleasantly clashing colors and textures and fabrics exuding a sense of cheap and cluttered faddishness…[the décor reveals] discord in the apartment’s cacophonic mediocrity.” (Sobchack, 1981) The vast separation between Alex’s room and the rest of his family’s apartment further reinforces Alex’s “otherness” or dissonance in comparison to his extremely ordinary family. Alex’s detachment from his family and the rest of the world parallels the disassociation that the viewer feels towards the film. Finally, the eye-catching colors and aesthetically pleasing shots make the film simply work in making the film more captivating to watch; “It’s all as delightful as reading Alice in Wonderland, and the aesthetic provides a necessary distancing device between the spectator and the acts of horror depicted throughout.” (Kipp, 2007)

Lastly, Kubrick assigns Alex as the narrator of the film. By hearing Alex’s highly subjective view of things, the viewer is also able to view the movie in the same subjective manner. Nonetheless, there are still some almost unbearable scenes in the film, but since Alex has his own “special” way of seeing what he does, it adds to the distance between the viewer and the violence. Additionally, Kubrick argues that being exposed to Alex’s thoughts has the potential to cause the viewer to unconsciously identify with Alex, as he is a plausible example of the unconscious man in his natural state. “Alex has vitality, courage and intelligence, but you cannot fail to see that he is thoroughly evil. At the same time, there is a strange kind of psychological identification with him which gradually occurs, however much you may be repelled by his behaviour. I think this happens for a couple of reasons. First of all, Alex is always completely honest in his first-person narrative, perhaps even painfully so. Secondly, because on the unconscious level I suspect we all share certain aspects of Alex's personality.” (Ciment, 1982)

This may sound contradictory—that identifying with Alex actually further distances us from the violence. However, the film successfully allows the viewer to do both—Alex “casts a spell over the viewer as if to say, ‘Come along with me, little ones.’ He is, in effect, inviting us to enjoy, as we do when we tune in to reality television shows and tabloid newspapers, watching debasement as entertainment.” (Kipp, 2007) Kubrick is, indeed, allowing for viewers to useClockwork Orangeas “an avenue into understanding the corrosion of society” and the potential corruption in ourselves. Although we may connect with Alex on an unconscious level and bear witness to all of his atrocities, Kubrick’s cinematic techniques (such as distorted lenses, vivid, futuristic colors/décor, and the usage of Alex as narrator) provide us with just the right amount of distance from the violence in order for viewers to contemplate their own morality, rather than “throw[ing] up their hands and accusing Kubrick of being immoral.” Clockwork Orange, as gruesome and cringe-worthy as it is, is simply “putting the bleakest parts of human behavior under the microscope” in order to provoke a wide scope of question regarding humanity, morality, and free-will.