A Clockwork Orange

[happythoughts 0]

First, CO was not as much an entertainment movie,
but a commentary on British politics of the day.
So, a discussion is more at home in Speakers Corner.

They needed a villain to really polarize opinion and
produce discussion/outrage. He was a great one.
No one disputes the excessive violence, etc.

What follows is how British politics entered the picture.
The film used caricatures of each party and the central figure as their pawn.

The right was tormenting the guy. The left used him as
a tool to attack the right. Putting him on the correct path with care, after all the abuse.

So, seeing it again won't make it more enjoyable.

As a parallel to the genre in the US, Easy Rider.
Drug-taking hippies who ride motorcycles and
have sex. Destroying the fabric of American society.

At that time in the US, society was very polarized on
what seem like non-issues today.

The riders were shot and killed. People walked out of
the theater and thought they were right, no matter which
side of the issues they were on.

If the point of some art is not entertainment, but to be thought-provoking, then Kubrick succeeded.

[Squeak 17]

Quote

First, CO was not as much an entertainment movie,
but a commentary on British politics of the day.
So, a discussion is more at home in Speakers Corner.

They needed a villain to really polarize opinion and
produce discussion/outrage. He was a great one.
No one disputes the excessive violence, etc.

What follows is how British politics entered the picture.
The film used caricatures of each party and the central figure as their pawn.

The right was tormenting the guy. The left used him as
a tool to attack the right. Putting him on the correct path with care, after all the abuse.

So, seeing it again won't make it more enjoyable.

As a parallel to the genre in the US, Easy Rider.
Drug-taking hippies who ride motorcycles and
have sex. Destroying the fabric of American society.

At that time in the US, society was very polarized on
what seem like non-issues today.

The riders were shot and killed. People walked out of
the theater and thought they were right, no matter which
side of the issues they were on.

If the point of some art is not entertainment, but to be thought-provoking, then Kubrick succeeded.

As usual Bill extremely well put.

No one under 40 will "GET" those types of films as they view them out of time, place and context.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[jonstark 8]

"Whydja kill 'im Cyrus?"

"No reason."


Never could get that sequence out of my head. WTF?

jon

[riddler 0]

Quote

First, CO was not as much an entertainment movie,
but a commentary on British politics of the day.

Well, first, CO was a book. Then it was a movie. The book holds more fodder for commentary in social experimentation than the movie did. The movie is redeeming only for some interesting cinematography and some pretty good acting by McDowell.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[LongWayToFall 0]

I thought it kicked ass. I watched it in my sophmore honors english class, I forget what we were studying at the time. I love almost all of Kubric's stuff.

[amstalder 0]

The first four times or so that I saw it was my favorite movie. It's still on my list of favorites, it's just less of a favorite than others now (probably because I watched it so many times after I first saw it). Mostly due to the weird factor. The book is definitely better.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure both the book and the movie were banned in the UK for many years.

[fallfast69 3]

Quote

First, CO was not as much an entertainment movie,
but a commentary on British politics of the day.
So, a discussion is more at home in Speakers Corner.

They needed a villain to really polarize opinion and
produce discussion/outrage. He was a great one.
No one disputes the excessive violence, etc.

What follows is how British politics entered the picture.
The film used caricatures of each party and the central figure as their pawn.

The right was tormenting the guy. The left used him as
a tool to attack the right. Putting him on the correct path with care, after all the abuse.

So, seeing it again won't make it more enjoyable.

As a parallel to the genre in the US, Easy Rider.
Drug-taking hippies who ride motorcycles and
have sex. Destroying the fabric of American society.

At that time in the US, society was very polarized on
what seem like non-issues today.

The riders were shot and killed. People walked out of
the theater and thought they were right, no matter which
side of the issues they were on.

If the point of some art is not entertainment, but to be thought-provoking, then Kubrick succeeded.

okayyyy...I guess that part of the movie went way over my head, but I can see exactly what you're talking about!

What I took from it was more along the lines of a what-comes-around-goes-around kinda thing, or payback and irony.

He commits crimes, payback is he goes to prison.

He still doesn't really take responsibility for what he's done and wants to get our of prison before serving his time and is willing to subject himself the the experment. Payback is the experment really fucks him up.

He was a horrible son to his parents, payback is his parents replace him with another son while he's in prison and he is out on the streets where he gets treated the way he used to treat others.

The real irony came into play when his partners in crime became cops - and the fact that he wound up back at the HOME he victimized early on in the film. I thought he was going to end up paralized when he jumped from the window - that would have made me happy!

Easy Rider was a great movie and a great story - you nailed it!

Jon

[Stem13 0]

Book IS great for sure. I have a friend who LOVED the movie, so I thought I'd give the book a read first. Read the book thought it was great and couldn't wait to watch the movie. Watched it and was disapointed, but only as in a connection to the book. It is a good movie, just felt that it didn't do as good of a job conveying the same aspects as the book.

some sort of crazy liquor cheeseburger party