A Clockwork Orange

Film title: A Clockwork Orange 
Director: Stanley Kubrick

Plot: Alex DeLarge, a charismatic delinquent, carries out acts of "ultra-violence" along with his fellow "droogs". Subsequently, he ends up in jail but is given the opportunity to participate in a psychological experiment that attempts to solve abnormal and sadistic behavior. However, all doesn't go accordingly.

Reviews: 
"Brilliant, stunning and disturbingly entertaining" - Wilson Huff, Boston (2005)




How does Stanley Kubrick portray generic conventions of the thriller genre in "A Clockwork Orange"
   
          

The use of the tunnel indicates Kubrick's establishment of generic locations. This is as it is an enclosed location, which connotes entrapment and adds a sense of claustrophobia, the particular tunnel used further conveys this idea as there only seems to be one exit. Furthermore, the use of shadows and the diegetic sound of footsteps builds suspense. This is as the footsteps get louder and the shadows get larger, this implies the impending evil as the darkness from the shadows begins to fill the tunnel creating an immense amount of tension.

Leading lines are very effective in this long shot of Alex and his gang, they guide us to the main point of interest and further highlight how narrow the location is. Also, the vanishing point plays a big part in this shot, it could suggest that the gang have come out from no where, and that they are bringing their reality of "ultra-violence" to the old man. Additionally, Kubrick has established noir lighting through the use of a non-ambient source of brightness within the background, of which allows for a light to dark transition from the back to the front of the shot. This is effective in making the gang seem a lot more notorious and intimidating, therefore making their entrance even more powerful and suspenseful. Furthermore, two of the characters' shadows have engulfed the old man's figure which could be connotation to suggest he's in trouble as he's been overwhelmed by their darkness.

Noir lighting is very effective in this shot as it masks each of the characters identities, leaving their faces unreadable. This means that we are unable to identify with their emotions and rely more on the diegetic sound and action to establish what their feeling. Kubrick challenges generic conventions of weapons in "A Clockwork Orange" as instead of using props such as knives or guns to inflict terror, Alex and his gang use canes. We can see that these props are effective in asserting dominance and power particularly in this still, whereby the old man is forced under the cane showing that Alex is above him in the social hierarchy.

This is a great example of chiaroscuro lighting, it highlights Alex's face and therefore gives us a clear clarity of expression and emotion. From the use of chiaroscuro lighting and a close-up shot we can identify with Alex's  sadistic manor, this is as his expressions show signs of pleasure and anger, as if he is getting enjoyment out of inflicting pain to the defenseless old man.


Influences on other media texts:

"A Clockwork Orange" has had a significant impact on a variety of films and television, it's brilliant cinematography and compelling characters have evoked a huge amount of intertextual references. For example, Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" directly references two scenes from "A Clockwork Orange".

Film:

            
          
 This scene is a direct reference to "A Clockwork Orange" whereby Mr Blonde is dancing around and torturing the cop to a rather upbeat and unfitting song. Much like when Alex is singing a usually joyous and happy song whilst performing acts of violence and rape.

Another scene that Tarantino references from "A Clockwork Orange" is when Alex and his "droogs" are walking alongside the river in slow motion. Tarantino refers to this scene in the opening sequence by having the gangsters walking along in slow-motion aswell. 








Television:

                     
Matt Groening continuously references "A Clockwork Orange" in running family cartoon "The Simpsons", further proving how influential the film has been on modern media.

Reception:

"A Clockwork Orange" was released in 1971 with the rating "X", which means only suitable for over 18's, this was the most explicit rating of films within that time period. Furthermore, "A Clockwork Orange" received a lot of bad criticism when released, stating that it's incredibly graphic violence and rape scenes would damage society by influencing teenagers to recreate acts seen. Throughout 1972 and 1973, police linked cases of teenage violence to the film, therefore forcing Stanley Kubrick to withdraw the film from British distribution. The most shocking copy-cat case was the incident of a rape after the film had been banned, whereby in 1973 a gang of men raped a 17-year old dutch girl whilst  singing "singing in the rain".

These user ratings from IMDB show how highly different age groups and genders rated "A Clockwork Orange". The results here show that males under 18 gave the highest rating for the film, this may because of Alex DeLarge, the main character being of a similar age. Therefore, posing as a relatable character to these audiences. This relation to Alex DeLarge could be the cause of such similar cases in reality as the character, although very sadistic, is quite charismatic and therefore seems less serious in his acts. This personal quality to the character may have lead those to re-create acts as they didn't see them as genuinely bad, this idea in particular applies to the "singing in the rain" rape case.