Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Faustus
I would first of all, classify Clockwork Orange, as at least to some degree a horror film. Lit-fic often tries to dodge genre distinctions to avoid looking like trash, but I think a film using displays of violence didactically and presenting a dark alternate history could be called a horror film. The movie has a foot in the door of a lot of genres, but I would say that horror is one of the more solid of them. Burgess wrote the book and Kubrick made the movie for the same reason Mary Shelley told us not to play god with Frankenstein. A Clockwork Orange terrifies and provokes to remind us of another moral; that a person is a person and cannot be rendered inorganic and cannot be remade no matter how much we try. In the same way Victor Frankenstein's attempt to make a man fails, so too does Burgess' draconian regime's attempt. Frankenstein is a foundation of literary horror and is every bit as didactic and artistic and utilizes methods that looked just as scary and scandalous at the time to make it's point. I think it's also right that a Clockwork Orange is comical. Alex's sadistic glee and nonchalant approach toward killing, not to mention his hillariously earnest narration are quite funny, or even if not funny to the viewer, intended to be comedic. This movie commits acts of aggression against the viewer to teach, not because it's for people who like rape. Personal sensitivities are to be respected, but a film's intentions should be too.
|
Burgess said in an interview, around the time of the film's release, that the book was a sort of act of revenge. His wife had been raped by American GIs stationed in England. He, in fact, was the author in the book. The book is a terrific read, BTW.