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Clockwork Orange and the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
For Walter Benjamin, the defining characteristic of modernity was mass assembly and production of commodities, concomitant with this transformation of production is the destruction of tradition and the mode of experience which depends upon that tradition. While the destruction of tradition means the destruction of authenticity, of the originally, in that it also collapses the distance between art and the masses it makes possible the liberation which capitalism both obscures and opposes. While commodity fetishism represents the alienation away from use-value and towards exchange-value, leading to the assembly line construction of the same--as we see relentlessly analyzed by Horkheimer and Adorno in their essay The Culture Industry. Benjamin believes that with the destruction of tradition, laboratory potentialities are nonetheless created. The process of the destruction of aura through mass reproduction brings about the "destruction of traditional modes of experience through shock," in response new forms of experience are created which attempt to cope with that shock.
"Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking one element: its presence in time and space, it’s unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. The authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning" when substantive duration ceases to matter, he says, the authority of the object is threatened. (Think, for example of Alex's response to high art...) "technology has subjected the human sensorium to a complex kind of training. There came a day when a new and urgent need for stimuli was met by the film. In a film, perception in the form of shocks was established as a formal principle. That which determines the rhythm of production on a conveyor belt is the basis of the rhythm of reception in a film." (Motifs in Baudelaire)
Benjamin distinguishes between two kinds of experience: Erfahrung something integrated as experience, and Erlebnis, something merely lived through. Erlebnis characterizes the modern age and refers to the inability to integrate oneself and the world via experience. Erlebnis, then, ...
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...lus (a "very important piece of art," ritualized and de-politicized) is made into a weapon, and the scene of her death is a nearly subliminal orgy of modern-art.
Whereas she, as with the use of all high-art among the Bourgeoisie, finds only exchange value in the phallus, phallus as pure sign, Alex initiates the violent reversal of that commodification. He turns it into a tool, here a tool of violence; what she has done is to inject exhibition value into forms of art which have only exchange value, the work of art in the hands of the Bourgeoisie is reinjected with a type of aura, which only lead it further in the direction of losing control (like the reinjection of aura in the robot --Maria's aura--in Metropolis). Control is lost and the phallus becomes a weapon, a violent recontextualization by Alex. He proves to understand well this process. There are also similarities here with the State's control of his mind through conditioning. The state attempts to gain control by turning Alex into a robot (a clockwork orange), thus commodifying him (isn't this the struggle at the end for control of Alex--the liberals and state?). His use-value is a function of his exchange-value.
In conclusion it is seen that Alex has effectively changed into a man and has become a morally sensitive individual. He, for himself has chosen good
Captivation or being restrained due to certain circumstances that prevents free choice is usually one of many great reasons to form revolutionary ideas. To get from captivation to liberation, one must consider change, a major component needed in order to gain freedom after enslavement. Latin America, in the eighteen hundreds, sought the need for change due to the resentment of the Spanish rule. Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary leader of Latin America, will seek independence from Spain. It was in Jamaica where Bolivar wrote a letter known as the “Jamaican Letter”, one of Bolivar’s greatest proposals. The letter emphasizes his thoughts and meanings of the revolution while envisioning a variety of governmental structures, of the New World, that could one day be recognized.
" The main and essential thing is : the sensory exploration of the world through film. We therefore take as a point of departure the use of the camera as a keno-eye, more perfect than the human eye, for the exploration of the chaos of visual phenomena that fills space."
...he era of postmodernism altered the face of art, taking it away from both the religious and ritual context it was originally made for. Warhol was able to create a sense of value in his art by linking illusion of scarcity and inimitability of brand names and branded famous faces to pop art. Through works such as “Silver Liz as Cleopatra,” Warhol had single handedly gave new meaning to art by exploiting a recognized figure of mass culture for the consumption of society. To be specific, the value in “Silver Liz as Cleopatra” is embedded in its mass production and the authentic and genuine appeal of a media icon. Warhol’s take on Elizabeth Taylor defines the transformation in art history that Walter Benjamin alludes to. The value of “Silver Liz as Cleopatra” is not based on its abidance of tradition, but based on its mass production in pop culture, and iconic existence.
“…the culture industry has brought about the false elimination of the distance between art and life, and this also allows one to recognize the contradictoriness of the avant-gardiste undertaking: the result is that the Avant-garde, for all its talk of purging art of affirmation with forces of production consumption, became an accomplice in the total subsumption of Art under capitalism.”
Such varied reactions serve to indicate that preconceptions had been formed as to what characterizes a Québec film, and that these preconceptions are assumed to dictate what audiences want to watch. The fact that Le Temps D’Une Chasse is open to various interpretations should not indicate a flaw in the film; rather, it should be seen as representing another aspect of the complex and contradictory social context within which it was produced. "An awareness of contradiction and a willingness to allow this awareness to shape the aesthetic experience are essential elements of modern art’s rebellion against the fixed viewpoint of perspective and linearity that created a sense of order and harmony in the past" (Leach 226).
Very few modern or even classical novels present a psychological tale like that presented in Anthony Burgess's magnum opus and controversial novel, A Clockwork Orange. The novel follows the protagonist and narrator, Alex, who is not a given a surname until the film adaptation. Alex, while the protagonist of the novel, is a violent person up to the second to last chapter of the novel. However, the underlying psychology behind every one of Alex's actions rings true and presents a compelling argument about the nature of free will, violence, and what makes a man human.
The two works suggest that freedom of choice needs to be taken away for the greater good of society. In A Clockwork Orange, social safety and security are the driving forces behind removing freedom from the people, especially Alex, the main character. The start of the movie depicts the struggle of a violent youth that exercises free will in an oppressive but safe and stable society. Alex and his gang, termed droogs, symbolize free will as they attempt to liberate themselves from all government limitations. They indulge in vices shunned by the society such as rape and murder, and bring out the dark side of free will by expressing themselves against a society that encourages safety. Alex’s violent nature makes him a threat and in an attempt to impose order, the government forces Alex to be “transformed out of all recognition” (A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick). T...
...e sexual union between him and the woman. The couple is also wearing jewelry that symbolizes their sexual power and union as a whole. This particular piece of art shows how the physical appearance of a human is not needed to show sexual characteristics. The pieces are completely different in appearance, but the idea of sexual representation is fully shown throughout each piece.
...ing is an enemy!.....the fetishes were weapons. To help people avoid coming under the influence of spirits again , to help them become independent.......I understood why I was a painter....Les Demoiselles d?Avignon must have come to me that very day , but not at all because of the forms ; because it was my first exorcism painting-yes absolutely!? 15 Picasso used Les Demoiselles d?Avignon to free himself from what the world had told him was absolute. Les Demoiselles d?Avignon mocks and teases the faith that people put into their ignorance of the unknown. Picasso?s Les Demoiselles d?Avignon continues to challenge a shake people to this day.
And a Clockwork universe is comparing the universe as a mechanical clock, it’s a perfect contraption, but every aspect of it is science controlling it. So, I asked questions after each paragraph about Alex. With Alex being a deviant criminal in the beginning due to his environment which wasn’t his fault for being the way he was to being put through “treatment” that cured him to be a perfect citizen, he still wasn’t fully “cured”. Once Alex was put into the real world he became the perfect victim, and he was put through horrific acts just like he used to do to his victims and tried to commit suicide. With jumping out a window Alex’s new conditioning isn’t a thing anymore, he doesn’t get ill when subjected to violence and is able to listen to his favorite song by Beethoven without getting sick also. Once Alex figures out that he doesn’t get violently ill when subjected to these things government officials apologize to him and compensate him for their fault. The camera pans out and Alex just smirks at the camera, so will he learn from this experience and learn new ways to cope with violence or was it all a waste and goes back to his
The idea of one being free or not free is greatly debated for the main character, Alex, in A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. Almost anyone, when asked, will say that they believe they are free because they are able to make their own decision and can do what they choose, also known as free will. But to what extent are you truly free? It all comes down to what you consider it means to be free. According to critic Samuel McCracken, there is a definite difference between free will and free choice. He argues that Alex is not deprived of free will, rather than free choice. Samuel McCracken explains that in order to be “brainwashed’ one must be provided with a new set of opinions and values. Throughout the novel, there isn’t a point in which
As time evolved so did the means of replicating reality. As far back as cave drawings, humans have tried to make sense of their surroundings through artificial means. We can go through time and see this process evolve from engraving, to painting, to photography, and to its most convincing form to date: cinema. In the task of duplicating reality cinema has surpassed all other forms of representation. Looking at the other means which are mentioned above we see cinema is the first mean that is able to capture movement, and nowadays even sound. André Bazin may well be the most influential critic ever to have written about this process. As …. States: “Bazin envisions each rung on cinema's evolutionary ladder as a step toward a more realistic depiction of the world (sound, colour, depth of field, 3- D, etc.)”. Since Bazin believes that the origins of an art reveal its nature, cinema's quest for realism supports his claim for an objective and pure cinema (…). By using the term pure cinema Basin refers to the truest form of recreating reality. This myth of pure cinema which grew out of cinema's beginnings stands as the standard cinema has progressively evolved toward. Bazin sees cinema as “an idealistic phenomenon” and only consequently technical. Being a humanist he believes that the idea precedes the invention and hence is superior to the technical means used to achieve it (…). To Bazin the cinema is inherently realistic even though the potential for human interference is always present. The myth of total cinema Bazin speaks of concerns the belief that humans’ psychology will always leave men with the need to portray reality, possibly as a way to fight back against mortality. Bazin explains the relationship between the filmed image and...
... over time – and the viewer’s personal experience, essentially her history. This gets very near to a common sense perspective – what we look at, and what we think about what we see has much to do with who we are and what we have experienced in life. Thus, art may be described as an interaction between the viewer, influenced by her experiences, with the work of art, inclusive of its history and the stories built up around it over time. When we look at art, we must acknowledge that the image is temporally stretched – there is more to it than meets the eye at present. What we learn from Didi-Huberman’s approach is to give this temporal ‘tension’ its due. Didi-Huberman describes and defends the importance of of how we look at artistic works: images that represent something determinate, while always remaining open to the presentation of something new and different.
A Clockwork Orange and the Moral Decay of Society A Clockwork Orange received critical acclaim, made more than thirty million dollars at the box office, and was nominated for various awards; however, this esteemed film was outlawed from the nation of Great Britain in order to curb its immoral content from permeating society. Before all the controversy began, A Clockwork Orange was a novel, written mostly in Russian, by Anthony Burgess. Stanley Kubrick is known to critics as a film maker who probes the dark side of human psyche. Kubrick has also directed films such as Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.