Essay Comparing An Andalusian Dog And A Clockwork Orange

Luis Buñuel’s surrealist classic An Andalusian Dog (1929) and Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian masterpiece A Clockwork Orange (1971) have influenced the variously disturbing visions of filmmakers and artists for many generations. The success of these films comes two-fold for both filmmakers, as they were able not only to impress their peers, but to stir up controversy and backlash. Through violent imagery and sexually explicit behaviour, these films garner the disgust of religious and political organizations alike, however, ultimately have reached mass audiences. Both films contain a deeply personal and unique visual aesthetic and while each individual shot could be deconstructed for social, political, or psychological implications, Buñuel himself

The meticulous structure of Kubrick’s film breeds a vivid depiction of the life of a disturbed youth, while the haunting imagery of Buñuel’s horrorshow contemplates a slew of human emotions in rapid succession, but without much character building or narrative structure. These films intersect in their use of graphic imagery and visual trickery to create a dream-like state of self reflection in the audience. Kubrick takes advantage of multiple visual techniques that were burgeoning and bending with the evolving technology of filmmaking and ever-present madness of filmmakers. Kubrick employs multiple long, moving shots as well as extreme wide angle lenses that distort the viewer’s sense of time and space. Buñuel, in contradistinction, follows certain visual conventions, such as single, close-up shots involving important actions, while involving disturbing imagery and inconsequential sequencing of images and scenes to also distort the temporal revelations of the audience. These differences are what drive the individual visual distinctions of each film, as they are ultimately very different films on their surface, however, their use of unique editing techniques mirror one another and set them apart from other films of their