Free Essays - Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

1209 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on a clockwork orange

"A Clockwork Orange" is a very different movie. It has everything a movie should have, but the plot is quite disturbing, especially for the time it came out. I have personally watched this film several times to find the meaning, and every time I watch it I come up with a different one. I am going to try to explain what this film contains as well as try to explain the plot.
"A Clockwork Orange" is a story of a young man whose principle interests are rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven. It's about a teen named Alex (Malcolm McDowell) who torments people in Britain in the near future. He is then betrayed by his friends and caught by the police, after he had murdered somebody. He was sent to live in a Juvenile Facility where he had to endure a strange torture of being forced to watch horrific movies. When Alex gets home, all the people that had done him wrong had their revenge on a weak, recuperating Alex. I'll let you find out what happened at the end =). "A Clockwork Orange" is a cult classic. It was Stanley Kubrick's 2nd Critically acclaimed film (the first being "Spartacus"). I was first interested in the book by Anthony Burgess (which in my opinion, is equally as good as the movie).
"A Clockwork Orange" contains only a few of the element that can make a good film. One of them is the makeup. Alex and his gang (droogs) all where a makeup when they go out and do there thing. It gives them all a look of insanity and makes them look disturbed. I think that this was well done because it gives you a feeling of fear. Being afraid of a character in a movie is an excellent way to get to know them.
Another element used is the script. Stanley Kubrick used the same special language used in the book. A lot of the words have no real meaning and you still know what they mean. The context the words are used in is very much like the book. Doing this, the book comes to life on the screen. I always enjoy watching a movie the follows the book so close because it doesn't change the story.
Another is the theme. The theme of "A Clockwork Orange" is very hard to explain. However, it still has one if not many. As I stated before, every time I watch it I get something else out of it.

Show More
Related

  • The Things They Carried & A Soldiers Sweetheart

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.

    Read More

  • The Literary Merit of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and Exploring Reasons Why it Was Banned

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    to read. A Clockwork Orange is an interesting book, to say the least, about a young teenager, named Alex, who has lost his way, so to speak, and commits several serious crimes. These crimes that Alex and his “droogs” commit include: murdering, raping, beat downs, robbery, etc.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Anti-Hero In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    1544 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first signs of Proctor being an anti-hero evolve when accusations of witchcraft arise and he is torn between confessing to adultery and revealing the information he knows to save innocent lives. He understands his obligations but is still hesitant due to his fear of the consequences. He says to Elizabeth

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Proctor concentrates on his name, because it would be destroyed of he signs. He finally comes to a true understanding of what a good reputation means, and his defense of his name enables him to muster the courage to die heroically.

    Read More

  • The Woman In Black: Critical Essay

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    When novels are adapted for the cinema, directors and writers frequently make changes in the plot, setting, characterization and themes of the novel. Sometimes the changes are made in adaptations due to the distinctive interpretations of the novel, which involve personal views of the book and choices of elements to retain, reproduce, change or leave out. On the contrary, a film is not just an illustrated version of the novel; it is a totally different medium. When adapting the novel, the director has to leave out a number of things for the simple reason of time difference. Furthermore, other structures and techniques must be added to the film to enhance the beauty and impressions of it. Like a translator, the director wants to do some sort of fidelity to the original work and also create a new work of art in a different medium. Regardless of the differences in the two media, they also share a number of elements: they each tell stories about characters.

    Read More

  • Organized Crime In The Film 'Scarface'

    2528 Words  | 6 Pages

    This movie was a tale of an immigrant seeking money and power who untimely set up his own demise. The producers did a good job at pointing out certain features that let you into the life of an organized crime leader. He tells of his humble beginnings and shows you in details how he rose to the top. The producer had a point to make and I took that point as being you can never get and stay someone good while being bad. The sound effects and graphics also makes this movie. They show just enough to intrigue you but yet not to completely make you sick to your stomach. The music is very telling and

    Read More

  • Clockwork Orange: A Comparative Analysis

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. As I was reading the book Clockwork Orange, I felt like it deserved a 8 out of 10. I enjoyed the book because while I was reading it, I did not have such a clear image of all the rape, sex, and violence. Talking from personal experiences, I did not want to picture those images in my head. Finding out there was a movie of Clockwork Orange kind of scared me but also gave me excitement because I wanted to see how different the the book was from the movie. After viewing Clockwork Orange, I would rate it a 7 out of 10. I rated it a 7 out of 10 because the rape and violence was overused. In the beginning of the movie, there were non-stop sex and rape scenes. For example, when Alex and his goons fake their way into an emergency just so they could attack a older man and rape his wife, who later dies because of this accident. Toward the end of the movie, there was a lot of

    Read More

  • Touch Of Evil

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film stays in line with classic noir in many ways. The usage of dark sets and high contrast lighting, which creates heavy shadows on the actors faces, makes the movie feel like it all happens at night and in dark alley ways. The story focuses on the inhumane parts of human nature. Each of the main characters experiences some kind of tragedy. For Vargas his tragedy was in dealing with Quinlin who has set out to frame him and his wife. For Quinlin his entire life represented a man consumed with darkness who lives his life with a “Touch of Evil.” Menzies was a hopeful man who looked up to Quinlin but was let down. For the viewer, film noir represents truth, even if it is not a truth that all people would like to hear.

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    this point in time. Due to the wall street crash of 1929, the whole of

    Read More

  • Social Issues In The Clockwork Orange

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anthony Burgess integrates many social issues today between the Government and People into Clockwork Orange. Many of the issues that Alex faces along with the government are relatable in today’s society. Within the story Anthony Burgess teaches us how people act and how the government works in a more brutal way, The Clockwork Orange expresses this through free-will, maturity and karma, and treatment of people.

    Read More

  • Hacksaw Ridge Essay

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is biographical movie, it contains drama, history, and war. The movie purpose was to inform us and represent Desmond Doss the hero and how he was a heroic symbol to all the other soldiers. This movie is basically trying to show us Desmond Doss the brave man. The movie starts with doss as a little boy playing with his

    Read More

  • Se7en Themes

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main message of the movie was represented in “I just don't think I can continue to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was a virtue!”- William Somerset. He is criticizing the society and how it lacked its values. He is trying to expose the deep moral problem of today. The seven deadly sins are not considered as sins anymore, these sins have become

    Read More

  • Psychoanalytical Criticism of A Clockwork Orange

    1731 Words  | 4 Pages

    "John (Anthony) Burgess Wilson." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.

    Read More

  • Triumph of Free Will in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

    2649 Words  | 6 Pages

    Amidst a population composed of perfectly conditioned automatons, is a picture of a society that is slowly rotting from within. Alex, the Faustian protagonist of A Clockwork Orange, and a sadistic and depraved gang leader, preys on the weak and the innocent. Although perhaps misguided, his conscientiousness of his evil nature indicates his capacity to understand morality and deny its practice. When society attempts to force goodness upon Alex, he becomes the victim. Through his innovative style, manifested by both the use of original language and satirical structure, British author Anthony Burgess presents in his novella A Clockwork Orange, the moral triumph of free will within the controlling hands of a totalitarian society.

    Read More

  • Freedom of Choice in A Clockwork Orange

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author Anthony Burgess tells a story about a young man name Alex and his friends, every night they go around and start committing violent acts. In the novel Alex expresses his freedom of choice between good and evil. The freedom of choice is a decision that every person must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and to take control of his own future. This Freedom of Choice, no matter what the outcome is, displays person power as an individual, and any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will take way the person free will and enslave him. In this novel the author uses this symbolism through imagery. He shows that through the character of Alex, and the first person narrative point of view to prove that without the ability to choose between good and evil person becomes a slave.

    Read More

More about Free Essays - Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

Open Document