clockwork orange

It can be argued that at the end of the Second World War, arts were the first that began to feel the sense of liberalisation that society will later experience. In 1951 the British Censor Board introduced the X rating which dealt directly with films that were not “merely sordid films dealing with unpleasant subjects, but films which while, not being suitable for children, are good adult entertainment films which appeal to an intelligent public”. This was also the way in which the board perceived A Clockwork Orange. However, at the beginning of the 1960s, this sense of post war liberalisation received a strong backlash and began raising questions regarding the direction in which art was going. These questions started be asked more frequently and by the time A Clockwork Orange was released, they managed to shed a negative light on the ideas presented in the movie.

If the social context into which A Clockwork Orange was released did not help aid its cause, nor was the films’ cause aided by its advertisements because they tended to emphasise the sensational aspects which could be found in the film. The poster which promoted the film depicted the leading character, which was played by Malcolm McDowell, while having a knife in his hand and staring psychotically. The headline of this image was "Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra- violence and Beethoven”.

The thing that will firstly strike the viewer about the film is the the dynamism of the film and the multiple levels of meaning at which the film operates. This film can be very much seen as Stanley Kubrick’s critique of modern culture and society, and a clear voice against the corruption of man.

In A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick uses the L...

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...e media frenzy and the most controversial stories that harmed this film were generated in the United Kingdom where the film ran for 61 weeks but it never was a proper release because of the anger of the public opinion. Eventually, Stanley Kubrick had to request to the studio for the film to be withdrawn from theatres. Also, the film faced bans from public viewings and cinematic release in a few countries of the world. Both Kubrick and Anthony Burgess found their work under intense criticism by American and British film critics and journalists. Most of this criticism can be attributed to the similitudes the film had with the social context in Britain, which was changing drastically through cultural liberalisation. British crowds mostly feared the similitudes they found between the gang Alex was in and the violent gangs that roamed the streets of Britain at that time.