The Forbidden Fruit: A Look Back At A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick’s thought-provoking science fiction film, A Clockwork Orange, is an adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s British novel of the same name.
Inspired by the U.K.’s unemployment and inflation crisis, which led to extreme violence and political upheaval, A Clockwork Orange immerses the viewer into a dystopian Britain under an authoritarian regime. There is a youth subculture of violence, where teens like protagonist Alex DeLarge and his gang of “droogs” commit violent physical and sexual crimes throughout the night.
Throughout the film, the viewer is provided with a first-person perspective from Alex as he narrates his disturbing crimes and sick enjoyment of them. However, the story takes a dramatic turn when the gang tries breaking into a mansion owned by an elderly woman and Alex accidentally kills her with a blow to the skull.
He’s arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After two years, Alex receives a visit from the Minister of the Interior, the leading figure of the current political party in power. He sees Alex’s violent and rebellious nature and recruits him for an ongoing experiment, the Ludovico Technique. He guarantees subsequent success would purify Alex of evil impulses and reinstitute him into society.
Alex envisions a chance to cut his sentence and agrees but the Ludovico Technique turns out to be similar to torture. He’s taken to the clinic, strapped down and forced to watch graphic films depicting rape, torture, wars and murderers under nausea-inducing drugs. He is then publicly humiliated by being physically beaten in front of an audience of politicians and policemen.
At the end of the experiment, Alex can’t commit a lewd or violent act without triggering an overbearing feeling of sickness.
The prison priest then tells the Minister: “He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.” Ultimately, Alex did not choose to be good, even upon agreeing to undergo the Ludovico Technique, because he is deprived of free will.
A Clockwork Orange creates this paradox to point out how the State is just as corrupt as the wrongdoers it tries to criticize. It poses the central question of whether the State should have the power to choose between evil and good on behalf of others. The movie suggests that eradicating evil through unethical means doesn’t equate to genuine goodness.
In the end, Alex reverts to his evil ways by regaining his freedom of choice by attempting suicide. He is compensated with a high-ranking position within the political party. With the ending carrying this symbolic hypocrisy, the viewer realizes the party is more concerned with protecting their interests than actually curing him. The movie shows that societal standards of good and evil are based on equally corrupt governmental systems.
A Clockwork Orange remains relevant decades later because of its exploration of human freedom of choice and morality. Its final message is that for genuine good to exist, we have to accept the possibility of evil. After all, no one is born a clockwork orange.
