Does the “Cure” work in A Clockwork Orange?
But the “cure” has worked; all Alex can do is stoop into the fetal position and wait for the nausea to pass. He is released from prison. While A Clockwork Orange is brilliant for a lot of reasons (the interesting cinematography, the excellent acting by Malcolm McDowell, etc.), it’s the psychology of the film that’s relevant to this blog.
What does A Clockwork Orange teach us about classical conditioning?
The film is A Clockwork Orange. As anyone who’s taken Psych 101 will recall, classical conditioning is all about transferring an automatic response (such as drooling when you see or smell food) to a new, formerly neutral stimulus (such as hearing a bell ring).
Where can I find an extract of A Clockwork Orange?
Century Hutchinson Ltd. (1987). An extract is quoted on several web sites: Anthony Burgess from A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music (Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1987), anthony burgess on A Clockwork Orange - page 2 at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 December 2005), A Clockwork Orange - From A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music
What is the message of A Clockwork Orange?
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film adapted, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. It employs disturbing, violent images as a commentary on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain.
What drug was Alex given in A Clockwork Orange?
Serum 114The technique requires the subject to be strapped into a chair with their eyes held open while watching prepared films of violence under the influence of a purposely developed drug; in the film the drug given to Alex is named Serum 114, which is a reference to Kubrick's past film Dr.
What type of conditioning is in A Clockwork Orange?
classical conditioningThe film is A Clockwork Orange. As anyone who's taken Psych 101 will recall, classical conditioning is all about transferring an automatic response (such as drooling when you see or smell food) to a new, formerly neutral stimulus (such as hearing a bell ring).
What is the Ludovico Method?
The Ludovico Technique is a reference to Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation, where it was referred to as "Ludovico's Technique." The technique involved headgear which forced the patient's eyelids open (hence "Controlled Tears") while watching violent films under nausea- ...
What type of therapy is featured in the novel and the film A Clockwork Orange?
Thus we have classical conditioning and aversion therapy: Alex now associates any form of violence with feeling “violently” ill. After several weeks of this training, they test him by putting him in various situations that previously would have caused him to become violent.
Is A Clockwork Orange psychological?
The 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, consists of many psychological concepts. Two concepts in particular seem to have the biggest impact and role throughout this film. These concepts being, classical conditioning and the idea that our environment and our experiences of nurture are what shapes us.
What's an example of classical conditioning?
The most famous example of classical conditioning was Ivan Pavlov's experiment with dogs, who salivated in response to a bell tone. Pavlov showed that when a bell was sounded each time the dog was fed, the dog learned to associate the sound with the presentation of the food.
What is the Kubrick stare?
Noun. Kubrick stare (plural Kubrick stares) The act of looking at the viewer with head tilted downward and eyes peering upward from beneath the eyebrows. quotations ▼
What is a modified Ludovico?
The Modified Ludovico is a reference to the Ludovico technique from A Clockwork Orange. In both, a series of disturbing images are shown to a patient who is forced to watch them in an attempt to make the patient less likely to engage in a specific behavior.
What is Alex forced to watch in A Clockwork Orange?
Alex is strapped to a chair, his eyes are clamped open and he is injected with drugs. He is then forced to watch films of sex and violence, some of which are accompanied by the music of his favourite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven.
Is the Ludovico technique real?
Seniors in the Academy at Bixhorn Technical Center STEM High School read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and in response to an English assignment, created The Ludovico Technique — a fictional aversion therapy — that conditions a patient to experience severe nausea when experiencing or even thinking about violence ...
Is the treatment in A Clockwork Orange real?
It's essentially a mechanical, Pavlovian construct that associates stimuli with negative reinforcement instead of positive. The therapy is approved by the UK Minister of the Interior for trials on disturbed and violent individuals like Alex.
Which type of psychotherapy uses aversion therapy?
Aversion therapy is a type of behavioral therapy that involves repeat pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort. 1 For example, a person undergoing aversion therapy to stop smoking might receive an electrical shock every time they view an image of a cigarette.
What is the setting of A Clockwork Orange?
A Clockwork Orange, novel by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. Set in a dismal dystopian England, it is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behaviour. The novel satirizes extreme political systems that are based on opposing models of the perfectibility or incorrigibility of humanity. Written in a futuristic slang vocabulary invented by Burgess, in part by adaptation of Russian words, it was his most original and best-known work.
How long is Alex in jail?
When an attempted robbery goes awry and Alex murders an elderly woman, he is sentenced to 14 years in prison. He gradually adjusts to life behind bars, but one night he and his cellmates beat a new prisoner, who dies.
What is Alex's passion?
Alex, the protagonist, has a passion for classical music and is a member of a vicious teen gang. He and his droogs (friends) engage in drug-fueled orgies (milk spiked with narcotics is the drug of choice), and their random acts of brutality—particularly against defenseless people—are detailed with enjoyment in Burgess’s made-up slang, Nadsat.
What is Alex's treatment called?
Alex is chosen to undergo an experimental program called the Ludovico’s Technique, a brutal form of aversion therapy that includes Alex watching films of Nazi atrocities. The treatment causes him to become physically sick if he even thinks about committing a crime. It also results in Alex disliking classical music.
Was A Clockwork Orange a success?
While its initial sales were low, A Clockwork Orange became a huge success after the release of Stanley Kubrick ’s 1971 film adaptation, which adhered to the American version of the novel without its final redeeming chapter. Although widely acclaimed, the movie’s violent and sexually explicit scenes proved controversial.
Who does not recognize Alex in the book?
Badly beaten, Alex ends up at the cottage of the droogs’ earlier attack, but the writer, F. Alexander, does not recognize him. Instead, he is sympathetic when he learns of the teenager’s aversion therapy and wants to publicize his story in order to turn public opinion against the government.
Who directed the clockwork orange movie?
Movie poster for A Clockwork Orange (1971), directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Why did Pavlov's dogs drool when they heard the bell ring?
Pavlov caught on to the fact that the dogs did, indeed, drool when they heard the bell ring, but they also drooled in response to anything else that had been an accidental cue that food was coming, such as Pavlov’s footsteps coming into the room, or the white lab coats that he and his assistants wore.
Why did Alex become sick in A Clockwork Orange?
We see this side effect in A Clockwork Orange in that the prison experimenters chose the series of violent movies that were silent, except for the soundtrack of Beethoven music in the background. Each film played Beethoven. So inevitably, and to his personal horror, Alex also became violently ill every time he heard Beethoven. Both thinking about violence and hearing Ludwig Van became cues for him to be sick. Classic movie, classical music, classical conditioning.
Why do dogs drool?
Pavlov caught on to the fact that the dogs did, indeed, drool when they heard the bell ring, but they also drooled in response to anything else that had been an accidental cue that food was coming, such as Pavlov’s footsteps coming into the room, or the white lab coats that he and his assistants wore. So now we have a bunch of dogs drooling due to white lab coats. Weird, right? But the coats were just as much a predictor that they were about to get food as the bell ringing.
Why do dogs stop drooling after ringing the bell?
Eventually, the dogs would stop drooling as a reaction to the bell, because they’ve learned that the bell-food pairing no longer exists. This process is called extinction.
Why do dogs drool when they hear the bell?
As Pavlov famously demonstrated with dogs in Russia, if you ring the bell enough times before presenting food, the dogs will learn to drool when they hear the bell (an unnatural response) because they associate the bell with the prediction that food is about to appear.
What is the main character in A Clockwork Orange?
The main character in the movie is Alex , an adolescent who is prone to the extreme violence of assault, murder, and rape.
What is classical conditioning?
As anyone who’s taken Psych 101 will recall, classical conditioning is all about transferring an automatic response (such as drooling when you see or smell food) to a new, formerly neutral stimulus (such as hearing a bell ring).
What was the link between A Clockwork Orange and the crime?
Roger Gray, for the defence, told the court that "the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt". The press also blamed the film for a rape in which the attackers sang " Singin' in the Rain " as "Singin' in the Rape".
When did the clockwork orange get an X rating?
In the United States, A Clockwork Orange was given an X rating in its original release in 1972. Later, Kubrick replaced approximately 30 seconds of sexually explicit footage from two scenes with less explicit action to obtain an R rating re-release later in 1972.
What is Alex's last name in A Clockwork Orange?
The introduction to the 1996 edition of A Clockwork Orange says that Kubrick found the end of the original edition too blandly optimistic and unrealistic. In the novel, Alex's last name was never revealed, while in the film, his surname is 'DeLarge', due to Alex's calling himself "Alexander the Large" in the novel.
What happened to Alex in Ludovico?
During the filming of the Ludovico technique scene, McDowell scratched a cornea and was temporarily blinded. The doctor standing next to him in the scene, dropping saline solution into Alex's forced-open eyes, was a real physician present to prevent the actor's eyes from drying. McDowell also cracked some ribs filming the humiliation stage show. A unique special effect technique was used when Alex jumps out of the window in an attempt to commit suicide and the viewer sees the ground approaching the camera until collision, i.e., as if from Alex's point of view. This effect was achieved by dropping a Newman-Sinclair clockwork camera in a box, lens-first, from the third storey of the Corus Hotel. To Kubrick's surprise, the camera survived six takes.
What happened to the Scala Cinema Club?
The Scala Cinema Club went into receivership in 1993 after losing a legal battle following an unauthorised screening of the film. In the same year, Channel 4 broadcast Forbidden Fruit, a 27-minute documentary about the withdrawal of the film in Britain. It contains footage from A Clockwork Orange. It was difficult to see A Clockwork Orange in the United Kingdom for 27 years. It was only after Kubrick died in 1999 that the film was theatrically re-released and made available on VHS and DVD. On 4 July 2001, the uncut version premiered on Sky TV 's Sky Box Office, where it ran until mid-September.
What is the movie A Clockwork Orange about?
It employs disturbing, violent images to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain.
Where was the clockwork orange filmed?
A Clockwork Orange was photographed mostly on location in metropolitan London and within quick access of Kubrick's then home in Barnet Lane, Elstree . Shooting began on 7 September 1970 with call sheet no. 1 at the Duke Of New York pub: an unused scene and the first of many unused locations.
Plot summary
Alex is a 15-year-old gang leader living in a near-future dystopian city.
Omission of the final chapter
The book has three parts, each with seven chapters. Burgess has stated that the total of 21 chapters was an intentional nod to the age of 21 being recognised as a milestone in human maturation. The 21st chapter was omitted from the editions published in the United States prior to 1986.
Characters
Alex: The novel's protagonist and leader among his droogs. He often refers to himself as "Your Humble Narrator". Having coaxed two ten-year-old girls into his bedroom, Alex refers to himself as "Alexander the Large" while raping them; this was later the basis for Alex's claimed surname DeLarge in the 1971 film.
Analysis
A Clockwork Orange was written in Hove, then a senescent seaside town. Burgess had arrived back in Britain after his stint abroad to see that much had changed. A youth culture had developed, based around coffee bars, pop music and teenage gangs. England was gripped by fears over juvenile delinquency.
Reception
The Sunday Telegraph review was positive, and described the book as "entertaining ... even profound". Kingsley Amis in The Observer acclaimed the novel as "cheerful horror", writing "Mr Burgess has written a fine farrago of outrageousness, one which incidentally suggests a view of juvenile violence I can’t remember having met before".
Adaptations
A 1965 film by Andy Warhol entitled Vinyl was an adaptation of Burgess's novel.
External links
Look up Appendix:A Clockwork Orange in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Why do the droogs wear masks?
During the first act of violence in the novel, the droogs wear masks to conceal their identities. Alex wears a mask of the former Prime Minister Disraeli, Georgie has Henry VIII, Dim has the poet ‘Peebee Shelley’ and Pete has Elvis Presley. In the margins of the typescript, Burgess notes of the latter: ‘Will this name be known when the book appears?’ Even though Elvis was at the height of his popularity when Burgess was writing the novel, he viewed pop music as ephemeral and largely worthless.
What is the aesthetic of the clockwork orange?
Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of A Clockwork Orange has a conspicuously futuristic aesthetic, with its brutalist buildings and post-modernist kitsch. Yet the influence on Kubrick’s vision is much wider than this. When Alex is sent to prison, there is a scene of the prisoners stomping round a small yard in a tight circle. This is a recreation of Vincent Van Gogh’s 1890 painting ‘Prisoners Exercising (after Doré). Gustave Doré’s original engraving shows a similar scene, albeit without Van Gogh’s use of colour.
What is the clockwork orange?
A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music. Facts about Anthony Burgess. Film. Music. Stanley Kubrick. U2. 1. A Clockwork Orange was not the original title of the novel. In Anthony Burgess’s diary for 1958, he begins a plan for the novel that would eventually become A Clockwork Orange.
What did Burgess write about Manchester?
Remembering his early life in Manchester, Burgess writes, ‘It was an ugly town and its proletariat could erupt in ugly violence’, and recalls being set upon by a feral gang: ‘Ragged boys in gangs would pounce on the well-dressed, like myself, and grab ostentatious fountain pens.’.
What album did U2 release the song "Alex Descends into Hell for a Bottle of Milk"?
U2 would go on to release a track from the soundtrack: ‘Alex Descends into Hell for a Bottle of Milk/Korova 1’ was the B-side to their single ‘The Fly’ from their 1991 album Achtung Baby.
Is A Clockwork Orange a Mancunian?
Much of his fiction contains characters from Manchester or references places from around the city, yet A Clockwork Orange at first glance seems to be free of any Mancunian influence. However, when Burgess recorded passages of the novel for a 1973 vinyl release, he very deliberately used a broad Manchester accent, associating it with the crimes and thuggery of Alex’s narration. Remembering his early life in Manchester, Burgess writes, ‘It was an ugly town and its proletariat could erupt in ugly violence’, and recalls being set upon by a feral gang: ‘Ragged boys in gangs would pounce on the well-dressed, like myself, and grab ostentatious fountain pens.’ His first experiences of crime and violence were on the Manchester streets, and combined with his observation of the mods, rockers and the Teddy-boys, and the Russian stilyagi gangs, the droogs were born.
Where did the slang in A Clockwork Orange come from?
It is generally accepted that Burgess’s invented slang in A Clockwork Orange is derived from the Russian language. This is true, but ignores the complexity of Burgess’s work in the novel.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
My students have been nagging me to start a post about Anthony Burgess' novel, A Clockwork Orange, so here it is.
The Librarian Of Babble On
Babble on about books: say anything you like about any book you like. I moderate all comments so you may have to wait a little while before your comment appears. If want to start discussion about a new book, send it to me on an email at [email protected] and I'll post it up for you.
Brave New World
The future isn't bright. The future is orange (possibly clockwork orange...!)
A Clockwork Orange
French poster for the movie version- I like the image and the French version of the title!
Overview
Production
Anthony Burgess sold the film rights of his novel for $500, shortly after its publication in 1962. Originally, the film was projected to star the rock band The Rolling Stones, with the band's lead singer Mick Jagger expressing interest in playing the lead role of Alex, and British filmmaker Ken Russell attached to direct. However, this never came to fruition due to problems with the British Board of …
Plot
In a futuristic Britain, Alex DeLarge is the leader of a gang of "droogs": Georgie, Dim and Pete. One night, after getting intoxicated on drug-laden "milk-plus", they engage in an evening of "ultra-violence", which includes a fight with a rival gang. They drive to the country home of writer Frank Alexander and trick his wife into letting them inside. They beat Alexander to the point of crippling him, and Alex …
Cast
• Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge
• Patrick Magee as Frank Alexander
• Michael Bates as Chief Guard Barnes
• Warren Clarke as Dim
Themes
The film's central moral question is the definition of "goodness" and whether it makes sense to use aversion therapy to stop immoral behaviour. Stanley Kubrick, writing in Saturday Review, described the film as:
A social satire dealing with the question of whether behavioural psychology and psychological conditioning are dangerous new weapons for a totalitarian gove…
Reception
On release, A Clockwork Orange was met with mixed reviews. In a positive review, Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the film saying:
McDowell is splendid as tomorrow's child, but it is always Mr. Kubrick's picture, which is even technically more interesting than 2001. Among other devices, Mr. Kubrick constantly uses what I assume to be a wide-angle lens to distort spac…
Differences between the film and the novel
Kubrick's film is relatively faithful to the Burgess novel, omitting only the final, positive chapter, in which Alex matures and outgrows sociopathy. While the film ends with Alex being offered an open-ended government job, implying he remains a sociopath at heart, the novel ends with Alex's positive change in character. This plot discrepancy occurred because Kubrick based his screenplay on the novel's American edition, in which the final chapter had been deleted on the in…
Home media
In 2000, the film was released on VHS and DVD, both individually and as part of The Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD set. Due to negative comments from fans, Warner Bros re-released the film, its image digitally restored and its soundtrack remastered. A limited-edition collector's set with a soundtrack disc, film poster, booklet and film strip followed, but later was discontinued. In 2005, a British re-release, packaged as an "Iconic Film" in a limited-edition slipcase was publishe…
Overview
A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "
Plot summary
Alex is a 15-year-old gang leader living in a near-future dystopian city. His friends ("droogs" in the novel's Anglo-Russian slang, "Nadsat") and fellow gang members are Dim, a slow-witted bruiser, who is the gang's muscle; Georgie, an ambitious second-in-command; and Pete, who mostly plays along as the droogs indulge their taste for "ultra-violence" (random, violent mayhem). Characterised as a sociopath and hardened juvenile delinquent, Alex is also intelligent, quick-witt…
Omission of the final chapter
The book has three parts, each with seven chapters. Burgess has stated that the total of 21 chapters was an intentional nod to the age of 21 being recognised as a milestone in human maturation. The 21st chapter was omitted from the editions published in the United States prior to 1986. In the introduction to the updated American text (these newer editions include the missing 21st chapter), Burgess explains that when he first took the book to an American publisher, he w…
Characters
• Alex: The novel's protagonist and leader among his droogs. He often refers to himself as "Your Humble Narrator". Having coaxed two ten-year-old girls into his bedroom, Alex refers to himself as "Alexander the Large" while raping them; this was later the basis for Alex's claimed surname DeLarge in the 1971 film.
• George, Georgie or Georgie Boy: Effectively Alex's greedy second-in-command. Georgie attempts to undermine Alex's status as leader of the gang and take over thei…
Analysis
A Clockwork Orange was written in Hove, then a senescent English seaside town. Burgess had arrived back in Britain after his stint abroad to see that much had changed. A youth culture had developed, based around coffee bars, pop music and teenage gangs. England was gripped by fears over juvenile delinquency. Burgess stated that the novel's inspiration was his first wife Lynne's beating by a gang of drunk American servicemen stationed in England during World War II. …
Reception
The Sunday Telegraph review was positive, and described the book as "entertaining ... even profound". Kingsley Amis in The Observer acclaimed the novel as "cheerful horror", writing "Mr Burgess has written a fine farrago of outrageousness, one which incidentally suggests a view of juvenile violence I can’t remember having met before". Malcolm Bradbury wrote "All of Mr Burgess’…
Adaptations
A 1965 film by Andy Warhol entitled Vinyl was an adaptation of Burgess's novel.
The best known adaptation of the novella is the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick, featuring Malcolm McDowell as Alex. In 1987, Burgess published a stage play titled A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music. The play includes songs, written by Burgess, which are inspired by Beethoven and Nads…
Release details
• 1962, UK, William Heinemann (ISBN ?), December 1962, Hardcover
• 1962, US, W. W. Norton & Co Ltd (ISBN ?), 1962, Hardcover
• 1963, US, W. W. Norton & Co Ltd (ISBN 978-0-345-28411-2), 1963, Paperback