What Makes Us Human

Paper by Surna Khayat. Viewed on DVD.

One of the most controversial movies of its time, A Clockwork Orange (1971), produced, directed, and written by Stanley Kubrick, is an adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same name. The film takes place in a futuristic Britain, and follows the life of Alex, a charming delinquent who in prison manages to be selected for a new experimental study that is said to cure those prone to violent crimes by associating such things with an inflicted feeling of nausea. The film stars a young Malcolm McDowell as Alex, who was cast in many more movies as a manic villain following the release of A Clockwork Orange because of his unbelievable portrayal of the demented, yet strangely charismatic and alluring teen who indulges in his violent impulses. Alex, with his many evil deeds, isn’t a traditional hero, and this is characteristic of and unique to Kubrick’s films. The good and bad in Kubrick’s characters are almost always inextricably intertwined. Through his characters, Kubrick suggests that dark impulses are a fundamental part of human nature. Human destructiveness and power-lust don’t go away with proper conditioning, except when that conditioning is so extreme that it makes us inhuman.

The scene I have selected is one in which, Alex, who was once so eager to jump right into the experimental study without really knowing what it is about, is now beginning to realize what exactly the treatment he has volunteered for includes. The film in its entirety is a comment on one’s choice to be good or evil, and the consequences of what occurs when those rights are taken away. The scene subtly ties all these concepts together and allows the viewer to form their own opinion on matters of this kind. Most importantly, however, it begs the question: Is evil something that can truly be cured?

The scene I have selected begins shortly after Alex is admitted into the Ludovico research center. Unaware of what the research entitles, Alex is gleeful and relaxed as he sits unconfined in a brightly lit room at the center. The doctor’s assistant arrives to give him his first round of shots, explaining that it is a nutritional supplement intended to help Alex. Little does Alex know that the medication will soon cause nausea. Alex is then takes to the Ludocvico theatre where he is strapped down into a chair and a medical device is set up to pry Alex’s eyes open and keep them that way. Soon, videos are shown on the screen of a group of men beating a man mercilessly, then another video of a young woman being raped by several men, very similar to the way Alex and his “droog’s” (or group of friends) once committed such crimes. Soon after the rape film begins, the medication Alex was given begins to take affect and he feels nauseous and begs to be set free. In the back row of the auditorium, the doctors discuss how the medication will work to create a mental association of the feeling of sickness together with the thought violence. After the treatment, back in Alex’s room, the doctor’s assistant tells Alex the response to the video is normal for any healthy person, and that it is only a sign he is getting better.

The succession of shots that the scene consists of and the elements of mise-en-scene that it contains all work to create a particular feeling for the viewer. Firstly, Alex’s room at the Ludovico center is bright and cheery with plenty of sunlight coming in from the window. By doing so, we become aware at how drastically different this place is for Alex compared to his previous prison life. We can assume that Alex would be just abut willing to do anything they ask of him to stay here, and the dialogue reassures us of that eventually. However, the assistant who administers the shot, Dr. Branom, contradicts the cheery mood of the place with her cold and unfriendly nature. Also, the viewer is discretely made aware of certain knowledge the main character, Alex, is not even aware of. For example, we are privileged in the sense that we are aware that the medication is what is causing Alex to be sick. This allows the viewer to feel sympathy for Alex to a certain extent, although we are fully aware of what he has done in the past. In addition, the pace of the editing gradually picks up more and more into the scene. As a result, through the fast edits we too feel the panic and commotion that Alex feels. One can witness Alex eventually reach the point where he can not take anymore and begs to be let up, which allows the viewer to sympathize with his emotional state of mind. The acting within the scene is very noteworthy as well as we can see just how demented Alex truly is as a result of him initially and genuinely enjoying the films. If such a program did actually exist he was being shown in a way that adds a great degree of verisimilitude and realism, despite the film’s science-fiction undertones.

The shots work together to display a gradual breakdown in Alex’s psychological and mental stability of Alex, and him reaching his breaking point. The shots also work to show how Alex is being manipulated in this attempt to “fix” him. Some shots relied on other shots entirely, however. For example, several shots are simply of what Alex is seeing on the screen and do not include character that are actually in the story (although they do closely resemble the crimes that Alex used to commit). If these shots were to be shown on their own, they would not further the story in any way.

Meaning is communicated to the viewer mainly through the protagnist’s emotional status. Throughout this scene, the viewer witnesses Alex in a new light. He is no longer the omnipotent leader of his violent clan. Though one is made aware that his change is not genuine, in this scene he is portrayed as an oblivious yet willing and well-mannered young man. We are left to decide whether Alex has truly become better, or if underneath it all he is still the same malicious hoodlum he was before.

These shots convey information and characterization through a mix of dialogue and voiceovers. In the beginning of the scene when Alex is still in his room, he asks the doctor’s assistant a series of questions about the procedure. One does not gain information through her answers necessarily, but rather from the way she says them. Her mannerisms imply a subtext that she is not being entirely honest with Alex. Also, another subtle way that information is conveyed is through inserts. At one point, an insert is included of the medicine vile from which Alex was given a shot. The printed label on the vile reads “Exp. Serum (No. 114)”, which can be interpreted as “Experimental Serum”. The fact that the vile is not labeled with the name gives the viewer information about the type of research that is being conducted, which also affects the entire mood of the following auditorium scene. Characterization is conveyed through the portrayal of Alex, who maintains a conniving and utterly sinister smile for much of the scene, up until the point that the medication begins to take effect on him. His insincerity is also conveyed through his voiceovers, which explain his true thought processes in comparison to his “goody-goody” act.

All of the included shots contain acting that clearly implies a great degree of subtext and thus believability. In addition, the cinematography and lighting add to the effect of the shots quite a bit. For example, the transition from Alex’s bright and sunny room to he dark auditorium cause a jolting change in the mood of the scene, although the tone change was implied by the assistant’s frigid and odd behavior. Also, the use of close-ups when Alex is tied up with his eyes pried open emphasizes his current state of panic, and how he is being forced to comply with the cruel program, rather than really participate willingly.

The meaning of the scene is eventually built up to the very end when they are back where the scene begins, in Alex’s room. He is on his bed yet again with the doctor’s assistant sitting near him. This is the point in the scene where Alex himself begins seriously questioning what he has gotten himself into. Although he suspects something is not being revealed to him, in his desperate need to stay out of prison, he stops questioning it and accepts what he is told.

The theme that I am focusing on deals with the humanity of taking one’s choices away to ideally achieve a “better society”. In the beginning of the second act when Alex is sent to prison, he is fully dehumanized. He is stripped naked upon entrance into the prison, then looked at like a piece of meat by the other prisoners. At one point during the film, a group of inmates are walking around in a circle for exercise much like cattle. The fact that the experimental scene that I have chosen comes after the prison scene is not accidental. It only goes to show that although Alex believed he was achieving a safe haven from prison, he soon realizes that the torture and dehumanization he endured there is not exclusive to that location, and that he will soon be the Ludovico center’s very own lab rat.

This scene is a major turning point in the film as it is the first moment that Alex realizes that despite the fact that he is no longer in an actual prison, he is still a prisoner because his right to choose his fate no longer exists, but in a much different way. It also comments on the need for evil in human nature, as Alex becomes dull and bland after his treatments. Te scene stands on its own quite strongly, and is not part of a repetition of scenes, but rather an unfolding scheme. The scene uses many wide, long shots to create an even greater feeling of isolation, desperation, and insanity that Alex is enduring. We witness Alex essentially lose himself and go crazy because e his right to choose was taken away. Eventually, this leads to Alex attempting to commit suicide.

To relate this scene to the others in the film, understanding the three-act structure, which the film is broken down into, is a first step. In the first-act, the viewer is introduced to the unyielding and violent Alex, in the second act, he is sent to prison where he is stripped of nearly everything before being accepted into the reformation program, and the third act is about his life after his release from Ludovico center. This scene falls into the second act, in which we are shown a completely different side of the main character. Yet, because we have seen what Alex is capable of in the first act, the viewer is made weary of his true intentions. The film also does not tend to follow a Classical Hollywood Narrative structure. Alex’s true problems and dilemma are not introduced into much later into the film, and he does not go about solving it in such a logical way. Rather, the film follows Alex’s character and his mental state throughout the story, which essentially becomes the story itself. If however, one were to place this film into the outline of a classic Hollywood structure, this scene would be the point in which the main character is trying to “logically” fix problem, but is faced with an obstacle.

The freedom of individuals to make choices becomes problematic when those choices undermine the safety and stability of society, and in A Clockwork Orange, the state is willing to protect society by taking away freedom of choice and replacing it with prescribed good behavior. In Alex’s world, both the unfettered power of the individual and the unfettered power of the state prove dangerous. Alex steals, rapes, and murders merely because it feels good, but when his violent impulses are taken away, the result is equally as dangerous, simply because freedom of choice, a fundamental element of humanity, has been taken away. On one hand the minister of the interior who gives Alex the opportunity to be a part of the program represents the desire for an ordered society. On the other hand, Mr. Alexander, the guard who is skeptical of Alex represents freedom of choice, along the consequences that come with it. Alex is despicable because he gives free rein to his violent impulses, but that sense of freedom is also what makes him human. Unlike so many of the adult characters in the film, he, at least, seems exuberantly alive. When Ludovico’s Technique eliminates the evil aspects of his personality, he becomes less of a threat to society, but also, the film suggests, less human. He is not truly good because he didn’t choose to be good, and the utilization of that choice is vital to being a complete human being.

Throughout A Clockwork Orange, the film forces us to weigh the values and dangers of both individual liberty and state control, and consider how much liberty we’re willing to give up for order, and how much order we’re willing to give up for liberty. This scene is a perfect example of the possible result of what can happen if the government is given the right to choose whether one is good or evil because of the clear dehumanizing that Alex endures. But rather than take a clear stance on the situation, it only poses the question of what is right and what is wrong. In the end, Alex’s demented self is released back to society, but has at last regained his humanity.