film: a clockwork orange

[michael]

for reference, fear and loathing dates from 1971.

 

[Negative]

. . . and as far as the original post is concerned, it doesn't say that the drug is what makes them act 'ultra-violent,' it says that it gets them ready for it, which leads one to believe that they would be down for some ultra-violence anyways, but maybe what they are taking just takes the edge off, or builds them up, energy-wise . . . just in the same way that many people like to take certain drugs for certain reasons before any activity that they undertake . . .

. . . and univerz, I have always thought that, about the names . . . adrenachrome, mescaline, and then some sort of opiate-based drug like Percocet, Lorcet etc., but then again, I don't believe that any of those narcotics ending in -cet were around in 1963 . . .

 

[wizekrak]

I'd guess velocet would be speed, all the other drugs sound similar to what they most likely are ex: synthmesc=synthetic mescaline, think about it velocet sounds like velocity, so speed, just my take on it.

 

[TheHerojuana]

First thing this a damn good book and solid movie!:D As to the drugs I would think a knowledge of Cockney slang and Russian are in order. Those odd terms are a mixture of these two languages. I do think you have the drug terms ID correctly. Reading the book will also help to understand what they are. Could be plain ole' booze it fancy names as hey drink a fair amount in the book.

 

[twominds]

they're fictional.

Exactly!8)

 

[TheHerojuana]

Somoene should just call the author and ask him!

 

[AfterGlow]

^^ the authors of both the screenplay and novel are dead.

 

[univerz]

^^ sad indeed. i recall Kubrick passing away during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut. the film was so hyped, that they finished the movie without Kubrick, despite the devastation of his death.

i do believe that Kubrick is one of those guys that has a lot of mystery and cult-following around his life and ways of.

peace,
univerz.

 

[alasdairm]

i recall Kubrick passing away during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut. the film was so hyped, that they finished the movie without Kubrick, despite the devastation of his death.

actually, that's incorrect. kubrick delivered the movie to the studio and died (very) shortly afterwards.

alasdair

 

[EvilKoreKlown666]

i was simply referencing fear and loathing for identifying adrenechrome....not everyone i think would know offhand what adrenechrome is offhand

 

[TheHerojuana]

^^ the authors of both the screenplay and novel are dead.

Damn!

 

[Monster_ZERO]

This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.

I would imagine that their cocktail had the properties of a stimulant.

 

[pablo hasan]

i think synthemesc is fiction. but it's meant like sintetically mescaline...

huh, i think they will drink 2cb in these days.

 

[Benefit]

A Clockwork Orange is one of the few films that genuinely disturbed me, probably because I first watched it as a kid. I can watch it now without being deeply mortified, but the graphic portrayal of sex, violence, rape and human brutality still affects me. Kubrick loved to shock his audiences, loved to bring them into the dark and disturbing world of his films where he could manipulate the morality of the film's world as he pleased. His films meld intelligent social and political commentary with provocative visual cues: the brutal beating of a woman with an oversized ceramic dildo (a brilliant visualization of sexual violence that sticks in your memory for its symbolism and raw destructive force); Alex's slow motion suppression of the droogs' mutiny; the fast motion threesome to the tune of the William Tell Overture. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

The film's atmospheric darkness is unwavering in its committed depiction of sexual perversion, social deviancy and extreme violence, and Kubrick wants it to be visceral. He wants you to cringe at the rape scenes, he wants you to feel uncomfortable. It is helped along by a score composed of classical pieces and synth-heavy reinterpretations of classical motifs, a modern perversion of a classical medium which contributes to the film's unsettling quality.

There's no reason for Alex's sociopathic tendencies; he is simply a product of a society in which people are increasingly isolated and trend toward violence, and you can draw whatever parallels you'd like with contemporary society. Obviously, and ironically, once Alex is deprived of his violence he is preyed upon by the very world he victimized so callously; forgiveness is not a very popular concept in this world and maybe the only thing people have left is their violence. The coldness of the world in A Clockwork Orange is very deliberate, and in many ways the feeling that the entire world is beyond moral redemption is just as disturbing as the actual depiction of violence. Kubrick constructs a world where there is no sanctity, where human warmth is the staple of a bygone era, and it's chilling.

I prefer the film's ending as well; having Alex "outgrow" his violent nature would have been a little too conveniently symmetrical. Plus, this way, you are left with a very memorable and lasting closing image.

 

[alasdairm]

rate this movie

alasdair

 

[fasteddie]

Take a read of Anthony Burgess' novel from which Kubrick got his script. Well worth reading, if for nothing else than the joy of invented linguistics that Burgess uses throughout.

I did.

I also read something in Burgess's book, "Flame Into Being" (it's a DH Lawrence biography) that it was a cheap idea, something he knocked together in three weeks, for money, and that the violent incidents it inspired made him regret he ever wrote it.

I've seen other things he wrote about it where he says differently, too. It was far and away his most popular novel.

I also recommend "Earthly Powers."

 

[L2R]

one of my most favourite films. fantastically shot excellent story.

 

[recons]

Kubrick is a cinematic God.

 

[Canis aureus]

^cinematication of god

 

[wArEhOuSePuNk]

I thought it was demented & stupid..... & not in a good way