PSY 100 McGraw
A Clockwork Orange Movie Analysis
“A Clockwork Orange” is a psychological thriller that examines and analyzes the effects of a corrupt individual and society’s attempts to reintegrate him. The director Stanley Kubrick depicts a deeply chilling and disturbing story of a young man by the name of Alex and is considered a menace to society who is eventually punished for his wrong doings and given the chance of a lifetime to “reinvent” himself. The new an innovative way to reintegrate disturbed individuals into society is through a type of conditioning that causes a nauseating reaction to violent acts for the patient. It is difficult to determine the time period of the film since Kubrick uses scenery that makes it appear as though it could take place today, tomorrow, yesterday, or even fifty years in the future making it applicable to all times. In addition, Kubrick is very cautious to use problems in society that have been evident and irksome since the beginning of man such as rape, muggings, murder, etc. With this stunning combination of society’s everyday problems, “A Clockwork Orange” is the type of movie that appeals to all time periods and will always be applicable to the troubles that are present in today’s society. The psychological aspect of the movie is the way in which society wishes that it could deal with them through a simple program that allows the individual to be “reborn” in a sense and make it physically impossible for them to return to their old devious ways.
The conditioned versus an unconditioned response technique is a major factor in Alex’s transformation toward becoming an acceptable human being in society. During the first half of the movie before Alex undergoes treatment, he is shown with his fellow “droogs” or his small four member gang that creates havoc throughout England with their acts of “ultra-violence” where they commit heinous acts of violence and on random victims. Alex and his droogs are shown in the first scene of the movie at their favorite local hang out joint called the Korova Milkbar where they indulge themselves in drugged milk beverages. The movie never directly states what is in the milk, yet after drinking it, the droogs all seem very excited and almost imagining their environment. This leads one to believe that there was some type of an amphetamine or hallucinogen because the amphetamine would cause an “increase in energy and alertness” while the hallucinogens caused a “sensory distortion” (Kalat 94). The amphetamine is considered a stimulant which causes an increase in the “activities levels and pleasure” which explains the groogs eagerness to go out and expend seemingly endless amounts of energy without so much as breaking a sweat (Kalat 95). This particular milkbar is very unusual in that, the entire room is filled with sexual images of women in compromising positions that are dispersed throughout the room and available to give the laced milk from their nipples. Alex and his groogs hit the streets to begin their night of ultra-violence and it begins with the senseless beating of a drunken homeless man under a bridge. From there, the group heads out even more anxious than before and go to a home of a crippled man and his wife. Upon tricking the wife to allow them in saying they had an awful car accident, and upon entering the four boys begin to rape the woman in front of her husband while he was senselessly beaten. The only major difference between the two encounters is that the boys were a wiser and wore masks during their attack. The psychological aspect during this part of the movie is more to realize the mental capacity of the attackers. The groogs and especially Alex are not phased by the ruthless violence and desperate cries for help from their victims. Most psychologists would conclude from these observations that Alex’s problems are not that he enjoys violence, but rather he had a troubled childhood along with his uninvolved parents that shaped him into the “monster” that he had become.
