*points to favorite movie in profi-- wait, Clockwork Orange used to be there.
I think what I love about that movie so much is the criticism is makes about the criminal justice system. Alex isn’t made to feel morality, he’s just made to feel sick whenever he’s exposed to violence (or Beethoven, which leads to another point). You could say the same thing about prisons.
I interpret Alex’s forced revulsion of Beethoven, whose work he holds in the highest regard, to be a reference to censorship of art / the media. There’s obviously nothing immoral or bad in the work of old Ludwig Van, it just happens to be thrown in along with all the violent stuff on the film Alex is forced to watch. Similarly I think certain groups (deliberately or not) of society are mixing up controversial media with actual violence and other unpleasant stuff. The two have as little to do with each other as Beethoven and the Nazis.
It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve seen the movie, and I really ougt to find the book. But, yeah. Kubrick was never all there, was he? ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘Full Metal Jacket’, ‘The Shining’, and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ spring to mind…
Also, never watch ‘Clockwork Orange’ or ‘Fight Club’ (or anything of the like) when you’re feeling a bit …odd. Doesn’t help matters…
I wouldn’t say that Kubrick was crazy, I would say that even though he got some GREAT scripts to work with, he wasn’t all that great of a director (he was waaaay too fond of stretching the fucking movie).
Take “Full Metal Jacket” for instance. He could have ended the movie at the end of boot camp. Instead of doing that, he made essentially two movies, the second of which bored just about anyone who watched it to tears (and regardless of what most of you defending Kubrick are going to say, wasn’t that irreverant: war is bad… woo- I get it).
Or perhaps you prefer “2001: A Space Oddyssy,” which was also protraced by long, boring, pointless musical scenes out in space. Oh man- there’s nothing more exciting than an hourlong shot at a spacestation… boy howdy.
Okay, maybe Kubrick isn’t a BAD director, but he’s way too damned longwinded, which I personally cannot stand.