A Clockwork Orange is still the creepiest movie I’ve ever seen, and still has the most unsettling performance I’ve ever seen. In the grand scheme of things, I feel like Alex deserves more credit as a villain
Analysing Evil - The Vile Eye. He’s an evil youtuber who gets people hooked to his videos until the only hit of dopamine they get is when they see his videos in their feed.
As we can he, he seems to encourage this behavior at the end of every one of his videos, as well as using his victims to fund his twisted endeavors through a system know as Patreon.
Could say that about many iconic performances over the years. Shelley Duvall's performance in The Shining was as raw as you could get and finds itself as being a constant reference point of how to play a disturbed victim, and did she get an Oscar nomination? No. Duvall instead won a Razzy.
In some countries they completely banned the movie or gave it an X rating. I think the shock and notoriety overshadowed McDowell's performance. Perhaps that's the reason he wasn't nominated.
@@AZ-dq1um sources vary. I chcecked IMDB but there wasn't anything in the trivia section. Altho Kubrick changed the ages of other characters too (the 2 girls in the music store for example). Because of certain "adult" content in the novel, Kubrick didn't think it was tasteful to be put into film.
If he wasn't so self absorbed in his film making they actually might have been interesting to watch, not just another artisan on a soapbox...his films didn't mean much to me but each to his own.
@@jacuzzi.834-57 , agreed. Kubrick's style was grandiose and over the top. Great ideas every one of them, yet forgettable over time. Just a medium to highlight his narcissism
Alex is such a great villain because he is outgoing and well-spoken. Well-spoken to the point of being poetic. Its very charming. And a good villain to me is not a being or person you find disgusting and purely animalistic. That I refer to as a "monster" not a "villain". And villains are more interesting and scarier than monsters I think.
You gotta be referring to the book because in the movie he speaks in nadsat which has a peculiar ‘baby talk’ nature to it with its rhyming and prevalence of nonexistent words
Alex is not charming. He is the demonic embodiment. Very frightening to see the beast in operation. Scary as hell. Movie is almost impossible to watch. Evil in apprehension. I have seen such blackness overtake a willing victim and use it to heinous end. The horror. Alex a very dangerous character. Creepy. Demonic
The end of the film where he makes the politician feed him in hospital does a fantastic job of showing how much the balance of power has shifted in his favor. Stanley Kubrick was an absolute genius that always made the most of every second of screen time.
it's interesting that you interpret that scene like that. some people interpret that scene as alex being helpless and the state feeding him like a parent feeds an infant
@@frederickbulsara8141 If you watch the end of the film it illustrates to me how much the power has shifted. He went from being a convicted criminal to having all the power and control. At the end the obnoxious way he was smacking and chewing then making the politician wait to feed him until he was ready and opened is mouth to be fed. Then the way the politician was trying to offer him job to make him comfortable to avoid any problems Alex could cause for him in the future. That's why I think Stanley Kubrick closed the movie with Alex being at the center of the orgy, showing how he went from having to rape a woman earlier in the movie to having his pick of several women.
@@chesspiece81 he didn’t have to rape any woman clearly evidenced by the fact that in the movie it is shown he can get woman to sleep with him consensually very easily due to his charm. It’s a change to make the movie more screen appropriate but honestly I feel it enhances the movie as it portrays that Alex merely rapes woman because he enjoys their suffering rather than a lack of being able to get them normally. I felt the message of the ending was more along the lines that nothing has changed as the politicians and Alex who commuted heinous acts get off scot free and continue doing so as a reminder that Alex regaining free will means all the evil that comes with it must return to truly drive in the question posed of whether the option to choose evil is better than having no option at all. Honestly I prefer the move because the last chapter of the book I find to be atrocious so ending it on the second to last chapter manages to feel more in line with it themes and polished.
I've interpreted the book ending a bit differently. Alex and his friends continue to live a fairly normal life, despite how they've hurt people in the past. They've never made up for their crimes, and don't seem to feel much remorse, but that's kind of the point. They stopped doing those things, because they got bored, not because they're necessarily better people now. I think there's a very dark, realistic component to this. Everyone who went out their way to make my life a living hell when I was a teenager is living a fairly normal life, never having apologized, probably not even thinking twice about what they've done to me and other people. Some of my ex bullies even pretend to care about stuff on social media. Maybe they do care, I don't know. Maybe they were compelled to hurt me because they were hurt, too - frankly, does it matter though? Do I have to care? I don't think any of Alex' victims owe him sympathy. Neither I think anyone who's ever done wrong needs to suffer endlessly forever, but when you've never did anything to reflect on your past actions or shown any remorse, how can we pretend as a society that nothing has happened and it's all okay, because that was 5 or more years ago? How often are victims portrayed as crazy, petty or immature because they don't want to forgive someone who never even put in any effort - just because "time", nothing else?
They were never exactly bad people. They were just immature, and had no one to guide them. Thats what we have now with fathers missing from the picture. A boy needs to see what a man should do in order to be a good man.
@@marissashantez6051 i disagree a bit. If you know that you did wrong, yet you chalk It up with being Just a Kid and you tell the others to Just go over it you're kinda bad. Plus, even if you are a teen/Kid, there are some limits that you have to know
You're projecting something that isn't there based on your experience and refusal believe people who hurt you actually changed. People who rape and murder don't just stop and go straight because "they got bored."
The point of Alex's change was his selfishness. He stopped violence because it didn't fulfil him anymore, so in essence was never punished and only happened to change through no intention of himself. He didn't realise that he was evil and set about to change his ways, he just wanted to follow feelings of wellness. The overarching villain was a society that didn't care. Alex was allowed to do whatever he wanted and get away with it completely. I've read the book twice and i'm speaking from what I can remember.
That makes no sense. Ask yourself WHY didn't it fulfill him anymore? Because it was boring? No. Then he'd simply do what killers are known to do and escalate his depraved behavior. If he was only "following feelings of wellness" he would escalate, not veer from his old path. Murderers don't stop because they get bored, they ramp it up until they physically can't anymore or get caught. So then WHY wasn't it fulfilling, and WHY didn't he escalate his behavior? The answer to those questions is the whole point of the 21st chapter you're missing. There's a reason why Burgess regretted writing the book, and that reason is because the vast majority of people refuse to acknowledge the message he was trying to send. Mind you, he was a devout Christian at the time of writing the book, even if he gave up religion later in life. It was intended to show that anyone, no matter how vile they have been in the past, is capable of redemption, but ONLY if they choose it for themselves.
This is pretty much the system that bleeding heart people actually turn the criminal to the straight and narrow even if he really has paid any price or had any remorse.
See I disagree, I think Alex knew full well that he was evil but chose to be out of his own free will, he never at any point in the movie hides behind himself or his evil acts, whereas the government shown doing the ludovico technique on Alex know what they did was wrong but hide behind the evilness in order to make out like they were doing the right thing.
Just an interesting side note - Malcolm McDowell asked Stanley Kubrick if he could sing "Singing In The Rain" during the Alexander assault because he thought it would help offset the horror of what is going on. Personally, I think it adds to the degradation and entire atmosphere of the attack.
Not entirely true, but it's true they had been looking for ways to offset the horror of the scene. There's an interview with McDowell you can find here on youtube where he says that Kubrick came up to him & asked "Can you dance?". So they shot it again after like 5 days of shooting the scene and McDowell adlibbed singing in the rain & the whole dance number. Kubrick & McDowell drove to Kubricks house later & he bought the rights to Singing in The Rain the same day.
I always thought the fates of Alex's droogs was a pretty significant detail that shouldn't be overlooked. Georgie died young, never growing beyond his thug life, Dim became part of the violent and corrupt system as a policeman (along with their formal rival Billyboy), and Pete...Pete just grows into a normal guy. And out of these, Alex chooses to follow Pete's calm, peaceful lifestyle.
In the film yes, but Alex does change in the book, in the last chapter. Kubrick cut out the last chapter from his film, and instead made him revert to being a shithead. Also the book is one of the craziest and most fascinating language exercises ever. You feel like you're learning a new language reading it.
I personally kinda like the ending. My interpretation of the books message is that you can't change people by force and trying to do so takes away something that makes us human. Also I find it kind of ironic that where ludovico failed, Alexe's free will succeeded. Alex is still irredeemable monster, but he is a monster of his free will
Honestly I think it falls flat because Alex is shown to be a sociopath so the notion he just changed of his own free will to a normal person feels unrealistic. Also the ending is poor due to the fact it implies his evil is just a result of youth and nothing more which is wildly laughable of a notion.
@@plugshirt1762 just finished this book for my English class, and it’s funny that I find your comment so early. I thought the same thing, it was kind of weird how he just suddenly decided that he wanted a wife and a kid lol. I can see why the last chapter is considered controversial.
@@clanka7147 yeah it feels like the author wanted to have their cake and eat it too by telling a story about a despicable monster and one about a human going through youth and ends up ruining both by reforming the monster and making the human to be reformed too vile to be realistic. It’s kind of insane how one chapter can change the entire meaning of a book and that it does so in a way that simply removing it the story can still be coherent and tell an entirely different message
@@plugshirt1762 Alex is sociopath he does not have an innate moral compass and disregard of society norms in favor of his own pleasures. What is changing in the end is not his core but his hobby - he now got tired of violence and want something new something more stable and reliable, so now he considers to play a model citizen and family man. He did not become better person per se but in this state he will fit better in our current social norms. It's a believable change imo.
I adore the original ending. It's so warped and twisted and really highlights the all encompassing horror of this society to turn this story of rape and murder into just childhood phase that isn't worthy of much thought. It's so twisted
THERE IS NO ORIGINAL THIS IS A MOVIE NOT THE BOOK. They have nothing at all do with each other there is no point in discussing them in the context of each other.
@@nicktarantino7188 Hey, relax. Kayleigh didn't say the movie is worse than the book. They just said they like the book ending more than the movie one. And no, the Burgess book IS the original, it was his idea in the first place. And what's the point of watching movies and reading books if you can't discuss them after that?
@@jacuzzi.834-57 the word “sadist” was coined from de Sade’s name since the narrator in the video thought that Alex was a sadistic sociopath. Who said anything about narcissism? That wasn’t my point. I’m just simply talking in terms of what Sade said about the elitists and authority at the time who constantly imprisoned him for being a sexual delinquent and perv. He said the ones over him were just as hypocritical as him.
@@dejstoney Of course wasn't your point, but you have to admit that there are some striking similarities between DeSade and Alex , considering the Marquis was a spoilt bully who stood over people in his heyday as soldier and yes I am aware that the term is coined from his name, hence the comparison . And by the way I think term narcissism is quite a fitting term for both Alex and DeSade , if today's standards are anything to go by.
You are talking about a libertine and a hedonist usually correlated with atheists. In the words of doesteoeveksy if there is no god everything is permitted. Meaning if someone were to kill thats just the same as serving homeless people food. How stupid are those people who dont believe in god for the universe cannot come out of nothingness.
I heard Heath Ledger was heavily influenced by this character for his Joker Performance. After watching this movie again right after Dark Knight. I can actually see some of Alex's traits in Ledgers Joker. Alex was punk before there was punk. Something tells me he heavily influenced the movement lol
@vincentschley4762 id say that punk music isnt defined by the form of musical arrangements but more by the spirit of it. Of course if we are talking about what “punk” music is considered by musical arrangements, i am sure you would be correct. But i also believe a song can have every aspect of the punk musical arrangement and have nothing punk about it.
There's a subgenre of punk rock called Oi! which has a lot of bands using imagery and words from the book and movie. Two bands known for this are The Adicts and The Templars for example. So you're definitely right.
He is more upfront about his evil than Jason or Michael Myers, and in his case he just do it for fun, he has no need of a life of crime, he just enjoys a life of crime.
I feel like there are a lot of kids like Alex out there today. Not as extreme or overtly violent in their actions, but with a sickening disregard for others and sometimes narcissistic to the point of psychopathy. The sad thing is that some of them will reach the same hollow epiphany as Alex and think "Hmm, maybe I should stop being a peice of shit. Hehe, my bad, everyone.". They grow a boredom instead of a conscience, and sail through life, scot-free. Like many books and films, while not outright prophetic, A Clockwork Orange does seem to hit awfully close to many societal issues in real life today, especially in the UK; Council estates where young boys and girls grow up thinking petty, tribalistic hostility is the norm, sometimes indulging in it themselves.
It's part of the human condition to live linearly. We can't learn from experiences we don't have. To have knowledge of 'good and evil' is usually to learn that good and evil only exist in context with one another. How maddening.
This is large a part of growing up as a human. The brain takes 25 years to fully mature, that's a over a decade between being able to "take care of yourself" as a teen and have the more subtle things like empathy, compassion, and long-term thinking, fully grow. Also the fact most teens hang with other teens with under developed traits, they bounce off and amplify this. I don't think *everything* one does as a kid should follow you forever. I think the openness to others changing is key to giving people the chance to better themselves. If they are never given the chance to prove themselves better to others, then they have nothing to lose and will simply become worse. Yes, there are in my opinion, incurably sick sadists etc.. who will never be able to connect, empathize or really integrate with others. But remember bad, abusive, or even violent behaviour is a huge spectrum. Not black and white. There is forgivable behaviour, and unforgivable. The line between the two is the real struggle of this debate. But I would argue around 70% of people doing bad things is the result of a potentially good person who's gone astray, been warped or abused themselves, and could be helped and rehabilitated with the right tools and support.
Children that age are in a weird headspace where they understand concepts but are not really mentally developed yet to FULLY understand morality on a deep level.
That's cliché born of programming and lazy thinking. There are plenty of council estate children that want to improve themselves but, live in a society so screwed up in its self delusions about meritocracy and hard work always being rewarded, they ignore the instances where those ideals are not the norm. 30 years ago Deindustrialisation removed the ladder, and hollowed out the futures of many. It's ironic that those larping on about council estates with feral children sit quietly by as those estates are starved of economic and social investment just to cut income tax. Such societies are fertile soil with the proclivities of people like Alex, but at least he isn't hypocritical. He unlike, the society around him is honest at least to himself about what he wants and cares about. Whereas the Establishment and those that dream of them are hollow men, with dead eyes, and even worse crimes and lies falling from their lips.
The more dangerous part of modern society is the opposite of that. The manipulative, morally superior narcissist who will demonize and berate anyone who disagrees with them, calling them "bad people". Its incredibly damaging to the mental health of the youth to constantly be told that you're a "bad person" for having certain opinions.
This was one of the darkest characters you’ve covered so far. I’ve always considered Alex a terrifying character since his actions and behavior are within the realm of possibility. Thank you Vile Eye
Jimmy from Goodfellas would be interesting, because it seems like he murders out of paranoia and greed. And the scariest thing is that the film rarely shows his violent side, the bodies just appear out of nowhere
@@andrenunez1047 nope. Tommy murders cuz hes unhinged. Paranoia and greed is def Jimmy since he murdered whole crew after Lufthansa heist instead of paying them. Also Tommy shows his violent side like every scene.
Anthony Burgess said in "A Clockwork Orange Re-sucked" that he wasn't trying to just do a happy ending for the sake of happy endings. The total chapters of the novel is 21, which is the symbol of human maturity. A Clockwork Orange takes place over the course of 6 years, beginning with Alex as 15 and ending with him as 21. "Senseless violence is often prerogative of youth, it is the repartee of the stupid and the ignorant. " Burgess said. "There comes a time in most people's lives, however, where violence is viewed as juvenile and boring." This is evident with things we liked better as a teenager or adult now feeling a bit stale to us today. I liked actions films when I was teenager and in my early 20s, for example. Now that I'm turning 40 this year, I feel the need to be a bit more challenged at times. Not that I don't still like a good action film, but I just don't like it as much as I did as a younger man. But back to the character of Alex. Burgess felt the need to show Alex was growing up, and same stuff that he used to love is now considered mundane as he is maturing(especially the fact that he did it over and over again until it slowly lost appeal). He also begins to understand that human energy is better expended on creation than destruction, and is concerned about his future with no job and no offspring. Alex decides that it is time for him to evolve as an organism, settle down, start a family, maybe even create something, like music. He admitted that at the time he felt it was necessary to show that people could indeed change if they wanted to, but he said that you can do what you want with the ending. Accept it or ignore it, it is up to the reader to decide.
Fucking spot on. I remember being a teenager wanting to be in a gang and have a posse while selling drugs, guns, and other things. Then, I grew up. I married my girlfriend, we have four kids, and have a pretty good life. Sometimes, when I'm with my family I think back about that and think to myself, "What the fuck was I thinking?"
Anthony burgess’s original ending gets laughed at by everybody and removed from most things because it manages to ruin a great book so spectacularly. He tries to have his cake and eat it too by showing Alex commit abhorrent acts and portraying Alex as a typical delinquent. His actions go far beyond what is typically caused by growing up and the notion that this is all that caused him to commit his heinous actions is laughable
Some lads and tbh lasses growing up were absolute nutters. Some, not all, have changed their ways completely. People do change lives quite drastically at that age. It's a believable ending.
Funny how Alex's character is mostly darker in the books, yet the film has the darker ending. In the books, Alex does start another gang as he gets older, but after meeting Pete and seeing him reformed and married, Alex starts to contemplate giving up crime and starting a family too. The only problem is, he's scared his own children could become as horrific and violent as he was, perhaps even more so - showing Alex had the potential for true empathy and natural change like the chaplain said. In the movie however, that epilogue is scrapped, and we only see Alex as a reinvigorated sociopath ready to cause mayhem again.
Anyone who's spent time as a teenager in the U.K. during the 70's or 80's understands this movie, and Alex, all too well. My Mum asked me once why we all carried knives, and my cousin answered her, "Because Auntie, if we had guns we'd all be dead."
i mean i wasnt even born in the 80s but its the exact same today. carbon copies of alex are everywhere, because its generally the nature of a lot of late teens to early 20s men to be assholes
@yagbos yeah, I really didn’t care for The Matrix. I may be a heathen, but at least I’m not a idiotic fanatic that goes around trying to push their religious views on others and believes the stories and lies that other men wrote.
Something worth mentioning, is that the Ludovico Technique *was* successful in making Alex unable to act on his violent impulses, even in self-defence. This is shown more in the novel, where he's beaten up by the tramps, and I Think, it was suggested that his former-droogs-now-police, might have actually raped him when they were beating him up, and in both these instances, he was unable to tap into his violent capabilities, even to legitimately defend himself. When he's then in the home of Mr.Alexander, and hearing the music drives him to near-insanity, his action is one of 'trying to remove himself from the source of the pain', and the only option meant jumping from the window, it wasn't an outright suicide attempt with the aim to end his life. Which brings to another point which the film doesn't focus on, but which the novel does, is that the amount of blood he lost after jumping from the window, meant that the Ludovico serum had been flushed from his system. It wasn't so much a case of the Technique Failing, but one of when one of its component elements was removed, he was no longer inhibited from acting on his violent impulses. In the film, that comes across more as the Government thinking that they had subjected him to an unsuccessful, and thus cruel and unusual punishment, so they bribe him with the speakers and press conference to restore his public reputation as a 'reformed' criminal/victim of the system. I think that the final chapter in the novel, simply reflects that he is is simply 'growing up', and realizing that there really is more to the future than him going out for the Ultra-Violence, and I suspect that eventually, he Would reform, or, would reform as much as that society would allow him to. Awesome presentation.
Just like the lobotomy or the Nazi re-education schools to cure men from homosexuality, the cure is worst than the illness. Brain washing may block the person from certain conducts but it renders the person unable to function in society, many gays brain washed in Nazi re-education schools committed suicide or just became hermits, unable to function in society outside their homes.
I was a drug addict. In and out of jail. I was homeless and had no skills for a trade job. One day I realized that I didn't want this life and decided to make a change. Much like Alex there came a point where I just wanted a normal life instead of organized chaos. On one hand critics hate the end of the book but on the other hand it's a fact people can change their life around. I did.
Abso-fucking-lutely mate! We need to stop alienating people who are already alienated anyway. Even every killer is a human being. They all had a favourite teacher and watched cartoons as a kid. They all have their favourite food. But some people, life fucks up, and they end up doing bad or harmful things. A more effective way of preventing crime is to look after people properly, ensure we all have a good quality of life. It won't prevent all crime but it will take away the motive for a lot of it. Give people something better to do, a better option. Pretending criminals are different than human doesn't help anything. Very few people start off bad, very few commit evil acts for no reason. Stuff gets complicated and people get backed into corners that they don't see a way out of. Not saying punishment doesn't need to exist, I am saying that it doesn't help, in the majority of cases. There are better, more effective, and cheaper things to do in society, that stop crime before it happens, before the idea occurs. Of course there's not as much money in running community centres as there is Supermax Prisons, and only one satisfies the bloodlust, while stirring up more of it. Why do poor people commit so much more crime than reasonably-off people? I was gonna say "than rich people", but their crimes are just of a different type, though often much more harmful to the public. They're better at getting away with it, and courts are loath to prosecute bankers and the like in the first place. Get caught defrauding somebody's credit card, go away for years. Tank an entire bank, the mortgages of millions, you get early retirement with a "golden parachute" of $millions. Why's that?
He stops being a street thug, but he never really sees the error of his ways or feels remorse/regret for what he did. He just gets bored of his old lifestyle.
The music store is one of the best designed set pieces in film; the way the scene is filmed is gorgeous also. The entire movie is a masterpiece, often overlooked, I think, because of it's uncomfortable themes. It's a confronting movie to watch, but that's exactly what's so great about it!
I absolutely love how you framed this. Often times I see analysis videos on Alex be far too kind to him because of the latter half of the film. Some even seem to portray Mr. Alexander as some insane, sadistic character when in reality it's, at least to me, understandable in his position why he would want to seek revenge on Alex. The "very slightly gives us sympathy" line is perfectly stated for him.
Now it can be interpreted that Mr Alexander and Alex are two sides of the same person, evil and good, and now Alex, even when he's forced to be good, is paying the consequences of his actions. Karma
Mr. Alexander is at worst a hypocrite, albeit an understandable one, depending on how you read his character. Some view him as representative of idealists that blindly believe in rehabilitation essentially
Hello everyone! Little bit of an early release for this video as I'll be busy the next couple of weeks. I wanted to use the 2nd Movement from Beethoven's 9th Symphony but couldn't find a suitable copy for me to use that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg to license, so I compromised with the Finale. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy!
I dont understand the whole, "nobody deserves cruel or unusual treatment." Because clearly the cruel and unusual do. There are 3 facets of justice: deterrance, rehabilitation, and retribution. The more heinous the nature of the crime/crimes become, the higher the stock of retributive justice should likewise become. In extreme cases such as these, rehabilitation and deterrance should be mere afterthoughts and just cherries on the top if you can also achieve them, the primary focus being punitive retribution.
This episode has been fantastic. Love your insight on Alex. It'd be nice if I would suggest another character that is just as terrifying as Alex that is, Paul from Funny Games. Or maybe both Paul and Peter.
Weird. The old Slovenian version should be available. The Ljubljana Radio orchestra did quite a good Beethoven cycle back in the 90s, and it had quite a wide distribution, too. And there's always the Dudamel one, which shouldn't present much problem if credited. ua-cam.com/video/w0QSeOrAvA8/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GustavoDudamel
I just started watching this , and haven't really stopped since lol ....but yes I'd have to say I like these..., and so I agree with yall are saying haha.
@@armouredjester1622 u know I actually thought of one in real life, and I don't think its too far fetched to think this didn't happen way back in the day, ...u know knights and real life jesture days haha yeah that.....I could maybe see a guy working 2 jobs or something? Lol. Anyways this made me laugh a lot.
The lesson, if there is one to be had, that I took from the book and last chapter is that people are never going to change until they decide to make a change on their own. No matter what happens in their life, no one changes until they want to.
alex isn't even a villain just a psychopath violent spoiled brat..he doesn't have a goal or morals he is just young spoiled kid..you can't call him a villain
Yes!!! Omg I was hoping you would do Alex. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read, extremely difficult and challenging to read. Stanley Kubrick’s film is really something else. Thank you for doing this analysis! About to watch now.
When I was 16 I had a one year long relationship with a guy who loved this book. I wish I had known more about it in hindsight, maybe it could’ve helped me see and rationalize a little sooner that he was my abuser. He was a narcissist with little to no empathy for others and he was obsessed with this book, probably because he saw a lot of himself in it. I’m so glad that I got away because I look at this man and I see the same disregard for others that was secretly in him.
Okay, I think avoiding him was very nice for you... but I hope that people don't start to think that liking this movie and what it involves is a sign of abusive and violent behaviour in a person. I like it a lot but because of the psychology it involves and how the people in it evolves and change.
@@MauricioCortex15Agree, it doesn't apply to everyone. I do feel like obsessing and feeling like you can personally relate to a work that describes a person with no empathy/anti social psychopathic is different and alarming... Compared to just finding the themes it raises interesting
Alex isn't the product of one single bad circumstance, rather he seems to be the product of almost all of them, with the author letting the reader pick which one to blame based on their own bias.
He ended up not learning nothing from all the bad things happening to him so he's bound to repeat the cycle and suffer all over again till he's either reformed, dead, lobotomized or locked forever in jail.
When you were talking about channeling his anti energy positively, it made me think of Dexter Morgan and how his adoptive father saw that he was/would be a serial killer and nurtured a code that would allow him to satiate his bloodlust but also be productive to society (if killing other serial killers is considered productive).
Malcolm McDowell improvising "I'm singing in the rape" shows Alex's level of evil. The fact McDowell can improvise this shows not only he's a great actor, but the character was so viscerally evil and well written that a line like that can just come to his mind.
@@lb2kxx That's not exactly true. According to Mcdowell, they were trying to do the scene for a few days and it just wasn't working, so Kubrick asked him if he could dance. It was then that Mcdowell started humming singing in the rain and Kubrick loved it so much he got the rights to the song within 3 hours.
I think Anthony Burgess didn't include that part in his book, the scene was lacking a certain evilness in it so director Stanley Kubrick suggested for Malcolm to tap dance a bit and Malcolm remembered hearing Sinatra's "Singing in the rain"
How is Alex fifteen I thought he was twenty. I couldn’t imagine someone my age running around killing people. Maybe in this world everyone looks way older/develops fasters than they are
It’s just one of those restrictions in film making, getting a 15 year old to play the main character in a film like this in the 70s would have been impossible
Honestly, I think that in the period between the “cure” and the return to the writer’s house, the person who treated Alex worst was Joe, the lodger. He had no prior experience with the man, no personal grievance, yet went out of his way to antagonize him, make his mother cry, and blame it on him.
So you've now analysed both Jack Torrance & Alex DeLarge so your next video surely has to be on HAL 9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey'? That way you can then complete all the classic Kubrick villains
I don't think that HAL was necessarily evil. His murders of the astronauts was more the result of faulty programming. In the books it mentions that he was torn between two of his prime directives He was programmed to be secretive and absolute in his commitment to the mission. So that the mission can be carried out even if the astronauts die. He was also programmed to be helpful and subservient to the astronauts as well. To be there for them whenever they need anything and to be helpful in their attempts to complete the mission. HAL was put into a situation where it was the only being on the spacecraft which knew the true nature of the mission. He was torn between his two prime directives and started to view the astronauts as a threat to the mission. So, in an attempt to safeguard the mission, he kills them. An evil act to be sure, but he is a computer. Acting according to his programming. In the subsequent novels, the astronaut that survives and becomes immortal uses HALs help several times during the story. Eventually HAL sacrifices himself for the astronauts.
I seriously love your channel. I have a very deep love of villains & their many forms but never have I thought or experienced breakdowns so thorough & entertaining.
The name Alexander Delarge is a hint for Alexander the Great. Its symbolic value consists of every young person who is willed and unstoppable to conquer everything while it is still young. The myth of Alexander lays beneath every young man even the most cruel and sobre like Alex Delarge and the way that Stanley Kubrick represented it is unbelievably great.
I think that Alex is a good example of a malignant narcissist. He is not only sadistic and agressive, but he is also a controlfreak and thinks he is better than everyone else because of his ideals.
Here's why I like the real ending (where he is properly reformed) and why I'm sure many people didn't. It's not that it's a happy ending, it's far from it, he even highlights the own futility of his actions going forward to remedy this infernal cycle. It's not a happy ending, only now the suffering turns inward into himself as opposed to turned outward as he is allowed to run amok. I would wager why most people don't like the ending is that they don't like the idea of someone like him becoming reformed at all. It complicates their worldview. If he becomes reformed, he is no longer just some random evil thought in their minds, but is more a reflection of what anyone could be given the right circumstances. It's easier to paint things so black and white. These are the same people who are caricaturized in the film, the complicit masses. Just as evil as Delarge himself, but with the faintest mask of civility and society to dress up their corruption and without the reckless abandon to pursue their more base needs outright. Most people are not evil or good, but will do what they can get away with to improve their standing. Whatever their standing means to them, whether it's feeling good emotionally, having wealth, feeling superior, etc. I like the real ending, because it doesn't paint Delarge as just another monster. He's just a person who never really faced any meaningful consequences for his actions. When he eventually does face consequences and the shoe is on the other foot, eventually that perspective somewhat reforms him. Though this leads to new suffering. This is hammered right home, when Delarge is powerless and suddenly anyone can get away scot free with torturing him or doing whatever they want. Sure, some of it was motivated by revenge, but a good chunk was just the same sadistic glee that was present in Delarge himself. Only Delarge wasn't afraid of direct consequences unlike the masses. I would argue, that this paints a different light on good and evil. Where good and evil are not thoughts and they are not actions solely. But a combination of the two. Actions guided by thought. Intention matters just as actions do. If someone accidentally gave you a great deal, but intended to screw you over, they are not good solely because it turned out to be a net positive to you or the world. The inverse holds true as well. Most of the people in the film, were just as evil as Delarge, but were to afraid of the consequences to pursue it. Their inaction does not make them good, and their true intentions are shown as the Ludovico technique compromises Delarge.
I'd love to see an essay video on Dorian Gray, in particular the 1945 Dorian Gray, and the one from the Oscar Wilde novel. It's legitimately one of the most terrifying movies I have seen.
Have you ever called them out? I called mine out and come to find out they thought they were doing good the whole time . They thought I was happy. Lol I wasn’t. My parents were cowardly. When I pushed ; instead of them pushing back they backed off. They didn’t know how hurt I was until I brought it up. Most of the time my parents didn’t understand and won’t acknowledge their mistakes . What a coincidence this guys name is Alex. I’m a very nice guy. Although deeply disturbed. I like classical but I enjoy Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motörhead, Kevin gates, Kendrick Lamar, and mr Marshall mathers
This is one of the few movies you should never watch on psychedelics unless you want to risk getting PTSD or at the very least getting nightmares for weeks.
A clockwork orange is my all-time favourite movies! This was a great in-depth look into the book and movie. I still love this movie, and all it’s entirety!
In the book the girls were 10 years old. And Alex drugged them and raped them! In the movie they were made to be older because that would've been too controversial.
@@1bridge11 Well, kidnapping and taking advantage of an underage girl is enough to put just about anyone on a villain list, not to mention Humbert Humbert's abusive relationship with his former spouse. On top of all that, Humbert Humbert shows himself throughout the book to be manipulative, obsessively controlling, jealous and self-deluding. Even his final confrontation with and murder of Quilty is laced with hypocrisy. In short, he's a cunning and subtle predator.
Just a note. There's a verse somwhere that says something like "the ungodly love blood" or something like that. The long way of saying it is this. The common man is more sadistic than people may realize. If one considers what passes for entertainment then may begin to realize maybe we all have some kind of problem. I find a man who behaves like Alex to be an honest coward. He is more open, to a very bad extent, with feelings lots of people share in some fashion. However he is still a coward. He preys in a pack on groups of sonetimes innocent and helpless people. That is true cowardice.
Been a while since I watched the movie, but to me Alex just seems like a typical fatherless male teenager that hangs out in a bad crowd. Animalistic behavior with no sense of self-restraint that is reciprocated and amplified by his, as you called it "pack". Arguably made worse by the fact that his father is actually there and does nothing, and that his society is utter trash, but yeah. I've met kids like that and despite being scrawny they can cause serious damage in a group.
This is an excellent point. The only real difference between Alex and most people, is most people need an excuse first to behave so evilly. But once they have it, they'll revel in the justice-rape of people in prison, the killing of others if deemed necessary. The desecration gf land and culture in the name of progress. And many "normal" people take great glee in the suffering of others, if the right excuse is presented. Alex already has his twisted reasoning in place to commit these acts.
@@uniquechannelnames I need to observe the movie again so I can see his reasoning to indulge himself so. It might be because instead of fearing the policing authorities, the public fears the gangs, and the gangs feed on the fear in a way that creates more fear. This kind of environment is known to occur in a true anarchy often times, and the criminals there excuse their conscience by thinking this is all in the name of survival. Of course there are often alternatices routes they could have taken but the excuse has been made and the impulses will be acted upon. For Alex though, it more likely in the name of entertainment than anything.
This story absolutely horrified me, and I think is one of the most chilling I've ever seen. But I also still think it's a very good book/movie on both the inner darkness of man and how evil isn't simply down to the wickedness of the individual but how society is conducted as well.
Yes he's forfeiting his free will to get out faster because he thinks the Ludovico technique is not gonna work, so he wants to get out to continue his life as usual.
The book has a final chapter that was cut from the movie that shows Alex actually settling down and becoming less violent of his own volition. His punishment was more from seeing all the people around him he had hurt come back to get their revenge on him and make his suffering even worse, and the realization is that punishment is subjective to those who do the initial wrong to see the error of their ways.
Analyzing Evil Ideas Micah Bell from Red Dead Redemption 2 Lorne Malvo from Fargo Walter White from Breaking Bad Amon Göeth from Schindler’s List Joffrey Baratheon from Game Of Thrones
I'm so glad you mentioned the ending of the novel - I never considered it a "happy ending", but I did consider it an important demonstration that the change the government and science wanted to IMPOSE on Alex could only ever be CHOSEN by Alex himself for them to actually work. Alex chooses to reform himself when he considers the time to be right. He is not redeemed, but you see a glimmer of clarity that might just lead to a different future ....
I always thought the scenes with the droogs sneaking around the houses was really scary to me. I find the anticipation of violence much scarier than the actually violence. I can't believe my dad let me watch this at 7 years old when our family first got cable in 85'. I was obsessed with the movie after first watching it.
I feel that Alex's first three assaults really showcase his character. He beats someone below him (the homeless man), on the same level as him (Billy Boy's gang) and someone above him (The Alexanders)
Great video! Please do Michael Corleone! I know that he's actually the protagonist, but he is a corrupt, murderous, sinister guy who makes people's lives better or worse (usually worse). He is a very complex and amazing character and I'd love to see him analysed in a vide by this channel! Great work what you're doing :D
Or Tommy and Jimmy from Goodfellas. Henry never enjoyed murder, but these two did. Especially Jimmy, because he is so mysterious. He either murders out of paranoia or greed, which is pretty evil.
Its illegal for parents to correct children todays woke SJW society. the book and esp the movie paint a portrait of a soviet style socialist progressive dreamscape, egalitarian no matter the consequences. Teachers and school officials have the state authorized power to examine, interrogate, and medically treat students. Parents are powerless. Remeber Burgess was a (private school) teacher, he was aware of the official philosophy and directives of the state teaching system as it was evolving post WW2 into a soviet model.
@@joefish6091 @Joe Fish I am a progressive leftist, but I agree with you. To be fair, progressive are just people that value trying to experiment with new policies and societal values. Its very possible that future progressives would advocate for further parent autonomy and power. The parents should have beat the shit out of Alex and relying on the state is ridiculous.
Like many fans of A Clockwork Orange, I have a negative opinion regarding the final chapter of the book, for three reasons. Firstly, as the Vile Eye mentioned, it's extremely sudden and with no development. For the entire story, Alex's true feelings regarding violence and deviancy do not change at all, and then in the span of one chapter he entirely reforms. Second, it's the complete antithesis to his entire character. The essence of who Alex is as a person is directly dependent upon his psychopathy. But thirdly, and in my opinion most importantly, Alex's reformation defeats the entire question posed by the book in the first place, and that is what do you do with a person who cannot be reformed? A person who enjoys hurting others purely because of the person they are, not as a result of their upbringing, home life, education, life experiences, or anything else. A person who is sadistic from birth and cannot be changed. Do you lock them up in prison for the rest of their life? Do you execute them? Do you exile them from society? In Alex's case, civilization decides to answer this question by dehumanizing him and removing his free will through the Ludocivo Technique. And while it works in preventing Alex from continuing to commit heinous crimes such as home invasion, rape, and murder, he's been deprived of possibly the most essential quality that makes a human being what they are, that being the ability to choose one's own actions through sentience rather than to act solely upon instinct. Interestingly, the only person in the entire story who identifies this and comes to Alex's defense is the prison chaplain, who makes a point of saying so during the scene when Alex's forced reformation is being demonstrated to an audience. And yet he's ignored and written off as a silly religious ideologue. When you factor in the book's ending in which Alex, through his own devices, chooses to abandon his ultra-violent ways, it destroys the hypothetical situation and the question that the entire story is asking. That said, I understand why the ending was written the way it was. Anthony Burgess loved his character and wanted to give him a satisfactory ending.
idk, personally I feel that the theme of free will and that young people leave evil when they mature is incomplete in the movie without the final chapter
"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."
It would be great to see 2 character analysis from The Green Mile, Percy Wetmore and Wild Billy. I’ve done my own character analysis about these 2 characters as well as the other inmates. I would love to see your take on them.
The worst about what Alex is subjected to is that he has not chosen to be a good person, he's has just been made into a brain washed harmless sheep. True morality is having the capability of causing harm and CHOOSING not to do it.
It would have been far more humane to just give Alex the death penalty. To end the life of such a natural violent person, can be seen as a mercy not just to thise around them but also to the violent person.
Thank you for a top notch synopsis of this film. I've never been able to get through 30 minutes of it. Now that it has been explained, I'll give it another try with an open mind
This is definitely one of my favorite movies. After the shock of it, watch it again and see the humor! Lol! So many parts of this movie crack me up! Cool analysis!
A Clockwork Orange is still the creepiest movie I’ve ever seen, and still has the most unsettling performance I’ve ever seen. In the grand scheme of things, I feel like Alex deserves more credit as a villain
Have you seen natural born killers, on acid?
check out begotten
Creepier than The Shining or the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
@@markwarner.03 oh boy that was a ride I don’t wanna take again
@@culture4519 never ever again lol
Analysing Evil - The Vile Eye.
He’s an evil youtuber who gets people hooked to his videos until the only hit of dopamine they get is when they see his videos in their feed.
YES, WE NEED MORE!!
As we can he, he seems to encourage this behavior at the end of every one of his videos, as well as using his victims to fund his twisted endeavors through a system know as Patreon.
Cringe
Facts
Ah, this was fun to read
Malcolm McDowell was cruelly snubbed of an Oscar nomination. His performance as Alex is one of the most iconic performances in film history.
And got typecasted for so long. His beginnings in Lindsay Anderson' s films were also overshadowed by his role in Kubrick's .
Who won instead?
Could say that about many iconic performances over the years. Shelley Duvall's performance in The Shining was as raw as you could get and finds itself as being a constant reference point of how to play a disturbed victim, and did she get an Oscar nomination? No. Duvall instead won a Razzy.
@@IrishGuysScarf the hate for duvall in the shining is one of the most constantly bewildering things i run into as a film fan
In some countries they completely banned the movie or gave it an X rating. I think the shock and notoriety overshadowed McDowell's performance. Perhaps that's the reason he wasn't nominated.
The scariest part of the movie is that we’re supposed to believe that Alex is being played by a 15 year old 😂😂
Ikr? I taught he was supost to be like 18/23 at the least
@@comradesam3382 he is around that age in the movie but In the book he is 15
Stanley Kubrick (the director) intentionally picked an actor who was older than the age of the character in the novel.
@@Scout-Fanfiction why did he do that?
@@AZ-dq1um sources vary. I chcecked IMDB but there wasn't anything in the trivia section. Altho Kubrick changed the ages of other characters too (the 2 girls in the music store for example). Because of certain "adult" content in the novel, Kubrick didn't think it was tasteful to be put into film.
Malcolm Mcdowell's performance is memorable and haunting. Stanley Kubrick was a beast of film making
If he wasn't so self absorbed in his film making they actually might have been interesting to watch, not just another artisan on a soapbox...his films didn't mean much to me but each to his own.
@@jacuzzi.834-57 Tarantino fan, Mr. Bob?
8:31 Ironically Malcom McDowell played a vampire years later in an episode of Tales From The Crypt!
@@jacuzzi.834-57 , agreed. Kubrick's style was grandiose and over the top. Great ideas every one of them, yet forgettable over time. Just a medium to highlight his narcissism
He surely was and thank goodness his outlet was making movies I can't imagine how he might of turned out if he was a regular joe.
My favorite part of the film is when Alex says: "I am the A Clockwork Orange."
Maybe the clockwork orange was the friends we made along the way.
what are we, some kind of A Clockwork Orange?
I get it now, I finally understand. This has truly been..... A Clockwork Orange...
Huh, what scene does he say that ?
No... I am your Clockwork Orange!
Alex is such a great villain because he is outgoing and well-spoken. Well-spoken to the point of being poetic. Its very charming.
And a good villain to me is not a being or person you find disgusting and purely animalistic. That I refer to as a "monster" not a "villain".
And villains are more interesting and scarier than monsters I think.
Monster can be villians tho
Monsters come in all shapes and sizes
for sure u don t want to meet him irl!! not me..
You gotta be referring to the book because in the movie he speaks in nadsat which has a peculiar ‘baby talk’ nature to it with its rhyming and prevalence of nonexistent words
Alex is not charming. He is the demonic embodiment. Very frightening to see the beast in operation. Scary as hell. Movie is almost impossible to watch. Evil in apprehension. I have seen such blackness overtake a willing victim and use it to heinous end. The horror. Alex a very dangerous character. Creepy. Demonic
The end of the film where he makes the politician feed him in hospital does a fantastic job of showing how much the balance of power has shifted in his favor. Stanley Kubrick was an absolute genius that always made the most of every second of screen time.
it's interesting that you interpret that scene like that. some people interpret that scene as alex being helpless and the state feeding him like a parent feeds an infant
@@frederickbulsara8141 If you watch the end of the film it illustrates to me how much the power has shifted. He went from being a convicted criminal to having all the power and control. At the end the obnoxious way he was smacking and chewing then making the politician wait to feed him until he was ready and opened is mouth to be fed. Then the way the politician was trying to offer him job to make him comfortable to avoid any problems Alex could cause for him in the future. That's why I think Stanley Kubrick closed the movie with Alex being at the center of the orgy, showing how he went from having to rape a woman earlier in the movie to having his pick of several women.
@@chesspiece81 he didn’t have to rape any woman clearly evidenced by the fact that in the movie it is shown he can get woman to sleep with him consensually very easily due to his charm. It’s a change to make the movie more screen appropriate but honestly I feel it enhances the movie as it portrays that Alex merely rapes woman because he enjoys their suffering rather than a lack of being able to get them normally. I felt the message of the ending was more along the lines that nothing has changed as the politicians and Alex who commuted heinous acts get off scot free and continue doing so as a reminder that Alex regaining free will means all the evil that comes with it must return to truly drive in the question posed of whether the option to choose evil is better than having no option at all. Honestly I prefer the move because the last chapter of the book I find to be atrocious so ending it on the second to last chapter manages to feel more in line with it themes and polished.
@@chesspiece81 Omg you’re icredibmy wrong and stupid the movie is a criticism on authoriantianism not on criminals and evil
@@nicktarantino7188
He never said it wasn't.
Are you ok?
I've interpreted the book ending a bit differently. Alex and his friends continue to live a fairly normal life, despite how they've hurt people in the past. They've never made up for their crimes, and don't seem to feel much remorse, but that's kind of the point. They stopped doing those things, because they got bored, not because they're necessarily better people now. I think there's a very dark, realistic component to this. Everyone who went out their way to make my life a living hell when I was a teenager is living a fairly normal life, never having apologized, probably not even thinking twice about what they've done to me and other people. Some of my ex bullies even pretend to care about stuff on social media. Maybe they do care, I don't know. Maybe they were compelled to hurt me because they were hurt, too - frankly, does it matter though? Do I have to care? I don't think any of Alex' victims owe him sympathy. Neither I think anyone who's ever done wrong needs to suffer endlessly forever, but when you've never did anything to reflect on your past actions or shown any remorse, how can we pretend as a society that nothing has happened and it's all okay, because that was 5 or more years ago? How often are victims portrayed as crazy, petty or immature because they don't want to forgive someone who never even put in any effort - just because "time", nothing else?
true. Yet, you have to be the "bigger Person"
They were never exactly bad people. They were just immature, and had no one to guide them. Thats what we have now with fathers missing from the picture. A boy needs to see what a man should do in order to be a good man.
@@marissashantez6051 i disagree a bit. If you know that you did wrong, yet you chalk It up with being Just a Kid and you tell the others to Just go over it you're kinda bad. Plus, even if you are a teen/Kid, there are some limits that you have to know
The only way to get over the past is to just let it go.
You're projecting something that isn't there based on your experience and refusal believe people who hurt you actually changed. People who rape and murder don't just stop and go straight because "they got bored."
The point of Alex's change was his selfishness. He stopped violence because it didn't fulfil him anymore, so in essence was never punished and only happened to change through no intention of himself. He didn't realise that he was evil and set about to change his ways, he just wanted to follow feelings of wellness. The overarching villain was a society that didn't care. Alex was allowed to do whatever he wanted and get away with it completely. I've read the book twice and i'm speaking from what I can remember.
@@stairwaytoheaven8 "He didn't realise he was evil and set about to change his ways,"
Cutting off a quote greatly changes its meaning.
LMFAO this is so off it’s insane you’re so wrong.
That makes no sense. Ask yourself WHY didn't it fulfill him anymore? Because it was boring? No. Then he'd simply do what killers are known to do and escalate his depraved behavior. If he was only "following feelings of wellness" he would escalate, not veer from his old path. Murderers don't stop because they get bored, they ramp it up until they physically can't anymore or get caught.
So then WHY wasn't it fulfilling, and WHY didn't he escalate his behavior? The answer to those questions is the whole point of the 21st chapter you're missing. There's a reason why Burgess regretted writing the book, and that reason is because the vast majority of people refuse to acknowledge the message he was trying to send. Mind you, he was a devout Christian at the time of writing the book, even if he gave up religion later in life. It was intended to show that anyone, no matter how vile they have been in the past, is capable of redemption, but ONLY if they choose it for themselves.
This is pretty much the system that bleeding heart people actually turn the criminal to the straight and narrow even if he really has paid any price or had any remorse.
See I disagree, I think Alex knew full well that he was evil but chose to be out of his own free will, he never at any point in the movie hides behind himself or his evil acts, whereas the government shown doing the ludovico technique on Alex know what they did was wrong but hide behind the evilness in order to make out like they were doing the right thing.
Just an interesting side note - Malcolm McDowell asked Stanley Kubrick if he could sing "Singing In The Rain" during the Alexander assault because he thought it would help offset the horror of what is going on. Personally, I think it adds to the degradation and entire atmosphere of the attack.
Not entirely true, but it's true they had been looking for ways to offset the horror of the scene. There's an interview with McDowell you can find here on youtube where he says that Kubrick came up to him & asked "Can you dance?". So they shot it again after like 5 days of shooting the scene and McDowell adlibbed singing in the rain & the whole dance number. Kubrick & McDowell drove to Kubricks house later & he bought the rights to Singing in The Rain the same day.
I read once that Gene Kelly was infuriated by that scene as he felt it forever tainted the song he had been so closely associated with.
@@mattpope1746 it kind of did. I can’t think of that song without thinking of that scene.
Alex's only redeeming quality is that he seems to care for his snake. Well... except for keeping him in a drawer.
Do we know snakes despise drawers?
@@calska140 not too warm prolly
Lol
I always thought the snake was another penis metaphor in a movie full of phallic imagery
I mean my snake sometimes goes into my drawers when I let him out for exercise, it's not really a bad thing because it's relatively warm
“It’s wrong because it’s, like, against society”. This one hit hard
does god want goodness, or the choice of goodness? was one that got me
We live in a society
@@S.D.323 we live in a clock work orange
I always thought the fates of Alex's droogs was a pretty significant detail that shouldn't be overlooked. Georgie died young, never growing beyond his thug life, Dim became part of the violent and corrupt system as a policeman (along with their formal rival Billyboy), and Pete...Pete just grows into a normal guy.
And out of these, Alex chooses to follow Pete's calm, peaceful lifestyle.
Analyzing Evil: Josef from “Creep” and “Creep 2”
Fantastic choice
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE.
YOO DO IT
Ooh yeah that would be mad deep.
Oh shit, I only just noticed Alex’s dad is Delbert Grady from The Shining too.
"Great party isn't it?"
he should have corrected Alex
@@neame-bh3uq corrrrected
“You a......married man are ya... Mr.Grady?”
Oh snap, I kept looking at the dad and trying to place him but couldnt. Yeah, its definitely Grady.
Alex is true evil, through and through. An extremely interesting character too.
Right and it rhymes!
The touches of comedy made me feel guilty for warming toward him.
Malcolm McDowall's talent and charisma made him even better
In the film yes, but Alex does change in the book, in the last chapter. Kubrick cut out the last chapter from his film, and instead made him revert to being a shithead.
Also the book is one of the craziest and most fascinating language exercises ever. You feel like you're learning a new language reading it.
@@uniquechannelnames: We kind of were. I can't recall the name, but Burgess enlisted a language consultant to make up the lingo.
I love the part where Alex said: "Maybe the real a clockwork orange was the friends we made"
A truly conspiring moment
Had me in tears😿🧜♂️🧜♂️
💯😔
Or when BillyBoy came back and said "it's Billin' time"
And then he Alex'd everywhere
Little Alex isn't evil! He's my friend and humble narrator!
Oh..my brother..
All he ever wanted was to borrow people’s telephones, man.
What a horroshow
He'a my humble narrator and droog.
Viddy well , little brother, viddy well
I personally kinda like the ending. My interpretation of the books message is that you can't change people by force and trying to do so takes away something that makes us human. Also I find it kind of ironic that where ludovico failed, Alexe's free will succeeded. Alex is still irredeemable monster, but he is a monster of his free will
Honestly I think it falls flat because Alex is shown to be a sociopath so the notion he just changed of his own free will to a normal person feels unrealistic. Also the ending is poor due to the fact it implies his evil is just a result of youth and nothing more which is wildly laughable of a notion.
@@plugshirt1762 just finished this book for my English class, and it’s funny that I find your comment so early. I thought the same thing, it was kind of weird how he just suddenly decided that he wanted a wife and a kid lol. I can see why the last chapter is considered controversial.
@@clanka7147 yeah it feels like the author wanted to have their cake and eat it too by telling a story about a despicable monster and one about a human going through youth and ends up ruining both by reforming the monster and making the human to be reformed too vile to be realistic. It’s kind of insane how one chapter can change the entire meaning of a book and that it does so in a way that simply removing it the story can still be coherent and tell an entirely different message
@@plugshirt1762 Alex is sociopath he does not have an innate moral compass and disregard of society norms in favor of his own pleasures. What is changing in the end is not his core but his hobby - he now got tired of violence and want something new something more stable and reliable, so now he considers to play a model citizen and family man.
He did not become better person per se but in this state he will fit better in our current social norms. It's a believable change imo.
@@clanka7147 The book sucks and should not be spoken about in context to the movie why are u idiots spewing this 😭
I adore the original ending. It's so warped and twisted and really highlights the all encompassing horror of this society to turn this story of rape and murder into just childhood phase that isn't worthy of much thought.
It's so twisted
Bog, finally someone said that. The problem is not that Alex is a teenager, the thing is he is a sadistic cruel sociopath.
THERE IS NO ORIGINAL THIS IS A MOVIE NOT THE BOOK. They have nothing at all do with each other there is no point in discussing them in the context of each other.
@@nicktarantino7188 Well I think there is.
@@nicktarantino7188 Hey, relax. Kayleigh didn't say the movie is worse than the book. They just said they like the book ending more than the movie one. And no, the Burgess book IS the original, it was his idea in the first place. And what's the point of watching movies and reading books if you can't discuss them after that?
@@nicktarantino7188 Why not? I mean, the movie is literally an adaptation of the novel, so I think it has plenty to do with each other. Chill out.
"Come and get one in the yarbles! If you have any yarbles."
-Alex to Billy
"Eggiweggs....I'd like to smash them!"
Even though you've never heard the word yarbles you know exactly what it means
@@gimmetheloot1213 I pretty much got an idea what "yarbles" meant when I saw that scene the first time!
You're talking yarbles!
My a polly lodges
““The state and the people running the society are just as morally bankrupt as Alex himself”. Marquis de Sade would definitely agree.
But DeSade was a narcissist who would think that this book would be written about him...
@@jacuzzi.834-57 the word “sadist” was coined from de Sade’s name since the narrator in the video thought that Alex was a sadistic sociopath. Who said anything about narcissism? That wasn’t my point. I’m just simply talking in terms of what Sade said about the elitists and authority at the time who constantly imprisoned him for being a sexual delinquent and perv. He said the ones over him were just as hypocritical as him.
@@dejstoney Of course wasn't your point, but you have to admit that there are some striking similarities between DeSade and Alex , considering the Marquis was a spoilt bully who stood over people in his heyday as soldier and yes I am aware that the term is coined from his name, hence the comparison . And by the way I think term narcissism is quite a fitting term for both Alex and DeSade , if today's standards are anything to go by.
Hey ✨
You are talking about a libertine and a hedonist usually correlated with atheists. In the words of doesteoeveksy if there is no god everything is permitted. Meaning if someone were to kill thats just the same as serving homeless people food.
How stupid are those people who dont believe in god for the universe cannot come out of nothingness.
I heard Heath Ledger was heavily influenced by this character for his Joker Performance. After watching this movie again right after Dark Knight. I can actually see some of Alex's traits in Ledgers Joker. Alex was punk before there was punk. Something tells me he heavily influenced the movement lol
That's not inaccurate to say. There's even a subgenre of punk called Clockwork Punk that directly borrows imagery from the film.
punk was around before a clockwork orange
Check out the English punk band The Adicts.
Alex definitely did there!
@vincentschley4762 id say that punk music isnt defined by the form of musical arrangements but more by the spirit of it. Of course if we are talking about what “punk” music is considered by musical arrangements, i am sure you would be correct. But i also believe a song can have every aspect of the punk musical arrangement and have nothing punk about it.
There's a subgenre of punk rock called Oi! which has a lot of bands using imagery and words from the book and movie. Two bands known for this are The Adicts and The Templars for example. So you're definitely right.
The thing with this Alex, is he doesnt hide his motives. He is easy to read, Nothing he does is a surprise, he is always in character.
@The One Who Knocks Hi Waltuh
He is more upfront about his evil than Jason or Michael Myers, and in his case he just do it for fun, he has no need of a life of crime, he just enjoys a life of crime.
did you watch the film? bollocks
I feel like there are a lot of kids like Alex out there today. Not as extreme or overtly violent in their actions, but with a sickening disregard for others and sometimes narcissistic to the point of psychopathy. The sad thing is that some of them will reach the same hollow epiphany as Alex and think "Hmm, maybe I should stop being a peice of shit. Hehe, my bad, everyone.". They grow a boredom instead of a conscience, and sail through life, scot-free.
Like many books and films, while not outright prophetic, A Clockwork Orange does seem to hit awfully close to many societal issues in real life today, especially in the UK; Council estates where young boys and girls grow up thinking petty, tribalistic hostility is the norm, sometimes indulging in it themselves.
It's part of the human condition to live linearly. We can't learn from experiences we don't have. To have knowledge of 'good and evil' is usually to learn that good and evil only exist in context with one another. How maddening.
This is large a part of growing up as a human. The brain takes 25 years to fully mature, that's a over a decade between being able to "take care of yourself" as a teen and have the more subtle things like empathy, compassion, and long-term thinking, fully grow. Also the fact most teens hang with other teens with under developed traits, they bounce off and amplify this.
I don't think *everything* one does as a kid should follow you forever. I think the openness to others changing is key to giving people the chance to better themselves. If they are never given the chance to prove themselves better to others, then they have nothing to lose and will simply become worse.
Yes, there are in my opinion, incurably sick sadists etc.. who will never be able to connect, empathize or really integrate with others. But remember bad, abusive, or even violent behaviour is a huge spectrum. Not black and white. There is forgivable behaviour, and unforgivable. The line between the two is the real struggle of this debate. But I would argue around 70% of people doing bad things is the result of a potentially good person who's gone astray, been warped or abused themselves, and could be helped and rehabilitated with the right tools and support.
Children that age are in a weird headspace where they understand concepts but are not really mentally developed yet to FULLY understand morality on a deep level.
That's cliché born of programming and lazy thinking. There are plenty of council estate children that want to improve themselves but, live in a society so screwed up in its self delusions about meritocracy and hard work always being rewarded, they ignore the instances where those ideals are not the norm. 30 years ago Deindustrialisation removed the ladder, and hollowed out the futures of many. It's ironic that those larping on about council estates with feral children sit quietly by as those estates are starved of economic and social investment just to cut income tax. Such societies are fertile soil with the proclivities of people like Alex, but at least he isn't hypocritical. He unlike, the society around him is honest at least to himself about what he wants and cares about. Whereas the Establishment and those that dream of them are hollow men, with dead eyes, and even worse crimes and lies falling from their lips.
The more dangerous part of modern society is the opposite of that. The manipulative, morally superior narcissist who will demonize and berate anyone who disagrees with them, calling them "bad people". Its incredibly damaging to the mental health of the youth to constantly be told that you're a "bad person" for having certain opinions.
This was one of the darkest characters you’ve covered so far. I’ve always considered Alex a terrifying character since his actions and behavior are within the realm of possibility. Thank you Vile Eye
Jimmy from Goodfellas would be interesting, because it seems like he murders out of paranoia and greed. And the scariest thing is that the film rarely shows his violent side, the bodies just appear out of nowhere
You mean tommy right
Or nicky from casino
@@andrenunez1047 nope. Tommy murders cuz hes unhinged. Paranoia and greed is def Jimmy since he murdered whole crew after Lufthansa heist instead of paying them. Also Tommy shows his violent side like every scene.
@@andrenunez1047 Tommy murders for the fun of it
@@andrenunez1047 no he meant jimmy. Tommy murders for different reasons than Jimmy.
Anthony Burgess said in "A Clockwork Orange Re-sucked" that he wasn't trying to just do a happy ending for the sake of happy endings. The total chapters of the novel is 21, which is the symbol of human maturity. A Clockwork Orange takes place over the course of 6 years, beginning with Alex as 15 and ending with him as 21.
"Senseless violence is often prerogative of youth, it is the repartee of the stupid and the ignorant. " Burgess said.
"There comes a time in most people's lives, however, where violence is viewed as juvenile and boring." This is evident with things we liked better as a teenager or adult now feeling a bit stale to us today. I liked actions films when I was teenager and in my early 20s, for example. Now that I'm turning 40 this year, I feel the need to be a bit more challenged at times. Not that I don't still like a good action film, but I just don't like it as much as I did as a younger man.
But back to the character of Alex. Burgess felt the need to show Alex was growing up, and same stuff that he used to love is now considered mundane as he is maturing(especially the fact that he did it over and over again until it slowly lost appeal). He also begins to understand that human energy is better expended on creation than destruction, and is concerned about his future with no job and no offspring. Alex decides that it is time for him to evolve as an organism, settle down, start a family, maybe even create something, like music. He admitted that at the time he felt it was necessary to show that people could indeed change if they wanted to, but he said that you can do what you want with the ending. Accept it or ignore it, it is up to the reader to decide.
Fucking spot on. I remember being a teenager wanting to be in a gang and have a posse while selling drugs, guns, and other things. Then, I grew up. I married my girlfriend, we have four kids, and have a pretty good life. Sometimes, when I'm with my family I think back about that and think to myself, "What the fuck was I thinking?"
Alex is 18 at the end of the book
Dude, no. 33 is the symbolic number of human maturity in esoteric philosophy
Anthony burgess’s original ending gets laughed at by everybody and removed from most things because it manages to ruin a great book so spectacularly. He tries to have his cake and eat it too by showing Alex commit abhorrent acts and portraying Alex as a typical delinquent. His actions go far beyond what is typically caused by growing up and the notion that this is all that caused him to commit his heinous actions is laughable
Some lads and tbh lasses growing up were absolute nutters. Some, not all, have changed their ways completely. People do change lives quite drastically at that age. It's a believable ending.
Funny how Alex's character is mostly darker in the books, yet the film has the darker ending. In the books, Alex does start another gang as he gets older, but after meeting Pete and seeing him reformed and married, Alex starts to contemplate giving up crime and starting a family too. The only problem is, he's scared his own children could become as horrific and violent as he was, perhaps even more so - showing Alex had the potential for true empathy and natural change like the chaplain said. In the movie however, that epilogue is scrapped, and we only see Alex as a reinvigorated sociopath ready to cause mayhem again.
Anyone who's spent time as a teenager in the U.K. during the 70's or 80's understands this movie, and Alex, all too well. My Mum asked me once why we all carried knives, and my cousin answered her, "Because Auntie, if we had guns we'd all be dead."
i mean i wasnt even born in the 80s but its the exact same today. carbon copies of alex are everywhere, because its generally the nature of a lot of late teens to early 20s men to be assholes
@Lex Bright Raven Same shit in Rio.
@Lex Bright Raven can confirm 🤣🤣🤣
@@Nai-qk4vp only in Brazil
Bruv you got that from a news article
It takes a special kind of evil to make Singing In The Rain scary
Oh now this guy is deserving of a vid like this
@yagbos I got about 40% of what you just said.
@yagbos can I get some of those drugs you’re on?
@yagbos yeah, I really didn’t care for The Matrix. I may be a heathen, but at least I’m not a idiotic fanatic that goes around trying to push their religious views on others and believes the stories and lies that other men wrote.
@yagbos you sound like your 14 and just found out about conspiracies lmao
@yagbos nerd
Something worth mentioning, is that the Ludovico Technique *was* successful in making Alex unable to act on his violent impulses, even in self-defence. This is shown more in the novel, where he's beaten up by the tramps, and I Think, it was suggested that his former-droogs-now-police, might have actually raped him when they were beating him up, and in both these instances, he was unable to tap into his violent capabilities, even to legitimately defend himself. When he's then in the home of Mr.Alexander, and hearing the music drives him to near-insanity, his action is one of 'trying to remove himself from the source of the pain', and the only option meant jumping from the window, it wasn't an outright suicide attempt with the aim to end his life. Which brings to another point which the film doesn't focus on, but which the novel does, is that the amount of blood he lost after jumping from the window, meant that the Ludovico serum had been flushed from his system. It wasn't so much a case of the Technique Failing, but one of when one of its component elements was removed, he was no longer inhibited from acting on his violent impulses. In the film, that comes across more as the Government thinking that they had subjected him to an unsuccessful, and thus cruel and unusual punishment, so they bribe him with the speakers and press conference to restore his public reputation as a 'reformed' criminal/victim of the system. I think that the final chapter in the novel, simply reflects that he is is simply 'growing up', and realizing that there really is more to the future than him going out for the Ultra-Violence, and I suspect that eventually, he Would reform, or, would reform as much as that society would allow him to. Awesome presentation.
Just like the lobotomy or the Nazi re-education schools to cure men from homosexuality, the cure is worst than the illness.
Brain washing may block the person from certain conducts but it renders the person unable to function in society, many gays brain washed in Nazi re-education schools committed suicide or just became hermits, unable to function in society outside their homes.
Best line ever-"no time for the in and out love, I'm just here to read the meter"
Malcolm McDowell ad-libbed all those lines.
@@Theodore_Twombly that's cool. Id heard that. Enjoy my lil droogie.
I was a drug addict. In and out of jail. I was homeless and had no skills for a trade job. One day I realized that I didn't want this life and decided to make a change. Much like Alex there came a point where I just wanted a normal life instead of organized chaos. On one hand critics hate the end of the book but on the other hand it's a fact people can change their life around. I did.
Abso-fucking-lutely mate! We need to stop alienating people who are already alienated anyway. Even every killer is a human being. They all had a favourite teacher and watched cartoons as a kid. They all have their favourite food. But some people, life fucks up, and they end up doing bad or harmful things.
A more effective way of preventing crime is to look after people properly, ensure we all have a good quality of life. It won't prevent all crime but it will take away the motive for a lot of it. Give people something better to do, a better option.
Pretending criminals are different than human doesn't help anything. Very few people start off bad, very few commit evil acts for no reason. Stuff gets complicated and people get backed into corners that they don't see a way out of.
Not saying punishment doesn't need to exist, I am saying that it doesn't help, in the majority of cases. There are better, more effective, and cheaper things to do in society, that stop crime before it happens, before the idea occurs. Of course there's not as much money in running community centres as there is Supermax Prisons, and only one satisfies the bloodlust, while stirring up more of it.
Why do poor people commit so much more crime than reasonably-off people? I was gonna say "than rich people", but their crimes are just of a different type, though often much more harmful to the public. They're better at getting away with it, and courts are loath to prosecute bankers and the like in the first place. Get caught defrauding somebody's credit card, go away for years. Tank an entire bank, the mortgages of millions, you get early retirement with a "golden parachute" of $millions. Why's that?
Wow
I really liked the way Alex talks and narrates in the movie.
Same squidy Same
Alex was never reformed. i had the book with the extra chapter.
The 21st chapter? He was never reformed but he strayed from his natural path.
Same in the movie. You cant reform such an evil person.
He literally decides to settle down after seeing his old droogs
He stops being a street thug, but he never really sees the error of his ways or feels remorse/regret for what he did. He just gets bored of his old lifestyle.
@@SolarDragon007 So he becomes a politician?
The music store is one of the best designed set pieces in film; the way the scene is filmed is gorgeous also. The entire movie is a masterpiece, often overlooked, I think, because of it's uncomfortable themes. It's a confronting movie to watch, but that's exactly what's so great about it!
The music store was an Actual music store and wasn't a set made for the movie. It doesnt exist anymore -instead of music store its now a Mc'Donald's
I absolutely love how you framed this. Often times I see analysis videos on Alex be far too kind to him because of the latter half of the film. Some even seem to portray Mr. Alexander as some insane, sadistic character when in reality it's, at least to me, understandable in his position why he would want to seek revenge on Alex. The "very slightly gives us sympathy" line is perfectly stated for him.
Now it can be interpreted that Mr Alexander and Alex are two sides of the same person, evil and good, and now Alex, even when he's forced to be good, is paying the consequences of his actions. Karma
Mr. Alexander is at worst a hypocrite, albeit an understandable one, depending on how you read his character. Some view him as representative of idealists that blindly believe in rehabilitation essentially
"As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer. You can rely on me."
Alex.
Hello everyone! Little bit of an early release for this video as I'll be busy the next couple of weeks. I wanted to use the 2nd Movement from Beethoven's 9th Symphony but couldn't find a suitable copy for me to use that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg to license, so I compromised with the Finale. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy!
I dont understand the whole, "nobody deserves cruel or unusual treatment." Because clearly the cruel and unusual do. There are 3 facets of justice: deterrance, rehabilitation, and retribution. The more heinous the nature of the crime/crimes become, the higher the stock of retributive justice should likewise become. In extreme cases such as these, rehabilitation and deterrance should be mere afterthoughts and just cherries on the top if you can also achieve them, the primary focus being punitive retribution.
I hope you get to do someone from Silent Hill, thanks for the badass content!
This episode has been fantastic. Love your insight on Alex. It'd be nice if I would suggest another character that is just as terrifying as Alex that is, Paul from Funny Games. Or maybe both Paul and Peter.
Weird. The old Slovenian version should be available. The Ljubljana Radio orchestra did quite a good Beethoven cycle back in the 90s, and it had quite a wide distribution, too. And there's always the Dudamel one, which shouldn't present much problem if credited. ua-cam.com/video/w0QSeOrAvA8/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GustavoDudamel
Edited the comment. I meant a copy I wouldn’t get in trouble for including in the video without proper permission/fees
“Babe look, vile eye just posted”
Relationship goals
I just started watching this , and haven't really stopped since lol ....but yes I'd have to say I like these..., and so I agree with yall are saying haha.
@@armouredjester1622 u know I actually thought of one in real life, and I don't think its too far fetched to think this didn't happen way back in the day, ...u know knights and real life jesture days haha yeah that.....I could maybe see a guy working 2 jobs or something? Lol.
Anyways this made me laugh a lot.
The lesson, if there is one to be had, that I took from the book and last chapter is that people are never going to change until they decide to make a change on their own. No matter what happens in their life, no one changes until they want to.
So true. I’ve encountered many who just won’t change. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they won’t.
The Good Jokers, Alex, Patrick Bateman are what I’d call perfect villains and show the monstrous effects of the real world.
What about Max Cady Anton Chuguh and the thugs in One false move.
What about? Tod toddler
@@Thespeedrap *Anton Chigurh
alex isn't even a villain just a psychopath violent spoiled brat..he doesn't have a goal or morals he is just young spoiled kid..you can't call him a villain
@@stairwaytoheaven8 johan liebert
Yes!!! Omg I was hoping you would do Alex. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read, extremely difficult and challenging to read. Stanley Kubrick’s film is really something else. Thank you for doing this analysis! About to watch now.
I read the whole f ing book then found the glossary of terms. I was pissed.
When I was 16 I had a one year long relationship with a guy who loved this book. I wish I had known more about it in hindsight, maybe it could’ve helped me see and rationalize a little sooner that he was my abuser. He was a narcissist with little to no empathy for others and he was obsessed with this book, probably because he saw a lot of himself in it. I’m so glad that I got away because I look at this man and I see the same disregard for others that was secretly in him.
Same. My sociopathic abusive ex had his tumblr blog named after this film. Had I known, I probably would’ve connected the pieces much faster
And you're the one and only perfect person....
Okay, I think avoiding him was very nice for you... but I hope that people don't start to think that liking this movie and what it involves is a sign of abusive and violent behaviour in a person. I like it a lot but because of the psychology it involves and how the people in it evolves and change.
@@MauricioCortex15Agree, it doesn't apply to everyone. I do feel like obsessing and feeling like you can personally relate to a work that describes a person with no empathy/anti social psychopathic is different and alarming... Compared to just finding the themes it raises interesting
Jeez. I'm glad you left him.
hey evil how about doing Norman Stansfield ?
Is it the Beethoven thing?
Good choice 👍
@@WestSideGorilla1980 I read that they were most likely Benzodiazepines
The Gary Oldman character? He’s awesome
thats like saying how evil is jerry sienfeld
Alex isn't the product of one single bad circumstance, rather he seems to be the product of almost all of them, with the author letting the reader pick which one to blame based on their own bias.
Yeah I mean everything kinda sucks in the universe.
Man, you’re up there with Collative Learning, Cinemassacre, and Renegade Cut when it comes to my go to for deeper dives into movies. Love your stuff.
He ended up not learning nothing from all the bad things happening to him so he's bound to repeat the cycle and suffer all over again till he's either reformed, dead, lobotomized or locked forever in jail.
The part where the narrator said that the parents were afraid of Alex reminds me of those parents I see on shows like Dr. Phil.
exactly
When you were talking about channeling his anti energy positively, it made me think of Dexter Morgan and how his adoptive father saw that he was/would be a serial killer and nurtured a code that would allow him to satiate his bloodlust but also be productive to society (if killing other serial killers is considered productive).
That was a top ten anime betrayal what Harry did to dexter
Malcolm McDowell improvising "I'm singing in the rape" shows Alex's level of evil. The fact McDowell can improvise this shows not only he's a great actor, but the character was so viscerally evil and well written that a line like that can just come to his mind.
he never improvised, he told Stanley Kubrick he'll sing it and he spent months getting the rights for the song
@@lb2kxx That's not exactly true. According to Mcdowell, they were trying to do the scene for a few days and it just wasn't working, so Kubrick asked him if he could dance. It was then that Mcdowell started humming singing in the rain and Kubrick loved it so much he got the rights to the song within 3 hours.
Do you mean 'Singin' In The Rain'?
I think Anthony Burgess didn't include that part in his book, the scene was lacking a certain evilness in it so director Stanley Kubrick suggested for Malcolm to tap dance a bit and Malcolm remembered hearing Sinatra's "Singing in the rain"
@@oscarf5433 Not Sinatra. Gene Kelly.
How is Alex fifteen I thought he was twenty. I couldn’t imagine someone my age running around killing people. Maybe in this world everyone looks way older/develops fasters than they are
The book he was 15 the movie he's in his 20s because of age restriction at the time.
It’s just one of those restrictions in film making, getting a 15 year old to play the main character in a film like this in the 70s would have been impossible
@@yeahwitda I'm surprised but hopefully nobody tries to remake this movie they just would ruin it BADLY.
Bro has never heard of a child soldier
@@Thespeedrap The actor was actually 30 when he played Alex.
Honestly, I think that in the period between the “cure” and the return to the writer’s house, the person who treated Alex worst was Joe, the lodger. He had no prior experience with the man, no personal grievance, yet went out of his way to antagonize him, make his mother cry, and blame it on him.
Kubrick took the most interesting stories and made them his own, but each one of his films really makes you think very hard
So you've now analysed both Jack Torrance & Alex DeLarge so your next video surely has to be on HAL 9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey'?
That way you can then complete all the classic Kubrick villains
I don't think that HAL was necessarily evil. His murders of the astronauts was more the result of faulty programming. In the books it mentions that he was torn between two of his prime directives
He was programmed to be secretive and absolute in his commitment to the mission. So that the mission can be carried out even if the astronauts die.
He was also programmed to be helpful and subservient to the astronauts as well. To be there for them whenever they need anything and to be helpful in their attempts to complete the mission.
HAL was put into a situation where it was the only being on the spacecraft which knew the true nature of the mission. He was torn between his two prime directives and started to view the astronauts as a threat to the mission. So, in an attempt to safeguard the mission, he kills them.
An evil act to be sure, but he is a computer. Acting according to his programming.
In the subsequent novels, the astronaut that survives and becomes immortal uses HALs help several times during the story. Eventually HAL sacrifices himself for the astronauts.
I seriously love your channel. I have a very deep love of villains & their many forms but never have I thought or experienced breakdowns so thorough & entertaining.
The name Alexander Delarge is a hint for Alexander the Great. Its symbolic value consists of every young person who is willed and unstoppable to conquer everything while it is still young. The myth of Alexander lays beneath every young man even the most cruel and sobre like Alex Delarge and the way that Stanley Kubrick represented it is unbelievably great.
I think that Alex is a good example of a malignant narcissist. He is not only sadistic and agressive, but he is also a controlfreak and thinks he is better than everyone else because of his ideals.
This man keeps uploading all my childhood movies I used to watch
You watched Clockwork Orange when you were a kid? What kind of messed childhood did you have?
@@superstarultra28 A GREAT ONE, APPARENTLY!
@@superstarultra28 I was a very mature 7 year old at the time lol
Funny enough I asked to watch this movie and wasn't allowed
@@oceangalaxy704 how mature could a 7 yr be lol
I think this is my new favorite UA-cam series, every new installment is amazing. Thank you for making this content
Can you guys analyze Macaulay Culkin's character in The Good Son and Denzel Washington's character in Training Day?
The good son was a bit ass tho
What about Matt Damon in Fear?
I think you mean Mark Wahlberg
@@sonnyfox8407 it wasn’t any more ass than a clockwork orange
Then also his character from home alone. He is clearly sadistic.
The last chapter of the book is really important, as is the conclusion of every book; that's why writers publish their final chapter.
Here's why I like the real ending (where he is properly reformed) and why I'm sure many people didn't. It's not that it's a happy ending, it's far from it, he even highlights the own futility of his actions going forward to remedy this infernal cycle. It's not a happy ending, only now the suffering turns inward into himself as opposed to turned outward as he is allowed to run amok.
I would wager why most people don't like the ending is that they don't like the idea of someone like him becoming reformed at all. It complicates their worldview. If he becomes reformed, he is no longer just some random evil thought in their minds, but is more a reflection of what anyone could be given the right circumstances. It's easier to paint things so black and white. These are the same people who are caricaturized in the film, the complicit masses. Just as evil as Delarge himself, but with the faintest mask of civility and society to dress up their corruption and without the reckless abandon to pursue their more base needs outright.
Most people are not evil or good, but will do what they can get away with to improve their standing. Whatever their standing means to them, whether it's feeling good emotionally, having wealth, feeling superior, etc. I like the real ending, because it doesn't paint Delarge as just another monster. He's just a person who never really faced any meaningful consequences for his actions. When he eventually does face consequences and the shoe is on the other foot, eventually that perspective somewhat reforms him. Though this leads to new suffering.
This is hammered right home, when Delarge is powerless and suddenly anyone can get away scot free with torturing him or doing whatever they want. Sure, some of it was motivated by revenge, but a good chunk was just the same sadistic glee that was present in Delarge himself. Only Delarge wasn't afraid of direct consequences unlike the masses. I would argue, that this paints a different light on good and evil. Where good and evil are not thoughts and they are not actions solely. But a combination of the two. Actions guided by thought. Intention matters just as actions do.
If someone accidentally gave you a great deal, but intended to screw you over, they are not good solely because it turned out to be a net positive to you or the world. The inverse holds true as well. Most of the people in the film, were just as evil as Delarge, but were to afraid of the consequences to pursue it. Their inaction does not make them good, and their true intentions are shown as the Ludovico technique compromises Delarge.
I'd love to see an essay video on Dorian Gray, in particular the 1945 Dorian Gray, and the one from the Oscar Wilde novel. It's legitimately one of the most terrifying movies I have seen.
Damn, my parents were a lot like Alex’s. They provided but never really raised me or taught me anything.
Mood
If nothing else they taught you how not to raise a kid.
@@happinesstan
That’s exactly how I’ve always seen it too.
In other words Alex pretty much raised himself.
Have you ever called them out? I called mine out and come to find out they thought they were doing good the whole time . They thought I was happy. Lol I wasn’t. My parents were cowardly. When I pushed ; instead of them pushing back they backed off. They didn’t know how hurt I was until I brought it up. Most of the time my parents didn’t understand and won’t acknowledge their mistakes . What a coincidence this guys name is Alex. I’m a very nice guy. Although deeply disturbed. I like classical but I enjoy Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motörhead, Kevin gates, Kendrick Lamar, and mr Marshall mathers
Had been waiting for this analysis!
This is one of the few movies you should never watch on psychedelics unless you want to risk getting PTSD or at the very least getting nightmares for weeks.
Sounds awesome
I feel like my extensive experience with those substances make the scenes with the ludovico technique treatment much more frightening xD
A clockwork orange is my all-time favourite movies!
This was a great in-depth look into the book and movie.
I still love this movie, and all it’s entirety!
6:01 no, it’s not consensual in the movie. Slow the scene down and you’ll see...they were fighting and resisting Alex. Great video. Thank you.
In the book the girls were 10 years old. And Alex drugged them and raped them! In the movie they were made to be older because that would've been too controversial.
Can you look into Humbert Humbert from Lolita. Both the book and the movie.
He wasn't evil. He was just pathetic.
That’d be great
@@1bridge11 no no, he was his own brand of evil
@@gamgamgam3939 Please explain why.
@@1bridge11 Well, kidnapping and taking advantage of an underage girl is enough to put just about anyone on a villain list, not to mention Humbert Humbert's abusive relationship with his former spouse. On top of all that, Humbert Humbert shows himself throughout the book to be manipulative, obsessively controlling, jealous and self-deluding. Even his final confrontation with and murder of Quilty is laced with hypocrisy. In short, he's a cunning and subtle predator.
Just a note. There's a verse somwhere that says something like "the ungodly love blood" or something like that.
The long way of saying it is this. The common man is more sadistic than people may realize. If one considers what passes for entertainment then may begin to realize maybe we all have some kind of problem.
I find a man who behaves like Alex to be an honest coward. He is more open, to a very bad extent, with feelings lots of people share in some fashion. However he is still a coward. He preys in a pack on groups of sonetimes innocent and helpless people. That is true cowardice.
Been a while since I watched the movie, but to me Alex just seems like a typical fatherless male teenager that hangs out in a bad crowd. Animalistic behavior with no sense of self-restraint that is reciprocated and amplified by his, as you called it "pack". Arguably made worse by the fact that his father is actually there and does nothing, and that his society is utter trash, but yeah. I've met kids like that and despite being scrawny they can cause serious damage in a group.
This is an excellent point. The only real difference between Alex and most people, is most people need an excuse first to behave so evilly. But once they have it, they'll revel in the justice-rape of people in prison, the killing of others if deemed necessary. The desecration gf land and culture in the name of progress. And many "normal" people take great glee in the suffering of others, if the right excuse is presented.
Alex already has his twisted reasoning in place to commit these acts.
@@uniquechannelnames
I need to observe the movie again so I can see his reasoning to indulge himself so. It might be because instead of fearing the policing authorities, the public fears the gangs, and the gangs feed on the fear in a way that creates more fear. This kind of environment is known to occur in a true anarchy often times, and the criminals there excuse their conscience by thinking this is all in the name of survival. Of course there are often alternatices routes they could have taken but the excuse has been made and the impulses will be acted upon. For Alex though, it more likely in the name of entertainment than anything.
Alex's father is Grady from The Shining
He is DAD from the youtube channel DAD.
hold up, is alex’s dad played by the same guy as grady in the shinning?
Yes Phillip Stone is his name.Great performances in both films. RIP Phillip!
Love to see Tony Montana in Scarface.
YES
This story absolutely horrified me, and I think is one of the most chilling I've ever seen.
But I also still think it's a very good book/movie on both the inner darkness of man and how evil isn't simply down to the wickedness of the individual but how society is conducted as well.
Alex asked to undergo the technique as a way of reducing his sentence. Sort of throws the free will argument off a bit doesn’t it?
Finally someone said that
Yes he's forfeiting his free will to get out faster because he thinks the Ludovico technique is not gonna work, so he wants to get out to continue his life as usual.
The book has a final chapter that was cut from the movie that shows Alex actually settling down and becoming less violent of his own volition. His punishment was more from seeing all the people around him he had hurt come back to get their revenge on him and make his suffering even worse, and the realization is that punishment is subjective to those who do the initial wrong to see the error of their ways.
MY EXISTENCE IS COMPLETE
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Analyzing Evil Ideas
Micah Bell from Red Dead Redemption 2
Lorne Malvo from Fargo
Walter White from Breaking Bad
Amon Göeth from Schindler’s List
Joffrey Baratheon from Game Of Thrones
I vote Mr. Bell
Frank from once upon a time in the west
Wolfie the wolf that would be so good
I'm so glad you mentioned the ending of the novel - I never considered it a "happy ending", but I did consider it an important demonstration that the change the government and science wanted to IMPOSE on Alex could only ever be CHOSEN by Alex himself for them to actually work. Alex chooses to reform himself when he considers the time to be right. He is not redeemed, but you see a glimmer of clarity that might just lead to a different future ....
Aging out of crime is a real phenomena
I always thought the scenes with the droogs sneaking around the houses was
really scary to me. I find the anticipation of violence much scarier than the actually violence.
I can't believe my dad let me watch this at 7 years old when our family first got cable in 85'.
I was obsessed with the movie after first watching it.
7 years! Damn
You have the voice of a newsreader from the1920's
That's a compliment BTW
Reminds me of Duckman's sidekick "Cornfed."
Might I suggest: analyzing evil; *Daniel Plainview from "there will be blood"* ?
Man steals a guy's milkshake. Pretty mean.
0:43 unfun fact this scene apparently gave Malcolm McDowell a trauma response to eyedrops.
Fantastic in-depth analysis including comparisons of a close read to the novel 💚
I feel that Alex's first three assaults really showcase his character. He beats someone below him (the homeless man), on the same level as him (Billy Boy's gang) and someone above him (The Alexanders)
Your description of London 1980 is almost accurate to the actual London 1980.
Great video! Please do Michael Corleone! I know that he's actually the protagonist, but he is a corrupt, murderous, sinister guy who makes people's lives better or worse (usually worse). He is a very complex and amazing character and I'd love to see him analysed in a vide by this channel! Great work what you're doing :D
Or Tommy and Jimmy from Goodfellas. Henry never enjoyed murder, but these two did. Especially Jimmy, because he is so mysterious. He either murders out of paranoia or greed, which is pretty evil.
@@gimmetheloot1213 I haven’t seen Goodfellas yet, but I’ll check őt out sooner or later
If his father "corrected" him like mr Grady he wouldent be such a "willfull boy"
😂😂😂🤣😂🤣😂”he is a very willfull boy”
I think he would have beaten his Dad.
Its illegal for parents to correct children todays woke SJW society. the book and esp the movie paint a portrait of a soviet style socialist progressive dreamscape, egalitarian no matter the consequences.
Teachers and school officials have the state authorized power to examine, interrogate, and medically treat students. Parents are powerless.
Remeber Burgess was a (private school) teacher, he was aware of the official philosophy and directives of the state teaching system as it was evolving post WW2 into a soviet model.
Wouldn't that be some shit? Alex has the shinning too?
@@joefish6091 @Joe Fish I am a progressive leftist, but I agree with you. To be fair, progressive are just people that value trying to experiment with new policies and societal values. Its very possible that future progressives would advocate for further parent autonomy and power. The parents should have beat the shit out of Alex and relying on the state is ridiculous.
Like many fans of A Clockwork Orange, I have a negative opinion regarding the final chapter of the book, for three reasons. Firstly, as the Vile Eye mentioned, it's extremely sudden and with no development. For the entire story, Alex's true feelings regarding violence and deviancy do not change at all, and then in the span of one chapter he entirely reforms. Second, it's the complete antithesis to his entire character. The essence of who Alex is as a person is directly dependent upon his psychopathy. But thirdly, and in my opinion most importantly, Alex's reformation defeats the entire question posed by the book in the first place, and that is what do you do with a person who cannot be reformed? A person who enjoys hurting others purely because of the person they are, not as a result of their upbringing, home life, education, life experiences, or anything else. A person who is sadistic from birth and cannot be changed. Do you lock them up in prison for the rest of their life? Do you execute them? Do you exile them from society? In Alex's case, civilization decides to answer this question by dehumanizing him and removing his free will through the Ludocivo Technique. And while it works in preventing Alex from continuing to commit heinous crimes such as home invasion, rape, and murder, he's been deprived of possibly the most essential quality that makes a human being what they are, that being the ability to choose one's own actions through sentience rather than to act solely upon instinct. Interestingly, the only person in the entire story who identifies this and comes to Alex's defense is the prison chaplain, who makes a point of saying so during the scene when Alex's forced reformation is being demonstrated to an audience. And yet he's ignored and written off as a silly religious ideologue. When you factor in the book's ending in which Alex, through his own devices, chooses to abandon his ultra-violent ways, it destroys the hypothetical situation and the question that the entire story is asking. That said, I understand why the ending was written the way it was. Anthony Burgess loved his character and wanted to give him a satisfactory ending.
idk, personally I feel that the theme of free will and that young people leave evil when they mature is incomplete in the movie without the final chapter
"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."
One thing I have in common with Alex is the love of classical music ( I don’t go in a Trance when I hear it though ).
It would be great to see 2 character analysis from The Green Mile, Percy Wetmore and Wild Billy. I’ve done my own character analysis about these 2 characters as well as the other inmates. I would love to see your take on them.
That makes the simpsons a clockwork yellow more hilarious, it literally adapted the final chapter of the book.
The worst about what Alex is subjected to is that he has not chosen to be a good person, he's has just been made into a brain washed harmless sheep. True morality is having the capability of causing harm and CHOOSING not to do it.
It would have been far more humane to just give Alex the death penalty. To end the life of such a natural violent person, can be seen as a mercy not just to thise around them but also to the violent person.
Thank you for a top notch synopsis of this film. I've never been able to get through 30 minutes of it. Now that it has been explained, I'll give it another try with an open mind
This is definitely one of my favorite movies. After the shock of it, watch it again and see the humor! Lol! So many parts of this movie crack me up! Cool analysis!
Your toes belong on the other side of it 😂 Prison scenes are great