So I got round to watching A Clockwork Orange

[Judge DR3DD]

Great film. But I felt Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket' was better.

[Ronald_Frump]

Great film. But I felt Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket' was better.

Chalk and cheese.

I mean subjectively, how can one compare:

a satire of rebellious and violent trends in youth culture that were prevalent in the 1960s,

to

a very pluralistic look at the vietnam conflict where it has no sentimental observations about the victims but just a nonchalant attitude to the protagonists who are involved in war as a casual everyday necessity?

Personally, I preferred "2001: A Space Odyssey" and it's premise as a metaphysical exploration of the workings of humanity, from the beginning of time to the far-flung future.

[Judge DR3DD]

Great film. But I felt Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket' was better.

Chalk and cheese.

I mean subjectively, how can one compare:

a satire of rebellious and violent trends in youth culture that were prevalent in the 1960s,

to

a very pluralistic look at the vietnam conflict where it has no sentimental observations about the victims but just a nonchalant attitude to the protagonists who are involved in war as a casual everyday necessity?

Personally, I preferred "2001: A Space Odyssey" and it's premise as a metaphysical exploration of the workings of humanity, from the beginning of time to the far-flung future.

Completely disagree. If you watch Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil, it explains how complex the film actually is, the actors had marines coming to them and telling them how unbelievably realistic it actually was.

FMJ is a psychological film, it's layered. The first half concentrates more on brainwashing, but we see these men lose all their individuality, stripped from then and turned into killers. You don't feel sorry for the characters, but I felt sorry for the human part of them that they lost. The second half is misunderstood, the first half we see teenagers being trained into killers, the second they're dumped into the mess that is Vietnam, they change psychologically, Pvt. Joker was a great example of the duality of man, and America itself. The way we see these characters develop is very interesting, I think it's one of Kubrick's finest work.

A Clockwork Orange is a great film, but I feel it's becoming outdated. I suggest you try Paths of Glory, IMO it's Kubrick's finest work.

[Ronald_Frump]

A Clockwork Orange is a great film, but I feel it's becoming outdated.

Only on a superficial level. Look deeper and you'll see it's relevance in today's society. Have you read Burgess' novel? I did.....many years ago and so maybe I'm biased, due to my in-depth understanding of the character development.

As with most Kubrick films, the movie still poses big questions – about power, the curtailment of civil liberties in the name of social order, personal freedom and morality. I think it's still a perfect parable about evil. Evil that's not hampered by the slightest conscience. And it seems to me that Alex lives in a microcosm of our world. His parents are revolting in their weakness and stupidity, and the police, the doctors, the church, the social worker, the intellectual victims – all the people that surround him are really western society as we are now. The youth are opting out of politics. They're just watching vampire movies. And the rest of us are like Alex's parents, whingeing and whimpering. Look beyond the dated elements of the movie and relate it's essence to the concept of "teenage-angst", evidenced by acts of "ultra-violence" perpetrated by youth-offenders of all generations, including the present.

[jojodancer]

Shining fans, I just watched 'Room 237'. It's pretty interesting, some of it reaches a little too far, some of it are things we may or may not have noticed about The Shining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPPlvMnaV0

[Judge DR3DD]

A Clockwork Orange is a great film, but I feel it's becoming outdated.

Only on a superficial level. Look deeper and you'll see it's relevance in today's society. Have you read Burgess' novel? I did.....many years ago and so maybe I'm biased, due to my in-depth understanding of the character development.

As with most Kubrick films, the movie still poses big questions – about power, the curtailment of civil liberties in the name of social order, personal freedom and morality. I think it's still a perfect parable about evil. Evil that's not hampered by the slightest conscience. And it seems to me that Alex lives in a microcosm of our world. His parents are revolting in their weakness and stupidity, and the police, the doctors, the church, the social worker, the intellectual victims – all the people that surround him are really western society as we are now. The youth are opting out of politics. They're just watching vampire movies. And the rest of us are like Alex's parents, whingeing and whimpering. Look beyond the dated elements of the movie and relate it's essence to the concept of "teenage-angst", evidenced by acts of "ultra-violence" perpetrated by youth-offenders of all generations, including the present.

I'm not saying it's a bad film, but FMJ has great character development. It's a central theme, take normal teenagers and watch them lose their humanity and transform into killers. I'm not denying what you said on ACO, it may have predicted crime increase today, but don't remember at the time, it also caused it.