The half-hour principle
A Clockwork Orange. I remember when A Clockwork Orange was released and the frisson which surrounded it. My parents went to see it, but this was adults-only territory. I didn’t see the film until Kubrick died and it was shown in UK cinemas. I went to see it mainly because I wanted to see whether it was worth all the hysteria. I’ve come to note that films often try to hook the audience in the first half an hour. That’s generally when you’ll see the gratuitous artistically justified topless scene. In A Clockwork Orange , that’s where all the controversial material is after which the rest, as far as I recall, was dull and insipid. Unfortunately (or fortunately), because I’ve never read the book, I feel that I’m out of my depth discussing this dilemma which focuses on four points: the emotional violence of the nuclear family the economic violence of capitalism the anarchic violence of hooliganism the organised violence of modern science As the book notes, violence for Alex and his droogs ...