Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
Order in Society vs. Freedom of Choice
The freedom of individuals to make choices becomes problematic when
those choices undermine the safety and stability of society, and
in A Clockwork Orange, the state is willing to
protect society by taking away freedom of choice and replacing it
with prescribed good behavior. In Alex’s world, both the unfettered
power of the individual and the unfettered power of the state prove
dangerous. Alex steals, rapes, and murders merely because it feels
good, but when his violent impulses are taken away, the result is
equally as dangerous, simply because freedom of choice, a fundamental
element of humanity, has been taken away.
Thematically, the minister of the interior stands on one
side of Alex, supporting an ordered society, and the prison chaplain
and Mr. Alexander stand on the other, supporting freedom of choice, even
with the negative consequences that go with it. The minister of the
interior argues that government should have the power to bring law
and order to the streets, and that questions of individual liberty are
insignificant compared with the values of safety and order. He cites
the suffering Alex causes his victims as evidence for his argument’s
merit, but the minister’s own misuse of power, such as hiring thugs
as policemen and imprisoning political opponents, undermines his
argument. Mr. Alexander, on the other hand, argues for the protection
of individual liberty, but he weakens his own argument with his
willingness to sacrifice Alex’s life and liberty in order to further
his party’s agenda. The prison chaplain seems more sincere in his
defense of the right of individuals to make moral choices, equating
the ability to choose with being human, but his willful ignorance
of Alex’s true destructive potential makes him seem almost naïve.
Throughout A Clockwork Orange, the film forces
us to weigh the values and dangers of both individual liberty and
state control, and consider how much liberty we’re willing to give
up for order, and how much order we’re willing to give up for liberty.
The Necessity of Evil in Human Nature
The importance of evil as well as good in human nature
is a fundamental theme of A Clockwork Orange. Alex
is despicable because he gives free rein to his violent impulses,
but that sense of freedom is also what makes him human. Unlike so
many of the adult characters in the film, he, at least, seems exuberantly
alive. When Ludovico’s Technique eliminates the evil aspects of
his personality, he becomes less of a threat to society, but also,
the film suggests, less human. He is not truly good because he didn’t
choose to be good, and the utilization of that choice is vital to
being a complete human being.
Alex, with his many evil deeds, isn’t a traditional hero,
and this is characteristic of and unique to Kubrick’s films. The
good and bad in Kubrick’s characters are almost always inextricably
intertwined. Through his characters, Kubrick suggests that dark
impulses are a fundamental part of human nature. Human destructiveness
and power-lust don’t go away with proper conditioning, except when that
conditioning is so extreme that it makes us inhuman. Instead, we
must decide how to channel those impulses, when to give them free
rein, and when to suppress them by force. A Clockwork Orange illustrates
the extremes of both freedom and suppression.
The Interdependence of Life and Art
In A Clockwork Orange, characters view
and use art in many different ways, creating a complex and conflicted
picture of how art and real life interact. Alex uses music, film,
and art to express and understand his life. During the two weeks
that doctors show Alex reel upon reel of sex and violence, he is
amazed that the real world looks even more real on a television
screen. He and other characters also use art to detach from life
and to cut themselves off from other people. When Alex beats Mr.
Alexander and prepares to rape his wife, he sings “Singin’ in the
Rain” and dances like Gene Kelly did in the musical. By making the
violent act into a song and dance, Alex distances himself from the
brutality and from his victims’ suffering. The cat lady, whom Alex
kills, expresses her sexuality through her statues and the paintings
on her walls, but when Alex touches her statue of a penis, she screams
at him not to touch it because it’s a work of art. Through art,
she makes sexuality an object not to be touched, rather than an
act that is all about touching.
The characters’ varied responses to and uses of art in A
Clockwork Orange suggest that art has within it the potential
for both good and evil. Art both expresses and channels human impulses, and
it can therefore enhance or deaden life. It can bring people closer
to reality or it can distance them from it. Kubrick makes sex and
violence look unreal in the film. He directs fight scenes to look like
dance, slows down the camera, and distorts images. He plays with
our perceptions so that we never forget we are watching a work of
art. Some critics have said that the stylized and detached way Kubrick
presents violence makes accepting it easier, and that the film even
celebrates violence. However, the detachment we experience as a
result of the film’s artistic elements can also make us reflect more
deeply on our own ability to distance ourselves from violence.
