During the scene in which we see "The Psychology Of Learning" on the shelf, the writer clenches his fists when Alex begins to sing. This is due to the conditioning that he experienced from a singular traumatic event, the death of his wife at the hands of Alex. Both Alex and the writer were unknowingly conditioned against music.
Yes. Defenders of corruption in government especially use it for that purpose. My answer to them is "Of course I'm a conspiracy theorist, but so are you and your government - the latter distributing the most dangerous conspiracy theories of them all; the ones used as justification for war."
Anyone else find it interesting that there are several Nazi references throughout A Clockwork Orange? At 12:55 the shot that is displayed has some symmetry, there is a guard on the left and Alex on the right. To me, the guard somewhat resembles Hitler, and Alex is wearing a red armband, just like one you would see on a Nazi. I just thought that was interesting...
The red armband, and of course the prison guard looks like Hitler, even has the mustache. Also, when he catalogues Alex's pens, he says, "One black, one red," Nazi colors.
I noticed when watching high that there's a poster outside the interrogation room that advertises the policeforce that looks very nazi-esque, pointing but looks like saluting as well.
I am the only one who sees the ending scene of Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' as being quite possibly in-the-running for being the most perfect movie ending of all time..? I didn't realize this for decades -- before eventually comprehending just how truly perfect it really is.
I absolutely loved that ending. The treatment was broken or wore off, and he described his ultra violent state as being the cure. It never occured to me that maybe he was lying the entire time and was never cured to begin with, but it does make perfect sense.
@@shawn576 well they were operating on his brain while he was sleeping/recovering in the hospital (his dreams of surgeons poking and prodding around), so perhaps coupled with the fall and the ink test he returned to his natural state once again.
@@josiahcone7506 I saw a hypothesis that I think could be the explanation, the condensed 21st chapter in the final shot of the film, where the nobles are dressed for a wedding that is Alex's, and his is finally settling down and getting married and ridding himself of his youth delinquency.
@Josiah Cone I don't think it was consensual in the last scene. The actress looks like she is trying to get away from him. That's why he was cured, because he was able to fantasize about rape and violence again. He looks like he is having an orgasm as he thinks about it.
At the risk of sounding... obsessive, I have to tell you that recently I have been unable to get enough of your reviews, and have watched them multiple times (this is my third time watching this video today). It's fascinating how insightful your observations are, and how well spoken you are as well. Please keep up the outstanding work!
Also worth noting is that particular selection of the Ninth Symphony played at the end of the film: a cursory study of the career of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (who conducted the symphony at Hitler's birthday) reveals him to be as anti-NSDAP as one could be, to the point of helping evacuate Jewish musicians and conducting with and for enemies of the Reich. He refused to conduct at state events or anywhere the Hakenkreuz was displayed. However, the government dared not prosecute him directly as he was considered a German national treasure. For unknown reasons, he eventually agreed to play the 9th for Hitler's birthday and actually shook hands with the Führer after the performance. This makes the musical selection all the more appropriate for when Alex finally agrees to sell out and work with the new fascist order, rather than in spite of it.
It's not a contradiction. The changes that can be created through NLP are reversible. ACO submits a false concept that an intense physical (not emotional) response to a subjective (non-physical) stimulus can be programmed through Pavlovian conditioning. NLP can't do that. I worked in mental health for 15 years with messed up ppl and none of them had Ludovico type physical reactions to subjective stimulus. Yes, I've experienced trauma and am not a philosopher so debate maturely or troll elsewhere
I've continually returned to this set of videos, even though I've seen them many many times. Rob, I think this is possibly one of your best-researched and informationally compelling topics -- as a huge fan of Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange, these were the first analysis videos I found which got me hooked on the idea of hidden thematic elements in his films and films in general. Always a pleasure to re-watch your work!
I'm watching this in 2024, and the scene where the minister says they need to clear out felons to make room for political prisoners is chilling, considering what's happening in the UK right now.
yeah, don't know about that (the political thing). Its just as easy to say that the conditioning technique didn't work on him in general (as you are saying) BUT it did work on him in the particular case of the ninth symphony. I sincerely doubt that someone as psychopathic as alex would attempt suicide over a political point.
See, I never bought the "Alex was faking it" angle. Not only does he legitimately feel sick when he hears music, but he displays genuine relief and joy at the end when he's able to express violent thoughts based on the pictures the nurse is holding up. The water slaps were just in rhythm of the song, same as his kicks to the man in the beginning. He's a musically minded guy. There isn't much to indicate he is, in fact, fantasizing about the attack. And if he WAS faking it, how would that explain his inability to stand up to the hobos or his droog/cops? No one else was around to witness it. No one of consequence was around to keep up the act for. We know he's more than capable of taking on his droogs single-handedly, so the only explanation is that he genuinely was incapable of fighting back.
Amelia Bee .. N. Peters Is it possible that he knows to some exstent that he "deserves it", something he could have came to realise due in part to his conditioning, or just outright from reflection over time. Even with the scene where his parents "replacement son" telling him off... He would know he deserves that rejection from his parents considering how bad of a son he's been.
@TeamVacaville Kubrick was really smart with adaptations, but I recently read Lolita and the novel is far superior to the film, but mainly because SK was limited by censorship. It's a truly amazing book.
Thanks for this, absolutely amazing analysis. To catch the „Psychology of Learning“ alone is insane but to provide a complete and coherent context to your theory leaves me speechless. Thanks.
Psychology of the phobia is strange indeed. I actually did have a conditioned fear of spiders as a child but then ironically I had an intense nightmare involving spiders and ever afterwards have no longer had a phobia of spiders at all. Repetition and intensity lead to numbness to the concept, not an enhancement of my fear. No real spider can be as scary to me after experiencing horrifying imagined spiders.
Excellent analysis. This might be my favorite of your videos yet. It never even occurred to me that the whole thing was a ruse. Nice attention to detail. This is why I value your videos. You always bring a perspective I hadn't considered.
@jonathan1stewart See the full article on my site - it goes really in depth about pretty much everything in the film. If I'd have fully elaborated on it the video would have at least doubled in length and then you'd be asking about other issues that pop up.
Well, hope you enjoyed it anyway and thanks for not resorting to petty sarcasm as some folk on here do. Like I said, I recommend you check out the full article on my site if you're interested in more about the film ... and yes it does involve Alex being a highly intelligent (though still very immature) criminal :)
It is. However it's not the acid that will give you flashbacks. But if you were to get an awful trip it can give you kind of like a ptsd. So the ptsd would be giving you the flashbacks, not the drug itself
I for sure get put back into that mind state by certain memories or just body functions that I experienced intensely during the trip. I don't think its the same for everyone. It is a very personal experience based on your body chemistry and what ideas and thoughts are in your head at the time you do the drug.
A Clockwork Orange has been my favorite film since I first saw it back when I was 19 and I never would have thought for a minute that Alex faked being effected by the Ludovico technique. But holy damm, now it makes so much sense
wtf this is trippy it has also been my favorite since I first saw it at 19 when I went to film school. I couldn't make heads or tails of it yet I knew it was a masterpiece.
You are confusing literal plot points with symbolism. You should probably watch some earlier videos in this series if you want to understand what he's talking about.
Personally, he purposely jumped out from the window and harmed himself, as a way to gain sympathy from the public. I’m probably thinking too deeply, but Alex is quite a violent genius after all. It wasn’t a suicide attempt; it was an escape route for Alex. He wanted to get himself sent to the hospital to place the blame on those who wanted to torture Alex with Beethoven. The reason why he was making agonising pain noises was to deceive both the characters and *US.*
@@MoskHotel --I agree; he does a forward flip so he can make it to the grass. If he'd hit the concrete paving stones he would have been killed or crippled. The old man might have been capable of murdering him but removed from him, in the light of day the others aren't. Maybe Alex's fall represents the NAZI's falling, then morphing into the overtly sweet, covertly vicious EU?
Collative learning makes a good point here the same as Orwell in his book. What was warned about is happening via propaganda. EG people are really led to believe that half a % of a trace gas that we contribute is somehow a climate change control knob. The science says otherwise yet popular "belief" is that we should listen to an autistic teenager. Nuts.
@@grahamnumber7123 as I was listening to collative learning, I couldn't help thinking about the cathode conditioning we have been subjected to since the advent of TV and as you point out we have most certainly reached a Pavlov's Dog response to things like climate change or covid.
I think you nailed the bathtub scene, thou as I see it Alex only get's sick when se tries to ACT violently, there were several other instances when we see him thinking about acting violent, but only gets sick right as is about to strike (e.g: the scene when he first gets back home and wants to hit his new "brother")
Yes, The Starship Troopers vid I posted a couple weeks back has specifically been targeted for removal, though one of the executives who registered the copyright infringement claim has told me several times by email that she's retracted it, yet YT haven't unblocked the video. Either the Sony executive is lying or the YT moderators are censoring a vid they don't want people to see. Funny thing is someone else has had the entire Starship Troopers movie posted on here for over three years.
Oh no, no, no. There is no conspiracy on the part of the Minister of the Interior to 'fake' a success of the Ludovico Technique; that would be misinterpreting Burgess's central point of the novel. Is it morally acceptable to force a man, against his will, to be good? THAT was Burgess's preoccupation. As a lapsed Catholic, many of his works feature the conflict between Pelagianism and Agustinianism.
"Anthony Burgess was raised a strict Roman Catholic (even though he has an obsession with the tarot), he originally wrote his novel as a parable about Christian free will and forgiveness. His take on it was that to be a true Christian, one had to forgive the most horrifying of acts, something Burgess knew only too well, having seen his wife be assaulted and beaten by American soldiers during World War II. This attack resulted in a miscarriage and a lifetime of gynecological troubles for his wife." IMDB
I never gave a description of what acid flashbacks are :) In what way is it clear that Alex doesn't associate Singin' in the Rain with violence? He sings it while being violent because the association is already there. He fantasizes about violence while listening to Beethoven. And hearing Beethoven from a window triggers him by association into beating up his droogs. He even smacks the water with his hand while singin' in the bath, like when he kicked the writer in the groin.
Take a deep breath and relax. If the vid makes you feel angry then go and watch something else, like any healthy minded person would do. When I see vids I don't like by people whose perceptions I utterly disagree with I just leave a thumbs down and maybe even one comment, then move on and find vids I like.
@skyraider69 Thanks. Full Metal Jacket analysis is only available on my DVD set Kubrick Decoded Volume 2. There was a text version available on the site up until a few days ago.
@smp156 Jay contacted me a while back. We've not got much in common. Though some ppl see overlaps, our material / methods are different. There is something going on with Kubrick encoding msgs about the moon landings (see my 2001 article), but I don't think it's a key theme in The Shining. Danny's sweater is the only moon ref I see in it. I also don't believe the moon landings were shot with front screen projection because they frequently use moving cameras. Fsp requires stationary cameras.
@MrZkinandBonez Right now the vid version is the only available one. i know it's a nuisance but I need the DVD sales to fund my work. I might make it available as a PDF with the next DVD set.
Your videos are deserving of so many more plays. Huge Kubrick fan here that can't thank you enough. I may send you my film From Uneasy Dreams that I made last year, I used a short story by HP Lovecraft to conceal the real story I wanted to tell much like Kubrick would do, but I hadn't really thought about that fact till after making it.
I can say this is 100% accurate from personal experience. I've been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward because I was smoking a lot of weed, was 16, didn't understand how vicious the world is but was trying to tell people around me about it. Went in by will because I couldn't handle how much I understood versus people around me seeming to lie. I didn't get out because I got better, I got out because I played along. We all have to lie to a certain degree because if I insisted on telling you the whole truth you wouldn't believe it/accept it and if I continued to press, one gets put away. Knowing a lot about what kind of psychological tricks people play is tough because no one would believe it if I told them, they wouldn't think the world is that messed up. Also, free knowledge for anyone who wants it, doctors and psych ward operators are genuine psychopaths and are masters of suggestion without saying what they really mean. They'll suggest that they'll do stuff to you all day long, and when you try to tell someone, they play dumb and then when they're in the room with you alone, they take out their frustration on you even worse. So my new method is being even more of a psychopath then them when it's needed, and maintaining my integrity when I don't need to survive. But yeah, didn't get better, just got smart at not saying too much. But I don't know, maybe I've just imagined it all. I've learned the best way to spread the knowledge I've acquired is to tell it how it literally is, and then retreat back into the pleasures and enslavement tools such as entertainment, some junk food, and all that stuff. The trope of Nazi's and StarWars "Stormtroopers" ;) being completely retarded I've seen first hand is true. I throw a stick in the wheel spoke when I can, and then eat some bullshit that's more fillers, preservatives, and drugs than actual food and say "What? I'm doing what you want me to." :)
Nah man, it's all good. I've had my heart and mind crushed by the only people that we should be able to trust, the health care system, by the way is which where we are born, go for recovery, and die. Since I've been disillusioned there, no motherfucker can really tell me nothing. We live in a nazi state. Not literally "nazi" but the same amount of evil if not worse because it's almost perfectly concealed except for me and maybe a couple others out there. @@JohnnyArtPavlou
My innocence died there, I know a thing or two about psychological torment now. Death is much better than what doctors claim to do. But who knows, maybe I'm just a little over reactive, maybe I do n't know what I saw.
idrinkurmilkshake, I have a friend who used to work in mental health and she said of all sorts of stuff going on with the staff trying to manipulate the patients, playing them off against other staff members... and stuff like that.
Playing them off? Like some sort of circus type feeling game of chess? It took me a long time to get to the level of discipline to where I can keep my disgust in check but also speak, and maybe from the outside I looked just as fucked up as anyone else in there but it felt as though there was layers to how much people could understand, the more they understood, the worse off they were (more talkative) and were treated accordingly. Most of the people around my level I felt were in the sweet spot, weren't bumbling idiots but looked like they were in a prison of their body because they'd go to say something (I assume) and then would just freeze and not talk, which I guess upon reflecting I was doing as well. The crazy thing was that I understood enough to know that when the mumbling mad people were talking none stop, if you would start to pay attention to them, they would speak to what you were thinking, I had a conversation with a faaaaar gone guy that I didn't have to say any real words in sounds to. The "normies" running the place I could tell felt moments where they sensed some sort of weird shit like that, but passed it off as him just being crazy before shit got full on supernatural. But I would never say any of that, I keep that sort of information to myself. But that's sick and downright scary if the people running it are THAT ignore-ant to mess with people such as the guy I met without thinking he may know anything.@@JohnnyArtPavlou
Nope, Alex the Narrator is honest to the reader: Alex said he was sick to us & so he was. And torture *can* condition Alex to experience PTSD whenever he is reminded of his trauma.
I agree sci-fi is allowed to make assumptions about what is possible, but the details of the film strongly suggest that Kubrick wanted to draw specific attention, for those inclined to dig, to the fact that the Ludovico technique was not possible in real life. You said the Ludovico technique is a metaphor for the conditioning of society. I believe the propaganda articles and speeches in the film of a reform technique that doesn't actually work are a metaphor for the manipulation of society.
I know that this is an older video, but I've only just come across it. I picked up a book years ago titled 'Overexposed'. It was about some therapy that is really very close to the 'Ludovico Technique' and its effects. I don't recall when the studies took place, but I believe the book was written in the 1980s or earlier about studies which occurred years earlier. The "therapy" was applied to people viewed as sex criminals. Rapists, child molesters, homosexuals, people with interracial partners, sex addicts, etc. The "therapy" consisted of compelling the subject to talk about their fantasies and their crimes in as much detail as they could muster, masturbate, and then continue to masturbate after ejaculating when it has become unpleasant, continuing to obsessively recall every single detail about their fantasies and crimes. They recorded the subject on audio tape, and replayed the recordings while the subject was forced to masturbate for extensive periods. Occasionally the subjects were "tested". The tests consisted of attaching a device that measures penis tumescence with extreme accuracy and showing the subject pornography featuring sexual violence, children, gay sex, etc and determining whether those things still stimulate them. The therapy did not work. The devices used to measure penis tumescence are as reliable as polygraph tests, which is not at all. In fact, monitoring of those who underwent the treatment actually showed a much higher than normal rate of recidivism. You can never know what a person is thinking, and you can never forcibly change what they think.
The author is reacting to the realization that Alex was the intruder who crippled him. He's not having a Ludovico type music induced response. Most mind control is based on deception / lies, not trauma.
Dear Robag88: Every time I finish putting my mind together from watching your last video, you proceed to put up another one and blow it to even smaller pieces than before. Keep up the good work.
The hypothesis that he threw himself out the window because he simply didn't like the volume ofmusic is your hypothesis. I have a totally different interpretation of the ending and pointed out some of the clues in the video. It's up to you to figure out the paradigm shift from there ... or alternatively go read the full analysis of the film on my site, which goes into lots of additional themes.
The movie is a dark comedy. Not meant to be taken this way. Unrealism and absurdity are the tools used in the film to make fun of society. I recommend you to see the film Delicatessen. The key word you missed is SARDONIC.
The details of Alex's supposed sickness give away that he's faking it. That's explained in great detail in the vid and the evidence is strong. The issue of his suicide attempted is mentioned and the viewer is referred to my full article for an answer to that riddle, as the answer goes into quite a complex paradigm shift in the film that would likely have doubled the length of the video.
"your media-conditioned, conspiracy-theorist bell going off in your heads like a well-trained Pavlovian dog" So anyone who disagrees is preemptively insulted and dismissed out of hand. Cool tactic, bro.
Can i point out that desensitization in phobic conditions occurs as a person is subjected to an extended period in which the perceived danger is subverted (i.e being around spiders but having no harm come to you). Alex wouldn't desensitize to violent imagery because he was continually subjected to an unpleasant bodily state.
The writer was against Ludovico technique. It was part of a political program he opposed, he possibly objected on moral grounds too. Therefore, it is not surprising he would have a book criticising such techniques.
Systemic desensitization and other gradual exposure cures are one way, but the NLP fast phobia cure often works wonders in a single therapy session. there's also no evidence that the response alex has to the Ludovico treatment would work. It doesn't even seem to work like a phobia. his response involves physical pain and nausea.
See my video A Clockwork Orange and the Survival of Nazi Pathology for a detailed answer to that. It's on my alternate channel, but a quick search on here will bring it up.
Absolutely brilliant. Psychodelic subversion seems to be the last 40 years of culture in a nut shell. I don't think it's any coincidence so many of these movies The Shining, Clockwork and 2001 a Space Odyssey appear so relevant today.
@criterion10 For originality 2001, for entertainment either Clockwork or Full Metal Jacket, for atmosphere The Shining, for emotion Lolita, for courage Dr Strangelove. Too hard to pick one.
There's that same double-tap from the record store (with his cane, but he also taps a pamphlet after he sets it down the way he did his personal items in prison), and from Red Hood and Ziegler in EWS. What does it mean, man!?! Doesn't Poole make a similar motion when he "loses" the chess match? I may be remembering wrong.
(Sorry for the triple reply) Since the oscillator recording results is a clockwork orange it means almost literally that even Alex's test results are park of a clockwork orange. If I get the meaning of that right.
Thanks. I think life or 14 yrs is a moot point. In some countries "life" can mean as little as that and most of us would be willing to undergo a couple weeks of Ludovico discomfort to avoid it. Your second counters an assertion that I never made. At no point did I say Alex knew he wouldn't die from the fall. I offer some clues in the video and refer the viewer to the full article on my site. It involves a major paradigm shift, which would have doubled the length of this video.
This video isn't about the meaning of the Beethoven piece. It's about whether Alex was faking his cure or not (in the film, not the novel - the two differ greatly). Also I disagree with your take on "the theme of the novel". The novel has many themes. You can't reduce a complex work like that down to a single sentence.
I wish i had seen this excellent and inteligent review years back (and your others). I love the fim and saw it in 1972 when there was panic, histeria and then the cries for banning. I have always known and felt it was more complex than just the violence etc. Your review has made me think through and revisit my own past perceptions of its multi layers. I will watch it again for the umpteenth time and with diffent eyes... Alex playing up to the system but really knowing what his aim was (prison release).. thats a fabulous twist and one i had never considered... THANKYOU... PS... Perhaps we all fein acceptance of things around us eg at work to get what we want, the art of compliance as with Alex is knowing that you are actually concious of your reasoning for that compliance. My old granny once said "let them think you are mad just as long as you know you are not".
I ...don't know about this; i have a fear of blood but i can play m rated games such as Postal2 and Borderlands2 Games known for there excessive violence. Yet...i don't faint during or after playing. So it kind of makes sense why there are times where he does and doesn't get sick.
During dinner, isn't he wearing the sane robe F Alexander was during the attack? Does this have something to do with the role reversals because Alex is now at the mercy of Alexander?
I think we all know by now we were conditioned by our parents and society. I hope we realized it as it was happening so as to at least be self-aware zombies.
Kevin Woolcock There is good and bad in this. At least what you can witness in Western or Christian majority nations, you see courtesy, mannerisms, and mutual respect for total strangers (for the most part at least). Go else where in the world and you could stumble on societies that have yet to discover such peace keeping habits, you'll see alot nations filled with people stepping on each other like animals to get ahead, and exploding on each other with the slightest disagreement (hence why some nation never seem to quite organise themselves through the years). Too busy stuck at square one (cooperation), (civility).
@Rbo SMF You know that isn't reality though. Would you get pleasure from watching real life murders: like the Scandinavian girls who were raped and beheaded by Moroccan gangsters?
@Rbo SMF Exactly, that's the point: you know it's a simulation and not a real life event. So you know not to have an emotional attachment. If you found real life atrocities exciting, or were just indifferent, then I'd be worried.
@Bassbait Yeah, there's so much going on. I have to avoid mentioning a lot of details to try and keep the vids short ... otherwise I'd be here all day.
in the song singing in the rain there are two shots of a trumpet after the line "everyone from the place," the line that alex hits the water on. Are you sure hes not just hitting the water twice because thats the way the song goes?
@LittleSn00py Could probably do a whole video just on costumes in this film. The costume test pics at the archives have all kinds of stuff like masonic hats and stuff.
Acid flashbacks....they only happen when the bodyfat layer that was present at the time of acid taking is then re-visited by fat loss corresponding down to that same deposition layer.
Hi Rob, I’m starting to see a _Clockwork Orange_ as a veiled political and historical allegory in the same vein as _The Shining_. I think Alex represents the House of Orange that ruled both the British and Dutch Kingdoms and utilized the resources of both to ‘colonize’(invade and rape) other countries as well as being a menace to the native British peoples. The home invasion scene features a prominent painting which looks like an asiatic landscape(India, perhaps). I think Kubrick was trying to portray that despite all the sophistication and high culture(Beethoven), the royal family and their goons were simply a band of thieving thugs.
first saw this when I was 12. over the years, this has truly become one of my favorite books and films of all time. you do it justice, brother... Sir, I mean lol
@LetsPlayPC I think SK had progressed beyond communism vs fascism models. One of the reasons his films have Nazi themes is because the Nazis received massive financial, ideological, and industrial support from western sources. I don't agree that the Nazis were a non-existent enemy, but I certainly believe they were an enemy we helped to create, just like Communism which received massive support in a similar manner from Wall St. Communism and Fascism are variations on the same thing - socialism.
Whats your opinion on socialism? You dont have to answer if you have better things to do. I bought a couple of your ebooks. Will you take the vaccine they are making for the current virus? my family is heavy christian and are anti vaccination. while i think the older vacinations are good, i dont like how fast the corona vaccination is made. i want thorough testing. Greetings from The Netherlands.
This makes sense. Beethoven's 9th symphony, Ode to Joy, can be interpreted as a metaphor for sex. The music is both joyful and explosive. What activity can be described in the same way? Alex was conditioned to avoid the 9th after committing rape. He once found pleasure in the 9th, but now fears it. The result of the conditioning is a type of castration, a means to lessen the urge to commit rape and general violence. To avoid it, a criminal has no choice but to convincingly fake rehabilitation .
Awsome video man! Just a quick note about LSD. One of it's various effects is the temporary de-conditioning of the subject. So it's kinda impossible to condition someone with it.
In the bath, Alex couldn't know that he sang the same song when beating the old man. If he knew, he wouldn't sing it, because he'd know the guy could recognize him like that. It was just a coincidence.
+Chvocht CZ It's not that he was aware he was being overheard, it's that we know through the song and actions that he is reliving his violence with happiness. This is stark contrast to the intended effect of the Ludivico Treatment. Watch the video again.
I prefer the Directors cut to the theatrical release. Please check it out if you havent yet. Although I got trashed in a comment section by what I only can assume was a movie snob for stating that opinion. On a separate note, just found your channel yesterday and it is amazing. Thank you so much for putting all these breakdowns and theories together. It really shows how much you appreciate the art
Stanley knows research and most importantly puts his multiple ideas together in his films glued together as multiple themes, some obvious others subliminal.
Is it possible you could explain why exactly you consider the EU fascist? To me it seems that yes, it is too overbearing and centralized, but it also is a driving factor for democratic reform in Eastern Europe, and is fundamentally a tool for peace in Europe through interdependency. Not nearly as bad as we Americans have it if you ask me, with our truly fascistic corporate-military ruling class.
5 ปีที่แล้ว +3
I hope by now you know the answer to the question you asked. 5 years ago you should have know but by now......
I'm liking this video, but I don't think Alex is faking. The author is having a similar reaction to Singing in the Rain that Alex would have to the 9th. Most mind control is trauma based. The author is traumatized from witnessing the rape of his wife, just like Alex is traumatized from the Ludovigo Technique. If it doesn't work, then why would Kubrick give us a second example of it working on a different individual?
Perhaps I haven't done my research, but I thought Beethoven's 9th was played 3 times in the film. Towards the beginning, as Alex returns from carousing, he puts a tape of the 9th and it's clear that he is fond of the piece -- it makes him feel proud and powerful. The second time, again, in my observation, which could be wrong, it's played during the Ludovico conditioning. Lastly, it's played when he wakes up looked in the attic and tries to kill himself. This, to me, represented a PTSD type of psychological response because many people will have flashbacks or reactions when associations of sights, smells, sounds, etc occur from the traumatic event that caused the PTSD. Therefore, did Alex feel horrible being locked in the attic with the 9th being played because it brought back the trauma of the Ludovico treatment and, possibly, the guilt he felt over what he had done, seeing suicide as his only option? I could be completely off. But, that was just my thought after watching it once through. (Sorry for the length!)
Classic movie. Groundbreaking book. Extremely disturbing experience in either medium. One viewing was a dreary, frigid wintery evening on LSD. Needless to say, this was an unforgettable nite.
I would also point to the writer`s response on discovering Alex`s identity is an Imprint reaction.It is the same feelings that Alex displays when his new Imprinting kicks in.
Yes, astute viewers should probably come away thinking that Alex's Ludovico Technique conditioning doesn't work BUT... don't you feel just a tiny bit nauseous whenever you hear the 9th symphony? Isn't this a direct result of the trauma of watching the movie? Stanley is a sly fellow.
I feel like the narrow application of his conditioning to one single song that was played instead of all of music itself (note that Alex even explicitly says “not all music,” as to remind readers of the book that there was a change) also casts doubt on his ability to develop a sick response to something so equally broad as violence itself. It’s almost like Kubrick is saying “no Burgess, it wouldn’t be ALL music.” The next logical conclusion is that it wouldn’t affect his response to ALL violence either
The ultimate criticism on here is for the majority of people to just watch a little of the first section of your video then leave a thumbs down and not even bother watching the rest, but that's not happening. And that's why you're pissed off. I've had PHD level academics buying my DVDs in bulk and have had film school teachers showing my vids to their classes. Academia works for the sciences, but not particularly well for the arts and psychology. Hence Kubrick himself wasn't an academic.
I suspect that the Minister who selects Alex put Beethoven in the background score on purpose. He seems to smirk when he notices the Beethoven picture and bust statue in Alex's cell.
During the scene in which we see "The Psychology Of Learning" on the shelf, the writer clenches his fists when Alex begins to sing. This is due to the conditioning that he experienced from a singular traumatic event, the death of his wife at the hands of Alex. Both Alex and the writer were unknowingly conditioned against music.
Yes. Defenders of corruption in government especially use it for that purpose. My answer to them is "Of course I'm a conspiracy theorist, but so are you and your government - the latter distributing the most dangerous conspiracy theories of them all; the ones used as justification for war."
You got me, brother.
А Clockwоooork Orаnge moviе hеre => twitter.com/5b651e5bf79d638c5/status/795842010204672000 A CLOCКWОRК ОRANGЕ film аnalysis THE LUDОVICО LIE pt 1 2 bу Rоb Agеr
Watch A Clockwork Orange online here => twitter.com/7bafbc7f26337c462/status/822769076728512514
I viddy all brother
How is the milk plus
Is this the real Alex?
Anyone else find it interesting that there are several Nazi references throughout A Clockwork Orange? At 12:55 the shot that is displayed has some symmetry, there is a guard on the left and Alex on the right. To me, the guard somewhat resembles Hitler, and Alex is wearing a red armband, just like one you would see on a Nazi. I just thought that was interesting...
+Noah Peters billys gang are dressed in Nazi uniforms. and billy himself wears a Nazi officer hat.
Xenovista...
Aside from what Jews and Arabs believe in, live by and do to innocent people around the world...
The red armband, and of course the prison guard looks like Hitler, even has the mustache. Also, when he catalogues Alex's pens, he says, "One black, one red," Nazi colors.
Mk ultra
I noticed when watching high that there's a poster outside the interrogation room that advertises the policeforce that looks very nazi-esque, pointing but looks like saluting as well.
I am the only one who sees the ending scene of Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' as being quite possibly in-the-running for being the most perfect movie ending of all time..? I didn't realize this for decades -- before eventually comprehending just how truly perfect it really is.
I absolutely loved that ending. The treatment was broken or wore off, and he described his ultra violent state as being the cure. It never occured to me that maybe he was lying the entire time and was never cured to begin with, but it does make perfect sense.
Wait. I thought it meant he WAS cured because he has consensual sex with the girl, and it almost seems different than him being the same. Thoughts?
@@shawn576 well they were operating on his brain while he was sleeping/recovering in the hospital (his dreams of surgeons poking and prodding around), so perhaps coupled with the fall and the ink test he returned to his natural state once again.
@@josiahcone7506 I saw a hypothesis that I think could be the explanation, the condensed 21st chapter in the final shot of the film, where the nobles are dressed for a wedding that is Alex's, and his is finally settling down and getting married and ridding himself of his youth delinquency.
@Josiah Cone I don't think it was consensual in the last scene. The actress looks like she is trying to get away from him.
That's why he was cured, because he was able to fantasize about rape and violence again. He looks like he is having an orgasm as he thinks about it.
this shit is deep, Kubrick continues to amaze
At the risk of sounding... obsessive, I have to tell you that recently I have been unable to get enough of your reviews, and have watched them multiple times (this is my third time watching this video today). It's fascinating how insightful your observations are, and how well spoken you are as well.
Please keep up the outstanding work!
It’s insane how much I can relate to this even 10 years later. Ager makes some of the best content out there.
Also worth noting is that particular selection of the Ninth Symphony played at the end of the film: a cursory study of the career of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (who conducted the symphony at Hitler's birthday) reveals him to be as anti-NSDAP as one could be, to the point of helping evacuate Jewish musicians and conducting with and for enemies of the Reich. He refused to conduct at state events or anywhere the Hakenkreuz was displayed. However, the government dared not prosecute him directly as he was considered a German national treasure. For unknown reasons, he eventually agreed to play the 9th for Hitler's birthday and actually shook hands with the Führer after the performance. This makes the musical selection all the more appropriate for when Alex finally agrees to sell out and work with the new fascist order, rather than in spite of it.
I hope people realise,, pretty much every nation in the world is facists EXCEPT for western/white nations
Oh wow he helped Jews leave Germany, totally anti-NSDAP and totally not what they wanted. *faceplam*
@@queefmicester1189I have to tell you 7 years later that you could literally not have it more fucking wrong.
It's not a contradiction. The changes that can be created through NLP are reversible. ACO submits a false concept that an intense physical (not emotional) response to a subjective (non-physical) stimulus can be programmed through Pavlovian conditioning. NLP can't do that. I worked in mental health for 15 years with messed up ppl and none of them had Ludovico type physical reactions to subjective stimulus. Yes, I've experienced trauma and am not a philosopher so debate maturely or troll elsewhere
I've continually returned to this set of videos, even though I've seen them many many times. Rob, I think this is possibly one of your best-researched and informationally compelling topics -- as a huge fan of Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange, these were the first analysis videos I found which got me hooked on the idea of hidden thematic elements in his films and films in general. Always a pleasure to re-watch your work!
I'm watching this in 2024, and the scene where the minister says they need to clear out felons to make room for political prisoners is chilling, considering what's happening in the UK right now.
yeah, don't know about that (the political thing). Its just as easy to say that the conditioning technique didn't work on him in general (as you are saying) BUT it did work on him in the particular case of the ninth symphony. I sincerely doubt that someone as psychopathic as alex would attempt suicide over a political point.
See, I never bought the "Alex was faking it" angle. Not only does he legitimately feel sick when he hears music, but he displays genuine relief and joy at the end when he's able to express violent thoughts based on the pictures the nurse is holding up.
The water slaps were just in rhythm of the song, same as his kicks to the man in the beginning. He's a musically minded guy. There isn't much to indicate he is, in fact, fantasizing about the attack.
And if he WAS faking it, how would that explain his inability to stand up to the hobos or his droog/cops? No one else was around to witness it. No one of consequence was around to keep up the act for. We know he's more than capable of taking on his droogs single-handedly, so the only explanation is that he genuinely was incapable of fighting back.
you have a point with that last part
If you read the full analysis on Robs website it covers these issues.
^^^^^
+Amelia Bee Everything you said has been explained by Rob already XD
Amelia Bee .. N. Peters Is it possible that he knows to some exstent that he "deserves it", something he could have came to realise due in part to his conditioning, or just outright from reflection over time. Even with the scene where his parents "replacement son" telling him off... He would know he deserves that rejection from his parents considering how bad of a son he's been.
@TeamVacaville Kubrick was really smart with adaptations, but I recently read Lolita and the novel is far superior to the film, but mainly because SK was limited by censorship. It's a truly amazing book.
ive noticed you generally read the books that kubricks adaptations are based off. got me wondering what some of your favorite novels in general are?
Thanks for this, absolutely amazing analysis. To catch the „Psychology of Learning“ alone is insane but to provide a complete and coherent context to your theory leaves me speechless. Thanks.
Psychology of the phobia is strange indeed. I actually did have a conditioned fear of spiders as a child but then ironically I had an intense nightmare involving spiders and ever afterwards have no longer had a phobia of spiders at all. Repetition and intensity lead to numbness to the concept, not an enhancement of my fear. No real spider can be as scary to me after experiencing horrifying imagined spiders.
Excellent analysis. This might be my favorite of your videos yet. It never even occurred to me that the whole thing was a ruse. Nice attention to detail. This is why I value your videos. You always bring a perspective I hadn't considered.
@jonathan1stewart See the full article on my site - it goes really in depth about pretty much everything in the film. If I'd have fully elaborated on it the video would have at least doubled in length and then you'd be asking about other issues that pop up.
great work sir! the details and sub-texts you found in the tub scene are incredible!
My respect to you from Chile
Well, hope you enjoyed it anyway and thanks for not resorting to petty sarcasm as some folk on here do. Like I said, I recommend you check out the full article on my site if you're interested in more about the film ... and yes it does involve Alex being a highly intelligent (though still very immature) criminal :)
the acid flashback is a myth.
i did alot of acid growing up and never one flashback.
complete media myth
Jebadia Fallen yes, for sure
It is. However it's not the acid that will give you flashbacks. But if you were to get an awful trip it can give you kind of like a ptsd. So the ptsd would be giving you the flashbacks, not the drug itself
I for sure get put back into that mind state by certain memories or just body functions that I experienced intensely during the trip. I don't think its the same for everyone. It is a very personal experience based on your body chemistry and what ideas and thoughts are in your head at the time you do the drug.
Thanks for your opinion.....
i ate acid and watched this masterpiece 10/10, would recommend to anyone interested in entheogenic substances and kubrick! :)
So glad I found this channel through my looking up analysis about The Shining. Lots of great analysis on this channel.
3:30 "Alright, very good...Yes I understand...OK...ALRIGHT GET THAT SPIDER OFF THE SCREEN"
A Clockwork Orange has been my favorite film since I first saw it back when I was 19 and I never would have thought for a minute that Alex faked being effected by the Ludovico technique. But holy damm, now it makes so much sense
wtf this is trippy it has also been my favorite since I first saw it at 19 when I went to film school. I couldn't make heads or tails of it yet I knew it was a masterpiece.
That double tap is also something Sidney Portier does on the pool table and the Occult Master does at the party in Eyes Wide Shut.
So Alex attempted suicide because he learned through a song that the EU is fascist? WTF?
You are confusing literal plot points with symbolism.
You should probably watch some earlier videos in this series if you want to understand what he's talking about.
Personally, he purposely jumped out from the window and harmed himself, as a way to gain sympathy from the public. I’m probably thinking too deeply, but Alex is quite a violent genius after all.
It wasn’t a suicide attempt; it was an escape route for Alex. He wanted to get himself sent to the hospital to place the blame on those who wanted to torture Alex with Beethoven.
The reason why he was making agonising pain noises was to deceive both the characters and *US.*
@@MoskHotel --I agree; he does a forward flip so he can make it to the grass. If he'd hit the concrete paving stones he would have been killed or crippled. The old man might have been capable of murdering him but removed from him, in the light of day the others aren't.
Maybe Alex's fall represents the NAZI's falling, then morphing into the overtly sweet, covertly vicious EU?
Collative learning makes a good point here the same as Orwell in his book. What was warned about is happening via propaganda. EG people are really led to believe that half a % of a trace gas that we contribute is somehow a climate change control knob. The science says otherwise yet popular "belief" is that we should listen to an autistic teenager. Nuts.
@@grahamnumber7123 as I was listening to collative learning, I couldn't help thinking about the cathode conditioning we have been subjected to since the advent of TV and as you point out we have most certainly reached a Pavlov's Dog response to things like climate change or covid.
I think you nailed the bathtub scene, thou as I see it Alex only get's sick when se tries to ACT violently, there were several other instances when we see him thinking about acting violent, but only gets sick right as is about to strike (e.g: the scene when he first gets back home and wants to hit his new "brother")
Yes, The Starship Troopers vid I posted a couple weeks back has specifically been targeted for removal, though one of the executives who registered the copyright infringement claim has told me several times by email that she's retracted it, yet YT haven't unblocked the video. Either the Sony executive is lying or the YT moderators are censoring a vid they don't want people to see. Funny thing is someone else has had the entire Starship Troopers movie posted on here for over three years.
See full analysis on my site. I left a few clues in this vid, but wanted to keep it short.
Oh no, no, no.
There is no conspiracy on the part of the Minister of the Interior to 'fake' a success of the Ludovico Technique; that would be misinterpreting Burgess's central point of the novel.
Is it morally acceptable to force a man, against his will, to be good? THAT was Burgess's preoccupation. As a lapsed Catholic, many of his works feature the conflict between Pelagianism and Agustinianism.
"Anthony Burgess was raised a strict Roman Catholic (even though he has an obsession with the tarot), he originally wrote his novel as a parable about Christian free will and forgiveness. His take on it was that to be a true Christian, one had to forgive the most horrifying of acts, something Burgess knew only too well, having seen his wife be assaulted and beaten by American soldiers during World War II. This attack resulted in a miscarriage and a lifetime of gynecological troubles for his wife." IMDB
I never gave a description of what acid flashbacks are :)
In what way is it clear that Alex doesn't associate Singin' in the Rain with violence? He sings it while being violent because the association is already there. He fantasizes about violence while listening to Beethoven. And hearing Beethoven from a window triggers him by association into beating up his droogs. He even smacks the water with his hand while singin' in the bath, like when he kicked the writer in the groin.
Take a deep breath and relax. If the vid makes you feel angry then go and watch something else, like any healthy minded person would do. When I see vids I don't like by people whose perceptions I utterly disagree with I just leave a thumbs down and maybe even one comment, then move on and find vids I like.
all the pieces fit so well in your analysis, incredible work !
Yes. I don't think SK was particularly interested in that theme.
See full review on my site for more :)
@skyraider69 Thanks. Full Metal Jacket analysis is only available on my DVD set Kubrick Decoded Volume 2. There was a text version available on the site up until a few days ago.
@smp156 Jay contacted me a while back. We've not got much in common. Though some ppl see overlaps, our material / methods are different. There is something going on with Kubrick encoding msgs about the moon landings (see my 2001 article), but I don't think it's a key theme in The Shining. Danny's sweater is the only moon ref I see in it. I also don't believe the moon landings were shot with front screen projection because they frequently use moving cameras. Fsp requires stationary cameras.
The strange ideology of "curing crime" which seems to be rampant today makes this all the more relevant.
@MrZkinandBonez Right now the vid version is the only available one. i know it's a nuisance but I need the DVD sales to fund my work. I might make it available as a PDF with the next DVD set.
Sure. Like I said check out the full analysis article on my website. This video only covers a small part of that article :)
Your videos are deserving of so many more plays. Huge Kubrick fan here that can't thank you enough. I may send you my film From Uneasy Dreams that I made last year, I used a short story by HP Lovecraft to conceal the real story I wanted to tell much like Kubrick would do, but I hadn't really thought about that fact till after making it.
I can say this is 100% accurate from personal experience. I've been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward because I was smoking a lot of weed, was 16, didn't understand how vicious the world is but was trying to tell people around me about it. Went in by will because I couldn't handle how much I understood versus people around me seeming to lie. I didn't get out because I got better, I got out because I played along. We all have to lie to a certain degree because if I insisted on telling you the whole truth you wouldn't believe it/accept it and if I continued to press, one gets put away. Knowing a lot about what kind of psychological tricks people play is tough because no one would believe it if I told them, they wouldn't think the world is that messed up. Also, free knowledge for anyone who wants it, doctors and psych ward operators are genuine psychopaths and are masters of suggestion without saying what they really mean. They'll suggest that they'll do stuff to you all day long, and when you try to tell someone, they play dumb and then when they're in the room with you alone, they take out their frustration on you even worse. So my new method is being even more of a psychopath then them when it's needed, and maintaining my integrity when I don't need to survive. But yeah, didn't get better, just got smart at not saying too much. But I don't know, maybe I've just imagined it all. I've learned the best way to spread the knowledge I've acquired is to tell it how it literally is, and then retreat back into the pleasures and enslavement tools such as entertainment, some junk food, and all that stuff. The trope of Nazi's and StarWars "Stormtroopers" ;) being completely retarded I've seen first hand is true. I throw a stick in the wheel spoke when I can, and then eat some bullshit that's more fillers, preservatives, and drugs than actual food and say "What? I'm doing what you want me to." :)
idrinkurmilkshake, keep waking up. And keep your head low.
Nah man, it's all good. I've had my heart and mind crushed by the only people that we should be able to trust, the health care system, by the way is which where we are born, go for recovery, and die. Since I've been disillusioned there, no motherfucker can really tell me nothing. We live in a nazi state. Not literally "nazi" but the same amount of evil if not worse because it's almost perfectly concealed except for me and maybe a couple others out there. @@JohnnyArtPavlou
My innocence died there, I know a thing or two about psychological torment now. Death is much better than what doctors claim to do. But who knows, maybe I'm just a little over reactive, maybe I do n't know what I saw.
idrinkurmilkshake, I have a friend who used to work in mental health and she said of all sorts of stuff going on with the staff trying to manipulate the patients, playing them off against other staff members... and stuff like that.
Playing them off? Like some sort of circus type feeling game of chess? It took me a long time to get to the level of discipline to where I can keep my disgust in check but also speak, and maybe from the outside I looked just as fucked up as anyone else in there but it felt as though there was layers to how much people could understand, the more they understood, the worse off they were (more talkative) and were treated accordingly. Most of the people around my level I felt were in the sweet spot, weren't bumbling idiots but looked like they were in a prison of their body because they'd go to say something (I assume) and then would just freeze and not talk, which I guess upon reflecting I was doing as well. The crazy thing was that I understood enough to know that when the mumbling mad people were talking none stop, if you would start to pay attention to them, they would speak to what you were thinking, I had a conversation with a faaaaar gone guy that I didn't have to say any real words in sounds to. The "normies" running the place I could tell felt moments where they sensed some sort of weird shit like that, but passed it off as him just being crazy before shit got full on supernatural. But I would never say any of that, I keep that sort of information to myself. But that's sick and downright scary if the people running it are THAT ignore-ant to mess with people such as the guy I met without thinking he may know anything.@@JohnnyArtPavlou
Nope, Alex the Narrator is honest to the reader: Alex said he was sick to us & so he was. And torture *can* condition Alex to experience PTSD whenever he is reminded of his trauma.
The answer to that is fairly complex. Check out the full analysis on my website :)
I agree sci-fi is allowed to make assumptions about what is possible, but the details of the film strongly suggest that Kubrick wanted to draw specific attention, for those inclined to dig, to the fact that the Ludovico technique was not possible in real life.
You said the Ludovico technique is a metaphor for the conditioning of society. I believe the propaganda articles and speeches in the film of a reform technique that doesn't actually work are a metaphor for the manipulation of society.
I know that this is an older video, but I've only just come across it. I picked up a book years ago titled 'Overexposed'. It was about some therapy that is really very close to the 'Ludovico Technique' and its effects. I don't recall when the studies took place, but I believe the book was written in the 1980s or earlier about studies which occurred years earlier.
The "therapy" was applied to people viewed as sex criminals. Rapists, child molesters, homosexuals, people with interracial partners, sex addicts, etc. The "therapy" consisted of compelling the subject to talk about their fantasies and their crimes in as much detail as they could muster, masturbate, and then continue to masturbate after ejaculating when it has become unpleasant, continuing to obsessively recall every single detail about their fantasies and crimes. They recorded the subject on audio tape, and replayed the recordings while the subject was forced to masturbate for extensive periods. Occasionally the subjects were "tested". The tests consisted of attaching a device that measures penis tumescence with extreme accuracy and showing the subject pornography featuring sexual violence, children, gay sex, etc and determining whether those things still stimulate them.
The therapy did not work. The devices used to measure penis tumescence are as reliable as polygraph tests, which is not at all. In fact, monitoring of those who underwent the treatment actually showed a much higher than normal rate of recidivism. You can never know what a person is thinking, and you can never forcibly change what they think.
The author is reacting to the realization that Alex was the intruder who crippled him. He's not having a Ludovico type music induced response.
Most mind control is based on deception / lies, not trauma.
Dear Robag88: Every time I finish putting my mind together from watching your last video, you proceed to put up another one and blow it to even smaller pieces than before. Keep up the good work.
The hypothesis that he threw himself out the window because he simply didn't like the volume ofmusic is your hypothesis. I have a totally different interpretation of the ending and pointed out some of the clues in the video. It's up to you to figure out the paradigm shift from there ... or alternatively go read the full analysis of the film on my site, which goes into lots of additional themes.
The movie is a dark comedy. Not meant to be taken this way. Unrealism and absurdity are the tools used in the film to make fun of society.
I recommend you to see the film Delicatessen.
The key word you missed is SARDONIC.
The details of Alex's supposed sickness give away that he's faking it. That's explained in great detail in the vid and the evidence is strong. The issue of his suicide attempted is mentioned and the viewer is referred to my full article for an answer to that riddle, as the answer goes into quite a complex paradigm shift in the film that would likely have doubled the length of the video.
"your media-conditioned, conspiracy-theorist bell going off in your heads like a well-trained Pavlovian dog"
So anyone who disagrees is preemptively insulted and dismissed out of hand. Cool tactic, bro.
+IgnatzKolisch I noticed that too, but you cant deny that there's some truth behind his words
Thank you for putting up new vids. I love your work. Please don't stop. I pass on a lot of your work to other people and they all find it facsinating
Can i point out that desensitization in phobic conditions occurs as a person is subjected to an extended period in which the perceived danger is subverted (i.e being around spiders but having no harm come to you). Alex wouldn't desensitize to violent imagery because he was continually subjected to an unpleasant bodily state.
@Transformers2themax What do you make of Kubrick including the Psychology of Learning book prop?
The writer was against Ludovico technique. It was part of a political program he opposed, he possibly objected on moral grounds too. Therefore, it is not surprising he would have a book criticising such techniques.
Systemic desensitization and other gradual exposure cures are one way, but the NLP fast phobia cure often works wonders in a single therapy session. there's also no evidence that the response alex has to the Ludovico treatment would work. It doesn't even seem to work like a phobia. his response involves physical pain and nausea.
See my video A Clockwork Orange and the Survival of Nazi Pathology for a detailed answer to that. It's on my alternate channel, but a quick search on here will bring it up.
Absolutely brilliant. Psychodelic subversion seems to be the last 40 years of culture in a nut shell. I don't think it's any coincidence so many of these movies The Shining, Clockwork and 2001 a Space Odyssey appear so relevant today.
+SkyLight Records Psychodelic subversion? Could you elaborate please?
Only on my Kubrick Decoded vol 1 dvd set now, but there is a huge (and better) text analysis on my site.
@criterion10 For originality 2001, for entertainment either Clockwork or Full Metal Jacket, for atmosphere The Shining, for emotion Lolita, for courage Dr Strangelove. Too hard to pick one.
There's that same double-tap from the record store (with his cane, but he also taps a pamphlet after he sets it down the way he did his personal items in prison), and from Red Hood and Ziegler in EWS. What does it mean, man!?!
Doesn't Poole make a similar motion when he "loses" the chess match? I may be remembering wrong.
(Sorry for the triple reply)
Since the oscillator recording results is a clockwork orange it means almost literally that even Alex's test results are park of a clockwork orange. If I get the meaning of that right.
Thanks. I think life or 14 yrs is a moot point. In some countries "life" can mean as little as that and most of us would be willing to undergo a couple weeks of Ludovico discomfort to avoid it.
Your second counters an assertion that I never made. At no point did I say Alex knew he wouldn't die from the fall. I offer some clues in the video and refer the viewer to the full article on my site. It involves a major paradigm shift, which would have doubled the length of this video.
This video isn't about the meaning of the Beethoven piece. It's about whether Alex was faking his cure or not (in the film, not the novel - the two differ greatly).
Also I disagree with your take on "the theme of the novel". The novel has many themes. You can't reduce a complex work like that down to a single sentence.
I wish i had seen this excellent and inteligent review years back (and your others). I love the fim and saw it in 1972 when there was panic, histeria and then the cries for banning. I have always known and felt it was more complex than just the violence etc. Your review has made me think through and revisit my own past perceptions of its multi layers. I will watch it again for the umpteenth time and with diffent eyes... Alex playing up to the system but really knowing what his aim was (prison release).. thats a fabulous twist and one i had never considered... THANKYOU... PS... Perhaps we all fein acceptance of things around us eg at work to get what we want, the art of compliance as with Alex is knowing that you are actually concious of your reasoning for that compliance. My old granny once said "let them think you are mad just as long as you know you are not".
i think the idea is that the "powers that be" don't really care about the deception element as long as one plays ball and falls in line.
I'd like to think that Kubrick actually didn't think of any of this and genuinely made a mistake.
Yes he does. He's been reading about it in the newspapers and is playing dumb with the doctors.
I ...don't know about this; i have a fear of blood but i can play m rated games such as Postal2 and Borderlands2 Games known for there excessive violence. Yet...i don't faint during or after playing. So it kind of makes sense why there are times where he does and doesn't get sick.
Yes, that's covered in the video
8:48 article appears on Nazi Approved Music...anyone know where I can read the whole article?
Now curious if Quthrie's Psychology of Learning appears in prison library scenes. The fact that Alex had access to the library is enough, I think.
During dinner, isn't he wearing the sane robe F Alexander was during the attack? Does this have something to do with the role reversals because Alex is now at the mercy of Alexander?
I think we all know by now we were conditioned by our parents and society. I hope we realized it as it was happening so as to at least be self-aware zombies.
Kevin Woolcock There is good and bad in this. At least what you can witness in Western or Christian majority nations, you see courtesy, mannerisms, and mutual respect for total strangers (for the most part at least). Go else where in the world and you could stumble on societies that have yet to discover such peace keeping habits, you'll see alot nations filled with people stepping on each other like animals to get ahead, and exploding on each other with the slightest disagreement (hence why some nation never seem to quite organise themselves through the years). Too busy stuck at square one (cooperation), (civility).
@Rbo SMF You know that isn't reality though. Would you get pleasure from watching real life murders: like the Scandinavian girls who were raped and beheaded by Moroccan gangsters?
@Rbo SMF Exactly, that's the point: you know it's a simulation and not a real life event. So you know not to have an emotional attachment. If you found real life atrocities exciting, or were just indifferent, then I'd be worried.
@Bassbait Yeah, there's so much going on. I have to avoid mentioning a lot of details to try and keep the vids short ... otherwise I'd be here all day.
in the song singing in the rain there are two shots of a trumpet after the line "everyone from the place," the line that alex hits the water on. Are you sure hes not just hitting the water twice because thats the way the song goes?
@LittleSn00py Could probably do a whole video just on costumes in this film. The costume test pics at the archives have all kinds of stuff like masonic hats and stuff.
Acid flashbacks....they only happen when the bodyfat layer that was present at the time of acid taking is then re-visited by fat loss corresponding down to that same deposition layer.
Hi Rob, I’m starting to see a _Clockwork Orange_ as a veiled political and historical allegory in the same vein as _The Shining_.
I think Alex represents the House of Orange that ruled both the British and Dutch Kingdoms and utilized the resources of both to ‘colonize’(invade and rape) other countries as well as being a menace to the native British peoples. The home invasion scene features a prominent painting which looks like an asiatic landscape(India, perhaps).
I think Kubrick was trying to portray that despite all the sophistication and high culture(Beethoven), the royal family and their goons were simply a band of thieving thugs.
first saw this when I was 12. over the years, this has truly become one of my favorite books and films of all time. you do it justice, brother... Sir, I mean lol
@LetsPlayPC I think SK had progressed beyond communism vs fascism models. One of the reasons his films have Nazi themes is because the Nazis received massive financial, ideological, and industrial support from western sources. I don't agree that the Nazis were a non-existent enemy, but I certainly believe they were an enemy we helped to create, just like Communism which received massive support in a similar manner from Wall St. Communism and Fascism are variations on the same thing - socialism.
Whats your opinion on socialism? You dont have to answer if you have better things to do. I bought a couple of your ebooks. Will you take the vaccine they are making for the current virus? my family is heavy christian and are anti vaccination. while i think the older vacinations are good, i dont like how fast the corona vaccination is made. i want thorough testing.
Greetings from The Netherlands.
This makes sense. Beethoven's 9th symphony, Ode to Joy, can be interpreted as a metaphor for sex. The music is both joyful and explosive. What activity can be described in the same way? Alex was conditioned to avoid the 9th after committing rape. He once found pleasure in the 9th, but now fears it. The result of the conditioning is a type of castration, a means to lessen the urge to commit rape and general violence. To avoid it, a criminal has no choice but to convincingly fake rehabilitation .
Awsome video man! Just a quick note about LSD. One of it's various effects is the temporary de-conditioning of the subject. So it's kinda impossible to condition someone with it.
I agree- LSD makes you “childlike”, in that you see and feel everyday things as if you are experiencing them for the first time.
He tried to warn us here, and told us what was happening behind the scenes in "Eyes Wide Shut" and "Full Metal Jacket"
In the bath, Alex couldn't know that he sang the same song when beating the old man. If he knew, he wouldn't sing it, because he'd know the guy could recognize him like that. It was just a coincidence.
+Chvocht CZ It's not that he was aware he was being overheard, it's that we know through the song and actions that he is reliving his violence with happiness. This is stark contrast to the intended effect of the Ludivico Treatment. Watch the video again.
I like Donnie Darko to watch, but didn't really find much in it worth talking about. Having said that I've not seen the director's cut.
I prefer the Directors cut to the theatrical release. Please check it out if you havent yet. Although I got trashed in a comment section by what I only can assume was a movie snob for stating that opinion.
On a separate note, just found your channel yesterday and it is amazing. Thank you so much for putting all these breakdowns and theories together. It really shows how much you appreciate the art
If you search 'NLP Fear of Spiders, some videos come up that are similar. But I think the one I saw was removed for some reason..
Stanley knows research and most importantly puts his multiple ideas together in his films glued together as multiple themes, some obvious others subliminal.
Is it possible you could explain why exactly you consider the EU fascist? To me it seems that yes, it is too overbearing and centralized, but it also is a driving factor for democratic reform in Eastern Europe, and is fundamentally a tool for peace in Europe through interdependency. Not nearly as bad as we Americans have it if you ask me, with our truly fascistic corporate-military ruling class.
I hope by now you know the answer to the question you asked. 5 years ago you should have know but by now......
Lol you clearly don't know how awful other portions of the world are
Yes, Nazism is very important in the film. See full analysis on my website :)
I'm liking this video, but I don't think Alex is faking. The author is having a similar reaction to Singing in the Rain that Alex would have to the 9th. Most mind control is trauma based. The author is traumatized from witnessing the rape of his wife, just like Alex is traumatized from the Ludovigo Technique. If it doesn't work, then why would Kubrick give us a second example of it working on a different individual?
How I love this channel. Thanks so much Rob!
Perhaps I haven't done my research, but I thought Beethoven's 9th was played 3 times in the film. Towards the beginning, as Alex returns from carousing, he puts a tape of the 9th and it's clear that he is fond of the piece -- it makes him feel proud and powerful. The second time, again, in my observation, which could be wrong, it's played during the Ludovico conditioning. Lastly, it's played when he wakes up looked in the attic and tries to kill himself. This, to me, represented a PTSD type of psychological response because many people will have flashbacks or reactions when associations of sights, smells, sounds, etc occur from the traumatic event that caused the PTSD. Therefore, did Alex feel horrible being locked in the attic with the 9th being played because it brought back the trauma of the Ludovico treatment and, possibly, the guilt he felt over what he had done, seeing suicide as his only option? I could be completely off. But, that was just my thought after watching it once through. (Sorry for the length!)
Keep watching the video. That's explained :)
Already done EWS, but it's only on my DVD sets :)
Classic movie. Groundbreaking book. Extremely disturbing experience in either medium. One viewing was a dreary, frigid wintery evening on LSD. Needless to say, this was an unforgettable nite.
I would also point to the writer`s response on discovering Alex`s identity is an Imprint reaction.It is the same feelings that Alex displays when his new Imprinting kicks in.
Yes, astute viewers should probably come away thinking that Alex's Ludovico Technique conditioning doesn't work BUT... don't you feel just a tiny bit nauseous whenever you hear the 9th symphony? Isn't this a direct result of the trauma of watching the movie? Stanley is a sly fellow.
Why do you think he rolled the end credits over a red background with "Singing in the Rain" playing? :3 Who else wore red in the movie...hmmmm.
I feel like the narrow application of his conditioning to one single song that was played instead of all of music itself (note that Alex even explicitly says “not all music,” as to remind readers of the book that there was a change) also casts doubt on his ability to develop a sick response to something so equally broad as violence itself. It’s almost like Kubrick is saying “no Burgess, it wouldn’t be ALL music.” The next logical conclusion is that it wouldn’t affect his response to ALL violence either
The ultimate criticism on here is for the majority of people to just watch a little of the first section of your video then leave a thumbs down and not even bother watching the rest, but that's not happening. And that's why you're pissed off. I've had PHD level academics buying my DVDs in bulk and have had film school teachers showing my vids to their classes. Academia works for the sciences, but not particularly well for the arts and psychology. Hence Kubrick himself wasn't an academic.
I suspect that the Minister who selects Alex put Beethoven in the background score on purpose. He seems to smirk when he notices the Beethoven picture and bust statue in Alex's cell.