2. A Clockwork Orange- Case Study
An interesting history accompanies Stanley Kubrick's grim view of the future.
The BBFC was initially shown a screenplay based on Anthony Burgess's novel in 1967 and
advised the distributors that a film showing 'an unrelieved diet of vicious violence and
hooliganism' would be unlikely to be acceptable.
However, when the finished film was submitted to the BBFC in 1971 (by which time the age
bar for seeing an X film had been raised from 16 to 18), it was passed at X with no cuts. At the
time, the Board's Secretary, Stephen Murphy, defended the film by stating that "Disturbed
though we were by the first half of the film, which is basically a statement of some of the
problems of violence, we were, nonetheless, satisfied by the end of the film that it could not be
accused of exploitation: quite the contrary, it is a valuable contribution to the whole debate
about violence".
There was nonethless a strong body of press and public opinion that the criminal and anti-
social actions of the film's main character, Alex, would be copied by young people, inspired by
his charismatic example to break the law. Indeed, reports in the papers suggested that some
attacks now occurring were inspired by the film. In fact, however, no such behaviour by anyone
over the age of 18 was ever reliably established as being related to the film.
In 1973, allegedly concerned about reports of copycat violence, and threats made to the safety
of himself and his family, Kubrick withdrew the film from circulation in the UK. This was in spite
of the fact that the film had been judged by the Board to be acceptable for public viewing for
adults over the age of 18. At no time did the BBFC reject the film - although this is a common
misconception - and it continued to be available throughout much of the rest of the world.
It was not until after Kubrick's death that his family agreed to permit the release of the film
again. It was submitted to the BBFC in 1999 for a modern classification certificate and received
an 18, without cuts, to replace its old X certificate. There was a muted response from the
public, and the video version of 2000 was also classified at 18 uncut.
3. Do you think A Clockwork Orange
should have been regulate? Why?
I think that A Clockwork Orange should have definitely been regulated.
This is because when the film came out in 1971, even the director,
Stanley Kubrick, thought that it was a bad idea to put live. The
BBFC also thought 'an unrelieved diet of vicious violence and
hooliganism' would be unlikely to be acceptable. At the time of the
films release, once it was sent to the BBFC, a member of the
distributing team said that it was valuable for people to understand
importance and debate of violence. It was obvious then and now
that young children would copy this type of behaviour that Alex
(main character) was portraying. His strange acts of violence and
his occasional rapes, was seen by the public to be something that is
unnecessary to anyone. Although the rating X was raise from 16 to
18, it still allowed people to become desensitized at the age of 18, in
a time were violence wasn’t really shown that explicitly on TV.
4. How is violence portrayed in A
Clockwork Orange?
This film portrayed some much violence, from the
first scenes. We see; naked women being
beaten and rapes, peoples’ houses being
broken into and the owners being beaten.
Although there is no intentional murder, the way
Alex and the other ‘hooligans’ were hitting them
made it even more obvious that they were just
doing it for fun. They would take the woman’s
clothes off, then Alex would rape her, whilst the
other ‘hooligans’ would beat up the man,
silencing him. The man would have to watch all
of it happening to make the pain much worse.
5. What does it tell you about society
then and society now?
Despite the fact that Alex and the other ‘hooligans’ were still at school
at the time, meant that at the time it was acceptable for a child as
young as 16/17 to be allowed out until late, not to go to school and
generally being a menace. It shows that society didn’t care then, the
authority was just there to watch, rather than help anyone. The part
where Alex was taken by the police (his old friends) and nearly
drowned emphasises that authority was technically worse.
Society now, probably would portray this film like this, I don’t think it
would be presented in such ill manner. The openness to show
women like that just wouldn’t happen. Women would never be
presented, as they were in this film. There was be so much
regulation on this that it probably wouldn’t get shown. It tells you that
society now would follow the laws and regulations, the fact that it is
still banned shows that it’s still seen as something that shouldn’t
have been made, that the BBFC shouldn’t have seen it as,
something that allows us to understand the debate surrounding
violence. This type of violence, would be cut from the film if the
BBFC saw it now.
