Inspired this thread where fessie notes that she walked out of A Clockwork Orange. I find that this reaction is typical of women. My mom, for instance, couldn’t continue watching the film after the very first scene with the woman being assaulted by the group of droogs. Numerous female posters here have commented that they can’t watch A Clockwork Orange. So I get the impression that the movie makes a lot of women very uncomfortable.
Now, I’m not going to question the judgment of these people. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it, and it doesn’t make you wrong. But I will say that I didn’t stop watching American History X when Edward Norton gets raped in the shower. I didn’t stop watching Deliverance when Ned Beatty gets raped. I didn’t even stop watching Hard Candy when the main character has his balls cut off. So I have to say that I don’t find sexual violence against my own gender in movies to be enough to make me stop watching.
On the other hand, I’ve known a good number of women (mostly of the punk or indie rocker variety) who actually loved A Clockwork Orange, dug the style and surrealism of the movie, and did not find the rape scenes objectionable enough to make them stop watching. So obviously the movie isn’t universally disgusting to women.
So, females (and males, I guess), can you watch it? If not, are there any other movies that you find too disturbing to watch?
I haven’t seen it since I was about 18. The only reason I didn’t walk out was that I was smack dab in the middle of the theatre and I didn’t want to disturb everyone else. My reaction might be different now, but I don’t plan to watch it again to find out. I have lots of other things I would prefer to do with my time.
I’m male, and I found that movie painful to watch. In part because of the sexual violence, but also I loathed the style. I sat through the whole thing, but it is firmly on my “10 worst” list. It’s the only Kubrick film I’ve ever tried to endure. Maybe in a few years, I’ll feel like trying another.
Actually I didn’t leave a theater - it was at a friend’s house, we were all in college. It wasn’t just the fact of violence, it was the specific way he slapped her – as if she was a meaningless piece of trash. That was 20 years ago and I haven’t seen it since, but I can still picture it.
And it was also the fact that none of my male friends (I was the only female present) were affected by it as I had been. That made me feel very unsafe.
I absolutely cannot watch The Hitcher either.
Couldn’t handle the ear scene in Reservoir Dogs, but Pulp Fiction was fine.
OTOH, I loved Requiem for a Dream.
Kubrick’s films are so different from one another that I wouldn’t prejudge them all because of a bad experience with one. To pick a few examples, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, and Spartacus are vastly different from A Clockwork Orange. And 2001 is in a class by itself.
I’ve seen it several times. The rape scenes didn’t bother me. The eye opener mechanism did. I watched it for school at least twice, and I guess since I was analyzing the film (cinematography, editing, sound design, etc) I didn’t have as visceral a reaction as I might have had I been watching it purely for entertainment.
I think it’s brilliant. One of my favorite movies ever. I’ve watched it dozens of times. The violence is supposed to be disturbing. Alex is pure Id. You’re supposed to hate him and think he deserves whatever he gets. That’s why it’s so strange that you eventually begin to feel sorry for him after his conditioning. The revenge by the husband of one of his victims is interesting as well. I think it’s a comment on how vengence itself can become every bit as depraved as that which it seeks to punish.
Incidentally, I wonder how many people know that Burgess wrote the novel after a violent assault on his own wife. he said he wrote the novel in a drunken haze in which he was trying to understand the attackers.
Ditto. To this day, I’m terrified I might one day need eye surgery and need those clippy things on my eyelids. When they used them on my infant daughter, I started unconsciously humming Beethoven and felt nauseated - no lie. But I’ve seen the movie several times and think it’s a great work of art.
I’ve blocked out what movie it was, but the rape scene that bothered me the most was one where was saw the ceiling and shadows moving from the victim’s POV, then a close up of her eyes. After a few struggles, she just went limp and hopeless and died inside until it was over. It was too exactly on the nose, and it really brought up a lot of stuff from my own rape experience.
The curb scene in American History X is the one that haunts me, not the rape scene. Not enough to make me not ever want to see it again, but enough to want to cover my eyes for that instant.
Woman checking in: I’ve seen it. Hell, I even own a copy of it. And wait–there’s more: After my students read the novel and several others, the majority voted to watch ACO in class. So I showed it. I told them that they were free to leave at any time.
When I was in film school, on the first day of some film appreciation class, the professor decided to show us the rape/murder scene in its entirely. After it was over, the class (at least half female) sat there in stunned silence. He said, “Powerful stuff, isn’t it? Now let’s watch it again.” And we did.
Yeah, he alienated just about everyone on the first day.
I can’t stand the film because it is such a bastardization of Burgess’ exceptional novel. It turns the horror of the novel–a young, bright kid with nothing better to do than terrorize innocent people and rape women–into a pop-culture entertainment. McDowell’s smirking performance was impressive, but I still couldn’t find myself sympathizing with him at any point; even after his conditioning and the subsequent beating/torture I pretty much felt that he had it coming, whereas in the novel you’re encouraged to be sympathetic toward this reformed criminal as he’s used by both parties to support their particular stances. And Kubrick left out any reference to the final chapter, which is odd because although the chapter was removed from U.S. editions for decades it should have been in the U.K. printings he presumably used for reference. It is also perhaps one of the most dated looking films Kubrick made, with the garish styles stuck firmly in the ugly early Seventies.
I’ve saw it three times when it first came out. It wasn’t that I “liked” it, but I was fascinated by its uniqueness. The last time I saw it was not in a theater. The programing reel was missing, so the film made no sense to newbies. Strangely, no one was available to give a refund at the door. That burned me out.
I didn’t walk out, entirely because it was An Important Piece of Cinematic History [sup]TM[/sup]. But I’m never going to watch it again.
I didn’t see enough redeeming features to make it worth those scenes. Obviously, others’ mileage varies.
Oddly, not the most disturbing rape scene I’ve ever seen on film (Once Were Warriors) - but in that one, there were redeeming features in the rest of the movie and the disturbingness made sense.
