Jesus Christ, do you have to be so condescending?
A few years back while in college I went as Alex to a Halloween party. Had all the details of the costume, down to the eyeball cuff links (did you even notice those?). I had failed to realize the phenomenon of women being seriously disturbed by this movie and thus things went far worse for me than I had expected. I sidle up to the bar and order a Bailey’s (close enough). The girls standing there turns and sees me and then immediately freezes like a dear in headlights, with just a quiver going through her rigid body. She then slowly says, “I am more terrified now than I have ever been in my life.”
Not exactly the best way to pick up women.
The movie was quite a sight when it first came out, but it didn’t bother me in a “can’t watch it” kind of way. I’m much more bothered by men who get off on rape porn than I am about a plot line in a movie.
I am a female and wasn’t especially disturbed by it.
I can’t handle children in peril - I don’t even like certain episodes of CSI because I start sobbing.
I am pretty particular - I didn’t like Reservoir Dogs, but didn’t mind Pulp Fiction.
Female. I loved both movie and book versions, and own them too.
Female here. I love it, have seen it several times, and consider it one of my favorite films. Of course, Kubrick is one of my favorite directors so I’m apt to love (or at least respect) most anything by him.
I’m glad to see lots of other women in this thread who can appreciate it.
Why sheepishly?
Like a lot of other violent films with a purpose, I see it in that dimensions. I’ve seen the movie more times than I’ve read the book, and I must admit I did not have a problem with watching. But, then again, Hitchcock’s movies were done in a manner that used to give me mild nightmares.
It’s violence for the sake of making a point within the plot of the original novel, and if you took out all the beating and rape scenes, the movie wouldn’t really make that much sense. It’d be like taking the shooting of the Arab out of L’Etranger and expect people to understand what Camus was getting at.
Oh, and, by the way, I’m female.
Odd… many years ago I dressed up as Alex for a Halloween party. Being female, I thought it would be an interesting little “twist”, I suppose. I even wore the cup-type device outside my pants. At the party, my (very) old English/Theatre Arts teacher was the one who first approached me, with a mixed impression of awe, a little shock, and a big smile. His brothers all thought it was cool, too. So, for me, it was a good way to pick up really old men. Hmm.
And, hey, Bart did it on the Simpsons. One of the Treehouse of Horror shows. (HA! Pun intended!)
In the itsy-bitsy small town that I come from, Kubrick is roundly considered a despicable director who does nothing more than make porn movies and foist them on the unsuspecting public. My dad and I (and lil’ bro) usually mumble something about him being not that bad and let it slide. I quite forgot that I was in the much larger outside world and it wouldn’t be so bad if I just came right out and said it: I* like* Stanley Kubrick (who couldn’t love Dr. Strangelove?!) while respecting the opinions of those who don’t.
I’m about to go home in about a week, and I’m going through a strange touch of psychological de-evolution. I’m not digging it.
I’m sorry, it was the lethal combination of smugness and stupidity. It made it hard to think straight.
Good taste, sir.
So twice you’ve insulted me in the thread. That’s classy of you.
As far as I can tell we have a difference in how we’ve interpreted movies, and that’s all. If you feel as if the violence in A Clockwork Orange is more disturbing because it’s being perpetrated by a sympathetic protagonist, then that’s your opinion. There’s no need to call me stupid or smug though. You’re dead wrong if you think I’m just going to sit here and take it.
The world is ugly enough, I rarely feel the need to watch movies where violence is depicted very realistically and at length. It’s just a personal thing. It’s not just movies in which rape figures prominently… I’ve never seen Hotel Rwanda, have no intentions of seeing The Last King of Scotland. I’ll never watch Saving Private Ryan again. etc. etc.
My husband has A Clockwork Orange on tape. He considers it along with 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove some of his favorite movies. I’m also not surprised to hear that Kubrick butchered the source material of ACO, considering what he did to The Shining.
Personally, Kubrick leaves me cold. I see what he’s doing and his skill as a director, but his work doesn’t connect with me. It doesn’t excite me, and I can find it annoying and pretentious.
Consider it to be like a miniskirt. It may help you pick up men, but it won’t help me pick up women.
I notice a couple of people are disturbed by the eye-clamping scene. I have an eye phobia myself, as I mentioned in the “What’s your kryptonite?” thread. Actually, the clamps didn’t bother me in the least, instead I had to look away when they put the drops in! I’m so weird.
Oh, and I dressed as Alex for Halloween one year, but I couldn’t get the hat right. NOBODY knew who I was! pout
I have a female friend who did this, and she’s not either of you. This is odd.
Female. Saw it many years ago. The rape bits didn’t bother me but I wasn’t that interested in the overall experience. I was unaware it was based on a book so shall seek it out. Perhaps I’ll give the movie another chance one day.
Seen it a few times, read the book a few times. I value it for showing the point of view of the protagonist so effectively. Yeah, Alex is charismatic and sympathetic in ways. People who do bad things often are, and sociopaths can often be engaging. So I found it interesting in the sense of a character study, and observing my own reactions to different parts of his personality and actions.
I could do without it being cool kid cred on par with rocky horror or something, but it is definitely on my list of things one ought to have seen or read.
So I never had any problem watching the film. I did have to stop watching Willard (the Crispin Glover one) when the orange kitty was introduced, though.
You realize it’s pretty easy to just skip that scene, right? It’s a really visually engaging movie (for me anyway) and the soundtrack is amazing.
Personal insults are not allowed in Cafe Society, uglybeech. Do not do this again.
Not really responding to the OP, but the topic reminded me of it:
I have only seen one scene from ACO, and that is the scene where a man and two women have sex in a room, in fast motion, to the tune of the William Tell overture. I walked in on my dad watching it a while ago; I asked him, “What is that?” and he responded with something like “A Clockwork Orange. This is the porn scene. Watch this, look at this great film technique they use here…” Weird. Doubly weird when watching with a parent.
However, considering the subject matter, I doubt I would be able to handle the other subjects of the movie. Violence just doesn’t sit well with my pacifist stomach.