Kubrick the \'Droogian\' Dystopian Vision

Kubrick

"THE 'DROOGIAN' DYSTOPIAN VISION in

STANLEY KUBRICK'S a CLOCKWORK ORANGE

As the ninth work written by British novelist Anthony Burgess, a Clockwork Orange (1962) has been hailed by many literary scholars as the most representative of Burgess' powerful and terrifying visions of things to come and has been favorably compared to George Orwell's dystopian nightmare 1984. Although primarily recognized for his work outside of the science-fiction/fantasy genre as a Joycean and Shakespearean scholar, Burgess created several dystopian futuristic literary visions with the best-known being a Clockwork Orange.

From a narrative standpoint, this novel is set sometime in the not-too-distant future when human society has de-evolved into a virtual police state regulated by "soulless technology and dehumanized science" (Mainar, 167), similar in nature to today's rampant dependency on computers and other technological devices and on the many astounding advances made in the field of human genetics, such as DNA fingerprinting and the Human Genome Project.

Almost ten years after the publication of Burgess' novel, American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, perhaps most widely remembered for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), brought a Clockwork Orange to the screen, his ninth feature film as the quintessential "auteur" of his own creative imagery. This film version has undoubtedly aroused more controversy than any of his other cinematic adventures, due in part to its haunting visualization of what human society could become at some unknown point in time. As Walter Coyle describes it, Kubrick's a Clockwork Orange is an allegorical and "savagely bitter satire on man and society" (45) and symbolizes the eternal struggle between those in power that demand conformity and those that endlessly insist upon non-conforming individuality, much like the protagonist/antagonist Alex, played to the hilt by Malcolm McDowell.

Since the release of a Clockwork Orange in 1971, much has been written concerning the overall dystopian landscape presented by Kubrick which Pauline Kael interprets as a Socialist state set within "a dreary. . . England" overrun by "roving bands of teenage thugs" bent on terrorizing the common British citizenry under the cover of darkness. However, few film scholars have attempted to examine this dystopian diorama as seen through the eyes of the four main characters-Georgie, Dim, Pete and of course Alex 'DeLarge,' a true sado-masochist and leader of his troupe of "droogs" whose only goal in life is to disrupt society through a "bit of the old Ultra-Violence" (Civelekoglu, 2003, Internet) while stoned on a variety of narcotic-based substances.

It should be mentioned that the character of Alex faithfully embodies what Burgess refers to as a "clockwork orange," an old Cockney expression for "a person or object that is internally freakish or absurd but externally normal in appearance" (Mainar, 87). This phrase also references Alex's transformation from a human monster into a "clockwork" or wind-up mechanical robot with "orange" symbolizing a State-manipulated orangutan, "a harmless zombie no longer able to choose between good and evil" (Ciment, 1995, Internet) nor to utilize his own self-will and determination.

Obviously, as a way of retaliating against Burgess' alleged Socialist state, Alex and his

"droogs" have adopted a very old method which has been proven highly effective in relation to obtaining and dispensing power and influence, namely, a social phalanx known as a gang, a somewhat "loosely organized group of individuals who collaborate together for anti-social reasons" (Nawojczyk, 1997, Internet). In this context, Alex occupies the position of gang leader while Georgie, Dim and Pete serve as his underlings and as a sign of their collaborative relationship, Alex and his "droogs" wear distinctive clothing-white, pseudo-combat style shirts and pants, black combat boots and black bowler hats or billycocks, almost as if "aping" a typical English businessman or stuffy accountant. They also utilize a very distinctive form of communication which Burgess calls a Nadsat dialect, a private language composed of a "stream of gibberish, pop slang, onomatopoeic expressions" (Coyle, 66) which only Alex and his "droogs" can understand and appreciate while surrounded by the sexually-charged, psychedelic motifs of the Korova Milkbar.