Ethics in “The Clockwork Orange” Film by Kubrick Essay

Introduction

The Clockwork Orange is the film by Stanley Kubrick. It was created in 1962 based on the novel by Anthony Burgess. The main themes of the film are the good and evil, kindness and aggression, sympathy and violence. The film uncovers the ethical issues and touches upon the social problems including the impact of the totalitarian regime on a personality. The aim of this essay is to analyze the plot of the movie from the standpoint of the ethics-related questions.

The Main Body

The film The Clockwork Orange is based on the famous novel by Anthony Burgess, who sarcastically criticizes the attempts of the government to control every aspect of the life of an individual. Alex, the main character of the film, is the habitual criminal. His life and actions are absolutely amoral. Alex manages the criminal gang of teenagers who commit enormous offences. He is involved in robberies and sexual assaults. After committing a murder, Alex is betrayed by the members of his gang and caught by the police.

Undoubtedly, the gang membership and the roots of crimes are the main ethical and moral issues raised in the film. The roots of the amoral behavior have been studied by many scholars. The results of the research conducted by Dr Vincent Egan and Matthew Beadman in the frameworks of London clinical psychology program show that antisocial personalities tend to avoid the communities with the good influence and, thus, they become involved in gangs (“Extreme Antisocial Personality” n.pag.).

The researchers also characterized the traits of the antisocial personality. They determined it by the “impulsivity, low self-discipline, low self-control, and a lack of concern for other people’s problems” (“Extreme Antisocial Personality” n.pag.). If we take a look at the personality of the main character of The Clockwork Orange, we will, undoubtedly, find these traits in him. It should be mentioned that the psychologists explain the roots of violence in the peculiarities of the people’s psyche. The negative emotions, such as hate and intolerance, provoke the acts of violence and crimes. All people are, however, liable to experience negative emotions, but not all of them become criminals.

Thus, the criminal behavior is the moral and ethical question. Persons can be impulsive and may be lacking the self-control, but they will never commit crime. That is why the antisocial personalities should be defined not only in the psychological terms, but also in the ethical and moral ones. Their moral principles possess certain traits, among which the prescriptivity takes an important place as it guides the actions of individuals (Pojman and Fieser 7). Ultimately, it is the question of the ability to sympathize with others, put oneself in the place of other persons, and to feel their pain as your own one. The basic moral rule states: do as you would be done by.

The film uncovers not only the theme of crime and amoral actions, but also depicts the influence of prison on a personality. Once the main character becomes imprisoned, his life turns to the nightmare. He is broken by the deprivation of liberty, and prison puts the hard moral pressure on him. Alex feels unable to survive under such conditions. He agrees to participate in the medical experiment, on which the plot of the film will be centered.

The research is the initiative of the government which promises Alex to release him from prison if he participates in the experiment. It boils down to the attempt to correct the personal traits and to change the personality. The episodes of the film depict the moral exhaustion of the main character. The question is whether such kind of ‘treatment’ is justified and whether it is worthy to be used. Alex becomes the social outcast as even his parents reject him. As a result of the experiment, he is made to feel sick when thinking about sex or any kind of aggression. He is even programmed to feel sick while listening to the symphony of Beethoven, his favorite musical composition.

After going at large, Alex cannot defend himself. As his victims try to revenge themselves, the persecutions make him going insane. He commits suicide but survives. The political opposition tries to benefit from his suicide by obtaining the argument against the policy of the current government. Alex becomes the marionette of the government and the hostage of the political games.

Alex, essentially, becomes the moral victim of the experiment. The authors of the novel and the film show how the government can destruct the personality by the deprivation of the free will. “A Clockwork Orange, both the novel and later in the film directed by Stanley Kubrick, shows the audience that when free will and the ability to choose is taken away, man is no longer human” (Gilchrist n.pag.). The deprivation of the opportunity to make the decisions and to live your own life destroys destinies.

This is the main idea of the film and the novel. The attempts of the totalitarian government to subordinate the will of people will never lead to the healthy society and will never eliminate the antisocial personalities. Quite the opposite, they will deprive people of their right to be the architects of their own fortunes and to take the ethical actions consciously. The freedom of personality implies the opportunity to choose the path in life. The deprivation of such opportunity makes people the puppets ruled by the government. The ethical and moral behavior is based on the free will of individuals and on their conscious right doing.

In the end of the film, Alex is taken to hospital. He starts to feel better but he is enforced to pretend that the experiment has been successful and that the tested treatment leads to the positive results. Alex agrees with the proposal of a government member to take the offered position in the party. He agrees to work for the government and to improve its image.

Conclusion

In order to sum up all above mentioned, it should be said that the film The Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick touches upon the ethical and moral issues. The major themes of the film uncover the problems of the human behavior and personal choice. They touch upon the terms of good and evil as well as the willingness and ability of a person to choose the ethical way of life. The Clockwork Orange depicts the destiny of the habitual criminal Alex, who becomes the moral victim of the government experiment. The film clearly shows the controversies around the social safety, morality, and government enforcement of the ethical behavior. Overall, the film by Stanley Kubrick is the integral part of the world’s cinema heritage. It was highly appreciated by the critics and the public.

Works Cited

“Extreme Antisocial Personality Predicts Gang Membership, Finds Study Based On Survey of Male Prisoners”. Sciencedaily. 2011. Web.

Gilchrist, Sophie 2012, Free Will in A Clockwork Orange. Web.

Pojman, Louis Paul, and James Fieser. Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong, Wadsworth: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.