Concordia University Montreal

The expressionistic style and the theatricality in
Stanley Kubrick′s A Clockwork Orange (1971)

by

Oliver Schill

· Introduction 3

· The German Expressionism and its influence on Kubrick 4

· Expressionism and theatricality in "A Clockwork Orange" 8

· Bibliography 20

Introduction

"When someone says Expressionism, they mean the drama in the pictorial structure." 1)

I don′t know many filmmakers within their films are more pictorial structures than in the films of Stanley Kubrick. In the following essay, "A Clockwork Orange" will be analyzed in terms of expressionism and theatricality. There not only the pictorial structure of the shots, but also the structure of the entire film is very interesting. The film has three main parts. The first one contains Alex′s violent performance, the second is Alex′s cure in jail and the third one is a kind of "the empire strikes back". Many scenes of the first part come again but in a mirrored version; now Alex is the victim. "A Clockwork Orange represents the director′s most complete experiment in presenting cinematic material in a subjective mode. (Falsetto, A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis, p. 90) Therefore other characteristics of the film, especially the 1st person voice over, or the point of view shots, are very important to mention in terms of creating this subjectivity. But one of the most important aspects in the film′s subjectivity and theatricality is Alex′s performance. Also the expressionist décor and lightning plays its important part in the film. The expressionistic style is deeply connected with elements of theatricality, in particular through the performance of the actors. Before analyzing "A Clockwork Orange" concerning these elements, I will describe the development of the German expressionism and its historical context in general. After that I will point out the development of theatricality in cinema and in what relation theater stands to cinema.

The German Expressionism and its influence on Kubrick

The term German Expressionism, describes a specific film style, which occurred in Germany during the years 1919 - 1924. “German expressionism has been applied to cinema by analogy with the preoccupations of the expressionist movement in modern art of the early part of the twentieth century whose aim was to convey the force of human emotion and sexuality.” (Hayward, p.172) Kubrick’s goals are not so different from those of the expressionists. Especially in “A Clockwork Orange” but also in “Eyes Wide Shut”, Kubrick presents a very deep analysis of the human society. In both films the major theme is about voyeurism and sexuality, connected with violence and power. Stephen Mamber goes even further in his essay “A Clockwork Orange”.

“In fact it is useful to consider Clockwork as the third part of a futuristic trilogy also encompassing Dr. Strangelove and 2001. […] A Space Odyssey […] after “The Dawn of Man” section there are no further views of life on Earth beyond occasional transmissions to space crafts. As in Dr. Strangelove. […] A Clockwork Orange fills in the “meanwhile, back on earth”, quickly placing itself in a parallel time period to 2001 during the attack on the drunk.” (Mamber, Steven. A Clockwork Orange in Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick, p. 179 ff)

As in Dr. Strangelove or in 2001, Kubrick creates also in Clockwork a certain irony within the way the human characters behave. In the War Room in Strangelove for example, the characters perform their exaggerated style in a “hermetic” (Mamber, p. 179) and very stylized world, as they also do in Clockwork. Some scenes rather look like expressionist paintings than film. For Example the opening scene of Clockwork or the long shot from the war room in Dr. Strangelove.

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1 The numbers of the Units are the same as in Falsetto, Mario. Stanley Kubrick – A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis, p.183 and 184