The designed object as a filmic paradigm: A new look at the creative principles behind A Clockwork Orange

Abstract

The first movement of A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971), which culminates with the scene at Mrs. Weathers’ house, is comprised of a string of highly theatrical misdeeds perpetuated by the Droogs. The scenes from this portion of Kubrick’s film are all constructed from a script and form of visual narrative that exploit language as well as material and environmental details that make up the film’s dramatic settings. Within this framework, we can build on the theory of Alexander Walker (1975, p. 257), who has noted how Kubrick deliberately isolates the spectator and forces him to construct a narrative meaning simply through an image. Indeed, the image draws on a physical object’s industrial, urban and communicative identity so as to imbue the scenography with significance and, as a consequence, to give the story meaning. Methodologically, the way that objects were treated in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) becomes an iconographic catalyst for the visual narrative that Kubrick later applied on the “skin” of A Clockwork Orange. Likewise, the designed object, whether in its material or conceptual condition, is the focus of the present study, which is materialized in the visual impact that is temporally registered in the relevant scenes. In sum, the present paper offers an analysis of the content about the object as a filmic construct, which reveals, as a result, Kubrick’s fascination with design in any of its orders.