What is it about?
Stanley Kubrick's controversial, violent film A Clockwork Orange makes central, vivid use of several major works of 'classical' or 'art' music - including pieces by Beethoven, Rossini, Purcell and others. This article presents a detailed analysis of the ways in which these powerful pieces of music contribute to the ambiguous message of the film about society, morality and crime.
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Why is it important?
The analysis in this article gives unprecedented attention to the ways in which Kubrick changed the source novel, by Anthony Burgess, and argues that the musical aspects of the completed film transform it into a distinct and different confrontation with the issues treated rather differently in the book. One thing I suggest is that Kubrick's musical choices open up an 'archetypal' background for this film in the Don Juan story - one of Western literature's most influential models, previously treated by (e.g.) Mozart and Byron.
Perspectives
I think I make a very important case here for a close formal analysis of Kubrick's musical choices - which ultimately demonstrates both the extraordinary acuity of his ear, and his engagement with profound, perennial moral questions through highly distinct, irreducibly 'audiovisual' means. Even in presenting a fresh, fully formed interpretation of this infamous work, I also inevitably open tantalising questions about the differences between 'film' and 'literature' as artistic media through which to engage deep human problems.
Dr David J Code
University of Glasgow
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Don Juan in Nadsat: Kubrick's Music for A Clockwork Orange, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, January 2014, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1080/02690403.2014.944823.
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