In the film A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick there are many reason to why it’s a controversial film. It’s important to take into consideration on the time in history that it was made. It was released in 1971, during this time in history, specifically Great Britain; there were many social reforms that were occurring. This time in history was an exciting time to be considering the fact that this was the time of growing wealth, widening horizons and personal liberation. People of this time had the chance to become liberal. There was a relaxed attitude towards sexuality brought in part by the widespread availability of birth control for young girls. There was also the banning of capital punishment and they had to put restrictions on drugs since it became a big issue. The film made such a big impact on audiences because it showed the main character, Alex and his friends, going about town raping, hurting others and doing drugs, basically acting out their every desire and its save to say they are psychopaths. It resonates with people because it’s a scary thought to think of having these kind of people our society.

Now in the film, there are many explicit sexual scenes throughout the film that conjugate sex and violence. To me it represented the sexual freedom of that time from young adults.  The group of young boys that go around town and steal, rape and create havoc, have undertones of juvenile delinquency. The film is packed with savageness and grim acts that really works well as a shock value. It gets the audience to react intensely to what they have just seen.  Also, by watching this sort of film their mind conjure up ideas and think about their society and their social issues. Social control is a topic that is relevant in any time, past, present and future. The film touches the topic of social control from the government and the idea that the government is trying to oppress people and have total and complete control over them. This is a continual worriment that we face and I feel this movie perfectly portrays that to audiences now in this day and age as well as back then. The film successfully makes the audiences question authority and an individual’s moral conduct. Along with painting American law enforcement as hopelessly corrupt and violent.

I could not remember what suit my card was, but truly wanted to discuss this film anyway, though tardy in posting.

à bout de souffle (breathless) is a film written, and directed by jean-luc godard, who is one of my favorite french directors. the movie opens with main character michel, driving & talking (almost seemingly rambling), but this scene is vital. soon after a series of distinct choppy film cuts (godard is known for this style of film), and michel’s dialogue with himself, he is pursued by a police officer, who he ends up murdering.

throughout the course of the film, we know michel is a thief, but his love interest (patricia) initially does not. this scene aids in constructing the entire rest of the film, and plays an integral role in describing the behavior of the protagonist.

here’s a link to the entire film

(this isn’t subtitled but you can get the gist of it).