MovieChat Forums > A Clockwork Orange (1972) Discussion > This movie's biggest failing for me

This movie's biggest failing for me

posted 8 years ago by arkayenether
23 replies | jump to latest

Let me start off by saying that this movie doesn't have many failings with me. I ADORE this movie, and watch it frequently. I'd say it's likely the one movie I've seen more than any other.

Okay so, the one failing I do find in this movie is that it's supposed to be a dystopian future, but I just don't see that. Nothing about the movie makes it feel like the future to me. And no it's not the technology. I'm not an idiot. It's just the overall feel of the world. It feels more like a generic "present day" setting. I don't know if Kubrick just didn't care about that aspect, nor do I know if it's more emphasised in the book (haven't read it. Never come across a copy come to think of it). All I know is that it doesn't look futuristic to me. I'm not even sure what would qualify as futuristic. The only thing that seems unusual to me is that all of the older women in the movie seem to be sporting unnatural hair colors like blue, green, and purple.

I thought I could paint it red, but I couldn't find enough goats.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7734) 4 years ago

The scenes with record players really make it not feel like the future.

[–] ak47wong (578) 2 months ago

Not to mention the Mini-Cassette!

[–] seagal72 (1968) 7 months ago

It shows a (percieved) futuristic UK to resemble a dreary, graffiti-strewn, third-world shithole...which in all actuality, wasn't as bad (upon initial release?)

Pretty much on the money (imo)

[–] CalvinJarrett (464) 2 months ago

I think Kubrick's art direction as it relates to the 'future-oriented' aspect of the story was excellent. It was always my understanding that it was intended to depict an England not too far into the future. So what I think Kubrick did quite masterfully, was to play up some of the fashions that would have just hit the scene in London, on the (correct) belief that these styles would become mainstream in just a few short years. Hence the wide ties, and the colorful shirts worm by the M.P. and Alex's dad. Even the writer Alex and his droogs victimize is dressed more '70's than you might expect for 1970-71 Britain. The home decor too has that IKEA quality that would actually become the style just a few years later. Then you add in the urban blight that London did undergo as the '70's progressed, it was a pretty accurate vision of the near future.