Closure scene ..
Did Alex Die or got sickened by the 9th symphony that was playing in the background ..?
shareNo he didn't. He says to somebody that he had dreams of people tinkering with his Gulliver.
Now there are two modes of thought on this and the significance of what they did. Some say they removed the programming completely and he's back to normal. If you've read the book, this is pretty much what happened in the final chapter which the movie never covered.
However, going by the movie, it seems like while he's been reprogrammed more than deprogrammed. Before when listening to Beethoven's 9th he was slooshing such lovely images of death, destruction and blood. Now he's having wild sex with what seems to be a willing participant while a group of well dressed individuals clap politely.
It's a bit of a change which leads me to believe he's going to be a decent citizen from here on in and at the same time be a useful tool for the government. After all, why would they offer him a good job and salary otherwise?
The ending is supposed to show that he's back to his old self - the treatment has been reversed for political expediency. There's nothing to suggest he is going to be a decent citizen. Giving Alex a good job is intended to curry favor with the public and their thinking at the time that Alex was a victim of a cruel experiment - as was the treatment Alex received that tamed his violent impulses.
My real name is Jeff
There's nothing to suggest he is going to be a decent citizen.
Do me a favor and think back to the first time we hear him listen to Beethoven's 9th symphony. What does he imagine? Explosions, death & blood.
Then again at the end he's listening to the 9th after having been cured and what do we see? He's having sex with a willing young devotchka as the well heeled clap appreciatively.
Before the treatment: Death and destruction.
After the accident: Happiness and affirmation.
That's a pretty big difference and Stanley Kubrick never included an element in his movies that didn't mean something. This is a man who had his secretary type out "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" on every single page we see in "The Shining". Now we only see maybe a dozen or more pages with this in a stack of a couple hundred. Anybody else would have typed up a couple pages, copied the rest or even had a bunch of blank pages thrown in there as nobody would see them. Not Kubrick. He had her, and others, type out every single page. Or in "Dr Strangelove" although it was filmed in B&W the table in the war room was covered in green felt like those used on poker tables. It's because these people were gambling with the population of the world. Nobody can see this in the finished version but it's an element that he included because he was obsessive that way.
So if we have a scene where a happy Alex and a happy unnamed devotchka have little bit of the in out in the middle of a group of well dressed individuals it means something.
share
Do me a favor and understand that Alex also had similar thoughts and actions regarding immature, unrestrained sex fantasies before the treatment, and also that the film couldn't show all of Alex's impulses at the end of the film. He also repeats at the end of the film the exact same, anti-social expressions he used before the treatments, showing in another way that he is restored to his previous state of mind. He even says he is cured (in his mind), meaning clearly that he is restored to his previous state. That is what creates the irony Kubrick was clearly showing - not some kind of real cure of his violent and anti-social impulses.
Your focus on Alex being happy at the end of the film is nonsensical, as Alex was also very happy at the beginning of the film - before the treatment. The fact that he is clearly happy at the end only reinforces the fact that he is restored to his previous state at the end of the movie.
Your statement that Kubrick never included an element in his movies that didn't mean something is true, but irrelevant to the fact that violence isn't shown at the end of the movie in the same way it is shown at the beginning. Omitting a detail isn't the same as including it - that's a logical fallacy. They simply didn't need to show all of Alex's anti-social impulses at the end of the film - it was clear from all of Alex's words and actions, as well as from his daydream.
My real name is Jeff
Yes he had sex with some underage girls but you're missing the point. It's Beethoven's 9th Symphony that was playing.
The same one we see at the start when he gets home, the same one used in the Ludivuco treatment, the same one that drives him to try and snuff it and the same one that plays at the end of the movie.
The music was key to all those scenes. Before it's blood, explosions and death. After it's happy times with a woman. Not just happy times but it's monogamous as opposed to the threesome with the underaged girls and it's consentual. In a sense Alex has come about full circle so to speak but in the process feels like he's gained the approval of society while holding onto his wild side so to speak.
He's able to speak about violence but all his responses are rather toothless.
"Cabbages... knickers... it hasn't got a beak!"
"My mind is a blank... and I'll smash your face for you yarblockos"
"No time for the old in out love. I've just come to read the meter"
"You know what you can do with that watch? Stick it up your arse!"
"Eggywegs... I would like... to smash 'em and pick them all up and throw... OWWW!"
How is any of that different than somebody saying they'll kick your ass? It doesn't mean they will. It's a threat and he's able to utter them now when before the idea of doing so would have crippled him.
Saying he was cured meant that, as far as he's concerned, he's able to not only speak his mind but listen to Beethoven's 9th again. It doesn't mean he's been returned to his previous self.
And yes, if Kubrick included an element also means that if he didn't include another element it means something. More than 40 years later people are still analyzing his works and finding new things in there. Besides, the version of the novel he used was missing the last chapter and it ended there. If you were to read the final chapter what happens? Alex goes back to his ways with a new gang thinking he can just slide right back into his old life but he can't. He no longer feels any joy from violence. He wants to raise a family and wants to be a good and productive member of society. Maybe he's grown up, or maybe the treatment he got after the accident pushed him in that direction.
You see it one way, I see it another way problem is that neither one of us knows how it was that Kubrick saw it. The best we can do is speculate.
You see it one way, I see it another way problem is that neither one of us knows how it was that Kubrick saw it. The best we can do is speculate.
We do have some idea how Kubrick saw it. In an interview with Michel Ciment, Kubrick said the following:
"There are two different versions of the novel. One has an extra chapter. I had not read this version until I had virtually finished the screenplay. This extra chapter depicts the rehabilitation of Alex. But it is, as far as I am concerned, unconvincing and inconsistent with the style and intent of the book. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the publisher had somehow prevailed upon Burgess to tack on the extra chapter against his better judgment, so the book would end on a more positive note. I certainly never gave any serious consideration to using it."
My real name is Jeff share
Did you watch the final scene? In his fantasy, he was raping her, not having monogamous love sex. The whole point of ACO is that goodness and badness are choices, and that if one can't choose, one ceases to be human. The fall from the window knocked him back to how he was. In the final chapter of the book, he was back to the ultra-violence with a new gang. And this is when he finally chooses to grow up and be a good person. The Ludovico Treatment was reversed, and he was able to make choices freely again.
shareSorry, that was meant for OP
shareI actually think quite the opposite of what you are saying. The ending of the book expleains that he has grown accustomed to the society, and I think the end of the film is the same. We see Alex now having sexual intercourse with a woman (not raping her), which she is enjoying. And for the look of the location I think it looks like a wedding, due to the very formal clothes of the guests-.
My top 250 favorite films: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls031367581/
It's quite clear that the strongest theme of the movie is control vs freedom. With control destroying what it means to be human, and freedom allowing the choice to choose evil. Alex is a sociopath, and without Ludovico, he's back to being his old self.
Alex's fantasy at the end was a crowd cheering on his rape. Beethoven is a trigger for his violent thoughts and behaviors. "I'm cured alright." is meant to be sarcastic. "Singing in the rain" which plays at the closing credits is also played during an earlier rape scene.
Also read :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange#Omission_of_the_final_chapter
Rape? I haven't seen it in a while, but isn't the woman on top? I recall thinking he went back to his old self, perhaps a bit less masculine, but the politicians were covering their asses and trying to avoid repercussions with liability from the treatment (or having it further exposed to the public in a negative light). The rest I agree with, but not the rape part.
share