American photojournalist “El Marco” is currently visiting Spain and a couple days ago witnessed Europe’s latest political outburst, as Spain’s three largest unions tried to shut down all commerce for a day in a “general strike” to protest the government’s new right-to-work laws designed to alleviate the country’s rampant unemployment:
Spanish Unions Revolt Against Labor and Fiscal Reform
While the general strike pretty much fizzled (as the linked photo-essay reveals), and it’s difficult to get American readers worked up over confusing Spanish politics, an intriguing detail from El Marco’s essay stands out:
Here and there throughout the crowd, in addition to the now de rigueur “V for Vendetta” Guy Fawkes masks, protesters were wearing “A Clockwork Orange” t-shirts and regalia (the orange shirt on the right side of this photo). It seems the nihilistic smash-everything “ultra-violence” depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film version has a new generation of fans seeking some hipster cultural justification for their mindless contrarianism.
What makes this particularly relevant to the American scene is that our Occupy Wall Street movement itself claims it was inspired by and is the direct descendent of the 2011 Spanish youth protests in the exact same Puerta del Sol plaza where this recent protest erupted, which means that “What happens in Madrid does not stay in Madrid,” and that American copycat play-revolutionaries are likely to imitate the fads popularized in Spain, which has emerged as a radical chic trendsetter.
So: Look for “A Clockwork Orange”-themed fashions to join “V for Vendetta” masks and Che Guevara shirts as the unofficial uniform of 2012′s occupy protests.
One final note: “A Clockwork Orange” has many literary themes beyond the scope of this short post, but one of those themes was a condemnation of totalitarianism, as the novel’s fictional government tries to brainwash the unhinged lead character with mind-control techniques. Apparently the unconscious irony of this idiot waving a totalitarian flag while wearing an “A Clockwork Orange” shirt was lost on everyone but the insightful El Marco — and you the reader.
Check out the full photo essay for a full examination of Madrid’s union protests (which went completely unnoticed in American media) and El Marco’s lucid explanation of dizzying Spanish politics.
– Frank?
“Look for “A Clockwork Orange”-themed fashions to join “V for Vendetta” masks and Che Guevara shirts as the unofficial uniform of 2012′s occupy protests”
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I imagine we’ll be seeing more hoodies, as well.
Of course! Slipped my mind during the writing of the post, but yes, hoodies as well.
Maybe they can combine them all and wear a hoodie with A Clockwork Orange on the front, Che on the back, while wearing a V for Vendetta mask. All bases covered!
Another excellent book (and in the case of A Clockwork Orange an excellent movie) ruined by the left.
Ironically, the “nadsat” slang in the book/move was due to Russian influence of “Slav propaganda. Subliminal penetration.”
The original book, as published, had a final chapter in which Alex (the lead character) sees the error of his ways and has a change of heart and wants to get married and become “normal.” But a leftie American publisher, seeing a chance to push a nihilist theme in American culture, insisted that the final chapter be chopped off the American edition. Burgess reluctantly agreed but later regretted it, saying doing so changed the whole point of the book.
THEN, Kubrick read the American version, and based the movie on it, and did not even know there was an original British edition with a redemption final chapter. He only found out about it after he had wrapped up filming. So the “official” movie is based on a bastardized edition.
Thus, within American culture, “A Clockwork Orange” was ruined before it even first appeared.
From what I gather, that’s a little inaccurate.
Alex never has a change of heart, he just gets bored and decides he’s too old for the Ultra-Violence, and that’s when he comes to the conclusion that he wants to start a family.
He never really feels like he did anything wrong.
Perhaps the whole point is that perhaps one day he too will be a married man whose wife is raped in front of him. After all, the man (and wife) he victimized at the beginning were political radicals — worn-out versions of himself, who had settled down.
I think it could be seen as the transition from (for example) Bill Ayers the terrorist to Bill Ayers the radical professor.
I’ve never read the original complete version, so you may be right, but in one way or another, he has a change, whether he is conscious of its origins or eventual effect.
From the final chapter of the British version:
“There was Your Humble Narrator Alex coming home from work to a good hot plate of dinner, and there was this ptitsa [girl] all welcoming and greeting like loving. . . . I had this sudden very strong idea that if I walked into the room next to this room where the fire was burning away and my hot dinner laid on the table, there I should find what I really wanted. . . . For in that other room in a cot was laying gurgling goo goo goo my son. . . . I knew what was happening, O my brothers. I was like growing up”.
Below I’ve linked to an excellent Theodore Dalrymple essay on the book and film – give it a read.
steaming mound of murderous terrorist filth, no transition there, to speak of.
The final chapter did change the point of the book quite a lot. In the end he chose to put the ultraviolence behind him. But the movie also kept that element with the “treatment” that supposedly “cured” Alex, and the priests condemnation of taking away choice.
In a way, that point of the state “conditioning” people to act a certain way vs. the freedom to do wrong, but possibility of choosing right, makes A Clockwork Orange actually a bit conservative in that regards.
– how a person can change. Burgess wrote the screenplay for Jesus of Nazareth as a scoffer, but then found he had to write a book about Jesus.
Since we’re talking about A Clockwork Orange, here’s Theodore Dalrymple’s take on the film and book: http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_1_oh_to_be.html
i really liked the film A clockwork Orange when it came out.. I was about the age of the cast and thought listening to Mozart made me “intellectual”.. loved the term ultraviolent.. i came out of the film singing “singing in the rain (and made a crash sound like alex stomping the old dude). but to tell you the truth I never thought our society would ever sink to that level of violence.. ohhhh how wrong.. we’re outdoing A Clockwork Orange in the ultraviolence department.. the dude in the picture with the communist flag and the picture of Alex with ultrviolence on it..is a poser.. it just looks cool.. he has no real idea does he now?