Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange(1971), and George Lucas’ THX 1138(1970) use the non-human to threaten the traditional sexual role of alpha male; when deprived of these roles, the main characters in the films do not retain their full humanity. In both films, alpha male identities are portrayed as being essential to the humanity of the characters. Technically neither film actually deals with alien intrusion, however the "alien other" can be seen as the human mind as controlled by artificial, technological means.
In THX 1138 the characters resemble humans, however elements of their humanity are missing. They all dress the same, their emotions, including sexual desires, are suppressed, there heads are shaved, they are under the control of the state, and they are in a physical world created by and dominated by technology. "The lack of differentiation between individuals is suggested by the limitless quality of space: everything lacks boundaries, from the self to the city."(1) There is no sunset, greenery, or wildlife; only concrete infrastructure. However, at the end of the film, the main character, THX 1138, breaks free of this underworld and is shown silhouetted against a giant sun, instead of a white background. Although he is physic
ally the same, he has asserted his freedom and individuality, and therefore gained his humanity. However the film does not allow 1138 to restore his humanity without assigning him the sexual role of alpha male.
Interestingly enough it is the audacity of LUH 3471(his female roommate) who unlocks 1138’s potential to fulfill this role. She substitutes his mind control pills without his knowledge, and he has his first taste of the joy and fear of freedom, which is also the moment he makes love to her. By fulfilling this role as a male in a heterosexual relationship, he symbolizes the beginning of his precarious journey towards restoring his full humanity (represented by his entry to the surface). Also he starts fulfilling the alpha male role of protector, which in the end he fails at, (LUH 3417’s identity is reassigned) nevertheless not without trying. And finally he adopts the alpha male image of someone who takes charge in the face of adversity and who is a leader.
Although he does not defend his role from other males, THX 1138 still attempts to assert his role against the state, simply by having illegal intercourse. In this case the state takes the place of a rival male, as it is capable of reproduction and impregnation, which in the film takes place outside of the human body and without the necessity of intercourse. The film resonates fear of government-funded research in the science of reproduction, and the potential threat to the traditional role of gender in the human scheme. It is expressing a fear of the potential of technology to allow a governing party to wield extreme and complete control over the masses, which is nearly what is happening in the film. A similar technological threat to gender roles is also manifested in the earlier science fiction such as Invaders from Mars (1953), "A the center of Invaders is the Martian, who represents humans evolved beyond the need for the body or sexuality and which, through its asexuality, references postwar anxieties that radiation contamination will result in the lack of sexual difference."(4)
In A Clockwork Orange, Alex also defends his role as alpha male, often through the use of physical and sexual dominance. Alex lacks a certain sense of morality and chivalry that 1138 comparatively possessed, nevertheless the role of alpha male is a key element to his identity as a human, as it is with 1138’s. While he constantly dominates over the women he comes in contact with, he never fulfills 1138’s role of a protector of women, (or a woman). Deanna Madden brings attention to Alex’s misogyny "in a true patriarchal fashion,"(2). Nevertheless Alex still carries the image of protector among his peers, none of whom are women. Alex leads a band of "droogs," or gang members, who operate in a pack mentality, as a pseudo family, cajoled by the threats and clout of their leader, as well as his ability to protect them.
Eventually in the film Alex is arrested, charged with murder, and imprisoned. He then willingly participates in a new government "aversion therapy" program which renders him physically incapable of violence and sexual promiscuity, if not all capability. During an exhibition Alex is
confronted by an actor who tries to provoke him into physical violence, and a woman who tries to seduce him into sexual impurity. He becomes physically ill when attempting to act on these temptations and the voice of a prison chaplain in the crowd remarks "he has lost his free will." It is then apparent then that he has lost a key element of his humanity, even if his humanity has an evil aspect to it. Stanley Kubrick hints this in an interview with Michel Ciment, "The central idea of the film has to do with the question of free-will. Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived of the choice between good and evil?" Kubrick uses Alex’s sexual role as a way of asserting this freedom of choice in the film, therefore as a way of living out part of what it means for Alex to be human. He also provides an insight into the real life fears presented in the film, "Recent experiments in conditioning and mind control on volunteer prisoners in America have taken this question out of the realm of science-fiction."(3)
Despite his rebelliousness, and perverted view of what is "good," Alex still had a taste for Beethoven, a sign of cultured taste beyond what might be expected of him. However, the aversion therapy also takes away his ability to enjoy this music, a further sign that he has been stripped of what ever exactly it was that made him human.
Alex then tries to commit suicide, during which his aversion therapy is accidentally reversed. The first signs that it has been reversed are when he is able to enjoy the classical music, but also when he discovers he has no adverse reaction to sexual pleasure. It is at this moment that his confident smirk returns, as well as his role of alpha male and the evil that was evidently part of his humanity. With the return of his ability to enact his gender role, his humanity, as presented by the film, is now restored as well.
While the two films do not precisely define what it means to be human, they clearly portray what the filmmakers believe to be essential elements of it; namely freedom (to do good or bad), individuality, and fulfilling of gender identity. Both films choose to focus on the heterosexual, alpha male identity, as opposed to the roles of women or homosexuals. Perhaps this is inadvertent or maybe they are trying to expose sexism in the psychology of the alpha male. A disparity, however, especially in A Clockwork Orange, is given to the importance of women and homosexual roles as opposed to heterosexual male roles. All in all, a key emphasis of both films is that gender identity is part of what makes us human, and both films express a fear of what happens when these identities are tampered with.
In THX 1138 the characters resemble humans, however elements of their humanity are missing. They all dress the same, their emotions, including sexual desires, are suppressed, there heads are shaved, they are under the control of the state, and they are in a physical world created by and dominated by technology. "The lack of differentiation between individuals is suggested by the limitless quality of space: everything lacks boundaries, from the self to the city."(1) There is no sunset, greenery, or wildlife; only concrete infrastructure. However, at the end of the film, the main character, THX 1138, breaks free of this underworld and is shown silhouetted against a giant sun, instead of a white background. Although he is physic
ally the same, he has asserted his freedom and individuality, and therefore gained his humanity. However the film does not allow 1138 to restore his humanity without assigning him the sexual role of alpha male.Interestingly enough it is the audacity of LUH 3471(his female roommate) who unlocks 1138’s potential to fulfill this role. She substitutes his mind control pills without his knowledge, and he has his first taste of the joy and fear of freedom, which is also the moment he makes love to her. By fulfilling this role as a male in a heterosexual relationship, he symbolizes the beginning of his precarious journey towards restoring his full humanity (represented by his entry to the surface). Also he starts fulfilling the alpha male role of protector, which in the end he fails at, (LUH 3417’s identity is reassigned) nevertheless not without trying. And finally he adopts the alpha male image of someone who takes charge in the face of adversity and who is a leader.
Although he does not defend his role from other males, THX 1138 still attempts to assert his role against the state, simply by having illegal intercourse. In this case the state takes the place of a rival male, as it is capable of reproduction and impregnation, which in the film takes place outside of the human body and without the necessity of intercourse. The film resonates fear of government-funded research in the science of reproduction, and the potential threat to the traditional role of gender in the human scheme. It is expressing a fear of the potential of technology to allow a governing party to wield extreme and complete control over the masses, which is nearly what is happening in the film. A similar technological threat to gender roles is also manifested in the earlier science fiction such as Invaders from Mars (1953), "A the center of Invaders is the Martian, who represents humans evolved beyond the need for the body or sexuality and which, through its asexuality, references postwar anxieties that radiation contamination will result in the lack of sexual difference."(4)
In A Clockwork Orange, Alex also defends his role as alpha male, often through the use of physical and sexual dominance. Alex lacks a certain sense of morality and chivalry that 1138 comparatively possessed, nevertheless the role of alpha male is a key element to his identity as a human, as it is with 1138’s. While he constantly dominates over the women he comes in contact with, he never fulfills 1138’s role of a protector of women, (or a woman). Deanna Madden brings attention to Alex’s misogyny "in a true patriarchal fashion,"(2). Nevertheless Alex still carries the image of protector among his peers, none of whom are women. Alex leads a band of "droogs," or gang members, who operate in a pack mentality, as a pseudo family, cajoled by the threats and clout of their leader, as well as his ability to protect them.Eventually in the film Alex is arrested, charged with murder, and imprisoned. He then willingly participates in a new government "aversion therapy" program which renders him physically incapable of violence and sexual promiscuity, if not all capability. During an exhibition Alex is
confronted by an actor who tries to provoke him into physical violence, and a woman who tries to seduce him into sexual impurity. He becomes physically ill when attempting to act on these temptations and the voice of a prison chaplain in the crowd remarks "he has lost his free will." It is then apparent then that he has lost a key element of his humanity, even if his humanity has an evil aspect to it. Stanley Kubrick hints this in an interview with Michel Ciment, "The central idea of the film has to do with the question of free-will. Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived of the choice between good and evil?" Kubrick uses Alex’s sexual role as a way of asserting this freedom of choice in the film, therefore as a way of living out part of what it means for Alex to be human. He also provides an insight into the real life fears presented in the film, "Recent experiments in conditioning and mind control on volunteer prisoners in America have taken this question out of the realm of science-fiction."(3)Despite his rebelliousness, and perverted view of what is "good," Alex still had a taste for Beethoven, a sign of cultured taste beyond what might be expected of him. However, the aversion therapy also takes away his ability to enjoy this music, a further sign that he has been stripped of what ever exactly it was that made him human.
Alex then tries to commit suicide, during which his aversion therapy is accidentally reversed. The first signs that it has been reversed are when he is able to enjoy the classical music, but also when he discovers he has no adverse reaction to sexual pleasure. It is at this moment that his confident smirk returns, as well as his role of alpha male and the evil that was evidently part of his humanity. With the return of his ability to enact his gender role, his humanity, as presented by the film, is now restored as well.
While the two films do not precisely define what it means to be human, they clearly portray what the filmmakers believe to be essential elements of it; namely freedom (to do good or bad), individuality, and fulfilling of gender identity. Both films choose to focus on the heterosexual, alpha male identity, as opposed to the roles of women or homosexuals. Perhaps this is inadvertent or maybe they are trying to expose sexism in the psychology of the alpha male. A disparity, however, especially in A Clockwork Orange, is given to the importance of women and homosexual roles as opposed to heterosexual male roles. All in all, a key emphasis of both films is that gender identity is part of what makes us human, and both films express a fear of what happens when these identities are tampered with.
(1) Kellner, Douglas and Ryan, Micheal, Camera Politica "Technophobia" Published by Indiana University Press, 1988
(2) Madden, Deanna "Women In Dystopia: Misogyny in Brave New World, 1984, and A Clockwork Orange," in Misogyny in Literature: An Essay Collection, edited by Katherine Anne Ackley, Garland Publishing, 1992, pp. 302.
(3) http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.aco.html, interview with Stanley Kubrick by Micheal Ciment. 1981.
(4) Hendershot, Cydy, "The Invaded Body: Parania and Radiation Anxiety in Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Extrapolation, Vol 39, 1998 by the Kent State University Press.
(2) Madden, Deanna "Women In Dystopia: Misogyny in Brave New World, 1984, and A Clockwork Orange," in Misogyny in Literature: An Essay Collection, edited by Katherine Anne Ackley, Garland Publishing, 1992, pp. 302.
(3) http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.aco.html, interview with Stanley Kubrick by Micheal Ciment. 1981.
(4) Hendershot, Cydy, "The Invaded Body: Parania and Radiation Anxiety in Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Extrapolation, Vol 39, 1998 by the Kent State University Press.
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