The Portrayal of the Body as a Medium of Culture in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange Essays

The Portrayal of the Body as a Medium of Culture in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange Essays The Portrayal of the Body as a Medium of Culture in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange Paper The Portrayal of the Body as a Medium of Culture in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange Paper The clockwork metaphor has long been used as a tradition of Western science as a means of portraying a condition in which human behavior is modified to the extent that it is plausible to predict as well as control human behavior. Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange presents a scenario in which such a condition is enabled in society. A central message of Kubrick’s aforementioned film lies in its emphasis on the necessity to scrutinize the assumption that both science and the state may be considered as the guardians of human civilization. The movie’s story follows the escapades of Alex, a reasonably intelligent young criminal and his three gang members, Pete, Georgie, and Dim. As they drink milk with narcotics, the gang spends their evenings entertaining themselves with ‘ultra-violent’ acts. As the movie develops, one is presented with examples of these ‘ultra-violent’ acts which involve beating a homeless man, raping another gang, as well as beating and raping a woman. It is the later act which led to Alex’s imprisonment and later on involvement in a voluntary behavior modification experiment which conditioned him to associate pain with sex and violence thereby turning Alex into an individual devoid of free will and a model member of society, hence ‘a clockwork orange’. This modification of Alex’s behavior however turned him into a victim of social retribution, the experience of which led him into an attempt to commit suicide. After such an attempt, Alex was once again placed in the control of the state who decided to undo the effects of his earlier behavior modification. The movie ends with a portrayal of Alex who was once again in possession of his free will filled with thoughts of the various ways in which he may once again commit ‘ultra-violent’ acts. The movie ends with Alex menacingly stating, â€Å"I was cured all right† (Kubrick np). Stanley Kubrick’s A Clock Work Orange may thereby be seen as presenting a narrative of an individual who experiences four subject positions: Alex as a criminal, Alex as a convict, Alex as a patient, and Alex as a citizen. Through his shift from one subject position to another, Alex experiences different modes of power and at the same time different modes of subjectivity. It is interesting to note that by enabling the different shifts in power through Alex’s character, the movie was able to portray the different points in which subjectivity is shaped in an individual. In line with this, what makes Alex’s character interesting are not his physical traits but the different traits which have been ascribed upon him as a result of the constitution of his personality by the rules and norms of the different institutions that gained access and control over Alex’s body. Alex may thereby be seen as an entity who presents the film’s spectator with the different ways in which the body stands as a medium of culture as it derives its meanings from the social constructs of the body determined by its position within society. Susan Bordo, in â€Å"The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity†, emphasizes the manner in which the body becomes a ‘powerful symbolic force’. She states, â€Å"The body†¦is a powerful symbolic force, a surface on which the central rules, hierarchies, and even metaphysical commitments of culture are inscribed and thus reinforced through the concrete language of the body† (Bordo 162). Bordo’s claim regarding the body’s existence as a powerful symbolic force and a mirror of culture is based on the assumption that the body is defined by the social constructs of society. Such a definition however occurs not merely by placing emphasis on the physical property of the body but also by placing emphasis on the mental property of the body. In â€Å"Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body†, Bordo argues that the body is defined in terms of a dualistic conception of reality which perceives the body as an entity which is â€Å"something apart from the true self†¦and as undermining the best efforts of that self† (5). The body is thereby depicted as an entity composed of a physical component and a mental component. The physical component adheres to the scientific conception of the body as â€Å"a purely mechanical, biologically programmed system that can be fully quantified and (in theory) controlled† (Bordo 4). The mental component of the body, on the other hand, adheres to the conception of the body which refers to the self or an individual’s identity. According to Bordo, Western philosophy has traditionally perceived the physical component of the body as that which must necessarily be controlled by the mental component of the body (Bordo 2). The problem with such a view however is evident if one considers that the conception of the mental component of the body is based upon the physical component of the body. In the case of women, for example, this is evident in the identification of the physical component of the female body with sexuality and the mental component of the female body with irrationality. Bordo argues that this distinction between the mind and the body has pervaded the social construction of both the male and female figure and as such its â€Å"continuing historical power and pervasiveness†¦ (enables) certain cultural images and ideolog(ies) to†¦ (make) not just men but also women†¦vulnerable† (Bordo 7-8). The continuation of a dualistic conception of reality leads to the vulnerability of both men and women as it enables the proliferation of certain social constructs which identifies the male and female body with particular identities. Dualism enables the perpetuation of these identities as it emphasizes the impossibility of enabling the union between both the physical and mental components of an individual. In â€Å"We the Other Victorians†, Michel Foucault argues that this adherence to dualism is a discursive strategy of certain social groups that enables them to take control of the body. He states, The central issue, then†¦ is not to determine whether one says yes or no†¦, whether one formulates prohibitions or permissions, whether one asserts its importance or denies its effect, or whether one refines the words one uses to designate†¦; but to account for the fact that it is spoken about, to discover who does the speaking, the position and viewpoints from which they speak, the institutions which prompt people to speak about it and which store and distribute the things that are said. What is at issue†¦is the overall â€Å"discursive fact†. (Foucault 11) David Gauntlett (2002) in his discussion of Michel Foucault’s work in his book Media, Gender, and Identity, emphasizes that this characterizes the earlier phase of Foucault’s thought wherein he places emphasis on how institutions create and proliferate certain images of groups in order to enable the control of these groups. He states, â€Å"the discourses of institutions, and their formally recognized ‘experts’ work to constrain certain groups (by) limiting their opportunities by promoting certain views about them† (Gauntlett 116). In line with the importance Foucault places on the predominant discourse in society in determining the mode of power on the subject, one might state that Foucault understands the emphasis on dualism as a manifestation of society’s desire to limit the positive power of the subject by leading him to believe that his physical properties or condition determine his identity and since society perceives individual X to possess a Y identity as opposed to a Z identity, it follows that is impossible for the individual to possess a Z identity [e. g. females ought to be feminine and males ought to be masculine and hence females cannot be masculine]. In the case of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, this is evident in the character of Alex mentioned above as Alex’s identity was determined by the conditions of the physical component of his body. As was mentioned in the initial part of the paper, Alex was able to experience four subject positions: Alex as a criminal, Alex as a convict, Alex as a patient, and Alex as a citizen. It is important to note that all these subject positions are determined by the actions on or upon the physical component of his body. For example, Alex’s subject position as a criminal was determined by his freedom from the constraints of the law which enabled him to commit violent actions towards others. On the other hand, Alex’s subject position as a convict and as a patient was determined by the level of control that the system possessed upon Alex’s body. Finally, Alex’s subject position as a citizen was determined by the effects of his position as a transformed body. It is important that this transition from one subject position to another mirrors Bordo emphasis on the social construction of the subject. This is apparent if one considers that Alex’s subject position was determined by the institution which has control over his body and hence the manipulation of this institution upon Alex’s physical body has led to the manipulation of the conception of Alex’s self or Alex’s identity. These changes enabled by Alex’s shift from one subject position to another is also in line with Foucault’s emphasis on the way in which discourse manifests the modes of power prevalent within society as well as the individual’s access to these modes of power. Consider for example that Alex’s transition to a citizen stands as a result of his transformation from being a subject acting with and upon others to a slave or object for others to act upon. By being submerged within the different discourses and hence different modes of power that delimit the individual’s positive freedom, Alex was turned into a body that was stripped of his initial identity that was not controlled by society and hence he has turned into a subject defined by society itself as he has been manipulated and molded in order to gain his final subject position as a citizen. Within this context, one might note that the body becomes a medium of culture as the body stands as the means through which culture controls the subject. By advocating associations between the physical and mental component of the body, society enables the control of the individual as it delineates the individual to one particular identity hence as can be seen above Alex cannot occupy the subject position of a convict and citizen at the same time. The problem with this is evident if one considers the intersectionality of identity which refers to the possibility in which an individual may have one or more characteristics of another group [e. g Alex’s subject position as a patient still enables him to occupy the subject position of a citizen]. To assume that an individual is delimited to one identity as a result of his physical properties amounts to a form of hasty generalization which fails to account for the complexity of the human being and his ability to occupy different positions within society. Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Eds. Susan Bordo and Leslie Heywood. California: U of California P. , 2004. Foucault, Michel. â€Å"We the Other Victorians. † The History of Sexuality. Volume One. New York: Penguin Books, 1988. Gauntlett, David. â€Å"Michel Foucault: Discourses and Lifestyles. † Media, Gender, and Identity: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2002. Kubrick, Stanley. A Clockwork Orange. Perf. Malcolm McDowell. Np, 1971.