Frequency
08-26-2004, 12:20 AM
Synopsis taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange (spoilers)
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Set a few years in the future, it follows the career of fifteen year old Alex. His main pleasures in life are classical music, sex --- both consensual and otherwise --- and random acts of violence ("ultraviolence" in Alex's idiom). He tells his story in a teenage slang called "Nadsat", which uses a Russian vocabulary mixed with English slang.
Eventually Alex is caught and "rehabilitated" by a programme of aversion therapy, which, though rendering him incapable of violence (even in self-defence), also makes him unable to enjoy his favourite classical music as an unintended side effect.
The moral question of the book is that Alex is now "good", but his ability to choose this has been taken away from him; his "goodness" is as artificial as the clockwork orange of the title.
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ACO is one of my all time favorite reads. It's unlike anything I've read before, and it almost seems brand new every time I pick it up. The first time I read it was around 6th or 7th grade, the Nadsat made it VERY difficult for me to understand it, and on occasion I had to stop and ask my sister what the hell was going on. Eventually as I grew older and matured, and, with our new bounty of a PC and internet access, I was able to fully understand the story and its unique language structure.
In 1971 director Stanely Kubrick translated the pages of ACO onto the big screen. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/) This is where most of the popularity and cult status came from. An extremely violent movie for its time, though in retrospect isn't nearly as bad as some television shows are today. It's lost some edge due to the changing times, but is still a fantastic film and well worth a viewing.
If you're interested in reading/watching ACO, it shouldn't be very hard to find. Most book stores carry the book, and most home entertainment stores carry the film. And, just in case I've got you interested, here's a link to the Nadsat glossary. (http://www.clockworkorange.com/nadsat.shtml) It'll make the read less aggrivating. :)
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Set a few years in the future, it follows the career of fifteen year old Alex. His main pleasures in life are classical music, sex --- both consensual and otherwise --- and random acts of violence ("ultraviolence" in Alex's idiom). He tells his story in a teenage slang called "Nadsat", which uses a Russian vocabulary mixed with English slang.
Eventually Alex is caught and "rehabilitated" by a programme of aversion therapy, which, though rendering him incapable of violence (even in self-defence), also makes him unable to enjoy his favourite classical music as an unintended side effect.
The moral question of the book is that Alex is now "good", but his ability to choose this has been taken away from him; his "goodness" is as artificial as the clockwork orange of the title.
---
ACO is one of my all time favorite reads. It's unlike anything I've read before, and it almost seems brand new every time I pick it up. The first time I read it was around 6th or 7th grade, the Nadsat made it VERY difficult for me to understand it, and on occasion I had to stop and ask my sister what the hell was going on. Eventually as I grew older and matured, and, with our new bounty of a PC and internet access, I was able to fully understand the story and its unique language structure.
In 1971 director Stanely Kubrick translated the pages of ACO onto the big screen. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/) This is where most of the popularity and cult status came from. An extremely violent movie for its time, though in retrospect isn't nearly as bad as some television shows are today. It's lost some edge due to the changing times, but is still a fantastic film and well worth a viewing.
If you're interested in reading/watching ACO, it shouldn't be very hard to find. Most book stores carry the book, and most home entertainment stores carry the film. And, just in case I've got you interested, here's a link to the Nadsat glossary. (http://www.clockworkorange.com/nadsat.shtml) It'll make the read less aggrivating. :)