Red Migraine Comparison
Violence, physical and psychological, is rife in modern art, be it cinematic or literary. Examining the intrinsic roots of nihilism is rarely done, however, in favor of leaving imagery to feed the desensitized audiences. Yet, it is something irrevocably valuable, as finding the motives of antiheroes can give us introspective power. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Michael Dickman’s Red Migraine share the themes of violence and pain with such jarring imagery, making an unlikely connection between pain and happiness and thus revealing the inherent driving force of nihilistic antiheroes. The themes director Stanley Kubrick presents in the 1971 cult classic A Clockwork Orange are, at first glance, distancing to an audience. The film garishly portrays violence and pain alongside an artistic, imagery-rich commentary on free will and the natural inclinations of humans. A gaudy, futuristic and dystopian Great Britain sets the stage for Alex – a nihilistic adolescent delinquent who leads one of London’s many secretive criminal gangs of “Droogs.” Their quest is to commit as many immoral acts for self-gratification as
…show more content…
Thus, an uncured Alex has become a cog in the totalitarian government, having merely adapted his inclinations into something useful to the government in exchange for protection to continue his lifestyle. He shifted from a free natural being to a systematized natural being – the titular clockwork orange, a mechanized organic entity – and his quest to reach happiness through his acts of violence without any obstruction remains. Hence, Alex’s quest proves to stay the same for the length of the film, corroborating the idea that humans can attempt to civilize themselves, but will always possess a natural inclination towards their animal
Thus, an uncured Alex has become a cog in the totalitarian government, having merely adapted his inclinations into something useful to the government in exchange for protection to continue his lifestyle. He shifted from a free natural being to a systematized natural being – the titular clockwork orange, a mechanized organic entity – and his quest to reach happiness through his acts of violence without any obstruction remains. Hence, Alex’s quest proves to stay the same for the length of the film, corroborating the idea that humans can attempt to civilize themselves, but will always possess a natural inclination towards their animal