The Importance and Danger of Violence in the Movies

by Brian Kesler

I've had something on my mind a lot lately: Violence; particularly as it is portrayed in the movies. It is something that both draws and deflects audiences from a film, and it's a subject I have some very strong feelings about, and I want to share them with you.

One of my all-time favorite films is, and forever will be, 'A Clockwork Orange.' Stanley Kubrick's mind-bending science-fiction/horror film is daring, well made, and provokes thought from its audience. It was also banned in the United Kingdom upon its release in the early seventies. It was banned because it inspired thoughts and feelings from those who watched it which made them uncomfortable and nervous. With most every person I've ever sat down with and showed the movie, the reactions have been: walking out and leaving me to watch the film by myself; sitting through the film, but outwardly showing disgust and outrage; sitting through the film with an eery, congealing tension and silence; telling me I must be sick and twisted to like such a movie.

A movie that came out fairly recently, is rated PG-13, with general applause and admiration is called 'Taken.' The movie was a box-office smash that people called, "fun," "enjoyable," "awesome," "touching," and "entertaining."

The movie 'Taken' is about a man who travels to Europe to save his daughter, who has been sold into the Muslim sex trade, at any costs. It is an action/thriller, with plenty of guns and torture devices. A scene in which the protagonist brutally tortures a man for information is sending a political message that it's okay to torture for the better good. The ends justify the means. Other than that scene, there is no underlying message to the violence the plays through the rest of the picture. The protagonist mindlessly shoots and kills anyone who gets in his way, even if it means killing a man in front of his wife. Car chases ensue, buildings explode, and those damn Muslims get what's coming to them as the audience watches and enjoys people being shot one after another.

There is no blood in 'Taken.' Therefore, the violence is only for entertainment value and, therefore, PG-13.

While there is no blood in 'A Clockwork Orange,' either - at least not explicitly - it originally received an 'X' rating. Since Stanley Kubrick's death, the film has been made available on DVD and the rating has been dropped to 'R.' But it doesn't change people's perception of it as a vile movie.

Let's review real quick: So far, the general consensus is that violence that entertains is good and violence that disturbs is bad.

Yes, 'A Clockwork Orange,' is disturbing. It is disturbing because Kubrick is deliberately manipulating the photography, music, editing, performances, colors, and sound to create a sense of dementia and vileness to the acts being committed. In the film's most famous sequence, the villainous Alex (played by Malcolm McDowell) beats an old couple in their home while dancing and singing Gene Kelly's 'Singin' in the Rain.' He kicks the old man on the off-beat, laughs as he stuffs golf balls in the mouths of the innocent victims, knocks down bookshelves, and proceeds to cutting off the woman's clothes with scissors and raping her in front of her husband.

Let's dissect this scene. The majority of the shots when Alex kicks and beats the couple are wide shots with back-lighting, making the physical violence mostly non-apparent. Kubrick cuts in close-ups of the couple's terror-stricken faces in between these wide shots. He uses a wide angle lens on these close-ups, which distorts the picture and gives a sense of madness and tension. As Alex continues to sing, he runs into the living room, knocks down bookshelves, which fall directly toward the camera, and dances on a desk. Most of the scene involves that. He goes back to the woman, cuts off her dress and we see another wide-angle close-up of the man and one of the woman before the scene finishes.

So, keeping with 'Taken,' this sequence doesn't show blood, only shows physical violence from a distance, and cuts before we actually see any sort of rape. Rape is simply eluded to - 'Taken' also eludes to rape, by the way. So, what is it that makes people enjoy 'Taken,' but be disgusted with 'A Clockwork Orange?"  'A Clockwork Orange' actually thinks that violence is something disturbing and not a game.

There's also the issue of context. As I said earlier, the torture sequence in 'Taken' is a political statement, but that is the only sense of thinking the film asks of its audience. It sees violence as a way to entertain. A few dozen men killed is okay as long as it's fun. 'A Clockwork Orange' actually has something to say about the nature of violence and society's inconsistencies in that area. It is important that we feel disturbed by Alex committing violence against the couple, against a homeless man, against his own friends, and against an old cat lady, because each one of those people get their revenge on him later in the film. And what's most intriguing is that, instead of being glad that Alex is getting what he deserves, we feel the same sort of disgust and distaste in regards to the violence being committed against him. Again, Kubrick accomplishes this by manipulating his devices. By making these sequences just as disturbing as the earlier ones, Kubrick asks the audience to evaluate their views on vengeance. Does Alex really deserve this? Are these once victims better off by torturing and turning the tables on him? People don't like the strain of actively thinking and pondering.

But, that's not all. The overlying theme of Kubrick's film is about agency and humanity. When Alex is imprisoned, the government decides to rid the evil from him once and for all. They put him in a straightjacket, strap him down and pry his eyes open with metal clamps. They put all sorts of wires and gadgets on his head and force him to watch violent and sexual films. Eventually, Alex starts feeling nauseous when watching the films, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't close his eyes. When Alex is "cured," he is released into society again. His victims get their revenge on him, and because of his new condition, he vomits and burps as they water-board him, beat him to the ground, and compel him to jump to his death. Something unexpected, however, also happened to Alex in his shock therapy sessions. The underscore to the movies he was forced to watch happened to be Alex's favorite composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven. The therapy not only makes him sick when he sees or thinks violent or sexual acts, but also when he hears his favorite piece of music: The Fifth Symphony. It is a symbolic plot device to show that Alex has lost his humanity. He is like an orange with a clockwork within it. An orange is supposed to be juicy and sweet. Sometimes, they are sour and rotten. But that's the price we pay. We are all free agents and none of us should be forced to be something we are not. This theme is a compliment, by the way, to the Mormon faith, which proclaims that Satan would prefer we be forced to be decent people, but Jesus suggested we should have free agency.

So, this movie, 'A Clockwork Orange,' which kills off less people than 'Taken,' has the same blood content, shows violence to be a disturbing and vile act rather than an entertaining one, and actually uses violence to make the audience think about the nature of revenge and agency, is controversial, vile, and disgusting and 'Taken,' which never shows the consequences of violence, is "inspirational."

This is backwards thinking, and I can't begin to comprehend it.