The Creation of a Visual Universe
The biggest implication of adapting a literary work into a film is that the adapter has to turn those words into a perceptible reality. In my opinion, this can make or break an adaption because if those creative stylistic choices don't make sense or suit the words, then the adaption has been a failure. As Jane Barnette advocates, an adapter must adapt the text to best fit the medium and audience, and personally, I believe Kubrick did a stellar job of creating the futuristic, dystopian, and nameless world of A Clockwork Orange. Below are a few of the countless examples of just how he brought this bizarre source to life.
Unclassifiable Design
Without a doubt, the most memorable aspect of the visual design of this film is the costumes, makeup, and setting that are unplaceable in time and location. Seeming to potentially be slightly inspired by the late 1960s or early 70s aesthetic, the otherworldly, bright, eccentric, and over the top appearance of everything contributes to this universe's lack of geographic or timely whereabouts. There wasn't much mention in the novel of specific attire or decoration, so this was solely the brilliant work of the adapter. Below I've included a few screenshots to demonstrate poignant examples of such adaptive liberties.
These are the iconic stark white outfits of Alex and his droogs. In an all-white getup, codpiece, black top hat, and black boots, these boys' look is unlike anything from previous history or location. The white tricks viewers into a false sense of purity and innocence, while the sharp contrast of the accessories simultaneously provides a disturbing feel. In the novel, they're vaguely described as wearing all black, so this is a prime example of Kubrick adapting an element to better fit his goals of crafting an eerie world. Also, it's worth noting that this outfit has become a staple of pop culture even to this day as every Halloween you'll see hundreds of little droogs wandering the neighborhoods (including me in 2020)
Similar to the above, this pseudo-colonial suede jacket is unlike anything from recognizable culture. Additionally, here you can see how Alex wears a single set of eyelashes on his right eye throughout the movie, which draws more attention to the symbol of eyes as they're what later engender his downfall. Also, the image of men donning makeup was a shocking one at its time of release, so this furthered its distention from any perceivable reality. Finally, in the background, you can see the hyper-modern and extremely brightly colored setting of the music store. All of these elements were entirely crafted by Kubrick to visualize this dystopian existence.
Finally, this house is another example of the bizarre, colorful, and sleek modernity of the setting. I like to describe its aesthetic as "a hyperbolized 70s in space." It's the attention to detail present throughout the film that allow the viewers to truly be immersed fully in this fictional world.
The Emphasis on the Human Body
In the book, Alex shows an infatuation with the female human body. However, in this film, the entire society is extremely obsessed with anything sexualized, phallic, or relating to the human body. This expands that sex-driven characteristic of Alex to the entirety of society, which is a unique stylistic and symbolic choice of Kubrick to better reflect the liberated countercultural feel of the 1970s. Below are a few screenshot examples of such details that Kubrick added to better appeal to his counterculture audience that was embracing their own period of physical liberation.
Inside the Korova Milk bar are several nude female mannequins in seductive poses. Furthermore, the milk they drink is actually from a spout on their nipples.
The two women he encounters in the music store on sucking on phallic shaped lollipops.
Inside the Cat Woman's apartment are several abstracted paintings of the female body in various poses.
Also inside the Cat Woman's abode is this massive marble phallic sculpture that inevitably becomes her death weapon in Alex's hands.
Lighting Choices
Throughout the film, Kubrick made very distinct and bold lighting choices to contribute to the horror and uncanny feeling. Lighting can be such powerful cinematographic technique when employed appropriately, and Kubrick had to entirely craft the lighting of this universe since books, of course, don't include lighting. Below are two examples of the most impactful lighting techniques he chose: the backlit shot, and the third-degree lighting.
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Here are two examples of the backlit shot. On the left is when Alex is about to engage in the public demonstration of the success of his trials, and on the right is when the droogs searched for the homeless man to mug. Backlighting "helps create dimension and separation between the subject and the background" which forces the audience to really focus on the subject (Charlie). This in turn creates a melodramatic and immensely dark tone.
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Here are two examples of harsh, bright-edge third-degree lighting, where the lighting instrument is held at a diagonal angle from the subject. This creates an eerie, villainous look, which is perfect for these two establishing scenes of the droogs engaging in menacing behavior. It characterizes them appropriately as the violent and abominable delinquents they are.
Cinematography
In a filmed adaption, how the scenes are shot has such a huge effect on how the audience perceives the events. Because there are no words, the camera's documentation has to replace the action of reading a page, and the techniques used can seriously impact the perception of the event. Kubrick is a huge fan of long takes to allow the audience to remain engaged in the long, monotonous motion of the actions. This has a similar effect that the long, drawn-out sentences of the novel employ. Additionally, he includes a lot of disturbing close-ups, which display emotion at a heightened and personal level, mimicking the effect of first-person narration. Finally, although most of the film is shot using continuity editing, certain scenes deploy inventive disjunctive editing to shock and surprise viewers. Confusingly out-of-place scenes such as these have a similar effect that the Nadsat language has in alienating the viewer through confusion. Below I've included a few examples to display these techniques.
This opening scene does a perfect job establishing Alex as menacing and malicious by utilizing this extremely long close-up on his intense stare. Then, by slowly zooming out to introduce the other droogs, audiences get a slow and gradual introduction into this newfound world of violence and pessimism. Just as the novel utilizes words as exposition of this dystopian society, Kubrick does with this cinematographic technique.
This scene is the perfect example of a scene utilizing disjunctive and jarring editing, as opposed to the mostly continuous editing of the rest of the film. This unique style of storytelling is perfect for this scene because it demonstrates Alex's personal sentiments towards the Ninth Symphony through visually shocking and disquieting means. Kubrick could've chosen to just have the voiceover narration of Alex express his adoration, but artistically communicating this idea is a much more visually engaging technique for his audience.
TW: RAPE. Sorry to bring back this disturbingly infamous scene, but the cinematography is genius. It's one of the longest scenes in the film and the camera angle changes only once during the assault. This long, far-out, and static take creates a very realistic feeling, almost as if the audience is present in the room watching and unable to escape. This specific cinematographic choice crafts this scene to be even more exceptionally uncomfortable, distressing, and disgusting.
