Print

Print


One of the most notorious cases in this regard has to be Alex DaLarge in "A
Clockwork Orange" (1971).  In fact, there isn't even an agreement as to
whether one is actually enjoined to regard this monstrous personality as
sympathetic or even truly deviant, for that matter.  Many people dislike
this film intensely for just this reason, it seems to me.  I find it to be
one of its most salient strengths.  The problem, I think, is that the case
is one that elicits a high degree of ambivalence.  We (might) sympathize
with Alex's "mishandling" at the hands of scientists of questionable
legitimacy because his overall guilt or innocence is, arguably, not a
relevant factor in deciding whether such manipulation is justifiable, an
argument which, of course, obviates the traditional Judeo-Christian attitude
about the legitimate consequences of punishable behavior.  As a result,
Alex, despite his highly disagreeable qualities, becomes an Everyman that in
some sense transcends the traditional conceptions of good and evil that
might be taken to undergird the film's conceptual thrust.

David Westling