A Clockwork Orange:
Movie Critique
One of the most controversial films of the early 1970’s, or even of all time, was a film that took the aspects of Aversion Therapy and Classical Conditioning to an all new level. A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick (1971), based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, illustrates what happens when different types of psychological therapy are used to treat violent behavior. The main character in this movie, Alex, along with his three friends, lives his life looting, raping, and brutally beating many different vulnerable people who stand no chance in defending themselves. Later on in the film Alex gets arrested and put in prison. From there he volunteers to take part in a few experiments that will help condition him to turn from his violent ways. One experiment that is performed on Alex is an example of Aversion Therapy. Aversion Therapy is when a noxious or painful stimulation is applied while the patient behaves in the undesirable manner or is exposed and responding to stimulation associated with the symptom, and is discontinued when the behavior ceases or the relevant stimuli are removed (Jones, 1964). In this movie Aversion Therapy was portrayed when psychologists gave Alex a shot of experimental serum while forcing him to watch violent and disturbing images of things that he was involved in before he got arrested. The serum made Alex very sick while watching these images which later impacted the way he chose to live his life after he was cured. This is an example of Aversion Therapy. Whenever Alex was faced with a situation that involved violence he became sick which stopped him from being violent. Now although Aversion Therapy seemed to be
A Clockwork Orange 3 successful at this point in the movie, it soon drove Alex crazy once he was set free and almost lead to his suicide. Alex was faced with many instances where because of his Aversion Therapy he became sick at even the