Film and Literature Comparison - Essay Example

Individuals have very limited choices in the present-day society. As products of the society, their mind is conditioned by the values and trends established by the society, and it is these ideals that can be held responsible on many occasions for an individual's downfall. In this paper, I attempt to depict this contaminating influence of the society through a comparison between two texts: one, the movie A Clockwork Orange (1971) and the other a literary text, a piece of non-fiction prose by Brent Staples' "A Brother's Murder" (1986). Brent Staples' "A Brother's Murder" first appeared in an edition of New York Time Magazine in 1986 in a column for personal essays called "About Men". Brent writes articles and editorials for the New York Times even at present and even now he deals with life in the streets. However, he is yet to find a solution to the questions he had raised and the other problems he had discussed in "A Brother's Murder".The various themes of the essay include diversity, multiculturalism, family, community, politics, but above all, it focuses on the individual-society interplay. The sense of place is a significant theme of the essay. We can locate more than one definition of place in this essay. We are informed in the fourth paragraph that Brent's brother, Blake, loved the very street which Brent shunned. Brent never found himself at home in the environment in which they grew up. It was Chester, Pa., a threatening, poverty-stricken, industrial slum southwest of Philadelphia. Therefore, he left his hometown after college to join graduate school and became a journalist later on where as Blake rejected a decent life and gave in to the violent life in the street. Blake was only 22 years old when he was murdered. Wearing a mask, the murderer fired six times at Blake and then fled in a car. The man who killed him was young too. He was only 24. Perhaps no one would believe that these two used to be closest of friends. What is most shocking is the reason for the murder. In fact, it was one of the most unreasonable killings. The reason was as trivial as an argument over a girlfriend. One would like to know how a friend can so unnaturally kill another over such a trifling matter! This behavioural disorder is the gift of the society in which these two were brought up. In A Clockwork Orange (1971), society is portrayed as self preserver. In its attempt to preserve the self it can go to any extent. The movie leaves us two choices: either we bow down to the unrestricted agency of the state to protect ourselves and prevent crimes even at the cost of individual liberty or we lead a life of liberty and tolerance at the risk of being victims of the same values. Both are obviously undesirable. Which one is worse Being a rebel Or being a conformist This Stanley Kubrick movie showcases how the world can be a terrible place to live in. It shows how a wicked young man, who inflicts torture on people, doesn't receive any penalty for his deeds. The movie inexplicably justifies the villain in the sense that it makes the audience laugh at him not curse him for the extreme violence shown by him. It's a unique satire on society and public. Alex De Large is the protagonist of this movie set in 1995 England. Alex is the leader of a small gang and he refers to the other members of this gang as his "droogs" (meaning "friend" or "buddy" in Russia). A lover of classical music, Alex particularly admires Beethoven. He, along with his "droogs", invades a home, beating a writer called Mr. Alexander and raping his wife while singing and dancing to "Singing in the Rain". When he learns that his droogs are dissatisfied with his leadership, he demonstrates his leadership by kicking two of them into a decorative urban pool as they walk along and slashing the back of a hand of another. His droogs become revengeful and get him caught during a burglary. When he breaks into the house and uses a phallic sculpture to beat and unintentionally kill the lady, one of his droogs hit him in the head. At the police station, he discovers that his victim has died, thus making him a murderer. He receives 14 years of imprisonment. After serving two years, he is told that if he submits to the "Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government to solve societal crime, then he is offered a chance at parole. The technique involves exposing the criminal to extreme depictions of violence on screen under the influence of nauseating drug. Alex's head is held fast, his eyes held open by small specula, and he is unable to look away from the screen. Consequently, he is incapable of tolerating more violence even when it comes to his self-defense. After the successful completion of the test therapy, Alex is released. However, he returns home to find that his parents have accepted someone else as their son; while wandering in the streets of London he is attacked by his droogs; the writer whose wife was raped by Alex, chances upon him and tries to madden him. Devastated, he jumps from the window to commit suicide, but survives. The Minister of the Interior, who had selected Alex for the therapy, visits Alex and offers him a job if he agrees to campaign for his party whose public image is shattered due to Alex's suicide attempt. Alex declines the offer. He is lost in reverie when the movie ends. Thus, he is into a life of involuntary goodness which is no better than his previous life. Thus, the evil of the society is definitely at the root of the tragic suffering of people like Blake and mushrooming of characters like Alex. The two texts in question exhibit how in their attempts to gain their rightful position in their family and society, individuals struggle and lose the battle. However, we cannot make society the sole villain. Even though these characters are victims of the society, they also at some point of time have victimized it. Life offers everyone at some point or the other, the choice between fulfillment of individual desires and the straight path. At that point, the individual should maintain his stability and integrity by rejecting the first option. Man becomes his own enemy when he allows his conscience to die. However, the other side of the story is that society sometimes is responsible for the ruin of the good, the simple and the innocent as well. No matter how right one is, it is indeed not safe to live in a society like the contemporary one which is selfish, spoiling and ruining. Yet one has to go on keeping one's finger crossed and praying that he/she is not the next victim. 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