ALEX (MALCOLM MCDOWELL)
FROM "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE"
This is a very controversy Villain in both literature and film. He's a teenager who loves nothing but violence and sex! He's sort of like us when we play violent video games that involves nothing but killing people, stealing, and blowing things up. The only difference between us and him is, we know that it's all fake and were not really killing anyone. Alex on the other hand doesn't care if he's taking someones life, causing destruction, and forcefully taking away some innocent girls virginity, that's his heaven. What else does he do? Lets take a look.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS
Alex believe it or not is the person we're stuck with throughout the whole film and we oddly have to identify with him as well. What's his background? He's a teenage boy who's very intelligent and listens to classical music, while living in Britain. However, he uses all of his intelligence for evil instead of good. He's the head of a gang called "The Droogs" and all four of them have the goal to spread chaos. They all wear bowler hats, white shirts, cuff links and suspenders decorated with a gory eyeball and wear cod pieces to show their love for sex and rape.Their hang out is at a Milk Bar decorated with the art of naked girls.They sit around and intoxicate themselves with a drug drink called "Milk Plus".
I'm telling you Alex is maniac when it comes to causing violence and chaos. He and his gang first brutally beat up an innocent homeless drunk; cause brawls with other local gangs because they love to get into violent fights; and steal a car and drive so crazy that Alex nor does his gang care if they run over locals or destroy a piece of property. Alex even violently beats up his own gang to not only keep them in line but also for the fun and joy of it. That's a crazy a villain. Whenever he has down time or misses a day of school by calling in sick, he either invites girls to his house to make love to them or just sit around in his room filled with nothing but the art of nude girls, takes out his pet snake (Which the actor is afraid of) and listen to Beethoven which makes him think of nothing but violent images or plans for his next crime. Just by looking at his sinister smile, you can tell he loves being evil.
The most controversial scene with Alex and his gang is they brake into a married couple’s house, destroy the place, cripple the husband, and the teenage boy Alex tears the clothes off an older woman and rapes her while singing the song "Singin' In The Rain". That scene is so hard to watch that no one could ever listen to that Gene Kelly song again without picturing this scene. In fact, when the actor met Gene Kelly and offered to shake his hand, Gene Kelly turned away in disgust. There are also some crazy people out there who only listen to the song because they're in love with that scene and god only knows what they're thinking. Alex finally gets caught as he brakes into a cat ladies house filled with cats and sex related art and murders her with a statue of a penis. Wow, what a way to go! As he tries to flee from the scene of the crime, his "Droogs" knock him out and leave him there so the cops can get him.
Alex then goes to a prison (Which acts more like a dictated training camp then a prison) and is sentenced to be there for 14 years. Alex spends most of his time with the priest and helps him with the prison's Church. He also listens to religious stories, however, the only part he likes to hear in those stories are the naked girls, the holy wars, and Jesus being crucified on the cross. On top of it all, just like as he listens to Beethoven, he pictures himself taking part in the Holy wars, having sex with the naked girls from those times, and even taking part of the soldiers whipping Jesus as he is walking to the cross (And probably thinking of nailing him and killing him as well), what a messed up kid! The Interior Minister comes to camp looking for test subjects in a program to stop people from loving violence; Alex volunteers knowing that it will cut his sentence short and the Minister accepts his offer. Alex is then put in a straitjacket with a device to keep his eyes from closing and forced to watch violence on the big screen. At first he likes it but once they show him clips from "The Holocaust" (While playing Beethoven music) he cracks up and realizes how terrible violence is.
Alex is now free of violence and whenever he tries to do
something violent, look at a naked woman or hear Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, he
gets ill and is unable to either fight back or close the deal. When he gets
home, his parents sold his stuff and rented his room to a man who acts more
like their son. Alex with nowhere to go gets beat up by homeless people
(Including the homeless drunk he beat up earlier); two of his gang members are
now cops and nearly drown him while beating him; and just when he finds a safe
place, the man who lives there finds out that Alex has did something horrible
to him in the past and drugs Alex, locks him in a room while playing Beethoven
Ninth Symphony on full blast which causes Alex to commit suicide. When you
see him in those scenes, instead of feeling happy for seeing him get what
he deserves, you can't help but feel bad for him. You just can't put
you're finger on why you feel bad for a guy who used to love violence
and did horrible and crazy things earlier in the film.
Alex lives and is treated with good care in the hospital, which the hospital is also helping him go back to his old nasty self. After all the controversy the governments been getting due to what happened to Alex. The Interior Minister apologies to Alex and gives him a position in Government. The Minister then has the press running in while also bringing a stereo playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Instead of getting sick, Alex pictures himself having sex with a girl in front of a crowd full of applauding people and the last thing we hear from Alex (In his sinister voice) is "I was cured Alright". Now that Alex is back to normal and now has a position in Government, there's no telling what evil he could do next.
Alex does all these crazy things with no remorse or regret which shocks us but once we get to the middle of the film, we feel bad for him. He just plays with your head and will have you analyze him to death whether you like him or hate him.
"What we were after now was the old surprise visit. That was a real kick and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolent."
-Alex Delarge
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