Films directed by Stanley Kubrick

From researching into different films directed by Stanley Kubrick, I discovered his films were often of the dramatic genre, including crime and violence.   The typical main character within the plot of the film has a recurring gender of being male.  This could of possibly been done because of the suggestion of a male being the more dominant character within the situations that he used in his films.  For example, in “The Shining”, the main character Jack appears to be a content male, who is moving into a hotel with his wife and son.  As the film progresses, there is a clear change in Jacks state of mind, where he becomes what seems to be psychotic.    In “A Clockwork Orange, there is a similar change in the main male character, but a contrasting change where the suggesting of equilibrium of the film is in the middle, but by the very end it returns back to disequilibrium.  Alex, who is the main character in ACO,

Kubrick uses unlikely occurrences within his films, which challenge the expectations of the audience, to prove Levis-Strauss’ theory, on binary opposites, it is clear Kubrick incorporates these within his film in order to inflict shock upon the audience.  In ACO, which was released in 1971, Alex portrayed the youth of what was a ‘futuristic’ appearance of a gang member; this idea would be likely to shock audiences today. It is also a prime example of the binary opposites which keep the audience engaged in the film and particularly the genre typifying its certain conventions.  For example, Kubricks films have a distinctive thriller/horror genre.  By challenging the expectations of the audience, it creates a misleading effect within the film and therefore relieving effect at the end of the film.  The audience recognise the twist at some point, and the revilement of the suspicious characters is pleasurable to watch from the audience. 

In his films, I noticed the particular audio use.  It was more unusual in ACO, by using classical music juxtaposed with horrid scenes of abuse and obstructions from the main character Alex, which we then associated him with this peaceful music throughout, despite the fact that the ‘droogs’ are abusing their victims to this type of music.  The audio has a relation in the film when Alex is raping the wife and kicking the male to ‘singing in the rain’. It allows to audience to associate this song later in the film, when the male recognises him from this song.  As well as this, it gives the audience a visual experience to relate back to.

Within both films, the characters appear to be deceiving in the introduction.  In the shining, Jack is portrayed as an innocent husband with a son, who is merely looking after a hotel; appears to be harmless to the audience.  The particular twist on the story results on him becoming the villain, and not so much viewed as the hero although his intentions were definitely initially for his families’ well-being, to make money over the winter.   In ACO, the same use of a distinctive deceiving character defines how the audience adjust their views of the characters in the film.  We are introduced to Alex as the villain of the film, although he is the main character, he is the main cause of hurt.  The roles then switch to him becoming the victim of scientific experiments, which leaves him weak and incapable of committing any sexual or physical abuse or crime, without it physically inflicting the way he feels, described as ‘death’.   Although the audience do not interpret this as being what seem to be just the effects of the medication he was given, it is clear at the end his state of mind returns to how it was, despite what he has been through and the temptations failure to proceed in any crime.

Levis-Straus’ theory is a prime example of the binary opposites which keep the audience engaged in the film and particularly the genre typifying its certain conventions.  For example, Kubricks films have a distinctive thriller/horror genre.  By challenging the expectations of the audience, it creates a misleading effect within the film and therefore relieving effect at the end of the film.  The audience recognise the twist at some point, and the revilement of the suspicious characters is pleasurable to watch from the audience.