Clockwork_Orange

Clockwork Orange The question of morality and ethics may be seen as a central concern of post-war thinking about culture and society. Explore this view in relation to a film/novel combination. When exploring this view in relation to the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and the film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick it is apparent that morality and ethics are certainly a central concern of post-war thinking about culture and society. Within both we are given a moral tale, primarily that people should be able to choose whether to be good or bad. The question of the ethics of the treatment Alex undergoes is a central issue relating to culture and society as well as the seemingly social prophecy behind it all. There is tension in the text between Augustinianism and Pelagianism beliefs. Burgess discusses this in the introduction of the new American version of the book. He states ‘It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.’ (1) Burgess is showing here his belief in the ‘Original Sin’ alex, orange, clockwork, burgess, violence, society, moral, film, novel, good, culture, choice, book, way, pg, penguin, london, chaplin, books, 1962, treatment, question, about, reader, post-war, life, kubrick, evil, chapter, challenge, viewer, view, through, new, man