h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Do NOT get me started! Oops, too late.

Firstly I would like to say that I love the Stanley Kubrick movie "A Clockwork Orange". Secondly I would like to say, "Kubrick, you imbecile!! What have you done to this wonderful, wonderful book?!" You see, I wrote a dissertation on the book of ACO and learnt an awful lot about it. This also made me feel very passionate about how much it had been screwed around with since Anthony Burgess' original version hit the shelves of bookshops.

ACO is a very delicately constructed book, essentially a rite of passage novella where the main protagonist (Alex) matures beyond naievety and puts the errors of his past behind him. There are many devices used to show this. The book consists of three parts of seven chapters each; the seven chapters might signify Shakespeare's seven ages of man, the three parts, the three years the book is set over and, obviously 3x7=21, 21 being the traditional coming of age. However, when the book was published in the USA, it was abridged. The last chapter was removed, not only destroying this complex structure but also removing the moment where Alex actually renounces his amoral past. Typically, Kubrick claimed not to have been aware of this final chapter because of its omission from the American version. However, as a Brit living in Britain, this is slightly hard to believe. Perhaps he preferred the bleaker ending an evil Alex promised. Therefore, one of the main moral issues of the book (given the right to choose, all men can right their ways) is completely missing from the film.

Also, the setting of the story in time and place is carefully hidden in the book. The fictional language (nadsat) in the book is a mix of Russian, Malay, Latin, childish slang and many others so as to make it hard to place. Also, setting in time is carefully masked, one of the only clues being the presence of the likes of Beethoven's classical music.

However, Kubrick has given the characters a cockney accent in the film and (if I remember correctly) there is a clear shot of the skyline of London at one point. As for time, Kubrick uses the song "Singin' In The Rain" at several points in the movie, giving the story a much more recent clue as to when it is set. Burgess' attitude to this is clear. In his 1987 stage adaptation of ACO, there is a stage direction at the end of act 2:

'A man bearded like Stanley Kubrick comes on playing, in exquisite counterpoint, Singin' in the Rain on a trumpet. He is kicked off the stage.'

I'm sorry, I've been ranting haven't I? To be honest, I could go on, but I won't. Whether all this stuff actually makes the film worse than the book, I don't know. Although it doesn't sound like it, I love them both. I imagine most people will have got bored at my insane drivel and stopped reading by now. But I don't care!! Every time I rant about this I always feel a whole lot better.And quite frankly, I don't care WHAT that says about my temperament.

Now. Where's my beer?

Ali

"I imagine most people will have got bored at my insane drive !"

Your not "insane" at all.
You're passionate.

Keep going !

"I imagine most people will have got bored at my insane drive !"

You're not "insane" at all.
You're passionate.

Keep going !

as you can see, I have got insane !! ,

posting it twice..........