When A Clockwork Orange landed on British screens in 1971 to a fanfare of pearl-clutching public rage, director Stanley Kubrick knew that he had done the novel justice. The dystopian tale of a delinquent teenager and his codpiece-wearing band of thugs was so verbally and visually iconic, that it’s unsurprising its legacy has endured. Fifty years on from its initial release, we’re here to take you through an A–Z of the film’s themes, jargon and legacy.
A is for Appy Polly Loggies
The florid ‘nadsat’ way of saying you’re sorry. It’s one of the more childlike words, along with Alex’s favourite breakfast: “eggiwegs”
B is for Beethoven
Our protagonist’s favourite composer, whom he fondly refers to as “lovely lovely Ludwig Van.” Of his Ninth Symphony, Alex remarks: “Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh!”
C is for Censorship
Although the film passed the BBFC censors with an X rating, the Cinematograph Acts of 1909 and 1952 meant that local councils could ban “inflammatory films” at their own discretion. Many councils took this route, including Ashford, Hastings, Dorking and Blackpool.
D is for Droogs
‘Droogs’ is Alex’s word for his gang of friends: Pete, Dim and Georgie. They run rampant together, committing crimes including theft, rape and murder.
E is for Eyelash
Eyelashes are just one part of the puzzling get-up, which also includes a bowler hat and white cricket codpiece. It’s the eyelashes, though, that make Alex’s ‘Kubrick Stare’ all the more unnerving.
F is for Free Will
Alex’s free will is stripped away when he is subject to extreme therapies in prison, thus resulting in all his actions being more like that of a ‘clockwork orange’ than a human with agency.
G is for Gulliver
The nadsat word for head, from the Russian ‘golova’. “I had something of a pain in the gulliver so had to sleep.”
H is for Horrorshow
One of Alex’s favourite words to describe something that is exceptionally impressive or enjoyable. “The Durango ‘95 purred away a real horrowshow—a nice, warm vibraty feeling all through your guttiwuts.”
I is for Immorality
Alex is a particularly complex character, possessing a mix of immoral behaviour and charismatic allure. The characters in this dystopia struggle to locate where the moral compass exists: in the body or the mind, and thus how far we should go to control immoral impulses.
J is for Juvenile Delinquency
The film is intended to show what juvenile delinquency could look like in a dystopia. However, many argued that the film encouraged youths in real life, with copycat crimes appearing the year after the film’s release.
K is for Kubrick
The director moved to the UK in 1961 and remained here until his death in 1999, mainly due to his fear of flying. He is known for being a demanding, exacting perfectionist, opting for multiple takes and extremely long shoots.
L is for the Ludovico Technique
The Ludovico Technique is the torturous aversion therapy Alex endures in prison. Eyes clamped open, he is forced to watch violent videos paired with sickness-inducing medication. In the film, the government approves this therapy for use on violent and disturbed criminals.
M is for Moloko-plus
This is Alex’s drink of choice: the Russian word for ‘milk’ in the film is a dairy beverage laced with barbiturates, which he would drink at the Korova Milk Bar. “This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra violence.”
N is for Nadsat
The fictional argot created by novelist Anthony Burgess. It acts as an urban slang for juvenile delinquents in the book and film. It uses a mixture of anglicised Russian words, Cockney rhyming slang and words of Burgess’ own invention.
O is for Otchkies
The nadsat word for eyeglasses.
P is for Phallic
In one of the more memorable scenes, Alex breaks into the house of a cat-loving woman in the middle of a yoga session and attacks her with a giant ceramic structure shaped like a phallus.
Q is for QC
A British QC named Roger Gray was tasked with proving, in court, how the film had inspired a 16-year-old boy to beat a homeless man to death. He concluded that “the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond any reasonable doubt.”
R is for Reviews
Contemporary reviews were split. The New York Times said A Clockwork Orange was “so beautiful to look at and to hear that it dazzles the senses and the mind.” Roger Ebert was less impressed, dismissing it as “an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning.”
S is for ‘Singin’ In The Rain’
This jolly song was never the same after our violent protagonist sang it during one of the most abhorrent sexual assault scenes in cinema. The song choice was entirely Malcolm McDowell’s idea—urban legend has it that Gene Kelly was so furious about the song’s association with A Clockwork Orange, he snubbed him at a party years later.
T is for Totalitarianism
The film explores a fear of the government having complete control, administering will-sapping behaviour modification techniques at their own discretion. “Before we know where we are,” one character says fearfully, “we shall have the full apparatus of totalitarianism!”
U is for Ultra-violence
Essentially, very violent violence: Alex’s favourite activity. He particularly enjoys home invasions, which he calls “a real kick and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolence.”
V is for Viddy
A nadsat term that loosely translates to ‘see’ or ‘understand’. As Alex is strapped to a chair with his eyelids clamped open, forced to watch clips of rape and assault, he remarks: “It’s funny how the colours of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.”
W is for Wide Angle Lens
Kubrick played upon the film’s queasy, dystopian unreality by using a wide angle lens, offering the viewer more than what they’re meant to see. The liberal use of this lens added to the film’s dreamlike aesthetic.
X is for Mr AleXander
Confined to a wheelchair and grieving his wife, Mr Alexander is the physical consequence of the droogs’ delinquency. His desire to use Alex as a pawn to wage war against the government, though, is seen by some as a critique of the liberal ideology of improving mankind at the expense of the individual.
Y is for Yarbles
The nadsat word for nerve and courage. Alex taunts his rival, Billy Boy, with the epithet, jeering: “How are thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou!”
Z is for Zasnoot
The nadsat word for ‘sleep’. As in: “I ought to be the one to zasnoot on the floor and not him.”
Words by Steph Green
This article on A Clockwork Orange was published as part of The Indiependent‘s May 2021 magazine edition.
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