Why does Kubrick think the extremely violent behavior of Alex is essential
to our perception of that dilemma?
Why did Plato believe artists, and art, should be banned from the ideal
Republic? Find contemporary examples of that claim. (Lecture)
Why did Aristotle believe art had a salutary effect on the audience? Why
was that an important claim to Kubrick? (Lecture)
How does the film encourage us to respond as Aristotle would have hoped,
and not Plato?
Consider the differences between punishment and a "cure."
Why doesn't punishment work in the world of the film?
Why does the cure work? Why is the prison chaplain so resistant to
Alex's being "cured"?
According to Burgess, what is the significance of the State accidentally
conditioning Alex to be repulsed by Beethoven's music?
According to Burgess, why is the last chapter of the novel so important?
Why does Kubrick think that last chapter is inconsistent with the rest of
the story?
How many different "kinds" of women are depicted in the film?
In what ways do those depictions exaggerate particular images, manners, and
styles we associate with those roles and reduce the character entirely to
that image/type? Answer those same questions for the men depicted in
the film.
How does the film encourage us to identify with Alex? What works against
that identification? How is that ambivalence related to the ethical
dilemma of the film? To Kubrick's Aristotelian objective?