Another authority figure, the chief guard, yells and berates the prisoners and cares only for adherence to proper procedure, emphasizing that authority as well as youth in this film are not to be trusted.Įven the anti-government revolutionaries in the film are not entirely wholesome “good guys”. Deltoid (Aubrey Morris), may seem initially like a “good guy” by warning Alex about the path his crimes will lead to, but he ruins that image by gleefully spitting in young Alex’s face after he learns that he is to be sent to prison (plus there’s also this rather disturbing visit: ). He is more concerned with preventing scandals from hindering his political ambitions. So what of the authority figures in the film? Are they the “good guys” or are they as depraved as Alex and his band of drooges? The Minister of the Interior (Anthony Sharp) is the biggest and most powerful authority figure presented in the proceedings and his methods of preventing crime are akin to torture. Proclaiming that he is sufficiently cured while visions of ultraviolence and sex swirl in his mind reflect his lack of inherent goodness. The scene of his interpretation of a gruesome biblical passage is a prime example of the dual sides of Alex DeLarge. His pretense, rather than geniune attempt to change and impress the prison Chaplin (Godfrey Quigley) in order to secure an early release fortells his decline to anti-hero. When Alex is sent to prison for his crimes, he consciously decides to take the path least chosen by leading men. They live to serve their carnal pleasures and this takes Alex far off the path of the heroic leading man. Alex and his drooges are unrestrained by morals and society they act impulsively without any regard for the consquences or the effects. Youth - like the manifested behaviors of Alex and his lackeys - is represented only as a violent expression without any restraints. His companions, or “droogs” as he calls them, have no problem with the acts themselves, they just want a little more democracy in the ultra-violence activity planning. As the story unfolds, Alex doesn’t exhibit the characteristics of a typical heroic leading man, but rather he delves straight into the role of the anti-hero as he partakes in acts of “ultra-violence”, including commitings acts of murder and rape for his mere amusement. Alex may be the leading character in the film, yet he lacks the conventional cinematic and literary “good guy” traits such as pureness in spirit and intention to do right by others. Rather, what they get is Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), a charming but twisted anti-hero. But in A Clockwork Orange(1971), audiences do not get handed the protoypical “heroic” protagonist. Viewers latch on to the protagonist because they are often presented as the “hero” of the story a charismatic presence for which one feels compelled to root. Audiences typically choose to look for the “good guys” in a movie.

Clockwork orange antihero