Modernism is a departure from the
realistic representation of 19th century society. It experiments with
form and style. During this time, body acts as a metaphoric site to reveal inner
expressions. Antonin Artaud, Jean Genet, Eugene O’ Neill and other Avant Garde
artists execute their perspectives and philosophies onto the canvas depicting
grotesque bodies. The main objective of Antonin Artaud was to create a new kind
of theatre that could radically challenge the conventions of stage, audiences,
and actors in order to present a truth to the world. He also wanted to create
his new language as he believed that the realistic theatrical language could not
produce meaning. Therefore, he sought for something brutally honest that could
fathom the primal emotions and thoughts of the human beings and could get
reflected through this new language. His philosophy tries to give a new
understanding of ‘cruelty’, ‘body’ and ‘expression’. Through the word of
cruelty, he does not mean the utmost violence, destruction but this cruelty
stands for the method in order to reveal emotions and to shock the audiences.
The trope of cruelty is to revolutionize the thought procedures of the
‘readers.’ On the other hand, Stanley Kubrick is one of the critically acclaimed
film directors experimenting with characters, sound, images and cinematography.
In this essay, I will attempt to do a case study of the selected films of
Stanley Kubrick.
Through the use of gestures, props,
exuberant colours and violence, Kubrick has created his language in his films
that somehow resonates with Artaud’s philosophy of theater of cruelty. Violence
appears as both of a physical and metaphysical act in their works. This case
study tries to give answers to some of the following questions.
1.
How does Kubrick use the
convention of theatre of cruelty in his films? Does Kubrick represent the notion
of Artaud’s ‘cruelty’?
2.
Does Kubrick impart any
message or knowledge by depicting violence and cruelty in his films?
3.
Can a certain strain of
existentialism be found in his films?
Films, theatres, novels or any kind of
artworks, sometimes deal with taboos and myths. The artists try to demystify the
orthodoxical ideas of the society and make his/her audiences aware of the
problems of the society. Stanley Kubrick is a great instance who has portrayed
psychotic characters and his bizarre world to reflect the other side of the
human psychology.
Both Artaud and Stanley use the bodies as
weapons. Therefore, my essay will be based on a textual, evaluative and a
thematic study. Kubrick’s characters are dominated by their negative individual
traits. Alex, the protagonist of the film “A Clockwork Orange,” creates his
dystopic world that hampers the lives of the others. He is a symbol of excessive
negative passion like anger, disgust, hatred and sarcasm. He represents toxic
masculinity and vulgar sadism. In this regard, women along with the other male
characters become the passive victims of his actions. He stands for death and
destruction and primordial instincts. His gestures are mainly instinctual. His
behaviours shock the audiences by making them forgetful of the division between
‘reality’ and ‘fiction’. Like Artaud, he envisions a new kind film/theatrical
language that promotes the alternative mood of romanticism and gaze. Kubrick
being a true child of ‘Modernism’ debunks the traditional notion of space, time
and linearity of narration.
Stanley Kubrick, one of the experimental
filmmakers of America has been deeply influenced by Artaud’s philosophy. His
characters are transgressors and subversive as they try to demystify the
socially culturally accepted laws and values. They are cynic, rebellious and
always driven by their unrestrained passion, instinct and aggression.
Consequently, they have to face some gruesome circumstances in their life. His
movies are the performances of insane cruelty and violence. A grim illusion of
reality runs through his masterpieces. Ironically, the bodies become the site of
execution and implementation of these grim violence, destruction and crimes. A
sense of mysterious, sombre, illusionistic atmosphere runs throughout his films.
Kubrick has created the insane characters in his bizarre cinematic world.
Through his lenses, the audiences get to unearth the deepest, dark, unconscious
of the human minds. His characters suffer from psychosis and severe mental
illness. His characters cannot be considered as ‘abnormal’ although their
behaviours justify themselves to be crazy. This trope of cruelty erases the myth
of stability, peace from the surface of the films. Therefore, he can be easily
termed as the hallmark of futuristic dystopia. By his theoretical conventions,
he has tried to bypass the barriers between actors and audiences. He has created
an intermingled vision of reality and illusion by formulating different kinds of
spaces (dream space, institutional space, dystopic space, war space etc.) in his
films. The movie “A Clockwork Orange”
has shown the individual’s evil actions against the institution. The Overlook
hotel in “The Shining” acts as a
panopticon. The juxtaposition of different spaces and time insinuates at the
multiple personalities of his characters. Through this characterization, he has
sketched and represented the Byronic heroes who are rebels and do ‘rebellious’
activities by attacking the societal construct and different modes of
institutions. Consequently, his films become the satirical pieces criticizing
the hollowness, superficiality and evils of the society. His films represent the
lawlessness of the institutions. Institutions like marriage, society, prisons,
hotels- all maintain rules and laws. The protagonist of the “The Shining” and
‘hero’ of the “A Clockwork of Orange” both appear as the Byronic heroes who are
victims of mental illness and psychosis. Whatever they do, they do out of
passion and aggression. By creating ‘insane’ characters, Kubrick also satirizes
the condition of law and defence of the society. The protagonist of “The
Shining” is a struggling writer who suddenly falls victim of his disease.
Through the metaphor of ‘struggling writer’ kubrick depicts the struggles of the
characters in a panoptical like society. His son, Danny also suffers from mental
illness. The shrilling noise, background music, laughter and smirk of Jack
Nicholson create the ambience of theatre of cruelty proposed by Antonin Artaud.
Alex has been put into prison for rectification and recovery. But, he does not.
It shows that it is their voices against societal-political-cultural oppression
and subjugation.
Apart from cruelty and the mental illness of the characters, the readers can
also find the strains of existentialism in the films. These films are the films
of actions as well as of ideas. Multitudes of ideas contest with each other
evoking out the echoes of nothingness. All the characters are searching for
their purpose(s) of existence and being. While doing so, they project violence
and it creates pleasure out of pain and suffering. They are the staunch
believers of free will and freedom. But, the society as an institution tries to
control them. They break free and try to break free from the confinements of
‘normalcy.’ Therefore, Kubrick’s crazy characters believe in their choices which
destabilize the status quo and peace of the society.
Patrick Murray and Jeanne Schuler have
written an essay on “Rebel Without a cause: Stanley Kubrick and the Banality of
the Good.” Mark T. Conrad’s essay “Chaos, order and Morality: Nietzsche’s
influence on Full Metal Jacket”
depicts the influence of Nietzsche on Kubrick. Elizabeth F. Cooke has also dealt
with the existentialist philosophy of
Dr.Strangelove.From the absurdist study to the postmodern reading of his
style, many well documented essays have already been written. But, locating
Artaud in his films, reading mental illness and characters- all these issues
have not been touched upon. So, my essay will try to add a new insight in this
area.
1.
A
Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick, Performances by Malcolm McDowell, Polaris
Productions Hawk Films, 1971.
2.
Artaud, Antonin.
The Theatre and its double, translated
by Mary Caroline Richards, Grove Press, New York, 1958.
3.
Conrad, Mark T. (2007) “Chaos,
Order, and Morality: Nietzsche Influence on
Full Metal Jacket in
The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick. Ed
Jerold J. Abrams. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 33-47.
4.
Falsetto, Mario. (2001)
Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic
Analysis. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
5.
Kuberski, Philip.
Kubrick’s Total cinema: Philosophical
Themes and Formal Qualities, Bloomsbury, 2012.
6.
The Stanley Kubrick Archives,
Ed. Alison castle: Taschen GmbH, 2005.
7.
The Shining, Stanley Kubrick,
Performances by Jack Nicholson, Producer Circle Company Peregrine Productions
Hawk Films, 1980.