Today in general studies Mr.V was asking us to research why the film A Clockwork Orange was banned. This subject I find very interesting not only because most films that get banned are violent and cause emotional distress (two things I love about films) but also because, why should films be banned? Paintings, comics, television, film, music, books are all a form of art and so therefore should be allowed and seen by all, people should have the opportunity to interpret them in their own way. we all view things differently and we all react to things differently so why should British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) or art critics ban them.
Clockwork Orange was adapted from Anthony Burgess's best-selling novel written in the invented street slang Nadsat, A Clockwork Orange tells the story of Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his thug friends, addicted to mindless acts of violence, killing tramps and raping women. Equally violent is the state's aversion therapy Alex is forced to endure to cure him of his addiction. A Clockwork Orange became infamous in 1973, not because of the extreme violence on show, but for director Stanley Kubrick's decision to withdraw the movie in the UK, because of copycat acts of violence blamed on the film.
The British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) had released the film uncut with the X rating, but received a number of complaints that the film would damage society by inspiring teenagers to violence. Through out 1972 and 1973, police linked cases of teenage violence to "Clockwork Orange." Simply having the culprit admit to reading the book was enough proof for the public that the film was a bad influence. In response to the uproar it was causing in Britain, Kubrick had the film withdrawn from the country, even though it had already been running for 61 weeks there.
In the United Kingdom, the sexual violence in the film was considered extreme. Furthermore, it was claimed that the film had inspired copycat behaviour. The press blamed the influence of the film for an attack on a homeless person and a rape in which the attackers sang "Singin' in the Rain". Kubrick subsequently requested that Warner Brothers withdraw the film from UK distribution.
The principle of A Clockwork Orange and how it was banned interlinks with the Finnish Shooting. The gunman, reportedly identified as Pekka-Eric Auvinen, shot himself in the head and later died in hospital.The shooting happened in Tuusula, some 50km (30 miles) north of Helsinki, and officials have set up a crisis centre to help those affected by the tragedy.The gunman gave a warning of the attack in a video posted on the internet. The home-made film called "Jokela High School massacre 11/7/2007" shows a young man pointing a gun and declaring himself a "social Darwinist" who would "eliminate all who I see unfit". Pekka-Eric Auvinen's video is similar to the one made by Cho Seung Hui, who sent a recording of himself to the US NBC television network before killing 32 students at Virginia Tech University in April.
The young man, named locally as Pekka-Eric Auvinen, was armed with a .22 calibre pistol, for which he obtained a licence on 19 October. The gunman did not have a criminal record and "was from an ordinary family". So what possesed him become deranged?
Auvinen killed nine people: five male students (ages 16-18) and one female adult student (age 25)the school principal, Helena Kalmi (age 61); the school nurse (age 43); and Auvinen himself. One other person suffered gunshot wounds, and eleven people were injured by shattering glass while escaping from the school building. The morning of the incident, Auvinen posted a video on YouTube announcing the massacre at the school.The perpetrator in the shootings was Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18 (June 4, 1989 - November 7, 2007), who was born in Tuusula, Finland. He described himself in oxymoronic terms, such as, "a cynical existentialist, antihuman humanist, antisocial social darwinist,realistic idealist and godlike atheist" on his YouTube user page Sturmgeist89.In the investigation by the police it was confirmed that he had been a victim of school bullying for years.
Pekka-Eric Auvinen uploaded a home-made video entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007" to YouTube announcing the "massacre" hours prior to the shooting. KMFDM's "Stray Bullet" was used as background music. Videos of him shooting his new gun had been uploaded weeks prior to the shooting. Several hours after the event, YouTube suspended some videos belonging to the username Sturmgeist89 due to relations with the shootings. His previous YouTube account name was "naturalselector89", which he used from March until it was suspended in October. Many of his videos were about other shootings and violent incidents, including the Columbine High School massacre, the Waco Siege, the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and bombing during the Iraq invasion.
According to his YouTube profile, his interests were natural selection and hate for humanity. He stated that he was hoping to inspire a revolution of the "small minority of strong-minded and intelligent individuals" against the "idiocracy" of the "weak-minded masses". He did not want anything or anyone to be blamed for the shooting, and had planned it "in his own head".
He left a media package on Rapidshare, a hosting site, explaining his actions and his motives for the shooting. It includes details of the attack, a manifesto, his "loves & hates", some images of himself and a video of him firing a handgun. "I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," read a posting by Sturmgeist. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection." Sturmgeist means "storm spirit" in German.
Several newspapers have suggested similarities between and inspirations for Auvinen's actions in the Columbine shootings. Auvinen's YouTube videos included footage related to Columbine. The KMFDM track used in his video, "Stray Bullet", was also used on the website of Columbine shooter Eric Harris
So was he a copyCat killer trying to mimic the Columbine shooter, was he mentally messed up due to being bullied at school. or has the media corrupted him into becoming a lunatic??
The killings after A Clockwork orange was shown to me personally are very bizare as i do not think as humans we have the random instinct to kill and hurt people just for the fun of it. i do feel that we are occassionally victims to the media and we can greatly influenced by what we see.
