So full of promises, but rarely do they feed us
The late 1950s and 1960s have been described by Arthur Marwick as marking "a retreat from the social controls imposed in the Victorian era by evangelicalism and non-conformity." Indeed, there exist many examples to prove that this era was one of liberal reform and social revolution. The extent of liberal reform can be witnessed in "The Betting and Gaming Act" of 1960, which legalized certain forms of gambling and led to street betting shops, gambling clubs and Bingo. It can be seen in Home Secretary James Callaghan's decision in 1969 to make the abolition of capital punishment a permanent fixture; and furthermore in 1967 when supported by the government, and several Conservatives, the Liberal MP, David Steel had put forward the "Abortion Act" which enabled a pregnant woman a legal abortion on the mere evaluation of two doctors believing it was necessary on medical and psychological grounds. The social and even sexual revolution of the 1960s can be defined by legislation that made divorce more easily attainable under the "Divorce Reform Act", the "Sexual Offences Act" which no longer made a homosexual act between two consenting adults an offense, and even the introduction of the Pill, which had the effect of "contributing to a general sense of security for women and girls and to a situation in which contraception (something no respectable girls would have dreamt of mentioning ten years before) could be spoken of openly". A picture of a more tolerant and liberal society seems apparent.
From the fashion for miniskirts and hot-pants to the increased consumption of illegal drugs like cannabis, amphetamines and LSD, through the words of popular songs of the time to gang fights at the sea side -- and as a result of the explicitness of certain theatre productions and the increased promiscuity of the young -- it seemed as though a revolution had brought about a permissive age. But was the revolution complete and had it permeated all sections and all age groups in society? How far could permissiveness go? A Clockwork Orange is an indicator which holds some of the answers to these questions. It shows how the old morality still remained and if the film is evidence of the radical Sixties then reaction it received is evidence of the conservative Seventies.
"Up to the last war the Board clearly considered itself the guardian of public morality, allowing no departure from the acceptable code of conduct and behavior, the protector of the and image of the Britain in the other countries and the protector of cinema audiences from such dangerous themes as those involving controversial politics." Indeed the board claimed, "the success of the cinematograph had been obtained by the fact that it was clean and healthy to which ladies and children could go in safety." After The Second World War the arts in general enjoyed a sense of liberalisation from this policy, which allowed film considerably more freedom than before. The B.B.F.C. was evolving and consequently so was the content of films showing in the cinema. The board introduced The "X" certificate in 1951 to deal with films that were not "merely sordid films dealing with unpleasant subjects, but films which while, not being suitable for children, are good adult entertainment films which appeal to an intelligent public". This was in fact how the board perceived A Clockwork Orange. However, during the early sixties there was a backlash against this post-war liberalisation and people started to ask questions about the direction that art was taking. These questions became, as we shall see, increasingly more frequent so that by the time A Clockwork Orange was released there existed a great deal still unanswered.
In 1960 the Conservative MP for Wimbledon, Sir Cyril Black, formed the "Moral Law Defence Association", gaining the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the moderator of the Free Church Council. The same year another group "Youth Impact" was established to tackle "increasing immorality" as well as the "London Committee Against Obscenity". These committees although small and practically ineffectual were an indication of the changing tide of reaction against what they saw as obscenity in the arts. Far more influential was "The Women of Britain Clean-up T.V. Campaign", which later became "The viewers and Listeners' Association" with the notorious Mary Whitehouse at its helm. "Although dismissed as cranky and ineffectual, The campaign gathered force until by the late sixties its voice was powerful enough to be influential at the BBC." Despite the emergence of these groups, the liberal opinion of the arts, meanwhile, had encouraged the freeing of the theatre from prior censorship under the Theatre Act of 1968. This act came under scrutiny when the play "Oh! Calcutta!" was staged at "The Roundhouse" in 1970. Including nudity and scenes of stimulated sexual behavior, it aroused instant protest from many quarters. Mary Whitehouse, David Holbrook, then a lecturer at Dartington Hall, the Dowager Lady Birdwood, founder of the V.A.L.A., and Frank Smith, a non-conformist G.L.C. councillor all expressed their disdain. In January 1970 the "underground" magazine "International Times" was indicted for containing advertisements , "to induce readers to resort to the said advertisers for the purpose of homosexual practices and thereby to debauch and corrupt public morals". A further charge alleged that the publishers had "conspired to outrage public decency by inserting advertisements containing lewd, disgusting and offensive matter". In the same month a series of lithographs by John Lennon were seized when the London Art Gallery was raided. Following an initiative by John Trevelyan, Warhol and Morrisey's "Flesh" was shown at the "Open Space Theatre" a few days later. That was until 32 policeman descended on the theatre collecting the screen, the film projector, as well as the names and addresses of those who were present. Although neither of these cases led to prosecutions the publicity that they encouraged led the Home Secretary to announce to the House of Commons, March 12th 1970,
There is a great deal of pornography about that is causing a great deal of concern to many people in this country...Broadly speaking, I want the House to know that I shall support the police when they act in response to the police in investigating these matters. It may be that, On occasions, they will make mistakes of judgement, but I know perfectly well that the country as a whole is extremely alarmed at what is going on in this field.
In the light of these events the Christian pressure groups united under their banner of "The Festival of Light" seeking to inform the public of what they saw as "moral pollution". Their route of attack headed them into the direction of the cinema:
The Festival focused its challenge to 'permissiveness' almost entirely on the mass media. The Cinema, forced to concentrate on adult themes, represented a suitably large and vulnerable target. Unlike the television companies, it had no spokesman to defend it, nor any mass public support to fall back upon. It was an ideal symbol of the ills in society which the Festival was now determined to expose and eradicate. What was to prove significant, in particularly, to the later censorship of A Clockwork Orange, were the comments made by Lord Windlesham, Minister of State at the Home Office, who told his peers in the Lords about a circular he had sent to local Authorities, "reminding them of powers they have concerning cinema licensing, and asking them to consider whether they were making adequate use of these powers, with particular reference to indecent or offensive advertisements for films."
At the same time there developed a great deal of debate concerning the emergent sex films which were being produced in Scandinavia, Germany and America which by a loophole in the law via the "Cinematograph Act" and the "Obscene Publications Act" were making an appearance in private cinemas in London. The club loophole had long been a concern to governments formed by both major parties. An indication of the neurosis of the time was illustrated by Lord Ferrier who assured the House of Lords of a "Definite link between international communism and the distribution to adolescents of certain pornographic material."
Furthermore, the surprise victory in the election of June 1970 was an indication of the turn to the right that was evident at this time . It was an encouraging sign to the anti-permissive groups. By September 1970 the Archbishop of Canterbury was calling on Christians to unite and protest against obscenity and blasphemy and so by September 25th, 1971 the "Festival of Light" was able to attract 35,000 people to a meeting in Trafalgar Square. The Festival's success was their ability to make local authorities much more critical of the films they reviewed reminding them of their powers over cinema licensing. Beforehand the local authorities had been even more liberal than the B.B.F.C. From 1969-1971 they had passed films rejected by the Board on some 150 occasions.
If this was the sea of moral panic into which A Clockwork Orange was launched, it was not aided by advertisements that tended to focus on the more sensational aspects of the film. The promotional poster depicted the leading character, played by Malcolm McDowell, brandishing a knife and a psychotic stare accompanied by the headline, "Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven". Moreover, Adrienne Corri, who appeared in the film, confided in the Sunday Mirror that she "was scared to see herself," since, "this was violence beyond anything I ever imagined would appear on the screen."
There were other violent films released at the same time as A Clockwork Orange. In some cases they were probably even more graphically violent. In the film The Devils scenes of nuns in a nude orgy aroused enough interest to lead L'Osservature Roman, the official newspaper of the Vatican to pass comment. Furthermore, Straw Dogs led 13 critics of the day to take the unprecedented step of writing to The Times to complain of its unnecessary use of violence and double rape. However far from distracting attention from A Clockwork Orange, films such as the aforementioned mentioned, Soldier Blue, Witch-Finder General, The Wild Bunch and Performance, only made anti-permissive groups more determined to get to grips with A Clockwork Orange. As Guy Phelps pointed out,
Having missed the boat where the indiscriminate violence of Straw Dogs was concerned, all kinds of pressure groups, newspaper 'campaigns' and the all-purpose commentators who were there in the media now latched onto A Clockwork Orange as the current whipping boy for the industry's irresponsibility.
It is quite probable that under more normal circumstances A Clockwork Orange would not have aroused so much controversy, but such as it was, the scene had been set for the "Clockwork Controversy".
From the fashion for miniskirts and hot-pants to the increased consumption of illegal drugs like cannabis, amphetamines and LSD, through the words of popular songs of the time to gang fights at the sea side -- and as a result of the explicitness of certain theatre productions and the increased promiscuity of the young -- it seemed as though a revolution had brought about a permissive age. But was the revolution complete and had it permeated all sections and all age groups in society? How far could permissiveness go? A Clockwork Orange is an indicator which holds some of the answers to these questions. It shows how the old morality still remained and if the film is evidence of the radical Sixties then reaction it received is evidence of the conservative Seventies.
"Up to the last war the Board clearly considered itself the guardian of public morality, allowing no departure from the acceptable code of conduct and behavior, the protector of the and image of the Britain in the other countries and the protector of cinema audiences from such dangerous themes as those involving controversial politics." Indeed the board claimed, "the success of the cinematograph had been obtained by the fact that it was clean and healthy to which ladies and children could go in safety." After The Second World War the arts in general enjoyed a sense of liberalisation from this policy, which allowed film considerably more freedom than before. The B.B.F.C. was evolving and consequently so was the content of films showing in the cinema. The board introduced The "X" certificate in 1951 to deal with films that were not "merely sordid films dealing with unpleasant subjects, but films which while, not being suitable for children, are good adult entertainment films which appeal to an intelligent public". This was in fact how the board perceived A Clockwork Orange. However, during the early sixties there was a backlash against this post-war liberalisation and people started to ask questions about the direction that art was taking. These questions became, as we shall see, increasingly more frequent so that by the time A Clockwork Orange was released there existed a great deal still unanswered.
In 1960 the Conservative MP for Wimbledon, Sir Cyril Black, formed the "Moral Law Defence Association", gaining the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the moderator of the Free Church Council. The same year another group "Youth Impact" was established to tackle "increasing immorality" as well as the "London Committee Against Obscenity". These committees although small and practically ineffectual were an indication of the changing tide of reaction against what they saw as obscenity in the arts. Far more influential was "The Women of Britain Clean-up T.V. Campaign", which later became "The viewers and Listeners' Association" with the notorious Mary Whitehouse at its helm. "Although dismissed as cranky and ineffectual, The campaign gathered force until by the late sixties its voice was powerful enough to be influential at the BBC." Despite the emergence of these groups, the liberal opinion of the arts, meanwhile, had encouraged the freeing of the theatre from prior censorship under the Theatre Act of 1968. This act came under scrutiny when the play "Oh! Calcutta!" was staged at "The Roundhouse" in 1970. Including nudity and scenes of stimulated sexual behavior, it aroused instant protest from many quarters. Mary Whitehouse, David Holbrook, then a lecturer at Dartington Hall, the Dowager Lady Birdwood, founder of the V.A.L.A., and Frank Smith, a non-conformist G.L.C. councillor all expressed their disdain. In January 1970 the "underground" magazine "International Times" was indicted for containing advertisements , "to induce readers to resort to the said advertisers for the purpose of homosexual practices and thereby to debauch and corrupt public morals". A further charge alleged that the publishers had "conspired to outrage public decency by inserting advertisements containing lewd, disgusting and offensive matter". In the same month a series of lithographs by John Lennon were seized when the London Art Gallery was raided. Following an initiative by John Trevelyan, Warhol and Morrisey's "Flesh" was shown at the "Open Space Theatre" a few days later. That was until 32 policeman descended on the theatre collecting the screen, the film projector, as well as the names and addresses of those who were present. Although neither of these cases led to prosecutions the publicity that they encouraged led the Home Secretary to announce to the House of Commons, March 12th 1970,
There is a great deal of pornography about that is causing a great deal of concern to many people in this country...Broadly speaking, I want the House to know that I shall support the police when they act in response to the police in investigating these matters. It may be that, On occasions, they will make mistakes of judgement, but I know perfectly well that the country as a whole is extremely alarmed at what is going on in this field.
In the light of these events the Christian pressure groups united under their banner of "The Festival of Light" seeking to inform the public of what they saw as "moral pollution". Their route of attack headed them into the direction of the cinema:
The Festival focused its challenge to 'permissiveness' almost entirely on the mass media. The Cinema, forced to concentrate on adult themes, represented a suitably large and vulnerable target. Unlike the television companies, it had no spokesman to defend it, nor any mass public support to fall back upon. It was an ideal symbol of the ills in society which the Festival was now determined to expose and eradicate. What was to prove significant, in particularly, to the later censorship of A Clockwork Orange, were the comments made by Lord Windlesham, Minister of State at the Home Office, who told his peers in the Lords about a circular he had sent to local Authorities, "reminding them of powers they have concerning cinema licensing, and asking them to consider whether they were making adequate use of these powers, with particular reference to indecent or offensive advertisements for films."
At the same time there developed a great deal of debate concerning the emergent sex films which were being produced in Scandinavia, Germany and America which by a loophole in the law via the "Cinematograph Act" and the "Obscene Publications Act" were making an appearance in private cinemas in London. The club loophole had long been a concern to governments formed by both major parties. An indication of the neurosis of the time was illustrated by Lord Ferrier who assured the House of Lords of a "Definite link between international communism and the distribution to adolescents of certain pornographic material."
Furthermore, the surprise victory in the election of June 1970 was an indication of the turn to the right that was evident at this time . It was an encouraging sign to the anti-permissive groups. By September 1970 the Archbishop of Canterbury was calling on Christians to unite and protest against obscenity and blasphemy and so by September 25th, 1971 the "Festival of Light" was able to attract 35,000 people to a meeting in Trafalgar Square. The Festival's success was their ability to make local authorities much more critical of the films they reviewed reminding them of their powers over cinema licensing. Beforehand the local authorities had been even more liberal than the B.B.F.C. From 1969-1971 they had passed films rejected by the Board on some 150 occasions.
If this was the sea of moral panic into which A Clockwork Orange was launched, it was not aided by advertisements that tended to focus on the more sensational aspects of the film. The promotional poster depicted the leading character, played by Malcolm McDowell, brandishing a knife and a psychotic stare accompanied by the headline, "Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven". Moreover, Adrienne Corri, who appeared in the film, confided in the Sunday Mirror that she "was scared to see herself," since, "this was violence beyond anything I ever imagined would appear on the screen."
There were other violent films released at the same time as A Clockwork Orange. In some cases they were probably even more graphically violent. In the film The Devils scenes of nuns in a nude orgy aroused enough interest to lead L'Osservature Roman, the official newspaper of the Vatican to pass comment. Furthermore, Straw Dogs led 13 critics of the day to take the unprecedented step of writing to The Times to complain of its unnecessary use of violence and double rape. However far from distracting attention from A Clockwork Orange, films such as the aforementioned mentioned, Soldier Blue, Witch-Finder General, The Wild Bunch and Performance, only made anti-permissive groups more determined to get to grips with A Clockwork Orange. As Guy Phelps pointed out,
Having missed the boat where the indiscriminate violence of Straw Dogs was concerned, all kinds of pressure groups, newspaper 'campaigns' and the all-purpose commentators who were there in the media now latched onto A Clockwork Orange as the current whipping boy for the industry's irresponsibility.
It is quite probable that under more normal circumstances A Clockwork Orange would not have aroused so much controversy, but such as it was, the scene had been set for the "Clockwork Controversy".
- source "kubrick.com"
posted by 100hands at Monday, November 08, 2004
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