Just Singin, Singin in the Rain

Last week's class was my first taste of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" and as I had been prepared for, it was indeed pretty twisted. The irony is overt in this film about young men hopped up on drugs that beat and kill innocent people and closes with the familiar cheery tune, "Singin in the Rain." Oddly humorous it's almost more disconcerting than had the music been dark because we immediately make the connection that just decades ago, this song is sung by a man who was "...happy again." The stark contrast between the music and the mood is just one of the few things that differentiates the classic hollywood movies of "Singin in the Rain" era from the edgier films of today like "A Clockwork Orange" and more recent ones. Also, a huge thing in film that has changed over the decades are the production codes that used to be very conservative back in the days of early hollywood movies. Actually camera shots of murder were not allowed so even suspense/horror film directors like Alfred Hitchcock had to find ways around explicitly showing murder. The amount of restrictions on films of that time vs. the amount of liberties directors now take with the subject matter of films today is mind boggling. This is due in large part to the events such as the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s and a great deal more experimenting with drugs. The altered psychedelic state of drug use could now be shown with cinematic advancement in color and special effects. "A Clockwork Orange" is proof that through the technology of film today, there is little left that can't be shown.