There might not be a stronger trilogy of films directed consecutively than Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, but I'm surprised how few pick up on their connective narrative which lay out Kubrick's pessimistic predictions of the human race - White man ruins the planet, lets his privileged 1% breakaway and leaves the 99% to die in a capitalist-owned government dystopia. The rules, morals and causes of this coming society are then examined in his remaining work (Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket & most importantly Eyes Wide Shut).
Now the first filmmaker to pick up on Kubrick's not-so-hidden conspiracy theorist plot was Ridley Scott. His first film The Duelists is a major play off of Barry Lyndon but Alien directly confirms Scott's acceptance of Kubrick's worldview. The antagonist of Alien - as Scott has reminded us with this year's Alien Covenant - is essentially HAL from 2001. And with Blade Runner, Scott remakes A Clockwork Orange within his own futurist expectations, bringing HAL down to Earth inside of Alex's droogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment