'A Clockwork Orange' was a criminal inspiration?

[Malruhn]

I just ran across a pretty sweeping commentary - with one specific accusation:

When Stanely Kubricks movie A Clockwork Orange was introduced into Britain after a seven year ban there were many copy cat crimes commited in relation to the events shown in the movie. There is sometimes a direct correlation to a movie and a crime. It's as simple as that. It's easy and only half right to say that all (every single violent act you have ever seen or heard through the media hasn't influenced anybody ever) violence in the movies isn't at all responcible for inspiring any crimes whatsoever by anyone ever.

Okay, we've all heard it before... but if a thirty second advert can make me get off my bottom parts and go buy some crackers - and another thirty second advert can make a teenager go out and buy cigarettes - why can't a two hour movie inspire crime? Hey, we have Haley Joel Osmont using a two hour movie to sell Paying it Forward and doing good deeds...

The big reason I post this is that I have heard sporadic accusations about "movies" (usually unnamed), but I have never heard the accusation about A Clockwork Orange before.

Any help on this one?

IIRC during college, studies in Psychology showed that a person who would be favorably disposed to commiting crime may be influenced by witnessing said crimes in a movie, or reading about them in books. Then again, a lot of this was what Kubrick explored in A Clockwork Orange, that is conditioning against committing crimes by using negative stimulus while witnessing crimes, etc.

In other words, if a person is favorably disposed and open to commiting crime and violence, they can be influenced to carry out the impulse by watching movies or reading about violence. People not favorably disposed to crime won't be influenced by it.

Take an extreme example...probably hundreds of millions of people have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but to the best of my knowledge, people have not taken up swords and ventured across countries fighting what they believe are orcs.

Seeing crimes portrayed on TV or movies can desensitize a person to violence, but the vast majority of people do not act out what they see.

[Tarquin Farquart]

I'm sure movies do desensitise to violence, but they don't make you commit a crime.

The fact that a very small percentage of people who see a film are inspired to commit a crime is surely proof of that.

Quote:When Stanely Kubricks movie A Clockwork Orange was introduced into Britain after a seven year ban there were many copy cat crimes commited in relation to the events shown in the movie. There is sometimes a direct correlation to a movie and a crime. It's as simple as that. It's easy and only half right to say that all (every single violent act you have ever seen or heard through the media hasn't influenced anybody ever) violence in the movies isn't at all responcible for inspiring any crimes whatsoever by anyone ever.

A few things...

Define many.

Proof of direct correlation?

Any studies I've seen in college make exactly the point that seeing violence in movies MAY cause SOME to act out what they've seen. I don't know of any studies which categorically state that seeing violence doesn't influence at least some people to at least entertain thoughts or acts of violence.

It's a sweeping statement made to make a point when the author says it's too easy and only half right to dismiss the correlation to movies and violence, but OTOH it's a sweeping statement to say that it absolutely has an effect.

Disturbingly, the reverse is true : I've heard that the rape of the writer's wife in 'A Clockwork Orange' was inspired by the murder of Anthony Burgess' wife.

Originally Posted by JD65

IIRC during college, studies in Psychology showed that a person who would be favorably disposed to commiting crime may be influenced by witnessing said crimes in a movie, or reading about them in books. Then again, a lot of this was what Kubrick explored in A Clockwork Orange, that is conditioning against committing crimes by using negative stimulus while witnessing crimes, etc.

In other words, if a person is favorably disposed and open to commiting crime and violence, they can be influenced to carry out the impulse by watching movies or reading about violence. People not favorably disposed to crime won't be influenced by it.

Take an extreme example...probably hundreds of millions of people have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but to the best of my knowledge, people have not taken up swords and ventured across countries fighting what they believe are orcs.

Seeing crimes portrayed on TV or movies can desensitize a person to violence, but the vast majority of people do not act out what they see.

This is what Stephen King describes as "Keeping the alligators at bay." We indulge that litte part of us that wants action and adventure and even fear or thrill by reading books and watching movies of this kind. It kind of gets it out of our system.

[ElapheG]

I thought it was a widely known fact (or 'widely known fact') that the whole reason A Clockwork Orange was withdrawn in Britain (a ban imposed by Kubrick) was that it had inspired copycat violence, including the murder of a homeless man, and a group of youths gang-raping a woman whilst singing 'Singing In the Rain'. Wikipedia tells us that Kubrick's widow has said that, in fact, Kubrick was inspired to withdraw the film on police advice after he received death threats.

In fact, of all the films that have been said to cause people to commit acts of violence, A Clockwork Orange is the only one I've ever seen concrete proof for. But, as others have said, it's probably only people who are previously disposed towards violence who are affected - I've seen hundreds of violent films, and I remain as gentle as a lamb.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by alsachti

Disturbingly, the reverse is true : I've heard that the rape of the writer's wife in 'A Clockwork Orange' was inspired by the murder of Anthony Burgess' wife.

She was robbed and attacked, but not killed.

A product of these highly fertile years was his best-known work (or most notorious, after Stanley Kubrick made a motion picture adaptation), the dystopian tour de force A Clockwork Orange (1962). Inspired initially by an incident during World War II in which his wife Lynne was allegedly robbed and assaulted in London during the blackout by deserters from the U.S. Army (an event that may have contributed to a miscarriage she suffered), the book was an examination of free will and morality. The young anti-hero, Alex, captured after a career of violence and mayhem, is given aversion conditioning to stop his violence. It makes him defenceless against other people and unable to enjoy the music (especially Beethoven, and more specifically the Ninth Symphony) that, besides violence, had been an intense pleasure for him.

[Embra]

My own opinion is that people who are apparently (or who claim to have been) "inspired" by a particular film to commit a crime would actually have done the deed anyway. A film may give some kind of direction to the "style" of the offence, but I don't think it's likely on its own to make innocent god-fearing folk into master-criminals.

Derren Brown says "you can't make someone do something they don't want to do", and he's tried:

The Heist

Viewers of The Heist will see a group of business managers attending what they believe to be a genuine training sminar. But when they arrive, Brown uses hypnosis to persuade them to hold up a security van at gunpoint - and steal £100,000.

The businessmen believe the security guards involved in the robbery are real, although they are played by actors.

In Brown's TV programme, I remember that it took a bit more than just showing the subjects a film of The Italian Job to induce them to take part in the "robbery"...

[franjava]

A little off topic... Stephen King's short story "Rage" (written as Richard Bachman) "inspired" a school shooting. After King heard the kid got the idea from the story, he pulled the story from print. His story may not have "caused" the kid to commit the crime, but King realized a disturbed person was given a "way" to act out. Most of his stories are so far-fetched or supernatural, but this one got under someone's skin. [/hijack]

[franjava]

Derren Brown says "you can't make someone do something they don't want to do", and he's tried:

Which they proved on good ol' Mythbusters!!

[Grand Illusion]

It has long been my position that persons of certain mental conditions or states will glean inspiration from anything around them. Anything, no matter how caustic or benign, that makes a strong emotional connection with a mentally unstable person is liable to inspire them to imitate it. (Ficticious example, I know, but...) in Equus, a picture of a horse feeds the main character's delusions. Therefore, I put no blame on the producers of violent TV/books/movies/comics for the imitative acts.

One other theory I have is that people (even normal, sane people) are often made to believe that situations on TV and movies are more normal than they are. Since most people only have a small expereince base, they allow TV and movies to expand their knowledge of the world. Obviously, few will believe that rape and murder are normal and acceptable, but we often zero in on the subtleties. We think the green, prefectly trimmed lawns on our favorite programs are what all lawns are supposed to look like. We think that all law enforcement agencies in the world have access to a universal fingerprint database that can spit out a match in a few minutes. In this way, TV and movies can slowly and collectively, though largely unintentinally, skew our perceptions.

Back in the 50's, probably just as many women were battered as today. One of the reasons why few of them went forward was because of the way TV and movies skirted topics like that. Ward Cleaver never beat June, so a real housewife might be inclined to think that she was the only one and would be ridiculed by her friends if she came forward (even though the same thing was happening to them). It was only since the movie The Burning Bed that TV openly acknowledged the problem and began to show DV more and, consequently, more women are believing it to be more normal and thus less ashamed to come forward.