Screening my films

I began to watch the three films that I am investigating for my project.

I decided to watch Loliata first as it was made before the other two films, this gave me the advantage to see if this theme changed as the years went on in his career.

After finishing Lolita I began to watch A Clockwork Orange which is the key film in my investigation to find an awnser to my project question.

Finally after a little break I began to watch Full Metal Jacket which again could be a key film, I made notes on all films in ways that they show dehumanisation as a theme.

Dehumanization - internet research...

Stanley Kubrick's films often focused on dehumanization and the dark side of human nature. Dehumanization was a common theme in Kubrick's films. Kubrick commonly used this theme because he was fascinated with the dark side of human nature and not because he thought all humans were basically evil. T

he best examples of his trend are A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket. These three films explored dark side of the human psyche and the violent nature of human beings.

A Clockwork Orange is probably the most notorious of all the Kubrick films that explored the dark side of nature. The main character, Alex, is a psychotic rapist who gets sent to prison for murdering a woman. While in prison he is selected for an experimental procedure that supposedly cures violence.

They way it works is they strap Alex is front of a big screen and force him to watch violent acts over and over again. They condition him to feel sick anytime he gets the urge to use violence. But by the end of the movie Alex is back to his old ways and thoughts again. A Clockwork Orange is not a very uplifting movie.

There are numerous scenes of rape and violence. I think the message Kubrick was trying to convey was that violence doesn't solve violence. Conditioning a human to become sick anytime they get the urge to be violent. Kubrick once said that Alex represents someone without a conscience, original sin, and he represents man in his natural state. Even though the film is violent it is a great examination of the dark side of human behavior.

The Shining is another good example of dark side in Kubrick's films. The Shining is about a family that stays at a hotel during the off season to take care of the place. Jack Nicholson plays the father, Jack. Staying with Jack at the hotel is his wife and son. Their son, Danny, has a special psychic abilities which he calls shining.

3 films

After the change in my question I decided I had to re-think my films also to suite the new subject that I would be studying. I came to the conclusion that I would keep A Clockwork Orange as my film as that is vital to my question, also i decided on Lolita which is one of his earlier films. The third film was a tricky one to pick I decided to choose between:

1. Full Metal Jacket
2. Paths of Glory
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. The Shining

In the end I chose Full Metal Jacket because although the other films are as good as eachother I fell that this coould give me more than some of the other could.

• A Clockwork Orange

I chose this film again as it is the appitamy of my project, the film was banned in the U.K until the death of Stanley Kubrick in 1999 and show's as a perfect example for my investigation.

• Lolita

Lolita stood out for me when I was discussing the question with Mrs.Moore the whole story relates to me question and along with Clockwork this is a perfect resource in which to collect my ideas from.

• Full Metal Jacket

Finally Full Metal Jacket as I mentioned earlier was the winner out of a tight running for the lead, I felt this film came closer than anyother I could of chose to help with my research.

Final question re-evaluation

After talking to Mrs.Moore about my question we discovered that it would be unfeasible to do the question in the time I had, I have to read the novels and watch the films again. So after discussing why I like Stanley Kubrick and his films we both decided I should study Kubrick as an auteur and the subject we decided on was Dehumanisation as his auteur signature.

My new question is:

'Dehumanisation as a feature of Stanley Kubrick's auteur signature'

BFI library trip

The BFI trip was not very usefull in my research, I gathered some infomation on Stanley Kubrick in regards to his screenwriting however the infomation was not what I needed also the films that the info talked about were not the films I was studying.

3 films and Novels

I thought alot about the films and novels I would be using in my research, I decided to choose films in particular that has odd narratives as the structure may have had to be changed. The first film/novel I picked was:

• A Clockwork Orange

I picked this because after some reseach into it, characters in the novel have completely different roles in the film which could affect the narrative and in turn the structure.

• 2001 A Space Odyssey

I chose this film/novel also because the film itself is a mishmash narrative wise so i made the decision that this would be the perfect examle for my question as to see if the novel and film are different in structure.

• Barry Lyndon

Finally I picked Barry Lyndon as it's the longest film the book would either be the same or have to be different this also is a perfect example as the longer the film the more of the novel is shown or changed.

Final Question

After much deliberation i decided to base my question around something I feel passionate about and something I would get knowledge out of myself, not just make a question for the sake of the course.

My question was based around the idea of Stanley Kubrick and his screenwriting in contention to the novels he bases his films on. My question is:

'Does the dramatic structure change from novel to film in the works or Stanley Kubrick'

This question allows me to investigate the subject of sreenwriting which I know a few things about so will be easy to get hold of the infomation I need, however the problem will come in the shape of reading the novels that I will pick to research.

Stanley Kubrick Profile

Stanley Kubrick

Born: July 26, 1928
Manhattan, New York, USA

Died: March 7, 1999
Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Stanley Kubrick was one of the few men in Hollywood who had it eating out of his hands. He is most famous for his films being incredibly precise and crisp down to every detail, he also well known for his reclusive behaviour and not being seen for months on end.

Some of his most well known work includes Charles Dickens novel The Shining and his most controveral film Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange. Stanley Kubrick started out as a photographer selling photos to the company Look. But it was after Kubrick had worked at Look as a full-time photographer that his friend Alex Singer suggested he make short documentaries which eventually lead him to his career as a filmmaker.

Question ideas for small scale

As part of my small scale i decided to focus on my idol Stanley Kubrick and mainly focus on him as an auteur.

The reason I picked Stanley Kubrick is because I find his work fascinating, his attention to detail and his overall presentation of his work is a piece of art. I felt no other thing could influence me to do a samll scale project on so i went with my first instinct and chose Kubrick as an auteur.

Some subjects I began thinking of picking for a question were:

• His screenwriting
• Theme's in his films
• Genre of films
• Representations of women
• Reclusive life in relation to his films