Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, famously despised Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation. This wasn’t the first time Kubrick’s work infuriated a source author—Stephen King famously loathed Kubrick’s The Shining—but Burgess’s reaction was particularly strong, leading him to renounce his own book:
We all suffer from the popular desire to make the known notorious. The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate…
Burgess felt the film glorified sex and violence, leading to widespread misinterpretation of his novel’s themes. While neither Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange nor his adaptation of The Shining are simple glorifications of violence, Kubrick’s stylistic choices often unsettle viewers and authors alike. Interestingly, in many ways, the film version of A Clockwork Orange might be considered less disturbing than the book.
This difference is particularly evident in the portrayal of victims. In the book, Alex rapes two ten-year-old girls after plying them with alcohol in a chillingly casual scene:
…and then I felt the old tigers leap in me and then I leapt on these two young ptitsas…But they were both very very drunken and could hardly feel very much…
In contrast, the film depicts Alex engaging in seemingly consensual sex with two teenage girls. Similarly, the book describes Alex brutally attacking an innocent elderly man returning from the library, while the film substitutes a drunken vagrant as the victim.
While both the novel and film explore the damaging effects of ultraviolence, it’s surprising that Burgess found the film more depraved. The book contains scenes of disturbing violence absent from the movie. Perhaps the visual nature of film amplifies the impact of violence, making it more difficult to consume than written descriptions. Could any truly faithful adaptation of A Clockwork Orange avoid being more viscerally disturbing than the novel?
Beyond the depiction of violence, other differences exist. Alex wields a razor in the book versus a knife-cane in the film. The Ludovico conditioning targets all classical music in the book, but only Beethoven’s Ninth in the film. Alex volunteers for the treatment in the book, but is assigned to it in the film. His age differs, and the iconic “Singin’ in the Rain” scene is absent from the novel. The title itself, A Clockwork Orange, lacks explanation in the film but is referenced in the book:
Then I looked at its top sheet, and there was the name – A CLOCKWORK ORANGE…
The most significant difference lies in the ending. The book includes a redemptive epilogue, omitted from the American edition and the film, where Alex outgrows his violent tendencies and anticipates a future with a family. Kubrick’s film, based on the American edition, ends on a darker note. Burgess lamented this omission:
My book was Kennedyan and accepted the notion of moral progress. What was really wanted was a Nixonian book with no shred of optimism in it.
This philosophical difference perhaps explains Burgess’s discontent. He believed in the possibility of moral transformation, while Kubrick’s adaptation presents a more pessimistic view of human nature. The debate ultimately highlights the contrasting visions of two artistic geniuses. Burgess created the story, but Kubrick offered a distinct interpretation. Both the book and film stand as powerful works in their own right, sparking ongoing discussion about violence, free will, and societal control.
