At first the 1971 film Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick, may not have much in common with Randy Martin’s essay “Where did the future go,” or Louis Althusser essay “Ideology and Ideological state Apparatus”, but a closer analysis of these works suggest a subtle but powerful connection.
Both Martin’s and Althusser essay’s discuss capitalism and some of the problems that arise. One main issue is the idea of a “free market,” which in some ways can help create jobs, but it leaves most of the power under the hands of a few. As Althusser points out this few can sometimes miss use that power. For example forcing employees to work longer hours and for lower wages. In the film Alex’s parents but specifically his mom is always working and this does not allow them to monitor what Alex is doing. Alex is basically free to do whatever he desires and even when his parents are home, they are much more concerned about work. The one thing that seems to concern them is that he is not at school, which could mean that they trust the education system to teach him how to function in society.
This point is rather interesting because both articles seem to deal with the issue of educating children. When power is in the hands of the few they can create an ideology and push it forward by indoctrinating everyone, but specifically the younger generation. Schools, sometimes serve as places in which kids are taught how they should think or feel about a certain issue. As Althusser points out, “In other words, the school (but also other State institutions like the Church, or other apparatuses like the Army) teaches ‘know-how’, but in forms which ensure subjection to the ruling ideology or the mastery of its ‘practice’.”
Another thing is that schools also attempt to teach students how to be functional in society and proper. Often schools will pick and label students who do not confirm to the ideology or rules they are subject too. An interesting example of this is the “No Child left Behind Act” that Randy Martin points out by saying “In 1983, then Secretary of Education William Bennett issued the polemic “A Nation At Risk” which fingered low test scores among public school children as a threat to national security via compromised market competitiveness. A new regime of discipline and punish, with tightly controlled content standards, turned education into a battlefield that now buries its dead.” A lot of times students drop out of school because they are treated unfairly. Just because a student doesn’t perform well in an exam does not mean he or she is a threat to national security.
Alex the main character of the film is confronted with this issue. However, in his case it is not just the dean of his school, but the new government as well that holds the power over him and considers him a menace and they decide to “teach” (brainwash him through torture) Alex how to function and be a productive part of society. This government wants to make it seem that everything is okay and that crime is a diseased that can be fixed. However, as the film suggest Alex is not really cured, just made sick. Even though Alex’s actions are not completely commendable it is clearly unfair to see how he is manipulated by the governmental system.
It is interesting to note that although religion is criticized to some extent by Althusser and the film; the only character that rebukes the actions of the government is the priest. He is the only one who stands up and says that Alex has no choice, basically saying that he has no freedom, that he is just a puppet. The leader dismisses him by saying that it doesn’t matter, what matters is that the treatment works. This shows that a society ruled by the few with an ideology of what should be is willing to go to extremes to keep their ideology and power. As unlikely as it seems it is something that is possible. By creating a curriculum that emphasizes the ideals of the few their power grows along with their numbers with and so change is hard to make. In addition if parents are kept from monitoring what a child does or is exposed too it gives the few more power to infiltrate their ideologies into student’s minds.
