Society has often believed that the human environment is naturally good and that the world
is normal. Black comedy takes this popular belief as a laughing matter. The goal of
applying black comedy is to take serious subject matters such as death, illness or in general
something disturbing, and then emphasize it in a comedic manner. This idea is used in
order to introduce an artist’s audience to a disturbing concept in a subtle way. In Stanley
Kubrick’s film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick uses black comedy as a bridge
to introduce viewers to the dark themes of humanity: rape, domestic violence, murder etc.
In addition to this, Kubrick introduces a character, Alex DeLarge, a man who chooses
violence as a way of living. He takes advantage of Alex’s persona and combines it with the
dark crimes against humanity. In doing so, Kubrick unveils an even larger social theme:
the importance of free will.
In A Clockwork Orange, there are three stages to Alex’s life: a life before, during, and after
jail. These three phases introduce taboos and in turn offers viewers to provide insight to
Alex’s changing human behavior throughout the film. In the early phase of Alex DeLarge’s
life, Kubrick reveals the theme of rape. Rape is a sensitive subject in society; it is often
considered an immoral action done by others. In addition to this, rape is usually a shameful
act often imploring corruption to the victimized. Kubrick reveals this subject in a scene at
Mr. Alexander’s home. During this scene, Mr. Alexander is being forced to watch his wife
get raped. As dark as the theme is, the scene is made out to be a light hearted, humorous
scene through the personality of Alex. While the woman is being assaulted, Alex is
continuously dancing and singing in a happy manner. He continuously jumps back from
one end of the room to the other end, either choosing to kick Mr. Alexander in the gut or
assault his wife. This act of ‘hopping’ makes this scene amusing to the viewers. The
singing and laughing induced by Alex further exaggerates the rape scene. This persuades
viewers to believe that this scene is a totally laughable matter. His actions are what makes
this scene so humorous under unpleasant circumstances. Therefore by using black comedy,
Kubrick is able to make fun of the idea of rape, thus blinding viewers to the grim reality at
hand. In addition to this, Kubrick is also introducing Alex’s persona. Alex’s actions in this
