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charloweenHey academic who wrote this journal article,
When you say, 'Singing is a barer of the soul for Kubrick; it makes characters into children, their first and better selves', using only Full Metal Jacket (singing the Mickey Mouse Club theme song) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (HAL, "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)"*) as examples, are you forgetting something?
*Which, BTW, is the song's proper title, not "Daisy, Daisy" as you call it.
Like, maybe, Alex belting "Singin' in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange? OTOH, maybe violently attacking strangers is true to his 'first and better' self? He certainly seems to be enjoying himself.
I'd read all three instances of singing as examples of creating tension between expectations of what you're calling 'the unsullied child in adult characters in Kubrick's work', and the cynical/creepy way the singing plays out within the narrative. Alex does sing when he's happy, but he's happy when he's perpetrating a little of the old ultra-violence. HAL does regress, but he regresses because he's being lobotomized.
What I mean is, we're not talking innocent regression. It's been a while since I saw Full Metal Jacket, but I don't remember the film's ending 'refer[ring] to a childhood innocence and an Americanism these battle-torn men have had and, despite everything, may be trying to hang onto.' Put that way, it almost sounds... sweet?
Cynically yours,
Me
p.s.
When you say, 'Singing is a barer of the soul for Kubrick; it makes characters into children, their first and better selves', using only Full Metal Jacket (singing the Mickey Mouse Club theme song) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (HAL, "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)"*) as examples, are you forgetting something?
*Which, BTW, is the song's proper title, not "Daisy, Daisy" as you call it.
Like, maybe, Alex belting "Singin' in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange? OTOH, maybe violently attacking strangers is true to his 'first and better' self? He certainly seems to be enjoying himself.
I'd read all three instances of singing as examples of creating tension between expectations of what you're calling 'the unsullied child in adult characters in Kubrick's work', and the cynical/creepy way the singing plays out within the narrative. Alex does sing when he's happy, but he's happy when he's perpetrating a little of the old ultra-violence. HAL does regress, but he regresses because he's being lobotomized.
What I mean is, we're not talking innocent regression. It's been a while since I saw Full Metal Jacket, but I don't remember the film's ending 'refer[ring] to a childhood innocence and an Americanism these battle-torn men have had and, despite everything, may be trying to hang onto.' Put that way, it almost sounds... sweet?
Cynically yours,
Me
p.s.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-11-07 08:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-11-09 02:20 pm (UTC)