Stanley Kubrick contd.

From reading about and watching some of Stanley Kubrick's films, it is clear that Kubrick mostly directs films that are in the thriller/horror genre. Often someone dies and the hero of the film is not often clear straight away or by the end of the film as there is a lot more to the characters than the audience is led to believe at first. Often in his films there is a strange twist which challenge the audience's expectations, much like Levis- Strauss's theory on binary opposites.

Stanley Kubrick - Synopsis

1955 - Killer's Kiss

Prize-fighter Davy Gordon intervenes when private dancer Gloria Price is being attacked by her employer and lover Vincent Raphello. This brings the two together and they get involved with each other, which displeases Raphello. He sends men out to kill Davy, but they instead kill his friend. Gloria is soon kidnapped by Raphello and his men, and it is up to Davy to save her.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048254/plotsummary

1999 - Eyes Wide Shut

A doctor becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter after his wife admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met and chastising him for dishonesty in not admitting to his own fantasies. This sets him off into unfulfilled encounters with a dead patient's daughter and a hooker. But when he visits a nightclub, where a pianist friend Nick Nightingale is playing, he learns about a secret sexual group and decides to attend one of their congregations. However, he quickly learns he is in well over his head and finds he and his family are threatened http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120663/plotsummary

1980-The Shining

A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is "The Shining".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/plotsummary

Write about the similarities between the representations of youth in “A Clockwork Orange” and “Kidulthood”

In the film "Kidulthood" the youth is portrayed in what could be said as quite a scary way; although the intention if the director was to shock the audience, it could be argued that in fact some people do live this way. The youth in "Kidulthood" are very interested in "playground politics" and it's all about the social hierarchy of the school. To gain higher statues around the school the teenagers use a lot of violence to physically  and literally bully their way to the top. Sam who is not in uniform still walks around the playground threatening people and winding people up to beat someone else up. Another way in which people try to gain a higher status is by claiming to have slept with various different people.  The youth in this film seem very intimidating and even the teachers don't appear to have any authority over them and seem quite scared of some of the teenagers.

Similarly in "A Clockwork Orange" the teenagers use a lot of violence and talk about sex a lot. However, in contrast to "Kidulthood", the boys in "A Clockwork Orange" don't seem too worried about gaining social status, their use of violence appears to be more out of enjoyment, they're exercising the power they have just from being young. There is no respect towards adults in "A Clockwork Orange" as they feel they can do whatever they want.

Although there are similarities in the actions of the youths in both "Kidulthood" and "A Clockwork Orange" the reasons for the actions both differ strongly.

Both sets of youths are ultimately portrayed in an intimidating way and they all act far more grown up than they actually are.

Marcel Danesi - Media Theorist

 Marcel Danesi argues that the media and advertising has made youth the dominant culture of western society. By this he means that the media has made youth “sacred” and everyone wants to be young forever. An example of this is the skincare range “Youth Code” Serum” by L'Oreal -

There are constantly adverts on the TV and in magazines which claim to have a new kind of cream that will reduce signs of aging and wrinkles. The L’Oreal website has five different kinds of pages advertised, all advertising different kinds of ways to “cheat” aging.  These examples show how important youth has become to the older generations and skin care companies have picked up on this need to remain younger which was –arguably- created by the media.

 Film also puts emphasis on youth; in many films it is common to see young teenagers having a lot of fun whilst the adults or parents are going through a bad time in their lives, for example in “Freaky Friday” when the daughter is in the mother’s body, she vamps up her life giving her a makeover and portraying the mother to have let herself loose where as the mother in the daughter’s body is concentrating on school work and avoiding boys. Another view that is portrayed through some films is the older women feeling threatened by a younger “better looking” woman, for example in “Sex and the City 2”, Charlotte is worried that her husband is going to cheat on the new Nanny who is far younger and Charlotte is worried that her youth makes her more attractive.