<story><title>&apos;I should not have written &apos;A Clockwork Orange&apos;&apos;</title><url>https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-01-29/i-should-not-have-written-a-clockwork-orange-how-anthony-burgess-came-to-disown-his-own-novel.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blindriver</author><text>Kubrick’s version was a failure because he missed the most important part and the last few pages of the book.&lt;p&gt;In the book at the very end Alex decides out of his own free will to stop being violent. Which is the entire point of the book: free will vs being forced to do something. It’s so powerful, I don’t think any book affected as much as that did at the time.&lt;p&gt;Kubrick focused on the violence and the rapes and by leaving out the most important part, it was more soft core porn than anything else and an abject failure in my opinion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Hasu</author><text>&amp;gt; Kubrick’s version was a failure because he missed the most important part and the last few pages of the book.&lt;p&gt;The American version of the book doesn&amp;#x27;t have the final chapter, and was the basis for Kubrick&amp;#x27;s film. He was aware of the final chapter but never considered using it, as he didn&amp;#x27;t agree with Burgess and thought it didn&amp;#x27;t make sense (this was also the opinion of the American editor who had the final chapter removed).&lt;p&gt;The movie does include the Ludovico technique and all the themes about free will and goodness vs the choice of goodness, it just leaves out the very unrealistic ending where Alex reforms.&lt;p&gt;I think the film is a masterpiece and the book&amp;#x27;s original ending is unrealistic nonsense. I hardly think it&amp;#x27;s the &amp;quot;most important part&amp;quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>&apos;I should not have written &apos;A Clockwork Orange&apos;&apos;</title><url>https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-01-29/i-should-not-have-written-a-clockwork-orange-how-anthony-burgess-came-to-disown-his-own-novel.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>blindriver</author><text>Kubrick’s version was a failure because he missed the most important part and the last few pages of the book.&lt;p&gt;In the book at the very end Alex decides out of his own free will to stop being violent. Which is the entire point of the book: free will vs being forced to do something. It’s so powerful, I don’t think any book affected as much as that did at the time.&lt;p&gt;Kubrick focused on the violence and the rapes and by leaving out the most important part, it was more soft core porn than anything else and an abject failure in my opinion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>AlexandrB</author><text>This take reminds me of how Stephen King considers Kubrick&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;The Shining&lt;/i&gt; a terrible film[1]. I had the misfortune of accidentally renting the Stephen King approved &lt;i&gt;The Shining&lt;/i&gt; miniseries[2], and I have to say - it&amp;#x27;s worse in every way: slow, plodding, and forgettable. I can&amp;#x27;t comment how either compares to the book - I&amp;#x27;ve never read it - but the Kubrick version is the superior film.&lt;p&gt;This is all a long way of saying that faithfulness to the source material is overrated in film. Some written works just don&amp;#x27;t work well when closely adapted to the screen. A few notable movies even manage to twist the original to express a completely different idea or theme (e.g. &lt;i&gt;Starship Troopers&lt;/i&gt;). The original author is not some ultimate authority regarding the meaning of a work.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;faroutmagazine.co.uk&amp;#x2F;why-stephen-king-hated-stanley-kubrick-the-shining&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;faroutmagazine.co.uk&amp;#x2F;why-stephen-king-hated-stanley-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Shining_(miniseries)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Shining_(miniseries)&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>