Should Stanley Kubricks film A Clockwork Orange have been banned?
Kubrick’s film has been and still is banned in may countries – but it has never been banned in the UK. It was withdrawn on Kubrick’s instruction – fairly quietly in the early seventies, it was only when people tried to screen it that anyone noticed – this was before the days of video and dvd. Kubrick used copyright legislation to stop the film being screened in the UK. Due to this fact it never had to be contemplated on the list of video nasties from the early 80’s – a problem that a contemporary film of it Straw Dogs had to go through (both made by American directors in Britain, both focusing on innate violence, both feature sexualised violence). A Clockwork Orange only came up again to the BBFC after the death of Kubrick, by which time British censorship had relaxed considerably. As to if it should be banned the answer is No. It’s an intelligent film on the nature of human choice, not a film exploiting violence.
