SSC Film Studies

During the treatment scene how is the spectator punished?

During the treatment scene Alex is being punished for his crimes while the spectator is being punished for having been aligned with Alex throughout, enjoying and and being implicit in his actions. Alex's initial respond to the images is that of enjoyment and pleasure so the spectator is shown the images of violence and rape as well, and like Alex also takes enjoyment from the images. As the torture continues Alex starts to show signs of discomfort in the treatment he and the spectator are denied the pleasure and enjoyment from the images and the spectator is denied them altogether. Instead the spectator is shown long, lingering close ups of Alex, eyes forced open by clamps, face filling almost the entire frame as he squirms and protest in discomfort and is forced to watch as we are unable to look away from his pain much like he is unable to look away from the image shown to him. These shots are uncomfortable for the spectator as now we are implicit in the torture of a character we have given our alignment and allegiance to and we do not leave or look away, but rather endure the torture alongside Alex.