A Clockwork Orange-Record shop scene

The record shop scene is one that reveals Alex’s attitude to women and how the spectator is made to align with his position, the use of camera, sound, mise-en-scene and dialogue create an atmosphere that forces the spectator to see the world through the eyes of the protagonist and to sympathise with him.

 The opening part of this sequence shows Alex walking towards a record shop, the use of music and costume however is evocative of the kind of fare that a King would expect upon arrival, the music is uplifting and alludes to Alex being important alongside his costume which has him depicted as a nobleman, the camera is centred on Alex and follows ahead of him so that we never loose gaze of him, this is a way for Kubrick to align us to respect Alex.

The scene is followed with Alex interfering with two women; the use of props in this scene alludes to something sensual as the women are holding phallic objects, Alex takes authority over the women by placing himself between them and forcefully initiating conversation, Alex dismisses any element of personality in the women when one speaks up about her taste in music but is ignored by Alex with his elitist ideology behind his own musical taste, this trains the spectator to see Alex as superior to these women.

 

This scene seems to connote that the women were there simply to be purchased by Alex and then used, we see Alex going to the record shop but not taking a record home instead he took two women to sleep with, this shows the spectator how Alex views women in comparison to how he views himself and consequently how we see him.