Male Gaze in A Clockwork Orange

In “A Clockwork Orange’ we align with a character called Alex who is a rapist and murderer mainly because we have no one else to align with and no one else’s POV to take. The male gaze is used in this film because women are objectified in basically every way.

In the 'Home Invasion' scene the audience are implicit to the scene because we are essentially part of alex's gang because he said so, he called us 'brother' through narration because we made it through the initiation with the beating of the old man and the fight with the other group. We also do not see how the event is from the woman's point of view just from alex's who is a male. Kubrick only lets us see how its like to be the attacker and not the attacked so we dont identify with the woman and inevitably empathise with her.

Maybe if we saw from the POV of the woman and we didn't see a shot of them approaching we'd be shocked and probably feel like being attacked too. This scene supports Mulvey's theory of 'The Male Gaze' because the me are in control and we see from the eyes of men and the woman is also desirable

By this point of the film, it is believed by many that since the audience is still here with Alex (as oppose to choosing to just not watch the film at all), then they too are in need of punishment due to their involvement of the previous crimes. Alex introduces the scene via his narration, and refers to the audience once again as his 'brothers'. The audience, who have now been directly identified, are invited in to the scene. 
During the punishment of Alex, the audience are given an Extreme Close-Up of Alex's right eye (which has been identified earlier in the film as symbolic of the evil side of Alex's persona, due to the make-up in his costume. This connotes his evil persona is being punished) which has been cramped open by metal prongs. 

The audience are forced to watch this which in turn will distress and disturb some audiences. The Close-Up of Alex's face as he is being tortured also tells the audience of the terror and pain Alex is going through. His excessive screaming and begging to stop can also distress some audiences. It is thought that while Alex may be being punished for violent crimes through the Ludvigo Technique, the audience are being punished for their involvement in the crimes by being shown these distressing images. With the Audience and Alex both being punished for their crimes, it enhances their growing relationship, showing a sort of solidarity and unity between the two. The audience will also sympathise with Alex more through this scene, thus aligning with him more.

At the end of the film, Frederick tells Alex of his wrong-doing to put him through the treatment and offers an apology. Just as he does so, an uplifting score gradually rises and the audience are shown a POV shot of Alex. Now that the audience are in Alex's eyes, they can identify with them too be being rewarded. The flowers, the speakers hurling the uplifting score and the press taking photographs at the audience are all for the audience as well as Alex. It could even be a way of Kubrick making his apology for making the audience go through their punishment also. 

For Alex, the score is the main piece of reward in my opinion as it triggers a response to his former self. Alex then tells the audience after a short dream sequence via narration "Oh, I was cured alright". The 'was' implies that the cure is now past tense, and that Alex is now back to himself. Because the audience have identified and sympathised with Alex all the way through the film, the return to his former self is welcomed. The uplifting score also leads to the connotation that this return to former.

Alex is a victory, and it should be celebrated.

We don't enjoy the film because we enjoy murdering and rape, we enjoy it because we take the POV of Alex and identify and align with him because of what Kubrick does.