CONTAINS SPOILERS!
The other night I noticed something in the films of Stanley Kubrick, it was one of those realisations that only ever seem to come during a sleepless night. It seems to me that Kubrick used wildly inappropriate songs to brilliant and often unnerving effect. The most obvious example to come to mind here is in A Clockwork Orange when Alex treats us to a rendition of Singin’ In The Rain during a rape.
The other night I noticed something in the films of Stanley Kubrick, it was one of those realisations that only ever seem to come during a sleepless night. It seems to me that Kubrick used wildly inappropriate songs to brilliant and often unnerving effect. The most obvious example to come to mind here is in A Clockwork Orange when Alex treats us to a rendition of Singin’ In The Rain during a rape.
The next one that came to my mind is in Dr. Strangelove... where the nuclear-armed airplane flies toward igniting the Cold War, is accompanied by the ‘animals go in two by two’.
Possibly the most strangely human moment in 2001: A Space
Odyssey is the death of HAL 9000 at which point he reverts to his childlike
early stage of programming and begins to sing ‘Daisy, Daisy...’
To me these are truly great cinematic moments, unachievable
in any other media; these moments would not even necessarily work in theory,
but do magnificently in practise. Maybe it is just personal taste but I love
moments such as these, which has got me thinking about other films that
demonstrate them. The only example that currently comes to mind is the torture
scene in Reservoir dogs set to Stealers Wheels. Can anyone think of anymore? Is it just me that likes
these moments?
p.s. Someone has probably already noticed this and if they
have, I am sorry for that, there is no plagiarism intended.