Acting Reference: Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge

Alex DeLarge isn't exactly a typical psychologically distraught character, but rather a charismatic yet amoral character with psychotic tendencies. Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of the character is intentionally done so that audience finds the character sinister, threatening, and also strangely likable. To put it simply, in a metaphorical sense, this performance is sort of the ancestor of the general portrayal of The Joker, from most modern Batman adaptations. Alex DeLarge's mental breakdown actually results in him losing his ability to be the psychotic man he was in the beginning, rather than the other way round like it usually is. His performance is relevant to my project because I want my character to have a negative side that audiences would appreciate, due to my performance.

 

I want to emphasise the fact that what Malcolm McDowell does is play this character in a manner that supposedly makes the audience care and empathise with him. The character having a monologue that plays throughout the film immediately puts the audience's viewpoint in his perspective, and Malcolm McDowell plays the character with such charisma that it makes audience understand Alex DeLarge, and his desire for "ultra violence". This both reflects Malcolm McDowell's love for the character, and Kubrick's view towards humanity, that people all still have a primal urge for violence, that has been around since the dawn of man. Perhaps, in that sense, Alex DeLarge gives audiences that satisfaction by treating them like equals and living as freely as does on our behalf? Mainly, it is Malcolm McDowell's performance that gives me the sense that he is as human as anyone else, despite being clearly psychotic.