by Dave Simmons

Created on: August 07, 2008

A Clockwork Orange is one of those few books which becomes heavily embedded in the collective public consciousness so thoroughly. The evocative 'nadsat' language has a great deal to do with this, I'm sure, as does Kubrick's vivid interpretation of the book, helped enormously by McDowell's portayal of Alex.

It would be a Sisyphean task to try and list them all so, what follows is but a few of the more memorable examples.

Oddly, I'm unaware of any references to A Clockwork Orange in 'The Family Guy'. This in itself is exceptional, and may make it the only film/book made in the last 100 years not actually mentioned in the show so far...

The Simpsons, of course, have made reference to A Clockwork Orange several times, from Bart dressing as Alex at Halloween, to the brainwashing by Mr. Burns of Santa's Little Helper using the Ludovico Technique, to mocked shots of Bart reaching for a pair of cupcakes on top of a bookshelf, at the same angle of the scene with Alex reaching for a woman's breasts.

In the abortive remake of the UK Scifi show Doctor Who in 1996, the Doctor is chained up and his head clamped in place by a helmet remarkably similar looking to the clamps used in the infamous movie scene, while being forced to stare into the Eye of Harmony.

The scene in 'Reservoir Dogs', where a police officer is held down and tortured by one of the characters, all to the accompaniment of 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is directly modelled after the similar scene in A Clockwork Orange, to the tune of 'Singing in the Rain', according to director Quentin Tarantino.

In New York City, there exists a 'Korova Milk Bar', a direct reference to the bar in the film, with a similar theme and interior fittings. A similar bar also exists in Melbourne, Australia.

Fans of the metal band Megadeth (apparently such people DO exist) are commonly referred to collectively as 'Droogies'

In the Guns 'n' Roses video for 'Welcome to the Jungle', Axl rose is portrayed as being strapped down in front of multiple TV sets in scenes again very reminiscent of the Ludovico technique. Sadly, there are no scenes of him being brutally beaten to within an inch of his life.

Allegedly, South American thrash metal band Sepultura's new album will be called 'A Clockwork Orange'.

The Band Heaven 17 derive their name from a band within the film, being one of two choices the girls in the record store were considering buying. Given the other was 'Goggly Gogol', 'Heaven 17' doesn't actually sound that bad...

Learn more about this author, Dave Simmons.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.