10 Not So Obvious Messages With Deeper Meanings In Stanley Kubrick's Films

Now your eyes are wide open, don't go crying over spilt milk. In Kubrick’s 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, Alex De Large, played by Malcolm Mcdowell, and his droogs are first seen in The Korova Milkbar. As stated by Alex, "The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence." Unlike a pub selling booze, this psychedelic world in which A Clockwork Orange takes place has bars selling milk laced with drugs, where the youth would hang out, get high and ready for violence.

But why milk? Well, milk is a drink associated with youth and strength; schoolchildren drink milk and we often forget Alex is only 15 himself. The juxtaposition between an innocent youthful drink and the monstrosities it's making the characters commit help the audience see that the villains in this world are the youth. It's interesting that about 45 minutes into the film, Alex is smashed in the face with a glass of milk by his gangmate, leaving him crying and waiting to be arrested by the police. Here the entire film changes in tone; Alex is no longer a youth getting away with murder, no more milk is drunk in the film and the smashed glass of psychedelic milk reflects the end of his days as a violent yob.