The movie is also an interesting commentary on the political spectrum of our society. When Alex is apprehended, he is put forward as the recipient of a mind-altering treatment. He is forced into endless sessions of watching violent films, and, as a result, he develops a physical sickness whenever he is confronted with a violent situation. Unfortunately, he also, rather inadvertently, develops a sickness towards Beethoven's music. The reigning government--a liberal one--hails Alex's cure to the press, proclaiming it as a fulfillment of their promises to rid the streets of crime, all but ensuring their reelection in the coming election.
When he is released, Alex's physical ailments start to get the best of him. Violence is unavoidable, and so are violent circumstances. Whenever he is attacked, whether by hooligans or homeless drunkards, Alex cannot fight back, and, as a result, he is beaten up by almost everyone. Worse, he becomes a pawn for political fanatics. The conservative opposition manages to get a hold of him, seeing in him an opportunity to strike at the liberal ruling party. They manage to get Alex to attempt suicide by forcing him to listen to Beethoven's music in a locked room. The story is put through the press. The ruling party are cornered because of the devastating affects of the supposed cure for violent behavior. True to the realistic narrative, the liberals treat Alex again, this time reversing the cure. Now, Alex is once again able to listen to Beethoven, once again he is a murderer and a rapist. It doesn't matter though, as the government has reclaimed its image in the public eye.
"The most powerful anti-Christian movement is the one that takes over and "radicalizes" the concern for victims in order to paganize it." - Rene Girard
The left and right sides of political power are really two sides of the same coin. Both thrive on victim-based politics. Both seek out victims, and both use victims to further their power and cement their authoritarian place in society. Alex is first a victim of society when he is selected for the mind-altering treatment. When he is cured, he has outlived his uses and dismissed by the ruling party. The party has already used the victim Alex as propaganda and succeeded in winning the praises of the media; why should they keep him now?
Alex, however, has now become a different kind of victim. He is now the victim of state-sponsored mind alteration. And what kind of uses does this victim have? He is used against the government, of course.
This is the sad state of modern western society. Political parties and governments are entirely victim-based. Victims are utilized for party agendas and then easily dismissed. For example, in America, the far-right says that the victims are people of the white race who are marginalized by the establishment. On the other hand, the far-left say (and this will seem somewhat strange) that the blacks, Hispanics, women, homosexuals, transgenders, etc. are all victims of the white patriarchy.
The problem with this kind of victim-based politics is that it always seeks out an external oppressor. The kind of concern for victims that require you to hate another man, that's playing straight into the satanic hands of deception. In the post-Christian society of the western world, where people seek a return to the paganism of old, the radicalization of the concern for victims is the quickest way to achieve that goal.
The non-violent message of the Gospels, the crucifixion of Christ, once and for all deconstructed the violent scapegoat system hidden under pagan religions. The stories of Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, Antigone, all reveal how mankind solve violent conflicts by sacrificing a single victim upon whom all blame is placed. This sacrificing of a single victim successfully brings the conflict to halt, albeit temporarily. This scapegoat phenomenon was deconstructed and laid bare before all thanks to the crucifixion of Christ. Much of western society, and the values that sprung forth from it, has been built on this revelation from the cross. The idea that each and every person is of immense value, deserving life and dignity, is a result of the deconstruction of violence by Jesus. However, Satan is a master of adaptation, and the devil knows just how mankind can come back to the pagan days of old, when human sacrifices occurred without outrage and guilt.
The best way Satan can eclipse the Christian revelation is through a radical method of social justice. The communist revolutions in Russia and China were testament to that. The self-proclaimed army of victims rose up and annihilated the oppressors and left not a single trace of their murder. They wiped out even the families of the oppressors. This is Alex's dark side. The new rule of the victim must continue to find oppressors, hence they find it within their own ranks. Men and women are turned in as 'traitors of the revolution.' Millions more perish in labor camps, never to be seen again.
When Alex is 'cured' for the final time in the movie, he is back to being a murderer and he is already planning another violent assault. This is where victim-based politics--the modern social justice movement--eventually leads us. It makes us no better than we were before, instead it makes us worse; it gives us an axe to wield and an oppressor to kill.
But there is a way through which humanity can continue the revelation of the cross. This way calls for us to renounce violence altogether. Rene Girard explains this boldly in his book 'Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World.'
To leave violence behind, it is necessary to give up the idea of retribution; it is therefore necessary to give up forms of conduct that have always seemed to be natural and legitimate. For example, we think it quite fair to respond to good dealings with good dealings, and to evil dealings with evil, but this is precisely what all communities on the planet have always done, with familiar results. People imagine that to escape from violence it is sufficient to give up any kind of violent ‘initiative’, but since no one in fact thinks of himself as taking this initiative—since all violence has a mimetic character, and derives or can be thought to derive from a first violence that is always perceived as originating with the opponent—this act of renunciation is no more than a sham, and cannot bring about any kind of change at all. Violence is always perceived as being a legitimate reprisal or even self-defence. So what must be given up is the right to reprisals and even the right to what passes, in a number of cases, for legitimate defence. Since the violence is mimetic, and no one ever feels responsible for triggering it initially, only by an unconditional renunciation can we arrive at the desired result.
A total and final renunciation of violence would not allow us to get sucked into the perpetual, bloodthirsty game of victim and oppressor. The refusal to participate in mimetic violence will save us from what Nietzsche called 'the slave morality.' An adherence to non-violence will spark an outbreak of love for one another--a contagion of positive mimesis. Jesus said that the world will know his disciples by their love for one another. This love for one another is designed by Christ to be first mimicked among his disciples and then work its way out into the world. Love is such a force that it cannot be enforced through legistation or any other means of coercion. Love must come forth by imitation, not from violent forces of evil, but from the crucified life of Christ.
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