Censorship In A Clockwork Orange

Many directors with bodies of work surrounded in controversy tend to lead to the cult of that director; cult audiences will begin to anticipate similar works and expect some level of controversy surrounding their films.
For example; Stanley Kubrick, a hugely successful auteur developed a cult following, specifically, with his highly controversial film A Clockwork Orange (1971). Following a string of crimes supposedly inspired by the events depicted in the film, Kubrick himself decided on A Clockwork Orange’s withdrawal from the public sector; a rare case of self censorship only broken by Kubrick’s death in 1999.
A Clockwork Orange ran for over a year before being censored and was a cause of great debate in the media. The late 60’s just prior to its release, saw the removal of the Hays Production Code or the Motion Picture Production Code, which was a set of moral guidelines that films had to adhere to; a Clockwork
For the auteur it is a matter of artistic freedom, and the audience a matter of free will. This desire appears to be especially strong in cult fandoms and their want to challenge existing hierarchies.

A Clockwork Orange is not Kubrick’s only controversial work. Prior to this his 1957 film Paths of Glory received opposition in France and subsequently was not released there until 1975. His adaptation of the highly provocative Lolita (1962) faced resistance from the Catholic Church in the United States. During production Kubrick made the decision to shoot in England, (where he stayed for the remainder of his films) to escape such opposition. Although not resulting in censorship it is still seen, along with the novel it is based on, as one of the most controversial works of the 20th century.
These controversial themes in Kubrick’s work resulted in his cult status, and categorised him as a cult