Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” (1971) shocked British viewers taking its displays of sexual violence and crime simply for face value. Reading further into the film we find a range of social and political commentaries through the narrative of our leading character, Alex DeLarge. Themes and ideas that are also at the core of the Vertigo comic book series “Transmetropolitan” written by Warren Ellis, illustrated by Darick Robertson, where we too follow our leading role, Spider Jerusalem, into a futurist world of crime, chaos, and disorder.

Disorder is a key theme in both A Clockwork Orange and Transmetropolitan, and ways of displaying this must well thought out in order to communicate effectively. One way this has been done in both A Clockwork orange and in Transmet is through effective use of composition and framing. Kubrick is well known for his precision in shooting and this helps communicate effectively in his work. Here we see how a shot from early on in the film shows very quickly who is at the top of the hierarchy with the boys stood at the tip of the pyramid created within the frame, and who is left lying in the dark with their victim barely visible below the shadows of the gang.

http://geometricshots.com/post/154121168660/a-clockwork-orange

We are also shown early on how Spider Jerusalem’s world in Transmet is fuelled by chaos and disorder, with composition being utilised on the first comic’s cover. When using the rules of thirds we see key information by looking down the middle column and across the central row. The words “sex”, “cancer” and “pregnancy” directly above Spider’s head, dirty, broken pipes, and heaps of empty drinks containers and cigarette butts show us a dirty world in a state of disorder and social disrepair.