Problems with Kubrick: reframing Stanley Kubrick through archival research

Abstract

Through three archival case studies, this article explores problematic aspects of Stanley Kubrick's relations of production and the power underlying his role as a film producer by the 1960s and 1970s. The case studies explore Kubrick's practices in the casting of women, his attitude toward trade union regulation and labor relations, and his relationship with politicians in the UK in the 1970s and his attempts to lobby for more favorable tax conditions. It makes a critical intervention in Kubrick studies to argue that the use of the Stanley Kubrick Archive is vital in future research to reframe scholarly understanding of Kubrick. The filmmaker instigated a 'myth' about himself that continues to dominate, a self-promotional strategy that has obscured the relations of production on his films. Empirical evidence is required to reveal new perspectives on his attitudes and professional behavior. The article concludes that wider comparative research is required in Kubrick studies to ascertain the level of Kubrick's uniqueness or otherwise in these relations of production, or whether they are indicative of wider systemic behaviors across the American and British film industries in the twentieth century.

Introduction: 50 years of A Clockwork Orange (1971)

“…Fenwick builds on previous research that aims to overcome the myths of Kubrick through systematic empirical research. 5 Framing A Clockwork Orange as a media object that required the labour of a vast network of technicians, administrators, creative talent, executives, publicists, archivists, and manual labourers in order for it to be successfully produced, distributed, exhibited, and preserved, Fenwick argues that archival the film's production.…”