A Review of the Concept of the Subject and Self-destruction: A Case Study of A Clockwork Orange and Apocalypse Now

The significance of the concept of the subject and the belief in the superiority of human reason have been called into question during various historical periods. For example, in the late 1960s and 1970s in the United States with the advent of power relations and theories by such individuals as Michel Foucault, who reduced the central role of the subject in the interest of discourse, we observe the rise of civil movements that call for the freedom of minorities and the elimination of powerbased relations. At the same time, the cinema also witnessed the production of films criticizing the violent consequences of structures, including the violent effects of cinema itself on the elimination of the concept of the subject. In this paper, we explore the reaction of the subject to this structural violence in two American films of the 1970s, “A Clockwork Orange” (1971) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), using a descriptive-analytical method. The hypothesis that the self-destruction of the main characters of both films is a reaction intended to regain the concept of the subject and its effective and central power is confirmed as a result of this research.