This July sees the launch of a new exhibition of artwork and photography themed around the enduring influence of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick at London’s Somerset House. The director behind films like A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut became known for his meticulous framing, slow tracking shots and bold use of colour – as well as for pairing violence with popular music.
‘Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick’ invites artists to respond to a film, scene, character or theme from the Kubrick archives, from the disturbing, phallic murder weapon in A Clockwork Orange to Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ’s ‘War Room’.
School up (and impress your exhibition buddy) with our guide to the most-referenced moments in Kubrick’s extensive filmography across music, fashion and film.
Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick runs at Somerset House from 6th July until 24th August 2016.
‘Also Sprach Zarathustr’ in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Let’s face it – the whole opening scene in Kubrick’s intergalactic epic looms large over pretty much every film trying to use classical music to help create a sense of scale, though directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Frank Darabont have admitted that they were inspired by Kubrick’s use antiquated music in a futuristic or contemporary context, in There Will Be Blood and The Shawshank Redemption, respectively.
The “Me So Horny” scene in Full Metal Jacket
In Kubrick’s brilliant, brutal take on the Vietnam War, two soldiers run into a Vietnamese sex worker (played by Papillon Soo Soo) who tries to seduce them in broken English. It’s hardly the most sensitive scene in the film and played for laughs, but her memorably-delivered line – “me so horny” – is firmly etched into rap culture; it was lifted and sampled in both 2 Live Crew’s song of the same name and, yes, Sir Mix-A-Lot’s "Baby Got Back".
The bloody elevator in The Shining
When the elevators in the Overlook Hotel open to gush rivers of blood. Parodied everywhere from American Horror Story: Hotel to Bob’s Burgers, the most recent homage is in Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Look out for the scene in "Hold Up" where water streams from the doors of New York’s Public Library – and how Bey herself turns into a wood-wielding avenger with a crazed glint in her eye a la Jack Torrance.
The Droog uniform in A Clockwork Orange
Even if you haven’t seen Kubrick’s ultra-violent take on Alex Burgess’ anti-authoritarian novel, you’d probably recognise Alex’s outfit – black bowler hat, white shirt, white trousers, white braces, a kind of protective crotch cup and Twiggy-style eyelashes on the lower lash line, not forgetting a threatening cane. The look has been copied by David Bowie, Madonna, Rihanna, Kylie and perhaps most explicitly by No Doubt on their reunion tour back in 2009, but you only have to head to Cyberdog – or any shop in Camden Market – to see how its influence lingers.
The masked orgy in Eyes Wide Shut
Kubrick’s last film (and arguably Nicole Kidman’s best performance) is a long, slow-burn of an erotic thriller that sees Tom Cruise’s paranoid doctor mixed up in a secret society with a decadent taste for masked orgies. Frank Ocean’s a fan of the film, making several references to it in songs "Novacane " and "Lovecrimes ". But pretty much any mention of weird orgies will recall Kubrick’s famously bizarre scenes of chamber music, hooded cloaks and naked women.
Danny’s sweater in The Shining
The most famous image from the 1987 horror film is probably of the creepy identical twins – maybe real, maybe not – dressed in matching blue dresses, recreated as chilling Halloween costumes by sisters and best friends everywhere. However, it’s Danny’s ‘Apollo 11’ sweater that inspired a line by Stuart Vevers for Coach, sported by Tavi Gevinson on The Colbert Report, no less.
Lolita ’s sunglasses
Despite being made during the heavily censored Hays Code era, Kubrick’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s classic novel about an older man’s obsession with a 12 year-old famously sexed-up the titular nymphet. In the movie’s poster, photographed by frequent Marilyn Monroe collaborator Bert Stern, the then-15 year-old actress Sue Lyon is pictured in heart-shaped sunglasses, her lipsticked-mouth sucking seductively on a lollipop. Yet it’s only in the poster that Dolores (aka ‘Lolita’) wears those iconic, tomato-red heart-shaped sunnies (in the actual movie they’re cat eye glasses) – a look seen in Wildfox ’s sunglasses collection and Taylor Swift music videos.
The pay phone in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
OK, so maybe it’s not the most enduring moment in Kubrick’s canon – but it did inspire one of the coolest works in this new exhibition, artist Doug Aitken has created a sculpture of a public pay phone bathed in a nuclear glow, not unlike the one that Captain Mandrake tries to call the president from in Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove.
Doug Aitken, Twilight, 2014 © Brian ForrestLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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