WARNING: The following article contains discussion of rape.
Space Jam: A New Legacy isn't just a Looney Tunes-and-basketball stars movie like the original 1996 Space Jam, but a massive crossover of WarnerMedia-owned characters comparable to the LEGO movies or Ready Player One. Most of the characters showcased in the first trailer are expected for this sort of family movie: Hanna-Barbera cartoons, DC superheroes and so on. Others, like Mad Max's War Boys and Game of Thrones's Drogon, are more surprising given their R-rated origins, but it's one group of R-rated characters in particular that is making Film Twitter lose its collective mind.
In the shot immediately following the title card in the trailer, a group of Droogs from Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange are standing on the edge of the basketball court. The combination of the Droogs' prominent visibility and A Clockwork Orange's age, highbrow non-franchise nature and, most of all, extremely violent content make this the most baffling cameo in Space Jam: A New Legacy's trailer.
Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian science fiction film about the sociopathic teenager Alex DeLarge. Alex and his gang of Droogs regularly engage in "ultra-violence" for fun, most infamously raping a woman while singing "Singing in the Rain." When Alex is caught, he undergoes an experimental treatment to make him non-violent, but this robs him of free will and his ability to enjoy Beethoven. After his release from prison, Alex suffers greatly and attempts suicide. His treatment is undone, and his violent urges return (the book gives him a more redemptive ending).
A Clockwork Orange was originally rated X by the MPAA upon its initial release in American theaters (30 seconds were cut to obtain an R rating upon rerelease). After several murderers and rapists claimed they copied A Clockwork Orange as inspiration, Stanley Kubrick voluntarily had the film pulled from distribution in England until his death in 1999. It's a great film from one of the most talented directors of all time, but it's an extremely controversial one for good reason.
All of this makes A Clockwork Orange a strange fit for a Space Jam sequel. While you could argue some of the content in Game of Thrones is equally disturbing, it at least makes more sense that a movie intended to promote WarnerMedia franchises would reference one of the company's most popular current franchises than it would an infamous art film from 50 years ago.
Making matters even stranger is the fact Pepe Le Pew was cut from Space Jam: A New Legacy due to the character's consent issues. Even a partially filmed scene calling out Pepe was dropped in favor of cutting him from the film altogether. With Pepe gone, it's awfully weird to see the inclusion of characters who are canonically rapists.
Perhaps the line of thinking is that kids won't notice or recognize the Droogs but would pay attention to Pepe. Looney Tunes has always referenced adult pop culture, and with so many cameos in the film, it's likely most will amount to only a few seconds in the finished film. Even so, "A Clockwork Orange characters in Space Jam" is one of those sentences that still feels wrong to read.
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, Space Jam: A New Legacy stars LeBron James, Don Cheadle and Sonequa Martin-Green. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max July 16.
If you are a U.S.-based victim of sexual assault or misconduct in need of help, contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. If you are based outside the U.S., click here for a list of international sexual assault resources.