Easy Street: Walking Dead’s Clockwork Orange Moment
By Nir Regev
Easy Street became an overnight sensation on The Walking Dead this past Sunday. Daryl Dixon’s Clockwork Orange-esque sequence was a thing of beauty.
Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange Legacy on The Walking Dead
Stanley Kubrick introduced and popularized the idea of musical association being largely psychological to the mainstream public.If you haven’t watched Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, you owe it to yourself to see it.
Its lead character Alex, being forced to listen to his favorite Beethoven while being fed visions of ultra violence. Accompanied by so-called ‘medicine’ to cure him. The same ‘medicine’ used to make him feel ill while watching. A scenario akin to Daryl Dixon’s dog food sandwiches served courtesy of Chef Dwight on Easy Street. A Clockwork Orange’s legacy honored for a new generation.
We remember the good days driving back from high school rocking out to our favorite tune… Just like we remember the song playing in the background of our first public breakup. Sometimes we’ll hear those same songs a week after, maybe years later, and all the positive/negative emotions will come flooding back. Our psychological musical associations never left our subconscious, rather they were there the whole time. Fully intact. All of them merely waiting to be accessed at the right perfect moment or most inopportune time.
Relive Easy Street!
The mere act of Daryl covering his ears, indicating he could hear it too, accomplished untold wonders to the viewer-character bond.
Even a singular sound like Mario collecting a coin in a Nintendo game owns immense association. Just one replay of the sound is all it takes to re-experience and reconnect with the purest of memories. That’s why we are all married to our associations. Brand recognition, celebrity endorsements… They utilize the same knowledge of essential human connection.
Whether you laughed, cried, felt pure joy, or even shiver-worthy chills at the beginning notes of a riff, there’s always a reason. The film The Strangers showed how powerful audio can be on its own, feeding onto our deepest instinctual fears of ‘things that go bump in the night’. Such is the same on The Walking Dead’s episode this past Sunday.
We’re on Easy Street. And it Feels So Sweet
The Collapsable Hearts Club’s (feat. Jim Bianco & Petra Haden) hit single Easy Street took us for a psychological thrill ride on The Walking Dead. The first time you heard the track you thought it was meant only for the viewer. A backdrop to Daryl’s predicament with Negan and the saviors. Then it happened.
Daryl clasped his ears on a repeat viewing of the sugary-sweet Easy Street. This one subtle gesture meant the world, he could hear it too. The audience was going through it together. Through the passage of time, the poppy almost-country like Easy Street had its meaning changed without a single note alteration. Much like Clockwork Orange’s “Singin’ in the Rain” before it, Negan’s usage of it on Daryl and the audience replaced its original motif.
Easy Street went from being a fun pop song to start the day off to a reminder of isolation, dog food sandwiches, and beatings. Throughly building up the audience’s need to see Daryl get vengeance. The opportunity came with a glimpse of a motorcycle line outside. Teasing the audience that Daryl Dixon would escape, rebel style. Only to have Negan pull the plug on Daryl’s exit plan and right back on the good graces of Easy Street.
Related Story: The Walking Dead, Last Day On Earth: Things To Note
Purchase Easy Street on iTunes and Amazon:
Those wanting to experience Easy Street again on their gym workouts or on a stroll home can find the track on iTunes and Amazon.
Revisit The Walking Dead’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ moment again!
Follow me on Twitter: @nirregev