singing in the rain

I think the major change between 1950 and 1971 is a technological one.  Though there are obviously other world events going on during this time (Korean War, Cold War, birth control, LSD), I think the major change is the availability of information.  Because television is becoming something pretty widespread, a large number of people have access to information, and visual information at that, which has a more profound impact on the receiver than auditory information.  So, people not only hear about these horrible wars going on in the world, they can see the atrocities on TV, especially by the time the Vietnam War comes around, and many against the war work to broadcast the brutality.  In 1950, "there are 1.5 million television sets in the U.S. this year. By 1951, there are 15 million – ten times as many in one year. By 1960, Americans own 85 million TV sets."(http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/worldevents_01.html).  At the same time, medical advances, by which I mean birth control and the development of some recreational drugs like LSD, are working to loosen the moral fabric of society, making movies like A Clockwork Orange slightly less appalling to the masses of the 1970s than it would have been 20 years before.  The widespread availability of information, and the advancement of knowledge in professional fields, especially medical, worked to "corrupt" society, in a sense.  
As for the actual contrasting performances of Singing in the Rain in question, I found it incredibly interesting the way that the "percussion" varied between the two films.  In the original, percussive sounds are made primarily by tap shoes and are very rhythmic, and in A Clockwork Orange, the sound of his beatings replaces the tapping, in a less rhythmic pattern, but used as effectively.     

Aside, I thought this was interesting:

"Alex performing "Singing in the Rain" as he attacks the writer and his wife was not scripted. Stanley Kubrick spent four days experimenting with this scene, finding it too conventional. Eventually he approached Malcolm McDowell and asked him if he could dance. They tried the scene again, this time with McDowell dancing and singing the only song he could remember. Kubrick was so amused that he swiftly bought the rights to "Singing in the Rain" for $10,000."  (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/trivia)  I also read that Gene Kelly was distraught over this use of his song.