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2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrik is a genius. Sure, he may have been smoking blunts with Arthur C. Clarke. Regardless, he made an incredibly symbolic and interesting film. But only was the film incredibly symobolic, it also had ground breaking special effects, never before seen. Kubrik and Clarke also attempted to explain the physics of space. For example, they created gravity by using centripetal force from a rotating circle. They tried to be accurate and asked IBM for help in the various computer elements of the movie. Although the real 2001 is nothing like its film coutnerpart, we do have space stations, but not moon colonies or Jupiter missions. In fact, the space program is underfunded and hasn't seen much action in the past few decades. However, 2001: A Space Odyssey is still rather believeable. The accuracy of the space ships and lunar scenes are astounding. Even the apes looked very realistic for the time the film came out. 2001: A Space Odyssey was the cornerstone for space science fiction films.
On the other hand, 2001: A Space Odyssey had its boring moments. In fact, most of the film did not have dialogue. The first 40 minutes involved nothing more than two dozen primates screeching and sitting around. Granted it was funny watching one of the apes beat the hell out of another with a bone, overall it was tiresome and boring. When there actually was dialogue, it was slow-spoken and emotionless. In fact, HAL had more emotion in his voice than Dave and Frank combined. Then there are the scenes when one of the astronauts goes outside the ship to check something out. The scene takes roughly 10 minutes and all you hear is the breathing of Frank. This one practically put me to sleep. Then of course there is the 20 minutes of colors. I won't say much about the colors now other than Kubrik must have been smoking something when he created it. The last hour has nearly no dialogue and was tough to sit through.
But one must remember that 2001: A Space Odyssey was made for an audience of the 60's. Here in the early part of the new century, we have attention spans of 10 seconds. Back in the 60's, TV was still somewhat new to many people, especially color. Also the space program wa much more popular with the race between Soviets and Americans. 2001: A Space Odyssey may have been lightning fast for their attention spans. Plus many movie patrons were hippies and the colors may have been more understandable to them.
There are many possile meanings behind what 2001: A Space Odyssey actually stands for. The obvious is that it represents human evolution. The apes touch the monolith and soon learn the use of tools. This is a very big step in human evolution and Kubrik and Clarke attempt to answer how it happened by saying aliens aided us. 4 million years later, human-kind once again encounters the monolith, this time buried on the moon. This time we learn, unknowingly, how to create artificial inteligence in the HAL 9000 computer. This intelligence starts killing, as did the apes newfound intelligence after encountering the monolith. This may suggest that Kubrik and Clarke believe evolution brings violence. The third encounter with the monolith occurs after the wonderful 20 minte color scene. Dave is in some, what seems to be an apartment, and ages. Whether Dave ages quick or slow is unknown, but at the end of his life, he encounters the monolith again. The last scene of the movie shows a fetus approaching the earth. This is, to me at least, the most confusing element of the movie. What I have determined it to mean is that he will be born to the world and bring a new sense of knowlage and peace. Babies are associated with happiness and peace and since 2001: A Space Odyssey is very symbolic, that is what I have taken the end of the movie to mean.
Overall, 2001: A Space Odyssey is an important movie. Whether you think it is boring, or interesting, or anything else, the movie will make you think, a lot. In fact that may be why so little dialogue was included. . If you have watched 2001: A Space Odyssey already, it will be hard to sit through again. But personally, I enjoyed the film and recomend that anyone who hasn't seen it rent it and watch a great part of the science fiction universe.
~ Kevin Bondalapati
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Kevin Bondalapati WeeWeeCow
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Copyright © October 14, 2001
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