"2001: A Space Odyssey"

Fig.1 Poster

"2001: A Space Odyssey" is a science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968. This film steps forward into the new era of film making perspective. New technology, new unseen environment. After all, it makes all viewers go "wow" after watching it. Also, the film shows a vision of the past and future, mostly focusing on human life circle and evolution. As Wilmington says in his review: "... this visionary science-fiction tale of space travel and first contact with extraterrestrial life is a spellbinding experience.'' (Wilmington M., 2005)

Fig.2

The film starts from pitch black screen, with unusual, thrilling music. Some people might wonder if its music at all or just some loud noise. However, the music gives intriguing and uneasy feeling at the beginning of the movie, which instantly sets audience to feel like a part of the movie. Nevertheless, there isn't a massive plot going on in this movie, although there are 3 stages in the movie. The first stage is called "The Dawn of Man", where apes are fighting for the territory and showing who's the boss here.

This scene shows a primitive finding a bone and working something out, then using the bone as a weapon. This illustrates the moment when this primitive acted more like a human than animal, and it marks the beginning of humanity. The biggest thing that happens in this scene is the primates discovery of a strange object that appeared out of nowhere. The first stage ends there, without explaining anything.

Some viewer might find it hard to understand what's going on and what might happen next. In the second stage, the viewer is taken to the spaceship. In this scene you can see people talking about political problems around the round table. All rooms in space ship are white with red furniture, very eye-catching and different than what we could see in reality. Thus, as the movie goes on, the same odd looking object appears and again the scene ends with loud music, leaving viewers even more confused than before.

 

Fig.3

As the third movie stage comes, the main character Dave experiences underwhelming experience, his best comrade gets killed in space by HAL 9000, a robotic invention for spaceships, and his objective was to help humans sustain their trip till their wanted destination point. Hal had malfunctioned which led him to exterminate all humans in a spaceship. This passive-aggressive robot is shown as a block with red glowing eye dot. David shutdowns this robot and travels to a place that is unknown to humankind.

As David gets pulled through a show of lights, colours and landscapes, until he finds himself in a strange bedroom where he sees himself at different stages of his life. There is no clear answer given in the film, and the meaning behind it is very mysterious. In the last minutes of the film weird object appears flying off in the space and then out of nowhere new life form emerges from space looking at the planet earth.

Fig.4

The director, Kubrick, has focused specifically on one-point perspectives which draws the viewer's eyes towards the centre of the scene.(Fig.4 and Fig.5) As Frederick says in his review: ''A major achievement in cinematography and special effects...'' (Frederick R. B. 1968)

 

Fig.5

All in all, Kubrick had predicted the future many years before  other movies could have. He had imagined electronics, such as, tablets, video communication and voice recognition. ''A beautiful, confounding picture that had half the audience cheering and the other half snoring. Kubrick clearly means to say something about the dehumanizing effects of technology, but exactly what is hard to say.' (Staff, (Not Credited). As modern society shows, we are more so than ever communicating with our computers and mobile phones rather than literal conversations without the use of any electronic device. After all, this movie is awesome and had influenced many other movies, even technology to be developed like in the movie.

Bibliography:

Staff (Not Credited) (N/A) - http://www.tvguide.com/movies/2001-a-space-odyssey/review/121544/

Wilmington, M (2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/criticreviews

Frederick R. B. (1968) -  http://variety.com/1968/film/reviews/2001-a-space-odyssey-1200421723/

 

Illustration List:
Fig.1 https://thequantumcretin.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2001-a-space-odyssey-by-daniel-norris.jpg

Fig.2 http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/blog_post/primary_image/rogers-journal/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message/primary_EB19680421COMMENTARY40312115AR.jpg

Fig.3 https://almostnot.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/2001e28093space-station-furniture.jpg

Fig.4 http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/2001/images/7/75/Discovery-interior.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150214161632

Fig.5 https://stillsfrmfilms.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/324.png