space odyssey

To me, the movie 2001 space odyssey was brilliant. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to watch a movie and examine the details so much. This movie made me think from start to finish. I think that a lot of people say it’s too slow or that they don’t get it but this maybe because they are a little desensitized. In today’s world, everyone wants things as fast as possible. We live in an age when technology allows us to instantly talk to other people around the world on a live feed… but this contributes to that desensitized thing I mentioned just a few seconds ago. It seems, in general, that people go into a movie and want to have the plot, action, and dialogue to be very apparent. This in affect dumbs down an audience, for we now just sit in a movie on “auto pilot” and receive the information thrown at us like a baby receives a spoon full a food. So when you step out of that realm and watch a movie with a little bit more artistic flair to it, it seems awful. Artistic usually implies slower scenes, more shots of just scenery, and sometimes shots of people doing nothing at all. This requires a little bit more maturity from an audience. You can’t just sit there and have the movie bluntly tell you what’s going on, because it won’t. Movies such as 2001 space odyssey are made to make you interpret and think about what’s happening instead of being told directly. So if you are used to the typical movie where you aren’t required to do much as a viewer, then you might not like this film the first few times you see it. It’s almost as if you have to prepare yourself for what you’re about to see. You can’t go into the film thinking it’s going to be like Star Wars, you have to go into the film as if you are about to solve a puzzle or mystery. That’s what makes this film so special. There are so many ways one can interpret any scene in the movie, because Kubrick doesn’t openly come out and state what’s going on at any point, he kind of leaves it up to you. Thus, I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer to this film for it’s so deep that one can interpret multiple ideas out of one event. Furthermore, his use of long drawn out scenes and lack of dialogue make you feel different things. Moments such as the time a character is breathing in his space suit outside of the ship for 3 or so minutes makes me feel the vastness of space around him. There are no sounds anywhere except for his inhalations and exhalations… it makes him seem more alone. Also, the moment in which you see the black rectangle (which can signify so many things) you hear an eerie sound… then if you remember the intermission that occurs half way through the movie, the screen turns completely black and that sound is heard once again (the screen itself is the shape of a rectangle… therefore one can assume that you are looking at that mysterious object or rather, it is looking at you). That to me is something brilliant in itself. Kubrick clearly has a point to everything in the movie which is something you really don’t see in mainstream films anymore. It seems as though it’s more about the best graphics, hottest girls, and coolest action… so on and so forth. For the record, I for one love hot girls, action, and cool graphics in movies; but I also like to watch something that is completely different and prods my mind. I can’t stand it when people just sit there and say “I don’t get it” or “it’s just too slow moving for me”. If you watched the film and got those two things out of it, then you didn’t really watch the film. Usually this can be solved by just going into it with a different though process because it really isn’t your typical film. It’s a puzzle for the brain and you can influence the way others interpret the film. If it really is too much for you to handle to re-watch over and over (which I can understand with any movie)… just click forward a few seconds at a time since it’s on YouTube- this may make it more tolerable. Go forth and watch the film again but with a different mindset and find out for yourself what this film means to you. Because in the end, it’s just what you think, it’s all personal interpretation. Interpretation being the key word.



The movie (I thought) represents mankind's continual mission for more (whether that "more" be technology or knowledge) and how that characteristic hasn't changed since the dawn of our existence. This can be related to the very first few scenes that represent the dawn of man and the discovering of tools. As the story progresses we find ourselves in the year 2001, with more tools that are much more advanced (space craft, space stations, communication technology, space food... etc). But there is an element of mystery that shrouds humans even still despite all of the knowledge we posses. This element is shown as a black rectangle. This object, that represents something unknown, is seen in the first few scenes by the first humans. The irony is, you see the object again later on in the story but on the moon, but the more advanced humans still approach the object in the same way the apes did (this is even more evident by the use of the hand to touch the object- a basic human instinct that we see the monkeys do earlier). Well as the need to know more prods at the humans in the film... a mission to Jupiter is scheduled (apparently the object left some sort of trail that aims in that direction). At this point we find ourselves aboard one of mankind's advanced space vessels. Commanding the vessel is a very advanced computer the HAL 9000. Soon we find that the computer is too smart for it's own good, and begins to kill off the crew. The last astronaut alive manages to defeat the computer fortunately, but only to discover he's on a mission to find the origins of some alien like object (the mission was top secret so even the crew wasn't informed). Then, we see the black object appear in space with Jupiter in the foreground and the ship approaching it. What follows has been described as "trippy" but one can assume the last astronaut is put through some sort of space travel. When its all over, the man finds himself in a room. At this point it gets a little surreal, but some suggest that he experiences himself in different forms... like entering alternate realities. And, in the process, the black object reappears in the middle of the room. The man at this point seems to be on his death bed, but seconds later he is then a baby. This could mean he is reborn, and since the body of the baby itself appears altered (it has a much larger head) you might think that he is some sort of "star child". Its as if he finds out the meaning of life by means of the black object. Lastly, he is seen moving towards the planet earth, perhaps to answer the questions of mankind.


In closing, I’d say that this movie was something that I truly enjoyed watching, thinking, and writing about. At first I’ll admit, that I wasn’t really looking forward to doing this paper and spending my time watching the movie multiple times… but now I am glad I did. Seeing how I’m a film buff and my major is currently film and production, this movie certainly gave me some ideas. Films today (at least the big blockbuster hits) just don’t touch that sort of artistic depth anymore. Such a sad realization.