2001: A Space odyssey and what to expect
This year marks the golden jubilee of the movie, A space odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick that have dazzled and also confused many due to the staggering amount of unexplained plot points and an enigmatic storyline with very little context.
A space odyssey, regarded by many as the marking point of sci-fi movies, introduced a significant amount of details that actually can be supported by facts and scientific evidence. The movie was created before space travel had been achieved so many aspects of the movie is very surreal.
A towering black structure, which appears to set of a effect that result in nearby creatures being suddenly more intelligent, provides a link between the prehistoric times and the futuristic main setting in this clever spin of a short story by renowned sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. When Dr. Dave Bowman and other astronauts are sent on a mission with a hidden agenda, their ship’s computer system HAL 9000, , begins to display an increasingly strange behavior, leading up to an action-packed showdown between man and machine that end in a mind-boggling trek through space and time.
One thing that many people notice really early into the movie is that, the scenes are slow and packed to the brim with details only a vivid imagination from the 1960s can make up.
The film is broken into four sections, and only the first one, The Dawn of Man, deals with apes. The rest of it takes place in more-or-less modern times, with humans, and very little dialogue, and unlike most movies in the present with lots of action and a storyline that shows all the details, the film did not provide the clear narrative and easy entertainment cues the audience expected.
There is deliberate use of little dialogues because the film wants to be a stimulating visual medium. The slow pan of stationary images of planets and satellites and the light and darkness are appreciation of visual imagery, the vastness of the universe, etc.
HAL 9000: the antagonist
HAL 9000, or just HAL to the onboard astronaut crew and mission control, appears as an assistant to the astronauts but gradually becomes the antagonists of the movie, and attempts to kill everyone before it backfires on him. Considered a “sixth” member of the spacecraft, Hal is capable of many functions, such as speech, speech and facial recognition, lip reading, understanding and expressing emotions, chess, and maintaining mechanical and life support systems on Discovery. HAL speaks in a soothing male voice, always using a calm tone, even when he is evidently panicking.
Many have assumes HAL’s slow but steady increase in hostility started with a malfunction, but certain clues suggests that his rebellion occurs way earlier into the movie. For example, the game that Poole has with HAL is a re-enactment of a game from Chernev “1000 best short chess games” book, played in 1910 between Roesch and Schlage in Hamburg. In this re-enactment HAL falsely announces a move of Queen to Bishop 3, which he should have registers as Queen to bishop 6. HAL then immediately lies about the coming checkmate and Poole resigns from the game without noticing that he has been deceived by HAL.
Another important detail that escapes a lot of people of the chess game shot is that Frank is seen mouthing his thoughts about what he is going to do next. So HAL wins not just by lying about the game but also by lip reading in the same way further into the movie when anticipating Frank and Dave’s intention to disable him.
HAL’s representation of AI in a future is a warning of when artificial intelligence starts to think and act for itself instead of the people that they are programmed to serve and assist.
The monolith: what does it mean?
The monolith makes three appearances in total across the whole film, each time setting of a reaction where the response of the characters to their discovery drives the main plot of the series.
The interactions with the monoliths by different characters result in varying things happening, like when the apes suddenly gained what seems like superior intelligence compared to their counterpart tribe. The astronauts on the moon, however, were greeted by a wind like howling sound. many within the audience speculate that the monolith is actually a cinematic screen, which we see from another perspective.
The intriguing point about the monolith is that within the film itself, unlike the books, they are not supported with any context so the monolith was there without any explanation of where, how and why it was there, and who put it there. I personally feel that the author wanted to give the story a hanging point, which Kubrick provides no insight or reasonable explanation of its origin. This meant that the audience had no choice but the accept the ominous but very mysterious existence of this object.
In summary, the film “A Space Odyssey” requires a keen audience and a strong understanding of the subtle references that without them most would be left puzzled and confused by Kubrick's intentions and what he wanted to express. The unique aspect of this film is its contrast to many other film of smooth seamless saucers to the scientifically supported details in a time where space travel had not been achieved yet.
Bibliography
2001: A Space Odyssey — in-depth analysis — by Rob Ager 2008
2001: A Space Odyssey — in-depth analysis — by Rob Ager 2008. (2018). Collativelearning.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018, from
Ebert, R. (1997). 2001: A Space Odyssey Movie Review (1968) | Roger Ebert. Rogerebert.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018, from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968
Website
Ebert, R.
Ebert, R. (1968). Rogerebert.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018, from https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message
