2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey
I’ve always been one to like films that really dip into art, which 2002 A Space Odyssey does. I’m also one to always love a good flick because movies are what I was brought up on. I may be a movie buff, but 2001 A Space Odyssey is one movie I had never seen before and now I know why. In my opinion this movie is that it is a movie to be appreciated but not enjoyed. I’m not saying that there were no enjoyable points because there were, what I’m saying is that the movie is more of an art than a movie to just relax to.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that was directed by Stanley Kubrick and was released in 1968. This is a science fiction film that incorporates human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life. The movie is said to be way ahead of its time using special effects, surreal imagery, music, and minimal use of dialogue. 2001: A Space Odyssey is today recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. The 2002 Sight & Sound critics have actually ranked it as one of the top ten films of all time. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and received one for visual effects because they was so far advance for their day. Now, today the film is preserved in The National Film Registry.
The film starts out with apes searching for food. As the scene progresses a black monolith appears. The apes approach the monolith and begin to scream and jump about. The scene progresses even more when one of the apes discovers that he can kill using a bone as a weapon. The apes are meant to represent the dawn of man, or in other words evolution. The monolith represents the discovery of technology, which in this scene is the bone that is used to kill other animals for food. So if you put the pieces together the scene represented the evolution of man and man’s discovery of technology.
The film then quickly moves to a space ship. On this space ship the audience is shown what life on a futuristic space ship would be like. The ship is decorated with a very futuristic look, or at least with the look that people have been conditioned to think of when they think of the future. The technology is far in advance such as the videophone one of astronauts uses to call to talk to their daughter through what looks like a television screen. The food it made to look simple and easy to eat. The women workers on the ship are shown delivering the food, but not by just simple walking to the astronauts but by walking up walls and being upside down to make it seem as if there was no gravity and the only thing keeping them on a surface was their futuristic shoes.
The film then goes into the Jupiter mission, which is again on a futuristic space ship. There are two mission pilots and 3 other scientists that are cryogenic hibernation. Another addition on the ship is the ship’s computer, named Hal that is made to help the astronauts and was also made to have genuine emotions. As the mission progresses Hal starts to have computer complications because he begins to stop trusting the humans that are controlling him. Hal starts his rampage by killing one of the astronauts and then proceeds to kill the scientists that are in hibernation. The astronaut that is left shuts down Hal and leaves in one of the ship’s pods to continue to Jupiter. This scene illustrates how humans should not rely on technology because it is never certain that it will follow what it is made to do.
When the last astronaut arrives on Jupiter he is put into what looks like a section of a house. The astronaut is without technology now. He quickly ages years at a time until he is finally shown his deathbed. The monolith that was shown at the beginning of the film then appears in front of his bed. The astronaut then dies and is turned into what looks like a floating fetus. This scene shows how it is perceived that humans cannot survive without technology.
This film is meant to show how technology may help the evolution of man but it does not control us and if or when it does we will rise above it.