2001 A Space Odyssey

At the 1968 premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rock Hudson, an actor not known for superior intelligence, left the theater in mid-screening asking "Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?" (Ebert 1). Others followed. One of the biggest reasons people who dislike the film react in this manner is because of the film's unique narrative structure, use of imagery versus dialogue, and profound themes. For the film largely revolves around the theme of superior intelligence and man's unique place in the universe because of it.

The opening is a breathtaking series of visual images backed with the opening chords of Strauss's tribute to Nietzschean philosophy, Thus Spake Zarathustra. We view sun rising on earth from the perspective of the moon. The earth, moon and sun are in vertical alignment. The music and the scope of the opening imagery make us think, as does the rest of the film. This is what it is meant to do. Kubrick originally hired a composer for the score and used classical music in the interim. The classical music complimented the serious themes of the film so well, he ended up keeping them. We are going on a journey in this film, a journey all humans travel. As Roger Ebert (1) notes on Kubrick's use of Strauss's Thus Spake Zarathustra, "Inspired by the words of Nietzsche, its five bold opening noted embody the ascension of man into spheres reserved for the gods. It is cold, frightening, magnificent."

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and harmonious environment of space. Our first words come when one Dr. Floyd is told by an elevator he has reached his floor "Here you are, sir. Main Level D." The important connecting thread used to weave the narrative of images and sound is the monolith. In a predawn walk on the moon, the crew encounter a mysterious monolith, that like their Pleistocene ancestors takes on a mystical significance. It is a sign of intelligent life. The signals emitted by the monolith alert the civilization that buried it on Jupiter. This leads into the third segment that is entitled Jupiter Mission. The time is 18 months later. The crew is on a spaceship called Discovery, which is what the film is meant to create within us, a sense of discovery of our place and unique capabilities in the face of the vast and overwhelming universe. The crew is to go to Jupiter, armed with HAL, the ship's intelligent computer designed to be human "The sixth member of the Discovery crew was not concerned about the problems of hibernation. For he was the latest result in machine intelligence�that HAL 9000 computer, which can reproduce, though some experts still prefer to use the word �mimic,' most of the activities of the human brain, and with incalculably

Category: Film - 2