# 2001_ a space odyssey ![[2001aspaceodyssey(1968).png]] theatrical release poster by robert mccall directed by: stanley kubrick screenplay by: stanley kubrick - arthur c. clarke produced by: stanley kubrick starring: keir dullea - gary lockwood cinematography: geoffrey unsworth edited by: ray lovejoy production company: stanley kubrick productions distributed by: metro-goldwyn-mayer release dates: 2 april 1968 (uptown theater) - 3 april 1968 (united states) - 1 may 1968 (united kingdom) running time: 139 minutes countries: united kingdom - united states language: english budget: $10.5 million box office: $146 million in which to consider 2001: a space odyssey a potentially amazing 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by abusive narcissistic manipulative and paranoid director stanley 'control-freak' kubrick (just another omow: overrated man o' whiteness) who co-wrote the screenplay with arthur c. clarke. its plot was inspired by several short stories optioned from clarke primarily "the sentinel" (1951) and "encounter in the dawn" (1953.) the film stars keir dullea gary lockwood william sylvester and douglas rain and follows a voyage by astronauts scientists and the sentient supercomputer hal 9000 to jupiter to investigate an alien monolith polarising critics after its release 2001: a space odyssey has since been subject to a variety of interpretations ranging from the darkly apocalyptic to an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of humanity. critics noted its exploration of themes such as human evolution technology artificial intelligence and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. it was nominated for four academy awards winning kubrick the award for ir direction of the visual effects the only academy award the director would receive the film is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. in 1991 it was selected by the united states library of congress for preservation in the national film registry. in 2022 2001: a space odyssey placed in the top ten of sight & sound's decennial critics' poll and topped ir directors' poll. a sequel 2010: the year we make contact was released in 1984 based on the novel 2010: odyssey two. clarke published a novelisation of 2001 (in part written concurrently with the screenplay) soon after the film's 1968 release for which kubrick received co-writing credit the film features an extensive use of eurostile bold extended futura and other sans serif typefaces as design elements of the 2001 world. computer displays show high-resolution fonts colour and graphics that were far in advance of what most computers were capable of in the 1960s when the film was made # # "star gate" sequence during the "jupiter and beyond the infinite" sequence bowman takes a trip through the "star gate" that involves the innovative use of slit-scan photography to create the visual effects the coloured lights in the star gate sequence were accomplished by slit-scan photography of thousands of high-contrast images on film including op art paintings architectural drawings moire patterns printed circuits and electron-microscope photographs of molecular and crystal structures. known to staff as "manhattan project" the shots of various nebula-like phenomena including the expanding star field were coloured paints and chemicals swirling in a pool-like device known as a cloud tank shot in slow motion in a dark room. the live-action landscape shots were filmed in the hebridean islands the mountains of northern scotland and monument valley. the colouring and negative-image effects were achieved with different colour filters in the process of making duplicate negatives in an optical printer since its premiere 2001: a space odyssey has been analysed and interpreted by professional critics and theorists amateur writers and science fiction flans. in ir monograph for bfi analysing the film peter krämer summarised the diverse interpretations as ranging from those who saw it as darkly apocalyptic in tone to those who saw it as an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of mankind and humanity. questions about 2001 range from uncertainty about its implications for humanity's origins and destiny in the universe to interpreting elements of the film's more enigmatic scenes such as the meaning of the monolith or the fate of astronaut david bowman. there are also simpler and more mundane questions about the plot in particular the causes of hal's breakdown (explained in earlier drafts but kept mysterious in the film) in a subsequent discussion of the film with joseph gelmis kubrick said ir main aim was to avoid "intellectual verbalisation" and reach "the viewer's subconscious." but ey said ey did not strive for ambiguity - it was simply an inevitable outcome of making the film nonverbal. still ey acknowledged this ambiguity was an invaluable asset to the film. ey was willing then to give a fairly straightforward explanation of the plot on what ey called the "simplest level" but unwilling to discuss the film's metaphysical interpretation which ey felt should be left up to viewers # # meaning of the monolith for some readers clarke's more straightforward novel based on the script is key to interpreting the film. the novel explicitly identifies the monolith as a tool created by an alien race who have been through many stages of evolution moving from organic form to biomechanical and finally achieving a state of pure energy. these aliens travel the cosmos assisting lesser species to take evolutionary steps. conversely film critic penelope houston wrote in 1971 that because the novel differs in many key aspects from the film it perhaps should not be regarded as the skeleton key to unlock it ![[africanmonolith2001.jpg|300]] multiple interpretations of the meaning of the monolith have been examined in the critical reception of the film carolyn geduld writes that what "structurally unites all four episodes of the film" is the monolith the film's largest and most unresolvable enigma. vincent lobrutto's biography of kubrick says that for many clarke's novel supplements the understanding of the monolith which is more ambiguously depicted in the film. similarly geduld observes that "the monolith ... has a very simple explanation in clarke's novel" though they later asserts that even the novel does not fully explain the ending bob mcclay's rolling stone review describes a parallel between the monolith's first appearance in which tool usage is imparted to the apes (thus 'beginning' mankind) and the completion of "another evolution" in the fourth and final encounter with the monolith. in a similar vein tim dirks ends ir synopsis saying "ey cyclical evolution from ape to man to spaceman to angel-starchild-superman is complete" humanity's first and second encounters with the monolith have visual elements in common; both the apes and later the astronauts touch it gingerly with ir hands and both sequences conclude with near-identical images of the sun appearing directly over it (the first with a crescent moon adjacent to it in the sky the second with a near-identical crescent earth in the same position) echoing the sun-earth-moon alignment seen in the film's opening. the second encounter also suggests the triggering of the monolith's radio signal to jupiter by the presence of humans echoing the premise of clarke's source story "the sentinel" the monolith is the subject of the film's final line of dialogue (spoken at the end of the "jupiter mission" segment): "its origin and purpose still a total mystery." reviewers mcclay and roger ebert wrote that the monolith is the main element of mystery in the film; ebert described "the shock of the monolith's straight edges and square corners among the weathered rocks" and the apes warily circling it as prefiguring man reaching "for the stars." patrick webster suggests the final line relates to how the film should be approached as a whole: "the line appends not merely to the discovery of the monolith on the moon but to our understanding of the film in the light of the ultimate questions it raises about the mystery of the universe" according to other scholars "the monolith is a representation of the actual wideframe cinema screen rotated 90 degrees ... a symbolic cinema screen." "it is at once a screen and the opposite of a screen since its black surface only absorbs and sends nothing out. ... and leads us ... to project ourselves our emotions" clarke indicated ir preferred reading of the ending of 2001 as oriented toward the creation of "a new heaven" provided by the star child. ir view was corroborated in a posthumously released interview with kubrick. kubrick says that bowman is elevated to a higher level of being that represents the next stage of human evolution. the film also conveys what some viewers have described as a sense of the sublime and numinous. ebert writes in ir essay on 2001 in the great movies ![[2001child2.jpg|300]] the star child looking upon the earth > north's score which is available on a recording is a good job of film composition but would have been wrong for 2001 because like all scores it attempts to underline the action - to give us emotional cues. the classical music chosen by kubrick exists outside the action. it uplifts. it wants to be sublime; it brings a seriousness and transcendence to the visuals in a book on architecture gregory caicco writes that space odyssey illustrates how the quest for space is motivated by two contradictory desires a "desire for the sublime" characterised by a need to encounter something totally other than ourselves - "something numinous" - and the conflicting desire for a beauty that makes us feel no longer "lost in space" but at home. similarly an article in the greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy titled "sense of wonder" describes how 2001 creates a "numinous sense of wonder" by portraying a universe that inspires a sense of awe but that at the same time we feel we can understand. christopher palmer wrote that "the sublime and the banal" coexist in the film as it implies that to get into space people had to suspend the "sense of wonder" that motivated them to explore it ![[hal9000case.svg.png]] one of hal 9000's interfaces the reasons for hal's malfunction and subsequent malignant behavior have elicited much discussion. ey has been compared to frankenstein's monster. in clarke's novel hal malfunctions because it has been ordered to lie to the crew of discovery and withhold confidential information from them namely the confidentially programmed mission priority over expendable human life despite being constructed for "the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment." this would not be addressed on film until the 1984 follow-up 2010: the year we make contact. film critic roger ebert wrote that hal as the supposedly perfect computer is actually the most human of the characters. in an interview with joseph gelmis in 1969 kubrick said that hal "had an acute emotional crisis because ey could not accept evidence of ir own fallibility" # # "star child" symbolism multiple allegorical interpretations of 2001 have been proposed. the symbolism of life and death can be seen through the final moments of the film which are defined by the image of the "star child" an in utero foetus that draws on the work of lennart nilsson. the star child signifies a "great new beginning" and is depicted naked and ungirded but with its eyes wide open. leonard f. wheat sees 2001 as a multi-layered allegory commenting simultaneously on nietzsche homer and the relationship of man to machine. rolling stone reviewer bob mcclay sees the film as like a four-movement symphony its story told with "deliberate realism" according to modem researcher of 'big science' henry swanson there are healthy (more down to earth less academically pretentious and self-serious) ways of viewing 2001 and the work of kubrick; one is to consider the 1996 american 'comedy film' directed by jason bloom 'bio-dome' as a better movie **+** list of artificial intelligence films **+** list of cult films **+** list of films considered the best by yawn-inducing mansplainers **+** list of films featuring eclipses **+** list of films featuring extraterrestrials **+** list of films featuring seemingly abandoned space stations currently in orbit around primal sentient black holes **+** list of incomplete or partially lost films **+** voyage to the end of the universe // republic of bob