Film Analysis

2001: A Space Odyssey

Visceral visuals and majestic music contribute to the legacy that Stanley
Kubrick has left on the film industry. Loosely based on the short stories, ‘The
Sentinel’ and ‘Encounter in the Dawn’ by critically acclaimed author, Arthur C.
Clarke, “2001: A Space Odyssey” is a film whose editorial genius and direction
make it a truly “cinematic experience”.
However, despite its grand nature, the film is not immune to the pitfalls
that accompany its glacially slow pacing. The beautiful composition, framing
and choice of colour, while consistent, soon lose their charm, and the average
eye starts losing interest in the long-held shots of the current scene shown
from different angles.
Much is left up to audience speculation in the movie, and its novel
version, 2001: A Space Odyssey, penned by Arthur C. Clarke, is often
recommended to the viewers who are left bewildered and confused after the
film. However, it is important to treat the film and the book as different
entities, and not as extensions of each other. The lack of dialogue and
exposition in the film is very much intentional on Kubrick’s part, for he wishes
for the audience to ‘watch’ the film as closely as possible and take away their
own interpretations of the on-screen events.
The film, despite being released in 1968, is still considered to be one of
the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time, and interpretations of its scenes are still
debated amongst fans and critiques.

About the Film:

2001: A Space Odyssey has many themes inter-woven into its narrative.
It shows the evolution of man, from apes to space-travelling humans to angels,
depicted in the form of a ‘star-child’. It does so in the form of a black monolith,
who seems to trigger the next step of evolution every time it appears in the
film.
 While Kubrick leaves it unexplained as to what the monolith itself is,
there are many theories regarding the matter. I believe that perhaps the
monolith represents different things every time it appears. In its first
appearance, amongst the apes, it could represent curiosity. Its second
appearance is on the moon, where it could represent humanity’s current stage
in the line of evolution. A stage where humanity is reliant on machines and
tools that it has created to aid itself. No longer the primitive apes that lived in
caves and hunted with bones, humanity is at a point where it has started using
its creations to explore the infinite depths of space, leading to the creation of
space stations at multiple places across the solar system. These same machines
lead to the discovery of the monolith once again, who is buried under the
surface of the moon. Its third appearance sets up the final stage of evolution,
from man to angel, or ‘star-child’.

The film also explores what it would be like if machines were to acquire
sentience in the form of HAL-9000. A super-computer micro-managing the
Discovery One’s functions, HAL is shown to be the most reliable and
trustworthy piece of AI ever, when he is first introduced in the film. It is even
mentioned that the 9000-series of computers, that HAL belongs to, have a
perfect record till date, and have not made a single error since their creation.
While the idea of such a perfect machine feels amazing at first glance, the film
slowly unfolds what such a perfect, yet emotionless piece of intelligence could
lead to.

In this film, Kubrick sticks to his notion of, “Show, don’t tell,” through
and through. Of the two-and-a-half-hour-long film, only about 40 minutes are
scenes containing any sort of dialogue. From Dr. Heywood Floyd’s dry
conversations with his colleagues, to the lifeless interactions between the two
astronauts, David Bowman and Frank Poole, most dialogue in the film is
mundane and inconsequential.
 The dialogue is formal, and devoid of emotion. The film also seems to be
suggesting that in an era of technological progress and innovation, speaking
would start to become an increasingly primitive way of communication. It is
somewhat reflective of the current situation of society – with the advent of the
Internet and the wonders it has brought to the world, people are often seen
buried in their pocket-computers, oblivious to the world around them.