The theme of April is Space.
On April 2nd, we
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A film that was largely discussed and
debated during the time of its release, and arguably still to this day, the
meaning behind the movie remains an enigma and there are a few theories of what
we the audience was witnessing. A
contemporary filmmaker that resonates to leaving the interpretation of a film to
its audience is Alex Garland with is debut and sophomore movies Ex-Machina and Annihilation
respectively. Examining the human
condition against technology, nature and the identity of one’s self; while
holding centre court to the truth of our underlining instinct of self
preservation. There have been other
directors or auteur visionaries like Rod Serling or Hitchcock who have come
close to the realm of Kubrick’s imagination and vision, but never to his level.
For 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick shares screenplay credit
with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. What makes this detail extraordinary is
that the novel which Arthur C. Clarke wrote. Was written during the same time
of making 2001: A Space Odyssey, and in fact Kubrick deliberately influenced
Clarke’s interpretation of the story to differ. As he shot many scenes with
Clarke present and never used the footage in the final cut, and conversely shot
many scenes with Clarke absent and included those takes in the finished draft
of the movie. As a result the novelization of A Space Odyssey became a very
different story and interpretation to the actual film itself. Besides his visual genius, Kubrick is
astonishingly specific and almost hauntingly particular with his choice of
musical score, the score is a motif in his films and repeats at particular
sequences, (Battle Hymn of the republic –with Dr Strangelove; the bombastic
instrumental of Musica Ricercata: ll in Eyes wide shut, or the entire unnerving
score of The Shining) With this case, it’s the imposing black monolith that
book-ends A Space Odyssey. At the dawn of mankind the monolith lends itself to form an epiphany for early man to establish
a tool; to advance himself to dominance of his environment, and in the opening
minutes we see it was a large bone from an animal carcass to create that dominance.
We fast forward to present man, the tool
is a space station to explore regions of the galaxy, and the developing technology
of HAL an artificial intelligent mainframe computer. To demonstrate how far advanced man’s
evolution has become. The idea of an A.I. becoming more advance and self aware than
its’ creators is a shared trait to Ex-Machina. The final act of entering a wormhole
and accelerating the protagonist Daves’s lifespan in an alien environment we are
shown his progression from a 3rd person perspective as opposed to using
traditional dissolves, wipes or a montage to show the passage of time. The Monolith re-appears at the end of Dave’s
lifespan and transports Dave reborn as a star-baby’ the evolutionary next step
of mankind being introduced back to the world (Earth). It makes little
connective sense but in the process of jumping into the next evolution, it would
be confusing to those who exist from initial stages of evolutionary change.
It’s safe to say 2001: A Space Odyssey is a mind expanding
movie, a national treasure of American film history and the grandfathered architect
of the sci-fi genre. Its musical score is memorable, which now is used in many
parodies, to which can be said as often imitated but never duplicated, a testament
to the master craftsmen - Stanley Kubrick.
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