Hey Astro 201, this is a picture from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I love music, movies and space, and this film has it all. There is no single piece of media that has ever made me wonder so far into the curiosities of human travel through time and space. What is really absurd about this movie is that despite his incredibly accurate depictions of space (including a stellar view of earth), the movie was made before we ever stepped foot on the moon.
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Great description of “2001” Connor. I’d forgotten that it was made so early – it took a long time for other people to catch up in special effects. I distinctly remember the lack of sound when they were in space and how suspenseful that was.
I think you’ve convinced me to see it again – I didn’t like it much the first (or second) time I saw it but maybe it was the directors cut that seemed too long and I was thinking about writing my dissertation instead 😉 Thanks for the inspiration!!
I couldn’t imagine trying to watch this film with something like that on my mind! It is much too slow and drawn out to stop yourself from wandering off in thought at times, but there is a lot going on to think about. Beyond the special effects I was captivated by the emotional and psychological elements of the film. As I watched the interactions amongst the astronauts and HAL, I noticed something fascinating in their character development. As the movie goes on, Kubrick intentionally paints a personality onto HAL, who’s original purpose was to be a subservient and autonomous computer. What really got to me was while HAL was “evolving” into a seemingly sentient murder-bot, the astronauts were subtly changing as well. As if HAL was quietly stealing their humanity, the astronauts gradually act and speak more autonomously as the film progresses. At a certain point in the film I couldn’t shake the idea that the astronauts were more computer-like than HAL! It was a strange feeling to say the least. In a film concerning evolution and humanity, I think there’s a lot more to be said about this, and I think it is one of the strongest reasons to watch the film besides the special effects.