Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is an epic science fiction film that
has engrossed many audiences through its staggeringly accurate depiction of
future spacecraft. It is comprised of an untraditional plot in which portrays
the developments of the human race as a whole rather than focus on telling the
story of a single character, telling 2001
in four chapters. With these intentions, Kubrick’s revolutionary production
design is so authentic that it becomes a film way ahead of its time, not just
artistically, but through advancing technological spacecraft in the real world
highly enough that in 1969, man walked on the moon for the very first time.
The first
chapter “The Dawn of Man” depicts the everlasting desire for mankind to gain
mental superiority over one another through two tribes of apes – this of which
is initiated by a mysterious black monolith. The dry and barren but colourful atmospheres
that surround them represent the emptiness and nothingness of the universe when
simply using it as a means to survive rather than to live, but as a single ape
discovers and teaches other apes the rule of survival of the fittest, the later
arrival of the monolith encourages an interest from the other apes. It is
interesting how the fascinating monolith juxtaposes with the unproductive
scenery as it depicts that the establishment of the human mind was widely
expanded through science and exploration, and through mans own will.
Figure 1:
All of the
chapters are portrayed in an unpretentious manner, as a means to depict the
characters and the spacecraft to be natural as if they didn’t have to put on an
act for viewing audiences. This is especially demonstrated through chapter two
“Tycho Magnetic Anomaly one” in which Kubrick tries to initiate that the
advancement of a spaceship could become so common that they would not need to forcefully
emphasise the greatness of it to audiences. Along with this, they also display
the spaceship to have numerous similarities to an airport, along with living
environments so crew members could simply use the spacecraft to relax as well.
The fact that all of the different rooms have boldly different colours and
bright tones could emphasise their recognisable individual functions, but they
could also be chosen as a means to display their level of risk to the crew
members, such as the room that Frank talks to his family from is white for
innocence and emptiness and the colour of the room which programs HAL 9000 is
red to be threatening.
Figure 2:
It is
significant that there is little dialogue or music during the course of the
movie, and it is noted that there is no dialogue during the first quarter and
last quarter of the film. This is technically
because in space there is no sound. However, this intention to also be to
emphasise the impact of the interior and exterior design of the spacecraft.
Angie Errigo states: “Its faults - sketchy narrative, overblown
abstraction - are counterbalanced
by its gripping engagement between man
and machine, and its rhapsodic wonder at heaven and earth and the infinite
beyond” and much of the stylized technology has been used in many Sci-Fi films
today, such as the Star Wars saga and
Blade Runner. As the movie
progresses, it is evident that much of the colours of the set designs are
primary colours that contain rigid outlines, however, there is also a heavy use
of very basic black and white tones to emphasize that despite the artistic
qualities of the set, it is displayed and design for function purposes. Chapter two expresses an array of spectacular
shots in which exceedingly cover the whole of the spaceship, such as through
using long panel shots to cover a tunnel like perspective view, along with
using the sets creatively to display the absence of gravity and the ways in
which the crew can exploit this.
Figure 3:
The final
chapters of the film become more compelling than the previous ones due to the
fact that they convey an obvious plot, and they also demonstrate the characters’
actions as being critical for their own survival – especially Dave’s. A
particular catalyst that supports this is when the HAL 9000 – the brain and
central nervous system of the spacecraft starts to turn against the crew
members of the ship even though he is programmed to be fool proof and incapable
of error. Everything around the spaceship seems to close in and the colours are
more dark and denser to resemble that the life support of the ship is crashing,
showing a less glamorous side of the ship, however, due to this we see a more
interesting character development as Dave is forced shut down the spacecraft to
save Frank.
The final
chapter “Jupiter and beyond the Infinite” is a challenging concept to understand
by some viewers, as it incorporates the idea that man has to understand his
mortality, and that new unknown life is constantly emerging beyond the cosmos. It
also in some ways concludes the development of man in conjugation with the
first chapter demonstrating the start of mans life. The deliberately antique
room in which inhabits numerous forms of mans life demonstrates the fact that no
earthly actions can prepare man for life outside of earth. It is also
interesting how Dave sees older versions of himself as he explores the rooms as
if he is consciously looking towards the future in the aid of personal
development, judging oneself from the outside. A particularly challenging
moment involves Dave witnessing an older version of himself drop a wine glass –
perhaps signifying that despite a container, the liquid still exists and
mirroring the concept of death when the body no longer remains but the spirit
will continue to exist. The monolith also returns to the final stage of Dave’s
life as a bedridden old man, perhaps foreshadowing how the later existence of
technology will also be just as significant on him evaluating his life.
However, the big finale which displays a particularly intelligent technique
portrays Dave going through a stargate sequence after defeating HAL and as he
is being transported light years into the universe, the monolith is presumed to
be showing him things that he’d never have the ability to see for himself.
Through this is views other phenomena of life forms and there is a part in the
stargate sequence which shows the Monolith possibly showing Dave the big bang –
this is demonstrated through Dave’s eyes continuing to blink and change colour,
emphasising his new wave of understanding.
Figure 4:
Bibliography:
Reynolds, D. and more, S. (2013) What
does the ending of 2001: A space odyssey really mean?
Available at:
http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-the-ending-of-2001-a-space-odyssey-really-mean?page=2
(Accessed: 15 October 2016).
Snow, R. (2011) Reviews of classic movies: ‘2001: A
space odyssey’. Available at:
https://robertsnow.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/review-2001-a-space-odyssey/
(Accessed: 15 October 2016).
Willans, J., Nybergh, T., Caretti, R., Kurkijärvi, K.,
Anderson, J., Aulén, M., Harris, K., Tamminen, L. and Järventaus, A. (2013) 17
little known facts about 2001: A space odyssey.
Available at:
http://inktank.fi/17-little-know-facts-about-2001-a-space-odyssey/ (Accessed:
15 October 2016).
(Willans et al., 2013)
Zárate, I. (2015) The cultural impact of Kubrick’s
2001: A space odyssey. Available at:
http://moviepilot.com/posts/3605468 (Accessed: 15 October 2016).
(Zárate, 2015)
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