2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)

I’m stunned that people debate the meaning of 2001 ad nauseum without ever mentioning the incredible design of the interiors: the orange chairs in the lobby of the space hotel, the banana leather padding and turban-headed flight attendants of the Pan Am transport, the minimalist meeting room with glowing white walls at Clavius, and of course Discovery’s dizzying interior with the rotating gravity ring. HAL’s unblinking red lens is as iconic as the monolith: a black post-modern slab that keeps turning up in the oddest places. Finally, the Louis XIV furniture in the futuristic zoo cage is such a perfect visual analogy to the time displacements and overlaps Bowman experiences in the alien’s time-space. For the design alone, 2001 is a masterpiece that would be difficult to top in any era.

to a 15 year old girl who thought this film would have been more entertaining if it had been “normal”:
When I was 15 and saw 2001 in film class I could easily see it was an fx and visual triumph. I got past the heavy-handed symbolism and could accept it as one man’s idea of what is the most epic of stories: the evolution of mankind. I also thought it was boring and slow. I couldn’t identify with any of the emotionless men on the screen, and the tempo of the film seemed glacial (it was the dawn of the Mtv-era of fast-chop editing). I thought the abstract psychedelic sequence could have been much shorter (especially the tinted terrains which are still the weakest visual in the film), and most of the tonal music I thought was pretentious (although the Strauss waltzes were a haunting change from John Williams’ cheesy bombast). I thought the film was deliberately being “weird” for mood and effect. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t appreciate it either.

Twenty years later I have learned about different eras in style and design and the mid-1960s is undoubtedly my favorite. I’m no longer a teenager threatened with the fear of boredom. I can actually sit in a well-designed room and enjoy some quiet time without the need for amusement or constant diversion. I’ve seen a lot of Japanese films and anime (especially Neon Genesis Evangelion) which taught me a different (Asian?) sense of time and pacing. Seconds can last an eternity (like anxiously waiting for a bell to ring), while life shattering events are over in the blink of an eye (like a car crash). This can seem so opposite to the typical Hollywood movie, yet it is actually a lot more like real life.

I’ve seen (but not always appreciated) Opera, Ballet, and Noh Theater which all have a much slower sense of tempo and pacing for the sake of presentation: in all of these “classic” art forms the plot and meaning are secondary to mood, style, and audio-visual themes. You already KNOW what the story is about, so the success of a surprise ending becomes irrelevant. The “entertainment” value is different. I don’t need my brain to be occupied and distracted to prevent boredom. I’m a lot more comfortable in my own skin, and I can now appreciate so much of what I couldn’t appreciate in Space Odyssey at age 15.

Kubrick’s characters aren’t maverick swashbucklers and princesses from storybook fantasies. They are bureaucrats and technicians. Their conversations are banal protocol: the inane sandwich discussion while flying to Clavius’ mysterious discovery, and the way the epidemic cover story is introduced via Dr. Floyd’s casual connection to a Russian scientist who is used by her superior to pump him for information. A lot of adult conversation is boring. The older you get the less you desire to reveal about yourself to strangers — it’s just a part of growing up. Here are these ordinary people in incredible circumstances, and they are all hiding their true feelings and intentions because they are doing their jobs. It may not be exciting, but it is numbingly realistic.

The ultimate conversation is probably HAL asking Bowman about the mysteries surrounding their mission. Dave interrupts HAL assuming he is compiling info for the crews’ psychological report, and HAL sheepishly agrees but there is a lingering feeling that HAL has been rebuffed by more protocol. Bowman is just a technician, probably hired because he doesn’t ask questions, perhaps doesn’t even wonder about the true nature of the mission. HAL’s immaturity goads him to ask what no one else will: What’s going on here? The scientists who do know are in stasis and the astronauts who are awake are just there to make repairs. They don’t know anything. HAL’s isolation and paranoia grows.

Immediately after that, HAL says there will be a communications blackout in 72 hours, presumably when they enter Jupiter space: the time that the scientists will be revived and the real mission begins. He warns the astronauts the communication dish will malfunction “with 100% certainty” (how could anything malfunction at a specific time with absolute certainty?). When they don’t believe him, HAL panics and assumes they are his enemy. He is afraid to be trapped so far from home on an unknown mission with no way to communicate to Earth. Out of fear and the instinct for self-preservation he murders the sleeping scientists and tries to keep the astronauts off the ship. It is the first “human” reaction to the mind-boggling events in the film. Afterall, HAL was designed to mimic human emotions, while everyone else is ignoring the scary situation and behaving like worker drones (also a very adult-type of behavior).

I love that Kubrick left so much of the film up to interpretation, meanwhile going into such extreme details of design. Clearly a master director like Kubrick could have told a very specific story, he could have shown you the aliens, he could have connected all the dots for you. Instead, he leaves so many holes and so much unexplained that the viewer must fill in a lot of the events and their consequences on their own (this is so UNlike Arther C Clark and most sci-fi of the day that preferred to hang overly simplistic conclsions STAMPED LARGE like a banner!). The fact that almost everyone has their own take of 2001, it’s meanings and interpretations, make it art not entertainment. If you don’t like to think on your own Space Odyssey is a great bore; it’s creating fantastic environments but not really catering to the amusement of its audience. It improves with age (yours, not the film’s) and your willingness to shape the experience to your own needs (I’ve heard the ending with space fetus interpreted both as a apocalyptic for Earth and as a new stage of evolution for mankind: negative or positive depending on the viewer — again I recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion for similar evolutionary themes and ambiguous interpretations).

Sure 2001 is heavy-handed in the editing, sometimes pretentious (mostly in the choral music, but how many sci-fi themes are orchestra and theremin? It’s nice to have a change). It’s still a visual stunner at every turn: the curving floors of the space hotel, the believable spaceships, the fact that every little window has a person moving and tiny data screens in an age before digital compositing…. I could go on and on.

I guess it’s silly to say to a 15 year old that not everything in this world was made to entertain you. I wouldn’t have believed it then either! I’m sure I sound pretty boring to you, but I really recommend Neon Genesis as an anime series that might speak your language. It’s full of teenagers dealing with the same themes as 2001, but they don’t hide behind protocol (they resent the adults who do), they say what they feel and are very alive and rich in character and emotions and opinions (unlike the drones in 2001), and it’s got great action love betrayal mystery attitude and entertainment! Recommend it to the adults here too as its got deep themes and complex situations and still leaves a lot of the story up to your interpretation.