2001: A Space Odyssey

Great Essays
Interdisciplinary Paper

Whether it was the war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, the second-wave of feminism, or Watergate, the sixties were an extremely influential time that molded young Americans’ outlook on society and the future. As time passes, how people view society changes and depends on the events of their youth. I hypothesize that because of the events of their youth, the young generation of the sixties developed an increasingly negative and cynical outlook on mankind and the future of the world. In this paper I will examine the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, the song “In The Year 2525” by Zager & Evans, and public opinion polling data on the United States’ involvement in Vietnam to further examine this hypothesis.
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Through diegetic sound Kubrick develops an image of man as primal and egocentric, whose actions negatively affect the world he lives in. Kubrick uses the gorilla’s screeching in the beginning of the film to demonstrate what man was like at the “dawn of time,” alluding to a primal root in man’s nature. Further, with the eerie opera singing(ftnt) emanating from the black obelisk the film conveys an ominously negative association with the obelisk – the obelisk was not natural; it had to be made by some other intelligent being, a hit to man’s ego at being the greatest and most intelligent. Later on in the film, when the astronauts are replacing the “faulty” part reported by HAL, all the viewer hears is heavy breathing from inside the suit. This heavy breathing creates an image of man being the only thing left on the planet; everything else has been used up and the land is barren. 2001: A Space Odyssey is also an instance where Kubrick uses silence as an effective mechanism to convey this barrenness caused by man. This use of silence is most notable at the end of the movie, when Dave goes through the stages of his adult life in the white, baroque styled room. Kubrick’s employment of silence suggests stillness in the world and as Dave is seen dying, this silence can be extended to the stillness and silence …show more content…
The message of the film is one of man’s transition from his primal state (the gorillas) to a technologically advanced state (the space stations and vessels) and back to his natural state. Dave, the lone survivor on the journey to Jupiter, ends up alone in the white room at the end. Once a man who was technologically skilled, Dave is seen going through the aging process until he dies, thus returning to man’s natural state. However, Kubrick also comments negatively on man’s ego and how it results in failure and destruction. This parable is apparent in HAL; HAL was supposed to be the ultimate tool, however he was given man’s ego and that led to his death. And yet, Kubrick expresses an optimism for the world too; Dave is reborn as a glowing fetus looking over the earth –an image of what Kubrick hopes man will someday become: child of the universe and caretaker of the earth and its inhabitants.
With the eccentricities of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, you might wonder how it relates to the hypothesis that the younger generation of sixties had a cynical outlook on society and the future. 2001: A Space Odyssey was the second highest grossing film in 1968, demonstrating that it was popular among the public. With such an outlandish film being so popular, we can conclude that its messages resonated

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