2001: A Space Odyssey

     The discussion about science leads into the second point of monoliths and technology. www.dictionary.com defines a monolith as something, such as a column or monument, made from one large block of stone. This is first portrayed in the first couple of scenes in the movie. As the gorilla finds the monolith, picks it up and uses it as a weapon to kill prey. Next, when the gorilla throws the bone up in to the air, it becomes a space ship over Earth. As I researched, this was the longest time change in history of all the movies. Considering the bone became the spaceship just shows that even though technologically people have progressed, the minds still stayed relatively the same with the same goals. As a saying my mother once told me, Men are like children, but when they get older they change their toys. I find this to be relevant in “2001” as the time change only portrays a different time period but more or less the same content. Because the movie is very slow paced, in my opinion, it gives the viewer a lot of time to question everything that is happening and make sure to understand everything. There is not much conversation there either which is not serving as another distraction. Makes the theme of the movie very clear. Stanley Kubrick also includes the

Arthur C. Clarke, an award-winning author, in his novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, suggests that human evolution would not have been possible without the help of extra-terrestrial beings and the use of tools. Clarke is able to support his suggestions by narrating the influence the extraterrestrials have on humans and by describing the importance of the tools humans utilize. His purpose was to share his take on the final frontier in order to help readers make their own opinions and conclusions on evolution and deep space. Clarke utilizes a direct and scientific tone with his audience in a way to help them follow along, so that they don’t lose focus on the important themes throughout the novel.

“2001: A space Odyssey” opens in the African Rift Valley, where a tribe of hominids encounter a stone monument which has obstructed on their domain. This stone monument transmits radio waves that end up expanding their IQ 's, teaching them weaponry and other tool uses to help them live, as they proceed to defeat a rival tribe. Four million years later, we see the luxurious space travel that the vintage science fiction of the 1960’s, with space stations for air terminals and such. Dr. Heywood Floyd is heading to Clavius Base, a United States lunar station. Along the way, he finds out about gossipy tidbits about an unidentifiable disease going around on the Clavius Base and his responsibility to study a four-million-year-old structure. Floyd

Planet of the Apes takes the world as we know it and turns it upside down and in so doing questions almost every belief and value system of mankind. Written and produced at a time when America and much of the world was in the midst of a cultural change and people were questioning and protesting everything the screenwriters take make this film a satirical and thought provoking commentary on the big questions of the era. The Vietnam War, the struggle for equal treatment of African Americans and a general mindset of questioning religion and traditional values were the things that made up the American culture of the nineteen sixties. The film grapples with and makes ant attempt to address most of the issues of the period in which it was written. Three thousand years into the future man has devolved into a non-speaking primitive being while apes have evolved into intellectual beings capable of rational thought and speech. Taylor, the captain of the spaceship and tragic hero, speaks his last words before hibernating his way into the distant future, he states that he is leaving the twentieth century and asks a question, “Tell me, though, does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother ... keep his neighbor's children starving?” Taylor, a cynic and skeptic, sees man as violent and destructive. When he arrives in the future to a world where apes are supreme the antagonist of the film, Dr.

The Space Race was one of the biggest rivalries between America and the Soviet Union in the 1950’s to the 1970’s. The Space Race was part of something bigger, the Cold War. The Cold War was a time of political and military tension after World War 2, between different powers all over the world, but mainly between the U.S and the Soviet Russia. When people think of the Cold War, one of the many things that come to mind is the Space Race. In this essay I will write mainly about the Space Race and how both countries spent time and money building rockets and other devices. I will also talk about the steps it took to make it to the Moon. And lastly, the effects it had on American politics.

On October 4th, 1957 the simple action of launching a beachball-sized hunk of metal into our orbit, reshaped the lives of people in the United States and across the world for the next years to come. This small ball of metal was Sputnik, a Soviet satellite with a radio transmitter inside letting out a small “beeping” sound. This object, as unsophisticated as it was, had the power to set the entire country into panic. To US officials this action not only made it clear that the Soviet superpower of Russia was more technologically advanced, but for all we knew they could be putting nuclear warfare into space. To the US this thought was unbearable, and because of this it would go on to set off a race of the century, the Space Race. A race to put technology into space, a race that would change American life at home and in foreign policy. From changes within the school system, to the Red Scare, life would be changed drastically in the years to come, not only in the U.S, but in Russia as well.

     Donnie Darko and 2001: A Space Odyssey has central meanings that focus on science and religion. Richard Kelly's, Donnie Darko, introduces the protagonist as a teenage boy who is given the chance to live for twenty-eight more days after the mysterious jet engine crash that was intended to kill him. Donnie is plagued by visions of a giant sized evil-looking rabbit named Frank. Frank orders Donnie to commit acts of violence, warns of the impending end of the world, and is his guide throughout the movie. Donnie is portrayed as a Christ-like figure that will ultimately travel back in time not only to redeem his actions, but the actions of those he has affected. When Donnie dies he becomes a martyr and saves the

Colonization has always been present throughout the ages, and has certainly psychologically impacted those of the colonized region. Cultural confusion caused by colonization has resulted in the bafflement and unsureness of their cultural and political viewpoints. In the film “Empire of the Sun”, we see Jamie Graham, being born in China and having no knowledge of his place of heritage, England, while admiring Japan, the country attacking his homeland, China, which is the result of having cultural confusion resulted from colonization. We see his admiration of the Japanese, his nativeness towards the Chinese and his disregards of the English through his words when talking about the War. This results with a differed viewpoint of the war, with his Chinese nativeness, English disregards, and Japanese admiration, than his parents (who have a different viewpoint due to their birthplace. England). His cultural beliefs are quite confusing (hence “Cultural Confusion”) because in states in the beginning that the war (or so he thinks) is between the British/Japanese against the Chinese, but the British say that China aren’t even an enemy, the Japanese are. Thus, due to his cultural confusion, Jamie Graham’s standpoint on the three countries involved in the war, Japan, China, and England, has resulted in the complexity of his stance and thoughts towards the war.

Recently, our class read the book and watched the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The book is written by Arthur C. Clarke and the movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The book was written as a framework for the movie, so the two are mostly the same. But, while there were similarities, there were also some major differences.

The Dawn of Man. Four simple words introduced what is remarked as one of the greatest films of all time. There is no spoken dialogue within the first 25 minutes and the last 23 minutes of the film. “2001: A Space Odyssey” is an ambiguous film. The broad range of audience captures various interpretations of the film. The main theme seems to be about the evolutionary process of mankind interwoven with elements of a higher or extraterrestrial entity guiding this evolution. There are some film theories that suggest this movie was all propaganda used in conjunction with the space race that occurred during World War 2. Some even go as far as to say that the same set used in “2001: A Space Odyssey” was used to fake the moon landing of 1969. However, theories with more evidence suggest that the iconic monolith doesn’t represent aliens or “God”, but instead represents the cinema screen of which we are viewing. The artistic importance of “2001: A Space Odyssey” is derived from its ability procure various conclusions.

Every scene with the showing of the monolith, all exposes a experience that changes the society. Starting with the Moonwatcher, the invention of tools and technology comes into play, by transforming the apes to uses

The development of nuclear weapons helped to end World War II, but in turn created their own war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The development of modified military missiles such as the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM, by Americans and the Soviets, had an impact on the struggle of power of the Cold War. The importance of military involvement in the creation of modified missiles and engines were critical events of the Cold War. Additionally, the steps taken to get to space were a byproduct of this Arms Race and the Cold War. Because the United States and the Soviet Union feared what the other country would or could do with weapons of mass destruction and the thought of the opposing country being able to control

2001: A Space Odyssey is just that: a long wandering voyage of the body and mind. Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark collaborated brilliantly. In examining both works, the film and the novel, there are certainly differences, yet the theme and overall idea coincide thoroughly. That this was made in the 1960's augments both accomplishments. The visuals, seen in 2004, are still captivating. What they must've seemed like in 1968! I flout those who received this movie poorly in those days. Would I have received it as well without having a preconceived idea of its greatness? I can only hope I would have known what I was watching.

Literature can, at times, have a fascinating connection with film. Whether it is a film or a piece of literature, both are written by someone that wants to leave an impact on an audience. However, movies and books have different roles. They each have different strong points wherein books give better characterization, stronger revelations, and inner conflict, but movies create a better mood with music and visuals, showing much more emotion. It's a totally different kind of experience, of course, and there are a number of differences between the book and the movie. The novel of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, for example, attempts to explain things much more explicitly than the film does, which is inevitable in a verbal medium. The movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, on the other hand, is essentially a visual, nonverbal experience. It avoids intellectual verbalization and reaches the viewer's subconscious in a way that is essentially poetic and philosophic. The film thus becomes a subjective experience, which hits the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does, or painting. Utilizing its verbal medium, Clarke is able to explain his narrative, whereas Kubrick creates a visual and audial experience, through means of ambiguity, in which the viewer sees everything, is told nothing, and in which one cannot detect the presence of the film as one at all.

This adaptation is about reclamation. What exactly are we reclaiming? Space. The space to belong, the space to express ourselves and our ideas, the space to consider our bodies in spaces traditionally not accessible to us. It is about modernizing social movements to serve all members of the community, not just those privileged enough to have a platform of power. To that end, An (Un)American Daughter is not a celebration of how far we have come as a society. But, more importantly, it is about revealing how far we have left to go and how much is left to accomplish. When Wasserstein first wrote this play, it was seen a play that lacked a concrete sense of direction and simplistically regurgitated social values in the mid-1900s (CITATION). Ben Bradley for The New York Times wrote that neither the direction nor the dialogue could “conceal the feeling that she doesn’t know entirely where she’s heading or how to get there” (CITATION).