2001: A Space Odyssey

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.

BR depicts the hunger of mankind to break the barriers of humane principle and intrinsic concepts of nature. The extended irony in the film paradoxically gifts the artificial

“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

Many years after its release, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner has become one of the most analyzed and debated science fiction films ever produced. The film was a failure during its initial release in 1982, the reviews were negative and it wasn’t even close to being a box office hit; however, after the director’s cut release in 1992 Blade Runner had a rebirth and it became a highly respected science fiction film. Ridley Scott’s inspiration to produce Blade Runner came from Philip K. Dick’s 1969 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Although the screen writers for Blade Runner mostly just took the main character from Dick’s novel, they added certain key topics that kept a relationship between the two. At the film’s premier

The supercomputer Hal, in Stanley Kubrick’s 2007: A Space Odyssey, begs with Dave Bowman, an astronaut who is disconnecting memory circuits controlling Hal’s brain, to stop because Hal can feel the disconnection. Nicholas Carr, seems to know what his disconnection to staying focused on reading is, he has been spending more of his time on the web. Since he does not have to go to a library and spend time researching for information, he can stay at home and quickly search the internet for what he needs. The internet being our main source for information, there are advantages to having it at our fingertips, but there is also a price that comes with

How do we know that we are human and, if we are human, what does it mean to be human? These two philosophical inquiries are explored in great depth in Ridley Scott's film "Blade Runner", and of course the text of Philip K. Dick's wonderful novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? on which the film is based. Most would agree that these themes exist in the novel, but a handful of critics and academics have some doubt as to their presence in the film. If one examines both the film and the text, one will realize that they both serve to support the same motifs, but do so in different fashions. Many critics argue that the awesome visuals

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.

As a child, Pokémon was the game that every kid would play. There was something special about the little pocket monsters that appealed to every audience. However, it brought to life much controversy about the theory of evolution. In actuality, 2001: A Space Odyssey has a very similar style of evolution to the beloved video game, and Arthur C. Clarke makes use of the evolutionary theory in the novel. In Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the advancement of technology that the monoliths give humans is directly correlated with the evolutionary process of our species and is the only possible method to stop the evolutionary decline. Clarke’s focal area on this technological evolution was due to the cold war that had introduced new technologies

Now that I was reading in-between the lines, I started to notice your other message, which regards technology. To me, your message was very clear: one day, technology will reach a point in which humans could become replaceable. Now, how did I come to this conclusion? The character known as Hal 9000 made me realize this. The artificially intelligent robot you created within the story added a whole new layer of depth to the book. It was awfully clear that Hal was able to replicate human emotions perfectly. He didn’t just malfunction because of a computer glitch. Instead, it was because he, as a person, was conflicted. This is both an extremely scary concept and a powerful message. Because Hal 9000 can replicate human emotions, it devalues the entire purpose of living a human life. In other words, there is no need for actual people anymore because computers can do the exact same thing as humans. Once again, if this was pre-Fifth Grade me, I would just view Hal 9000 as a computer capable of intelligence who malfunctioned, no more, no

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.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut, directed by Scott Ridley, is a film that brings into question the importance of humans in a postmodern world that is filled with androids that are “more human than human” through its use of characterization and analogies (Martin, 111). This parable-like film addresses a multitude of topics such as what separates humans from androids and the different “tragic situations” found in this postmodern, nihilistic, dystopia (Martin, 106-107). In “Meditations on Blade Runner” written by Michael Martin, Martin offers a critical interpretation of the movie as a whole and certain characters while addressing analogies found in the Blade Runner regarding the fall and the future of the soul. By addressing and analyzing characters

2001: A Space Odyssey is a novel like no other. It entices the reader to read more after finishing every chapter, whilst providing facts about the universe that may be viewed as dull when explained outside the novel. It combines a reader’s love for complex characters, such as Hal, with an intricate plot surrounding extraterrestrial life, and finally a lingering feeling of the unknown when the novel finishes. One theme in this novel was most certainly the perils of technology. The novel explores technological innovation, its possibilities, and its perils. Hal controlled the navigation, held the controls for inner mechanisms, such as the doors and airlocks and pods, and controlled message relay from the Earth, etc. Given this power, Hal turned into a

The human experience can be well characterized by certain parts of the media we create. We reflect what we feel and face in our lives, in what we create, especially in our music and writing. The science fiction we create is especially reflective of these things, because it is often written in a way that explores the human condition as it is and as it may be in the future. These pieces of media do more than demonstrate the ideas of those who create them, they provide us with insight into the state of society at the time they were produced, allowing us to see the themes that are constant over the centuries. One of these themes is the struggle we face between the drive to do what we see as right and the instinct to

The good thing about films is that we not only have the opportunity to choose from a wide selection of different genres, but also compare them and understand their purpose in the world. The Horror genre has used the basic principles throughout time, and as a result, films of this type have not proven to be as timeless as another genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy. At first, these two genres might at times seem similar as they have at several occasions been blended together, but their basic, common theme serves different meanings about humans. I shall compare and contrast these two genres and focus on both classic films and modern films. From the Horror genre perspective I shall discuss Psycho (1960) and The Mist (2007), while in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre I will examine 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Serenity (2005). Although the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and the Horror Genre share some similarities, the differences lie in their focus on human progress.

Whether you are a fan of science fiction movies or not, it is clear that their hypothetical nature provides an interesting perspective on how people would cope with concerns raised by technological advancement and the ethical choice they have to make. The movie Passengers (2016) offers a great example of these dilemmas and really emphasizes the human element of dealing with technology.