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2001 A Space Odyssey Movie Analysis

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The trailer for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in anticipation of the movie’s debut on April 6, 1968. Kubrick began working on the movie in 1964 in collaboration with science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (SOURCE). The two worked together to form the movie’s screenplay, Clarke also began working on the novel titled 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick, who was just 39 years old at the time, was beginning to gain popularity after directing movies such as Lolita and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (CITE). His increasing popularity paired with the movie’s intrinsic appeals to the rise of technology and the Space Race effectively captivated the 1960’s American public. Throughout the trailer, there are displays of striking visuals such as spaceships gliding through a star-speckled black backdrop and astronauts walking on the moon’s gray, barren landscape. Although the most prominent aspect of the trailer is its setting in space, the characters’ actions in space are also awfully intriguing. They are flying spaceships, walking on the moon, investigating alien monoliths, whirling off uncontrollably into nothingness, and arguing with the ship’s computer. The introduction to this computer, formally called the “H-A-L 9000 Computer” or simply “HAL”, occurs about halfway through the trailer (TheStanleyKubricks). The serene classical music that the trailer started off with quickly begins to sound more sinister and frightening, then

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