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Beyond
the final frontier - 30th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's 2001:
A Space Odyssey From The Herald - 3 March 1998 By Martin Conaghan Thirty years ago this week Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey was premiered in Washington DC. One week later it received its UK premier at the Casino Theatre in London. It would be another nine years before George Lucas would start re-writing the book with the first of his Star Wars Trilogy, and a further 23 before cinema audiences would be dumbfounded by the special -effects extravaganza in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Yet, 2001 remains one of the most, if not the most, influential and visually stunning movies of all time, enduring beyond an era of technological advancement in cinematic effects, which only recently witnessed the realistic sinking of history's most famous ship in Titanic. 2001 started life as a short story by British science-fiction author Arthur C Clarke, The Sentinel, published in 1951. Clarke was approached in 1963 by maverick director Stanley Kubrick to collaborate on the screenplay for a movie version, which required a budget of $ 10m and from script to first screening would take 92 weeks to produce. Kubrick's previous movie, Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, released in 1964, was his seventh feature. Its commercial success allowed Kubrick the freedom to experiment with cinematic storytelling techniques, and to expensively adapt technology for the purposes of his latest movie. 2001 was to exceed the boundaries of cinematic special effects. With the help of expert Douglas Trumbull, it portrayed an awe-inspiring account of what it would be like to travel in space. (The scenes of the moon excavation are remarkably similar to the footage taken by the Apollo landing, which didn't occur until over a year later). Kubrick successfully simulated zero-gravity weightlessness and filmed a fascinating scene where an actor jogs around the rotating centrifuge of a spacecraft which, to this day, remains largely a technical mystery. To attempt an adequate description of the plot, and the numinous mysteries behind obscure symbolic references could take months. However, the basic story is straightforward enough in itself. In the year 2001, the discovery of a pre -historic monolith buried under the surface of the moon prompts scientists to launch a deep-space mission to the planet Jupiter, believing the monolith to have transmitted a signal there and suspecting it to be of alien origin. The entire story is prologued by an extensive "dawn of man" sequence, where primitive apes of 3,000,000 years ago discover a smaller version of the monolith on Earth and learn - via its transmissions - to manipulate tools and weapons. The basic interpretation suggests the story is a metaphor: from ape to scientist, mankind has striven to reach the unattainable. The exploration of the religious and spiritual themes behind the story is a little more complicated. According to the critics at the time, the technological achievements alone were insufficient reason for such an expensive movie to be deemed entertaining. Many slammed it as dull and pointless, with an ending that left audiences perplexed. Rock Hudson is reputed to have stormed out of the premiere shouting: "Will someone tell me what the Hell this is about?" Clarke himself made a remark that horrified MGM top brass soon after the film was released, suggesting: "If you understand 2001 on the first viewing, we will have failed." He didn't mean people wouldn't enjoy the movie the first time; he was referring to the complexity of the subject and the idea the movie postulated a rough theory on the workings of the universe (which was intended for contemplation, not entertainment) - therefore it could not possibly be totally understood in one sitting, and perhaps never fully at all. The critics weren't wrong: it is exceptionally slow. To the average movie -goer, it would simply be regarded as boring. Much of the narrative is clinical and monotonous. In fact, the only dialogue containing real emotion or feeling comes from the computer HAL, singing a haunting rendition of Daisy as its memory chips are removed one by one, effectively switching it off. There are no romantic interludes. No hero saves the day. The plot contains very little suspense or mystery, and the cast - with two very small exceptions (HAL and a brief appearance by Kubrick's daughter Vivian) - is comprised entirely of adults. As movies go, it is completely unconventional in every sense. Even for a science-fiction movie it breaks with tradition, yet it remains a fantastic commercial success 30 years later. Cinemas all over the world continue regular screenings and the Internet is awash with commentary. The lasting appeal of 2001 can be largely attributed to its visuals and the musical score. Kubrick commissioned an original score from composer Alex North and improvised during editing with the use of classical pieces. The improvised music made such an impact on the creative process he decided to dump the score in favour of the classical recordings. Kubrick was criticised at the time for being cheap, but maintained it had nothing to do with money. He was probably right to keep the classical recordings, since few people who have seen the film could argue that when they hear the first five notes of Richard Strauss' Thus Spake Zarathustra they do not think of the opening scenes of 2001. Any time I hear The Blue Danube, I visualise Kubrick's perfectly choreographed spaceship waltz. Such inspired imagery has influenced directors for over a quarter of a century. In many respects, every director today owes part of their achievements to Stanley Kubrick and 2001. For example, when Leonardo DiCaprio enters the main stairwell before his dinner engagement in Titanic the band are playing The Blue Danube, with the rotating camera view of the glass dome mimicking the wheel-shaped station orbiting Earth in 2001. Few films in the past 30 years have inspired beyond the limits of the story or provoked debate in the way 2001 has - which was Kubrick and Clarke's initial intention: to be inspirational first, and entertaining second. Interpretation of the meaning behind the story is largely a personal thing, and even Kubrick himself has said he would never argue with anyone's understanding of the story, preferring to allow the film to speak for itself. And it does speak for itself - in silent tones and powerful imagery that sparks the imagination beyond mankind's limited understanding of the universe. I pity anyone who has never experienced the full glory of a cinema screening. |
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