Featuring Matt Anderson and Ben De Bono
Ben appeared on the Take Me To Your Reader podcast to discuss Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Check out their podcast at: http://pavementpodcast.com/
You may also be interested in theses past 2001 discussions from the SFC Archives:
2001: A Space Odyssey Live Blog
Episode 159: 2001: A Space Odyssey Review
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Yes, “2010” opens with a “retcon” by having Bowman’s last transmission be (as in the novel 2001), “My God, it’s full of stars.” Ben, you probably won’t enjoy 2010 the film as much as 2001 the film: it’s certainly not as artistic as its predecessor, and is a much more conventional action movie all around — but it’s not a *dumb* action movie, and the action is not frenetic or “blowing things up real good” (not your words or sentiment, I know). It’s got fairly decent performances from both Roy Scheider as Dr. Floyd and Helen Mirren as the Russian mission commander; and it’s an interesting artifact of Cold War space exploration. And it preserves the (I think) really cool, “sense of wonder” stuff from 2010 the novel. So I recommend it.
I appreciated learning about the one-point perspective, and how Kubrick uses it (or doesn’t, as the case may be) in this film.
I think the “valued nothing more highly than Mind” actually *is* in the published novel – don’t have my copy in front of me, but I’m fairly certain it is… and also that it is one of the chapters from 2001 reprinted in 2010. Maybe even 2061.
There are a few other flashes of human emotion in the “contemporary” portion of 2001 – but they are all on a video screen: Heywood Floyd calls his daughter, Frank’s parents “call” for his birthday. I think that dovetails with your observation that emotion is virtually absent – these very warm expressions of sentiment are being mediated through technology. (And Frank, as I recall, shows no emotional reaction whatsoever to his parents’ message.)
Really enjoyed the discussion!
Liked the discussion! I have watched 2001 more than any other film, and I have to say the banality of the dialogue jumps out at me more strongly each time. I think the mundane nature of the lines in the film are an effective contrast to the cosmic visuals. I think Kubrick was making a point about the often short sighted concerns of humanity versus the wonders of the universe.