2001 Space Odyssey The film segment chosen was the final scene from Stanley Kubrik^s 2001 A Space Odyssey made in 1968. As the name would suggest, the film is set almost entirely in the future. Already having projected itself over 30 years into the future, it would be safe to assume that this motion picture offers a wealth of imagery and futuristic vision. It does. It is towards the end of the film, however, that Kubrik offers this to us on a much greater scale. In these few minutes, we are presented with the dawn of a new era: a near incomprehensible evolution of humanity. Through many complex design devices, the set design successfully achieves a vision for the future that is neither dystopian, nor entirely utopian, yet extraordinarily positive on a revolutionary scale. Kubrik himself has never publicly discussed the ending to 2001 and admits that this was a very subjective film, while many people claim not to have understood it at all. Many interpretations have been made as to the real meaning of this scene, many incredibly different and most equally plausible. Despite their differences, however, all have one thing in common: an overwhelmingly optimistic vision for the future. A few example interpretations include alien intervention: an idea that alien technology has helped man progress to the ^next level^ of consciousness; to an understanding beyond the physical realm. Others adopt the idea of the emergence of man as pure thought completely of his own accord. It is for this reason that the futuristic vision expressed in this scene cannot be labeled simply utopian. What viewers are offered during this scene spans far beyond an idealistic version of the world we live in today: various connotations found in the scene stretch the bounds and horizons of humanity itself. The problem faced by Kubrik, and indeed the set designer was how to portray a near incomprehensible, purely conceptual journey on film. One theory sits with the idea of a metaphorical shift of entities: the room we see is a metaphor for the human body and respectively, Dave Bowman, the main character, becomes a metaphor for the human mind. One of the elements that makes this scene appear to be ambiguous is the absence of dialogue and meaningful audio accompaniment. This absence draws additional attention to the visual elements of the scene. Furthermore, very little screen movement encourages...
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...ds enough contrast to shock us into thinking that change is about to occur. Dave is thereby about to enter the new level of conscious existence. As we see Dave age once more, he appears to be near the end of his ^life^. We see mankind reach out to the monolith for the final time in the film (the first time being when apes learned to use tools, the second time to make mankind aware of the happenings at Jupiter, some believe this was a call to announce Earth^s human race to the rest of the universe). With a new camera shot, we are introduced to the star child: Dave has reached complete divinity, the sublime. Far more significant than visually aging, Dave has been reborn. He has outlived his physical body and has evolved to the beginning new level, hence we see the fetus-like object. This, followed by the realignment of the Earth, moon and sun; the discipline of space; a mystical frontier, represents a cosmic acceptance, a coming together of entities. This was Kubrik^s vision for the future ^ a euphoric, revolutionary concept: that mankind would eventually rise above the physical realm to a level of existence incomprehensible to us at the present point in time.
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The feud between the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) lasted from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The fuel that powered their feud was the desire to be the greater superpower. After World War II ended, the USSR gained control of Eastern Germany. On the night of August 13, 1961, a wall was constructed that divided the already separate East and West Berlin. This wall would become what was known around the world as the Berlin Wall. It stood as a barrier to freedom from the East Berliners. The Berlin Wall in Germany caused the USSR to lose the Space Race to the United States in 1969 because the USSR was communist, they alone had control of East Germany, and the United States was tough competition. With the Berlin Wall making tensions high in Germany during the 1960s, the USSR had a lot more business to take care of than they had thought.
In the first 20 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey you see a group of monkeys going through evolution. The first change you see is that of a leader. In the beginning, each monkey did their own thing, and was not bound to any organization whatsoever. The monkeys did what they want when they wanted. Then the change begins. A single monkey, by himself, rises to the top of a cliff. He stands and screams. The other monkeys notice him screaming and began dancing and rejoicing. They scream and jump around, in what appears to be reverence for their new leader. Stanley Kubrick shows the change very simply, yet its message is still very clear. The monkeys had never shouted as loud or danced as much as they had previously in the film. Their actions confirm that something in fact had changed.
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
This student of Philosophy now sees the movie The Matrix in a whole new way after gaining an understanding of some of the underlying philosophical concepts that the writers of the movie used to develop an intriguing and well thought out plot. Some of the philosophical concepts were clear, while others were only hinted at and most likely overlooked by those unfamiliar with those concepts, as was this student when the movie first came out in theaters all those many years ago. In this part of the essay we will take a look at the obvious and not so obvious concepts of: what exactly is the Matrix and how does it related to both Descartes and Plato, can we trust our own senses once we understand what the Matrix is, and how Neo taking the Red Pill is symbolic of the beginning of the journey out of Pl...
As a conclusion, it must be said that the generic marker ‘The visual surface of Science Fiction presents us with a confrontation between those images to which we respond as “alien” and those we know to be familiar’ can be applied to Blade Runner when judging the movie from an aesthetic point of view as well as from an ideological point of view. As it was mentioned earlier in the essay, the film is constructed from images which society nowadays find as alien (such as images of the city, interiors and social interactions) and also from more familiar images
Kubrick wanted to accomplish a Sci-Fi film with colossal scientific proportions. His ambition was to believe reasons to believe in life outside the planet, and the impact that it would have to the human race. He learned from the books, “Childhood’s End” and “the
In Star Trek. the future is bright. We are led by noble captains, scientific and artistic achievement, and the search for knowledge. We don’t destroy Earth or leave Earth or even overpopulate Earth. We go to space, not to conquer it, but to know it. As humans we are equal and intelligent and good. The hope in Star Trek isn’t just for scientific progress, it is for mankind.
All people have two eyes provided to them by God so that they can see all that the light-year world would not see for their own. People also have hands for touching the miraculous, and have hearts for doing the incredible things (Bradbury 47). One of the most interesting issues is on how conflicting Bradbury’s wishes are. There is some indication that he wishes for the possible case of returning to the simpler times, yet advanced to the unknown planets. He wishes for the possible chance of abandoning machinery, yet boarding a rocket to the Mars. What is clear in this situation is that the author is advocating for the possible changes in the status quo.
Science fiction writing began in the early 1800’s as a reaction to the growth of science and technology. The genre is characterized by its intellectual excitement, high adventure, and its making of the fantastic possible. Due to the nature of science fiction, film has become an essential part of its popularity. Science fiction films have been popular since the earliest silent clips because of the outlandish visuals and creative fictional story lines that capture an audience’s attention. Under the guise of this popular platform, writers relay political, social and philosophical messages to their audience.
...lm. With the director’s use of special effects, this proves that he had an artistic way of showing the film, as well as his use of ambiguous scenes and sequences that were provided in the film. By making it a classical cinema film, the Kubrick did a good job in proving the realism of space and all, as well as using the film order to make the movie in order. By making the film both art and classical cinema, this just makes the movie even better and the director more smarter for being able to do this in one movie.
Being presented with the problems in the implementation of the SAP ERP system, it is evident that Novartis Pharmaceuticals requires a comprehensive action plan that resolves key issues and the underlying problem. Refer to Exhibit A for a graphical representation of the action plan.
From countdown to splashdown, Apollo 11's mission was filled with some surprising twists and turns. It took a combination of luck, determination and guts for the crew of Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong to get the Eagle to the surface of the moon with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining! Experience the moments leading up to the lunar landing with me.
The movie "Matrix" is drawn from an image created almost twenty-four hundred years ago by the greek philosopher, Plato in his work, ''Allegory of the Cave''.The Matrix is a 1999 American-Australian film written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. Plato, the creator of the Allegory of the Cave was a famous philosopher who was taught by the father of philosophy Socrates. Plato was explaining the perciption of reality from others views to his disciple Aristotle. The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave share a simmilar relationship where both views the perciption of reality, but the Matrix is a revised modern perciption of the cave. In this comparison essay I am going to explain the similarities and deifferences that the Matrix and The Allegory of the Cave shares.In the Matrix, the main character,Neo,is trapped in a false reality created by AI (artificial intelligence), where as in Plato's Allegory of the Cave a prisoner is able to grasp the reality of the cave and the real life. One can see many similarities and differences in the film and the allegory. The most important similarity was between the film and the Allegory is the perception of reality.Another simmilarity that the movie Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave shares is that both Neo and the Freed man are prisoners to a system. The most important difference was that Neo never actually lived and experienced anything, but the freed man actually lived and experinced life.
The movie, "The Matrix," parallels Platos's Allegory Of The Cave in a number of ways. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. Furthermore, they accept what their senses are telling them and they believe that what they are experiencing is all that really exists--nothing more.
...The Matrix” and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” almost gives the idea that the movies writers may have had a lot of influence from Plato’s allegory. The creation of this movie gives and futuristic prospective of “The Allegory of the Cave” letting the people who have seen the movie think about reality and the truth. In conclusion, Plato’s story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most significantly, addresses the topic of society’s role in our lives. On some level, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of everyone else, but at the same time, we as humans have the ability to question, make our own conclusions, and finally make our own choices.