2001: A Space Odyssey paper

The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was a new experience for me. It was the first real science fiction movie I have ever watched, and it was hard for me to get into the plot. The movie begins with a group of primates who find a big, black "wall" that fascinates them. They begin to examine and it and then finally touch it. The film then moves to a more present-day scene where a scientist, Dr. Floyd, is preparing his astronauts for a space mission.

The astronauts do not fully understand their mission, but they willingly accept. They are sent into space as a team of 5 humans and one machine; the machine was the only one who had the full knowledge of their mission. The movie then progresses to a group of astronauts finding another one of the black "walls". To the viewer, the purpose of the "wall" still remains a mystery.

After about a year and a half on their mission, the machine named HAL starts to malfunction and the astronauts try to fix it. HAL seems to go back to normal, but soon begins to show signs of mutiny again. He knows that the astronauts are planning to disconnect him if he does not properly help them, and he kills all but one of the humans. Dave, who was the only man to survive, tries to prevent HAL from becoming too powerful, and eventually disconnects HAL. Right after disconnecting HAL, Dave finds out the real purpose of their mission.

Dave embarks on a journey to Jupiter to try and discover the purpose of the "walls" that were being found throughout evolution. On his way to Jupiter, he goes through a tunnel of time travel, and ends up arriving as an old man. After what I believe to be his death, he transforms into a fetus and becomes known as the "star child". According to Ed Williamson, the purpose of the movie is to showhow man will progress from a time of tool usage to a time when we will be interacting with "something else".

I did not like the movie very much, first of all because it was a sciene fiction movie; it did not hold my attention very well. I found the lack of commentary hard to follow, and I had a hard time understanding what was going on. Most of the time, I found myself trying to piece together the different scenes because they would switch so quickly. I would try to figure out why the "walls" were such an important part of the movie, and then it would switch to a different scene altogether.

I did have to do a little research on the film to see if I could get any background information. When I read the article by Ed Williamson, the "walls" made more sense to me. He described them as a sort of catalyst to speed up evolution. I though back to the parts where it would cut from the primates looking at the "wall" to the astronauts in space; then finally to the end when Dave is laying on his deathbed with the final "wall" in front of him and he becomes the "star child".

Once I realized that Kubrick was trying to portray evolution and the use of tools and technology, it became easier to follow what was happening in the film. I think Kubrick did a good job trying to predict things that would happen in the future, and the plot became more interesting. Once I understood more of his intentions, it was easier for me to see what the "walls" stood for. I realized that the "wall" was a symbol for evolution. I didn't like the fact that I wasn't able to see that on my own.

I don't think I enjoyed this movie very much because it was hard for me to see the "big picture" of all that was going on. The lack of commentary and quick switching of scenes made it hard for me to focus and piece together the plot. If it had not been for the movie synopsis and the article from Ed Williamson, I still don't think I would understand the main point of the movie.