Science Fiction
Until recently, I thought it was pretty much pioneered by Star Wars and the only people that like it are nerds and geeks and such. When I think of science fiction, mostly thoughts of fast-paced lasers and spaceships and cheesy dialogue spring to mind. Then I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you could sort of say is the original sci-fi film. It features none of the aforementioned genre characteristics. The only laser is a powerful radio wave that makes you trip out if you get in its way. The only spaceship is by no means fast-paced. And dialogue is minimal but intense. Then you have to keep in mind this is the work of Stanley Kubrick, the ridiculous mind behind Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and a Clockwork Orange among many others.
What shocked me about this movie wasn't just how ridiculous and awesome it is. I realized how this movie really is like the original science fiction movie that many other stories in the genre have borrowed plot ideas from. For example, one of the characters in 2001 is an artificially intelligent supercomputer.
Stanley Kubrick: not exactly sane
This is Hal. He sees with red camera eyes and speaks through the ship's speakers and radio. The astronauts on board talk to Hal in plain English and trust him to take care of the majority of the ship's functions, such as recycling oxygen and caring for the "hibernating" astronauts, which proves to be a bad idea in the end. This kind of over-powering intelligent computer that turns evil has been used as a genre motif and is generally depicted with the same red camera eye.
This is a scene in WALL-E. The space cruise ship's controls are operated by an over-powerful AI steering wheel that watches the captain's actions through a red camera lens that is oh so similar to Hal's own red eye (shown on the left in this picture). Anyways, this sort of thing has also been parodied in comedies like The Simpsons and Futurama.
Hal isn't the only part of 2001 that has been borrowed heavily by sci-fi writers, just one example that I noticed. It's a really good movie and really intense. It's like something you can really call a "film" and not just a movie or a blockbuster.
For more info on 2001, check it out at IMDB.com
Oh, and check out this really intense scene where the last living human on board shuts down Hal.
6 comments:
My caption messed up. The bold text refers to the picture above it
I only saw that movie once when I was a kid and all I remember is it was boring and scary. I think maybe I should watch it again with more patience and courage.
oh you definitely should it's sweet. i also saw it as a kid and thought the same thing. if you don't really care about dialogue it's not all that boring. sounds and images tell most of the story
Baron i thought the same thing about Star Wars being the essence of Science Fiction but you did a good job on explaining where it actually was originated from. Good Post.
Baron you did have a great post. I never knew like half the stuff in there. You also made some really good points that i totally agree with. And yes Star Wars is pretty much the foundation of science fiction.
I laughed at the two contradicting posts above me.
On topic though. Good post, it was very thorough and and easy on the eyes, you had lots of visual elements (one seems to be broken though). Probably one of the highest-quality posts i've read, good job.
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