In this I am certain the music succeeds admirably this is more a compliment to the composer than to Kubrick, yet it took the director’s visionary powers to fuse it with the image. However, in Space Odyssey this music – Ligeti’s – is used to evoke feelings of awe, almost reverence for the unknown, the terror experienced is part of the fabric of wonderment not abhorrence. “Historically, dissonance – harsh, controversial, disconcerting sounds – has been treated in films as negative factor implying neurosis, evil” (Bazelon, 1975: 88). But of course the music is an expression of the inexpressible – the alien intelligence that dwarfs prehistoric man. The music is almost too profound for the clumsy and trepid kinaesthetic response of the hominids to the irresistible black surfaces of the monolith. The first appearance of the monolith introduces the dies irae of György Ligeti’s Requiem, a very challenging and hypnotic piece replete with microtonal clusters, soaring overwhelmingly powerful wordless voices and orchestral sonorities conjuring supernatural states of mind – a sonic wormhole into the infinite. The film begins with a long silence where only the noises of two clans of hominids, some tapirs and a leopard are heard. The opening credits are accompanied by Richard Strauss’s Thus Spake Zarathustra: It is elaborate and spectacular, yet, as with all Kubrick’s films, he doesn’t believe in wasting money on overly long and protracted credits – the music and the accompanying images are sufficient to instil drama and a feeling of anticipation. So, even though the abstract and ‘psychedelic’ sequences in 2001 owe much to the experimenta of the silent era and more especially to the films of such mystic film luminaries as Jordan Belson and the Whitney brothers of the early sixties 2001 achieved so much by utilizing such experimentation and developing the ‘metaphorical narrative’ within a large canvas. What Kubrick did that was radical was to bridge the gap between experimental non-narrative film and the traditional plot-driven film – or more, to assimilate and transcend the limitations of both extremes. The narrative structure is not like any other film of the time – it may be argued that it compares more with silent films on some levels, both aesthetically and audio/visually – in fact, 2001 dared to break from the post-silent cinematic tradition of telling a story largely through words. The film being so predominantly visual, the role of the music becomes essentially intrinsic to its overall form. “One was asked to experience it like a piece of sculpture, before one tried to understand it” (Walker, 1973: 242). It is also a meditation on the paradox of civilization and dehumanisation lots of questions are raised regarding metaphysics, theology, cosmology, the impact of technology on man’s consciousness, and his role in the universe of space and time. It covers 4 million years, from the opening scene ‘The Dawn of Man’ in the Pleistocene era to the space technology of the 21st century. Because of the predominantly audio-visual nature and minimal dialogue, the narrative structure and plot had to be detailed more than would normally be necessary.Ģ001 is a meditation on the question of extraterrestrial intervention and its influence on the process of human evolution, it is, in Kubrick’s words: a “mythological documentary” (Walker, 1973: 241). With this analysis, my strategies were to give an overview – a broad spectrum of opinion and insights – on Kubrick’s intentions the history and philosophy of film and film music and also the responses of critics and the public (or the responses implied by the related information). Now, 33 years later in the film’s projected year one can still refer to it as a masterpiece, part of its uniqueness owing somewhat to its novel use of classical music. The film divided audiences over all aspects of mise-en-scène and narrative: dialogue, sets, use of technology, music – and silence – not to mention the ‘enigmatic’ ending.Įspecially in terms of a purely audio-visual experience, 2001 is still an important and highly influential film. In its day, 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the most talked-about films. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY – A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FILM
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