I finally viewed 2001: A Space Odyssey

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FollowChrist34 said:
So the monolith is more or less God (the basic life force - source of life, knowledge…) - at least I was right about that. And, as I recall, that was pretty much the main question. What was the monolith. I didn’t understand the house at the end, and what happened to the astronaut either, other than aging and dying and confronting the monolith. And that the baby was the transformed astronaut.
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Well, from a science fiction standpoint, I doubt that the monolith was God or any deity. It was more likely just a tool of an advanced society from another galaxy which was working on a project to influence the development of humanity. Arthur C. Clarke, I believe, was a non-theist, like his contemporary Isaac Asimov, and the closest he ever came to theism (Asimov, that is) was in his short story “The Last Question,” which makes all of humanity into a deity, in a sort of pantheistic ending.

The living quarters at the end of the space warp sequence, I think, was just an imaginary construct, not real, but perceptible to the astronaut, to make him feel somewhat at home. Of course, the monolith or whoever constructed it, may have had access only to outdated data. Good thing they didn’t place him in a Tara or Twelve Oaks type structure! (i.e. GWTW) although that might have been interesting.
 
Just wanted to share, it’s available on Netflix. I put it on last night for a second viewing. (I had insomnia, and needed something to watch at 1:30 am) I fell asleep about 15 minutes in.

😛
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
Just wanted to share, it’s available on Netflix. I put it on last night for a second viewing. (I had insomnia, and needed something to watch at 1:30 am) I fell asleep about 15 minutes in.

😛
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:rotfl: The perfect cure for insomnia, I agree. 😃
 
Tim_D said:
Just curious…have you any impressions on Paradise Lost?
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Just curious, would you be able to stay awake at 1:30 am after being up since 5:30 am the morning prior to watch this film, and pay attention?

And, I read Paradise Lost in college, I thought it was very good, and much more interesting.

I understand you are a fan of the film, but it isn’t an easy film to watch. And I don’t mean the plot. It is sort of lulling (as in lullaby) in the long shots with lovely images and lovely music that are verry long.

For me to watch it I needed to break it down into three different viewings, due to time constraints. It was easier to pay attention then.

I’ve been sick this week with an upper respiratory virus, and I’ve got to see two other great films, “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria” both by Fellini.

They are black and white, very grim in subject matter. La Strada is about an abusive circus performer and his assistant. Nights of Cabiria is about a Roman prostitute.

They are very intimate films each about the struggles of outcast people.

I guess for me, that intimacy is lacking completely in 2001. To me it was more touching when Hal dies singing “Daisy, Daisy” then when Dave dies. Kubrick, obviously did not intend an intimate film. He intended what he created.

It’s a good film. It isn’t my favorite and doesn’t need to be.
 
Maybe I’m out of the loop but I never found 2001 boring. Transcendent, majestic, yes but not boring. The music alone as it intersects with the images of spaceships docking is strangely mesmerizing.

I remember being about 7 or 8 years old and desperately wanting to see it when it was first broadcast on American television, but my parents wouldn’t allow me. (Now I’m wondering why? Perhaps they thought it would give me nightmares.) I finally did see it on television by the time I was a high school student. I still find it very interesting and engaging and even suspenseful when I see it as an adult even though I of course know how everything turns out.

I really think Kubrick was a genius, although his later films are less interesting and ground-breaking than his earlier ones. I’ve read that he deliberately cast little-known actors as the astronauts and Dr. Heywood Floyd in order to make Hal stand out more as a character (it worked). It’s a shame we don’t have anyone of his stature making movies today.

2010 was by comparison a much more conventional Hollywood action movie, and it is mostly forgotten.
 
tomarin said:
Maybe I’m out of the loop but I never found 2001 boring. Transcendent, majestic, yes but not boring. The music alone as it intersects with the images of spaceships docking is strangely mesmerizing.

I remember being about 7 or 8 years old and desperately wanting to see it when it was first broadcast on American television, but my parents wouldn’t allow me. (Now I’m wondering why? Perhaps they thought it would give me nightmares.) I finally did see it on television by the time I was a high school student. I still find it very interesting and engaging and even suspenseful when I see it as an adult even though I of course know how everything turns out.

I really think Kubrick was a genius, although his later films are less interesting and ground-breaking than his earlier ones. I’ve read that he deliberately cast little-known actors as the astronauts and Dr. Heywood Floyd in order to make Hal stand out more as a character (it worked). It’s a shame we don’t have anyone of his stature making movies today.

2010 was by comparison a much more conventional Hollywood action movie, and it is mostly forgotten.
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👍 Yikes, you might be one of the very few people out there who would actually dig Stalker!

It’s one of the greatest, most beautifully poetic films ever made, but the slow pacing and weirdness is too much for most people to handle.

If you do get a chance to view it, please let me know what you think.🙂

openculture.com/2014/11/watch-andrei-tarkovskys-mind-bending-masterpiece-stalker-free-online.html
 
Exiled_Child said:
👍 Yikes, you might be one of the very few people out there who would actually dig Stalker!

It’s one of the greatest, most beautifully poetic films ever made, but the slow pacing and weirdness is too much for most people to handle.
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I liked Stalker a lot, along with most other Tarkovsky films. If you want to get a new thread going on Tarkovsky I would love to join in! I won’t say more here because it’s off the topic for this thread.
 
louisak said:
I liked Stalker a lot, along with most other Tarkovsky films. If you want to get a new thread going on Tarkovsky I would love to join in! I won’t say more here because it’s off the topic for this thread.
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If he’s the director of Solaris, then yes I would probably like it.
 
I remember reading how someone compared the supposed “golden age” of the Church in America during the 1950s as a Christmas ornament; beautiful and shiny on the outside and hollow and empty on the inside.
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Could be. Evil has always been on the move against the Church. The early Church probably had more problems with persecution from the outside. Today, it comes from both the outside and inside, with the latter loaded with Christians who make lame excuses to be selfish.

But the height of Church power may also be related to a spike in vocations in the first half of the 20th Century, perhaps thanks in no small part to 2 World Wars split by a global depression.
I’ve always wondered how things supposedly just went off the deep end in 1964.
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I’m not a fan of that kind of thinking. I think it comes from this linear idea that the farther back in time we go, the more conservative, orthodox, church-going people were. But as one commentator once noted “the ancient world was actually a very evil place”.

I remember asking my father “what happened” to change the culture. I think I remember LBJ asking the same thing about our values of “decency and morality” on video.

My father simply replied “the 60s”.

But it’s more complicated than that.

If you’re talking about America, progressive forces have been here for almost 160 years. It didn’t just start in the 1960s. In fact, they started making headway with the Eugenics Movement in the late 19th/early 20th century, and then in the 30s they got into Churches to get them accepting contraception.

Also, the idea that the 1950s were the golden age, well, the Church did have a lot of influence then, but in terms of American culture, think of what the gyrations of Elvis and the upbeat rhythm of Rock and Roll looked like to folks born in the late 19th/early 20th Century.

And even before that, what about the vaudeville dancers of the 1920s or the Beat Generation? My grandparents used to tell me on Saturday nights how some people went home with someone who wasn’t their spouse. 🤷

Cultural changes like this move in cycles. Progressives have done a good job of selling people that their way is inevitable and for always,until you take a closer look at what is REALLY going on amidst all of their sensational claims.

Someone on here even told me that radical Islam, Russia and China will accept so-called gay “marriage”. Given the current state of world affairs, how likely is that? If anything, they growing in power and expanding THEIR culture and THEIR influence.
 
Well, if 2001 ASO puts you to sleep, there’s always “Forbidden Planet.”
 
JimG said:
Well, if 2001 ASO puts you to sleep, there’s always “Forbidden Planet.”
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One of my favs! It was quite innovative for it’s time, as well, but also entertaining–remember entertaining, people? 😉 Its creators had no grand illusions about mankind becoming little gods, no pretensions that they were creating “art” for art’s sake. Rather, they attempted to show a positive picture of man, all on his own–no aliens need apply, but with God’s help, going out into the galaxy to explore and aid other fellow explorers. I’m sure Gene Roddenberry had it in mind when he created Star Trek. His Captain Kirk is very much like Commander Adams. The women’s costumes for ST were quite similar to one of Altaira Morbius’ dresses. There’s not a dull moment in it. There’s wonder, humor, danger, philosophy, faith, love, and on and on. It’s truly timeless. It can be watched again and again without having to be high on anything to “get it.” 😛
 
***And even before that, what about the vaudeville dancers of the 1920s or the Beat Generation?

***Today, things like the Marx Brothers movies and Mark Twain books are considered classics by most, but in their time, they scandalized quite a few people.

I am excited about the digital age. The more people can exchange experiences and perspectives and gain a wider field of vision, the more likely that Truth will be heard by large numbers of people.

This is a bit of a tangent for the thread, but not completely. The common theme for me is that there is no single, perfect method to present truth. People respond differently to different styles. I do not like when an attitude is present that basically says, “If you don’t respond to things as I do, you are lacking in something.” That’s the attitude of the tailors in “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and I have a knee-jerk reaction against it.
 
Della said:
One of my favs! It was quite innovative for it’s time, as well, but also entertaining–remember entertaining, people? 😉 Its creators had no grand illusions about mankind becoming little gods, no pretensions that they were creating “art” for art’s sake. Rather, they attempted to show a positive picture of man, all on his own–no aliens need apply, but with God’s help, going out into the galaxy to explore and aid other fellow explorers. I’m sure Gene Roddenberry had it in mind when he created Star Trek. His Captain Kirk is very much like Commander Adams. The women’s costumes for ST were quite similar to one of Altaira Morbius’ dresses. There’s not a dull moment in it. There’s wonder, humor, danger, philosophy, faith, love, and on and on. It’s truly timeless. It can be watched again and again without having to be high on anything to “get it.” 😛
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I would love to hear your reaction to the so-called ‘Russian 2001,’ Solaris, mentioned above.
 
My view on 2001 is identical to Della’s. I tried the American* Solaris* but couldn’t take it.

Would you recommend I try the Russian Solaris?

I am an unsold screenwriter and I like broadening my horizons. I have liked many things I expected to hate, but I’m also old and with limited time left, so I only give marginal things about 15 minutes to interest me enough to stick with them. 😃
 
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