2001 - A Space Odyssey: Crash Course Film Criticism #15

Well, here we are. It's the final episode of Crash Course Film Criticism and we're going to chat about one of the more polarizing films ever made: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the surface, 2001 tells the story of human history as related to technology and some kind of alien influence. But, if we go deeper, there's a lot to this film about evolution and how technology might spell our end... or at least our change. Join Michael Aranda one more time for this great Science Fiction masterpiece.

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Check out all 15 films we'll be talking about below!!!

Citizen Kane
Aliens
Where Are My Children?
Selma
In the Mood For Love
Do the Right Thing
Lost In Translation
Apocalypse Now
Pan's Labyrinth
The Limey
Three Colors: Blue
The Eagle Huntress
Moonlight
Beasts of No Nation
2001: A Space Odyssey

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[movingparts]

I once had a friend tell me that she tried to watch 2001, but, she said, the Netflix app had to be broken because all it played was music with a black screen.

[Jaspertine]

The film opens lingering on a black screen for a few seconds before the earth moon and sun become visible and the movie starts proper. The audience in the theatre are, for that brief moment, staring directly into a giant black rectangle.

[jimmiecgray]

the best part of the movie is how the technology is so much more full of life than the people. think of the bright red chairs placed on a curved shining white floor, meanwhile there is a completely dull conversation among humans seemingly unimpressed by the wonder of the idea that they are in space. or more directly the only honest emotion we have is from HAL when he announces "i'm afraid Dave" HAL is a far more interesting character than the people ever were or ever could be, yet he still speaks in a monotone voice showing our inability to understand and engage.

[lotuswraith]

Something that is often missed is that the bone-to-satelite cut is a weapon to weapon cut as the satellite is a nuclear launch platform.

[vicenteortegarubilar]

Me: I need to study.

Brain: I'm sorry Vic, I'm afraid I can't do uploaded a video.

[AnonymousFreakYT]

"The most Kubrick room ever built." :-D

[everettharris]

This movie isn't just polarizing, it's self polarizing for me. It's simultaneously the best movie I've ever seen and also a terrible bore. The boring aspect lends to making it great though. Space travel isn't flying around shooting Tie fighters or warping to the next planet to meet another civilization.

[poseidonc]

This was a movie that I did not enjoy watching, but absolutely loved analyzing. “A Clockwork Orange” was the same way.

[morbid.]

I still think 70s were 30 years ago :F

[camiloiribarren]

Don’t leave us, Michael. Please come back in another season or a different series of Crash Course

[TheGokki]

I interpreted it as despite all our progress and all our achievements (as it shows in the glory shots of technology) we are still fetuses in a cosmic sense, we still have banal conversations about birthdays and violent territorial disputes. We have a lot ahead of us and we will die and be reborn in the far future, unshackled of out technological burden.

[heatherallingham]

I saw this soon after it was released. I was just a little kid, and thought that it was actually filmed on location - in space - the cinematography was that much ahead of its time. Even now as an adult, of course knowing it's a set, it's still looks so real

[AllThingsFilm]

Excellent commentary.
The one thing Kubrick himself has said, is that he's made all of his films to be experienced on a personal level. He gives the audience enough details, with which the audience member then interprets things for themselves based on what they've been shown. It's a very American problem, where people often have problems with films when they aren't spoon fed every emotion they're supposed to feel and what they're supposed to think. To be fair, it's quite respectful of Kubrick to enable people to have their own experience of his films. I can look back at all of the films I've considered to be excellent or of high quality and recall that my experience of those films were very powerful and personal. Which is what makes Kubrick a master film maker.

[JM-cyyx]

This is my favorite film of all time. It is the film that sparked my interest in cinema; Kubrick created a beautiful work of art with 2001.

[xammas]

The "space ship" shown after the bone throw cut is a satellite loaded with nuclear weapons. A high tech version of the bone...

[itallocampos]

Around the seventh time I watched this (amazing) movie, I had one insight that I think is more in tune with the core of the movie philosophy: the "monolith" shown in the picture is not necessarily what it appears to be. Instead it is a metaphor for "knowledge". As it happens in many discoveries, you look many, many, many times at something and see nothing. The information you need is like a blank space, or a censoring black strip, or a dark monolith. Then one day you look at it and finally see what you need to see and from that moment on, you can never unsee it.

[taniarahman]

I can confidently say this is the greatest film ever made. It is cinema at it's peak. It breaks boundaries in special effects, sci-fi and cinematography. It's not the most entertaining movie ever. It is visual storytelling at it's peak. It doesn't try to tell a human and emotional story. It's reaching for the stars. Something beyond our understanding and perception.

[gazelleguy]

If one film could be described as sublime, in the Romantic sense of being larger than human comprehension, it would be 2001.

[thedavescloop]

If you haven't seen this film yet, watch it BEFORE you watch this video.

[AnimeOtaku]

Please, please, please do another season of this! I’d be interested in seeing something like this done with a comparison between international remakes (Oldboy or Ring for example) or maybe franchises that don’t act as sequels like the many different Ghost in the Shell works. Also the lack of any animated features was a slight letdown.