Film: 2001
2001 is a masterpiece of cinema that still influences film makers
nearly thirty years after it was made -- but what does it actually
mean? Therein lies the enigma. Of course, 2001 is open to many
interpretations and probably even Kubrick couldn't provide the
"correct" one.
The film is very different from the book; Kubrick reduced the original
script to its bare essentials making the actors part of the narrative
, but not telling the narrative through the script. making it a lesser
part of the hole experience. Where there is speaking it is almost
always symbolic The first words spoken signal the decay of human
language to empty phrases: "Here you are, sir. Main level, please."
The opening of 2001 is the Dawn of Man sequence which dovetails neatly
with end of Dr. Strangelove: "We'll meet again, some sunny day "
First image in the film is of a rising Sun
Obviously, Kubrick pondered deeply the astonishing reality, that idea
that man was smart enough to blow up the earth, but not smart enough
to stop that from happening (kubric)(man doesn't want to nail himself,
but he does). How could such a phenomenon occur? With such strong
symbolic events and imagery in the opening seen it is hard to see them
all as individual events, kubric uses these to tell the narrative of
the story. The Sun is not just light, but heat (a desert). Making the
Sun not necessarily good, the Sun is usually seen as positive in
relation to dark, but not in a desert. This makes the sun a negative,
with the use of water as a positive. The leopard killing the zebra Is
a key element to the opening scene representing the behaviour of man
the Zebra is a coexistence of black and white? Good an bad together
just like man, making the leopard the destruction of man kind maybe
symbolising the bomb.
To echo the directors words ,QUOTE "you're free to speculate as you
wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film" but
Regardless that the film appears to be designed for a specific age-related target audience, there are several characters throughout the entire film that viewers can relate to. Therefore that in return keeps the viewer exceedingly intrigued, interested, and ultimately, entertained. Consequently, as a viewer the most prolific symbolism in the entire film being the metaphoric infinite abyss. As a viewer, the infinite abyss represents life in general, the meaning of life. Life can be a deep dark bottomless pit. One can either succumb to it, as it swallows you up and takes you down, or one can prefer to stand at the top and scream down at it in defiance, and create your own paths in life, and fill that abyss with meaning, purpose, friendships, family, happiness and love. Therefore, as soon as you alter the manner you view the world, you transform everything that happens to you within it. Life is just a state of
Also, in order to fully understand the meaning of this film we must answer two
The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.
Cruel Intentions The film Cruel Intentions, directed by John Hughes, is a fast paced. glimpse into the lives of the young New Yorkers whose entire existence. revolves around power, sexuality and to some extent class A drugs. Hughes The direction for the movie concentrates on those who prey on innocence.
How Baz Luhrmann's Interpretation of the Prologue Engages the Audience's Attention and Makes them Want to Watch the Rest of the Film
The Fountainhead is a novel about the ideals of four characters: Howard Roark, Peter Keating, Ellsworth Toohey, and Gail Wynand, all brought together to play different roles in the architecture industry. Ayn Rand introduces confusing concepts in her novel The Fountainhead; her characters do not fit the status quo and therefore they do things that the reader does not understand. They are caught up in the world of architecture and deciding between acts of selfishness and selflessness. Howard Roark had an unusual definition of selfishness opposed to the reader; he believed selfishness is was staying true to ones ideals and goals no matter what people might say. As for Peter Keating his definition of selfishness is doing everything for oneself and not worrying about who they are hurting or using.
During the late 80’s, Phil Alden Robinson developed a sensational story that revolved around a real life account of a sport tragedy. The viewers were immersed in a touching account of how sport, a social interest, can play a powerful role in human bonding; thus becoming a very spiritual component of life. It in itself has a profound effect on the societies’ spiritual experiences; and just like religion can respectfully be considered a form of spirituality for a modern society, as exemplified in Robinson’s movie ‘Field of Dreams’. This story resonates far beyond the power of dreams, its appeal lies in a vision of a perfect sport and the love for which can inadvertently resolve issues no matter how grand. The plot at first presents itself as a complex; or maybe even a strange series of events, but somehow its scenes string themselves into a moral about redemption and deep interpersonal bonds.
In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stresses the importance of memory and how memories shape a person’s identity. Stories such as “In Search of Lost Time” by Proust and a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics called “Beyond Therapy” support the claims made in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
2001: A Space Odyssey is just that: a long wandering voyage of the body and mind. Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark collaborated brilliantly. In examining both works, the film and the novel, there are certainly differences, yet the theme and overall idea coincide thoroughly. That this was made in the 1960's augments both accomplishments. The visuals, seen in 2004, are still captivating. What they must've seemed like in 1968! I flout those who received this movie poorly in those days. Would I have received it as well without having a preconceived idea of its greatness? I can only hope I would have known what I was watching.
In the film The Matrix (1999) in the scene “The Two Pills” help characters and relationships are developed and continuation of the films narrative through various components of cinematography and mise-en-scène. Most notable in The Matrix is the use of costuming, sound effects, props, setting and camera movement. Through the use of these techniques the audience becomes more involved in the narrative as Neo meets Morpheus for the first time and is given the opportunity to learn the secrets of the matrix.
The Shining is about a white middle class dysfunctional family that suffers from natural and supernatural stresses in an isolated Rocky mountain hotel. .The father, a former teacher turned writer, is portrayed as a habitual drinker, wife- and child-abuser, with a kind of evil streak The mother is shown as a battered woman. The film suggests that due to the abuse at the hands of his father and the passivity of his mother, the child of this family developed psychological problems. He had imaginary friends and began to see frightening images.
The film I recently watched was The Grudge. The film was filmed entirely in Tokyo where Japanese director Takaghi Shimizu brought the popular Japanese horror stories to the American movie viewers. I went into The Grudge expecting a horror film based on the previews I had seen. When I watched the movie I found it to be quite a bit scary than what the previews had made it to be. So the film held up to its previews, however it was scary I would not rank it very high.
The Grudge is a magnificent horror film based in Japan. Many years ago a family of three lived in that house- Kayoto, her husband and their little son, Toshio. Kayoto fell in love with Peter, her lecturer and wrote about him a lot in her diary. When Toshio’s father found out, he killed Kayoto and Toshio, and then hanged himself. When they die the curse is on the house and whoever enters the house will get cursed and eventually die.
The film The Aviator portrays an insight into the life of Howard Hughes. We get a perspective that the public didn’t see in Howard Hughes. Martin Scorsese directed the film and depicts Howard Hughes life both through what Howard says but also what is not said. Music and lighting show what Hughes is thinking even if he isn’t saying it. In the scene where the airplane Hercules is being built, music and lighting play a key role in the scene. Hughes doesn’t even have to say anything for the viewer to feel as though the viewer too have Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Meditations on First Philosophy.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 12 May. 2014.