2001: A
Space Odyssey/ Gravity- Compare
and Contrast.
Comparable to the deepest
reaches of Earth’s deserts, rainforest and seas, space, as far as Earthlings
are concerned is a largely unexplored and unexplained mystery that draws on our
intrigue and wonderment; an unknown territory that seems to push the human
imagination to the limits of brilliance and insanity. The vast darkness of
space, void of sound, gravity and human sustainability seems never ending but
full of undiscovered places and possibilities. The vastness of space happens to
be the setting for both 2001: A Space
Odyssey and Gravity; space
exploration and related sciences remain to be a cornerstone but also a
limitation of the human imagination. Is it our desire to explore and search for
other technologies and life forms or is it simply exploring the unknown that
seems to pull man towards it? Either way space definitely makes an exciting and
interesting setting for both of these films. Both movies also embrace the
wonders of modern and advance technologies while exemplifying the human’s
curiosity, mentality and reaction to the frightening unknown elements of space.
These movies have also pushed the technological boundaries on both sides of the
camera, each making groundbreaking advances in filmmaking by allowing the
viewers an opportunity to submerge themselves into the setting unlike many
other space movies. This report will look to explore, compare and contrast the
similarities and differences surrounding 2001:
A Space Odyssey and Gravity,
while both films obviously share many topical and visual aspects they each
provide very different outcomes and experiences on both cinematic and social
levels
Starting with the critically
acclaimed classic 2001: A Space Odyssey
directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1968, this film starts out in
darkness surrounded by the sounds of an orchestra building and building,
leading into a colorful long shot of the Earth, Moon and Sun aligned
beautifully with a black monolith. Soon a title “The Dawn of Man” flashes on
the screen, a bright sunshine fills the screen, slowly panning down to a view
of apes scattered across a bare, mountainous landscape. Through a series of
sequences the apes are seen searching and fighting for water and food, these
scenes are shot in a documentary style, Kubrick’s straight forward way of
displaying ape’s strengths and weaknesses. This opening sequence is often filled with loud
guttural ape grunts and moans, Kubrick showing the apes’ slow but steady evolution
into modern man. According to sources the original narrative dialogue was cut
by Kubrick after his first viewing of the film; Kubrick felt the narration was
too straightforward and guided the story far too much, not allowing the viewer
the opportunity to think for themselves. The next scene is filled with a very
eerie human hum / chant, the group of apes is curiously surrounding a monolith,
touching and inspecting; it would appear that the monolith rose during the
night while the apes were asleep. The apes’ evolution continues in the next scene,
the apes’ discovery of tools is a pivotal moment for them; they can hunt and
defend their own territory now; they are becoming more and more significant to
their own survival. The flip side is they can also destroy and kill now too,
the thorn in man’s side is always his own ability to destroy. This interesting
prelude comes to an end when the main ape throws a bone into the air, Kubrick
blending the frame perfectly with the frame of a spaceship swimming through
space. The apes have learned how to adapt and change the environment, evolving
into space traveling civilized humans. The Blue Danube Waltz accompanies the
dark, open vision of space, it seems to move, float and set the pace of the
scene perfectly. The story picks up as chairman of U.S Council of Astronauts;
Dr Heywood Floyd is docking at a space station in between the Earth and the
moon. Floyd is informed casually by Russian travelers that there have been problems
in communication with his destination on the moon. Floyd simply denies the
conversation to carry on any longer. Soon enough Floyd is with his crew on the
moon uncovering a huge monolith that has been buried in the moon's surface for
over 4 million years. The shots and angles used by Kubrick in these moon scenes
are geometric, balanced and lit to emphasize every detail of the set, each of
the men’s spacesuits are streamlined and Kubrick masterfully shows the viewer
that no detail is too small. Kubrick is and always complicated with simplicity,
nothing is over the top or unbelievable and times he even makes us feel as
though we are there on the set. There is a pretty intense scene following, the
sun starts to fill the sky just over the monolith, beautiful shot, and this
shrill resonance starts to get louder and louder, it is quite ear piercing
eventually and goes on for a good amount of time, making the scene overwhelming
and difficult to sit through. This scene works in contrast with the previous
segment, the discovery of the monolith signals that man has developed skills
worthy of technological progress.
“18 Months Later” and
Discovery-1, a beautiful, futuristic spaceship is on a long journey headed for the
surface of Jupiter. Astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole are inside the
spaceship that is controlled by a sophisticated computer system called H.A.L
9000. A do all, see all, hear all human-like computer system that interacts and
converses with Dave and Frank. It is said that the H.A.L 9000 is incapable of
miscalculations or making any kind of error. H.A.L 9000 is a personification of
Kubrick’s belief that “the machine is beginning to assert itself in a very
profound way, even attracting affection and obsession.” H.A.L is functional but
heartless. The inside of the ship is also very streamlined and geometric,
balanced and symmetrical; Kubrick's vision in these scenes still seems
futuristic, even in 2013. Conversations between Dave, Frank and H.A.L are
minimal and the point, the dialog gives us the impression that Frank and Dave
might just be robots and H.A.L might be the human. The story starts to pick up
once H.A.L informs Dave and Frank that a communication panel outside of the
ship is failing. Frank and Dave decide to replace the panel only to find
nothing actually wrong with it. Frank tells Dave in a space pod for secrecy
from H.A.L that he has growing concerns about H.A.L’s ability to lead the
mission and that if need be they must find a way to bypass H.A.L’s memory
system and take control of the spaceship. All the while H.A.L’s red glowing sensor
flickers in the background; always observing and responding to the ship’s environment,
but nothing is a secret on this spaceship. As Frank goes out to replace the
original communication panel in order to see if it would fail as predicted by
H.A.L, Frank mysteriously is detached from his space pod by a set of killer
robotic arms; his body is seen drifting away into the open space, air hose
severed. This scene exposes H.A.L as the deviant making a great turning point
in the film, the premise of a psychotic, killer computer system is exciting and
unexpected. As tensions begin to build and build a curiosity is piqued as to
what H.A.L is going to do next. Dave takes a space pod out to retrieve Franks
body, when he attempts to dock the pod back in the spaceship H.A.L informs Dave that he can't let him back in and
that he knows about their plot against him. H.A.L in his calm voice is very
insistent not to let Dave back in, H.A.L claims he won't let Dave compromise
the mission and stops talking to him. Isolated and frustrated, Dave starts to
get crafty, aligning his ejection seat with an alternative entry point on the ship;
Dave ejects himself into the spaceship with no helmet. Kubrick sure knows how
to build up the intensity in this scene putting Dave in an all in, up against
the wall scenario, intensified with the dead silence of space. Once on board
Dave b-lines it to the room at stores H.A.L’s memory and start pulling several
cards from a board, all the while H.A.L in a hurried but calm voice starts
asking “What are you doing, Dave? ”, “Will you stop, Dave?” H.A.L’s voice starts
to get slower and deeper. In the creepy last moments of H.A.L he slowly sings a
song called “Daisy”, beautifully prolonging his psychological/ technological
meltdown. Dr. Floyd flashes on screen and delivers a prerecorded message about
the true reason of Discovery -1's mission, that evidence of intelligent life
outside of our planet has been discovered and the frequency resonating from the
monolith discovered on the moon was aimed at Jupiter, but that the honest truth
is that the end result is completely unknown, the mission has been a complete experiment. Dave uses a space pod to escape Discovery- 1; he sees a
monolith along the way and starts heading towards it, the monolith once again a
symbol of man's journey through evolution. Now colors are speeding past the pod
in some sort of psychedelic tunnel, shifting views of the parading lights and
Dave's face. This particular scene is unlike any other in the movie, quite
strange and cerebral, eventually the view changes to a landscape, his space pod
stops, the scene changes and now Dave is in a bright, futuristic, Victorian-esque
room. Soon a series of symbolic shots
that include an elderly Dave in a bed with accompanying music and the monolith
at the end of the bed, followed by the final shot of the film, a fetus
suspended in outer space amongst the Sun, Earth and Moon. Kubrick claims this
is the birth of a “superhuman”,” returning to Earth prepared for the next step
forward in man’s evolutionary destiny.” It has been an incredible journey.
Gravity
Next is the 2013 blockbuster Gravity,
directed by Alfonso Cuaron. The hype surrounding this film was big, the
previews were meant to be intense and intriguing but a space movie in 2013 has
a lot to live up to in order to be significant. So the executives at Warner
Bros. spending 80 plus million dollars on cast, crew and special effects.
Buying big named actors like Sandra Bullock and George Clooney to give this
movie the star power it would need to get instant attention. The film starts
out in space where we hear some radio transmissions between NASA in Houston and
Matt Kowalski played by George Clooney, a veteran astronaut on his final space
walk, out with his jetpack having some fun darting around and telling stories
over the headset. Eventually we see Dr. Ryan Stone played by Sandra Bullock, a mission
specialist in space for her first time and working on some maintenance/ repairs
to the Hubble telescope. Her physical demeanor is the opposite of Kowalski’s,
she is nervous and intense in for most of the film a big contrast to the smooth
talking, relax Kowalski. While working on the Hubble, NASA reports that a Russian
satellite has been destroyed and debris from the satellite is speeding through
the orbit. Soon enough the debris starts coming straight for the crew, sharp
fragments of satellite start whizzing by and it feels so believable, the
cinematography and camera work is so rich in perspective, depth of field and
angles. (I'm there, dodging shrapnel, feeling the rush.) The debris has passed
and a different sense of chaos is occurring, another member of the crew had his
head smashed in, Dr Stone has been detached from her tether and now is
spiraling into the void. Calm and cool Kowalski retrieves both Stone and the
other astronaut's corpse. Stone and Kowalski now tethered to each other head
back, the in helmet shots give the full perspective and personal experience of
weightlessness in space, giving a great sense of having little to no control of
motion. Stone and Kowalski discover the Hubble and their spaceship has been
destroyed by the debris storm. Everyone is dead but them. All the visuals up to
this point have felt so spot on, it is so easy to lose the sense of your own
reality, i.e. this is really just a movie theater enough space. (A couple times
I forgot I was sitting next to people.) The plan shifts, they have to propel
themselves to the International Space Station on low oxygen and fuel. These
scenes are saturated with personal dialogue, slowing the pace of the film. The
dialogue doesn't really add much to the direction or plot, in fact it starts to
feel very secondary to the overall story. When they arrive to their destination
there is some damage to the ISS and there is no crew. Almost out of thrust
Kowalski makes a move towards the ISS. One last thrust and the two are bouncing
off the exterior of the station attempting to grab a hold of anything they can
to stabilize themselves. A parachute has deployed and is entangled around a
large portion of the ISS; a parachute strap is the last hope before the two go
off careening into the empty space. Stone’s boot is caught on in the strap but
Kowalski’s perpetual motion is too strong and keeps pulling them farther away
from the ISS. In a very Titanic moment, the two have to detach from each other
so at least one of them has a chance to survive. Dr. Stone ricochets back
towards the ISS and once again barely grabs a hold of the station in her last
chance. Still in communication with the drifting Kowalski, he advises her to take
one of the pods in from the ISS to the Chinese Space Station and catch a ride
back to Earth. No matter what Kowalski keeps his cool, he serves as her voice
of reason, guiding her every moment up to this point. Dr Stone is now alone,
lost, obviously vulnerable and scared; at times she seems defeated. Her voyage
is far from over, Stone attempts to launch the pod from the ISS but the
parachute is still entangled so she can't go anywhere. She has to take a space
walk in order to release the parachute from the pod. As she is detaching the
chute the debris storm makes another orbit and starts ripping through the ISS.
Stone barely gets out alive, again. It isn't until she's detached and ready to
go to the Chinese Space Station that she realizes that there's no fuel for the
thrusters. Dr Stone appears as though she is finally had enough, stuck in the
pod, hopes drained, accepting death as she cuts the oxygen and begins to fall
asleep. All of a sudden Kowalski is back; he lets himself into the pod with all
his charismatic nature, he strikes up a conversation and once again cracks wise
for a moment to lifts the spirits. He describes a way to get the pod to move
but it turns out he's just a figment of her imagination and in a blink of an
eye, he's gone. Now she's rejuvenated in spirit and knows how to propel the
pod, again we are on the edge of our seats with Dr Stones last chance efforts
to get on the Chinese Space Station; ridiculously she ejects from the pod and
uses a fire extinguisher guide her direction. Surprise, surprise the station is
vacant, she attempts to establish communication with Houston but no luck, just
random noise. Soon the station is on fire, she rushes to the space pod barely
escaping the doom of fire, just in time, again. Dr Stone is launched towards Earth;
everything around her is burning up as the pod and debris enter the Earth's
atmosphere. This scene in particular is similar to the ending space travel scene
of 2001, in that they both capture sense of finality, the end of journey and we
are left unsure if the end result is going to be good or bad. They're both
intense, fast paced and utilize an abstract soundtrack to build atmosphere. Dr.
Stone’s pod barely makes it through the atmosphere almost burning up; the pod
crashes into a body of water on Earth. Dr. Stone is for the first time in the
entire film under the influence of Earth's gravity; Stone makes it to land and begins
to rejoice. As a viewer it has been an anxious, edge of your seat 90 minutes.
The visuals were stunning and the personal voyage of Dr Stone was compelling,
the dialogue was silly at times but Gravity
while not super thought provoking is indeed very entertaining experience.
Perhaps at first glance 2001 and Gravity seem like similar movies, big budget sci-fi, space flicks
with futuristic sets and visual. Space movies seem to always fall right into
the sci-fi category but both films push the boundaries of a typical sci-fi
space movie. In fact it can be argued that Gravity
is more of a survival thriller film, based in realism. Gravity is more of a personal voyage set in space whereas 2001 uses space as the unknown/
undiscovered setting for man's evolutionary journey. Gravity utilizes strong character relation in an attempt to make
the audience connect with the main character, Dr. Stone is the center of
attention throughout the film and we are long for her ride the entire time. 2001 uses several characters to further
develop the story and message. The audience doesn't get too much personal
information or character development, with the exception of H.A.L 9000 who
provides a very interesting conflict adding a nice dramatic twist to the film. As
important as H.A.L 9000 is to 2001, he
is just a supporting character for the larger concept.
One of the biggest contrasts between these two films is the overall plot
development, 2001 develops slowly,
taking time to build up essential individual components that together unveil it
deeper conceptual premise. There is a build up to the adventure, a long road to
the destination. The audience is not given all the information at once and have
to rely on a lot of visual storytelling and symbology in order to put the
pieces together. Kubrick keeps dialogue to a minimum as to not give too much
away, really allowing the audience a chance to think for themselves. Gravity has a straight to the point set
up, the audience is dropped right into an in-progress scene, dialogue
throughout is plentiful but secondary to the physical acting and visual
settings. Gravity makes up in visuals
and special effects what it lacks in storytelling and dialogue, 2001 on the other hand is rich in both visual
and conceptual components, making a much more dimensional film. Visuals and
special effects would be what these two films sure most in common. Both films
for their time have pushed the visual experience boundaries not only for sci-fi
but for film in general. In 2001,
Kubrick used Super Panavision 70 film which sharpened shots and advanced colors;
unique set designs in collaboration with interesting camera angles and
compositions give 2001 a very sleek,
specialized look. Kubrick's now retro, futuristic, stylized aesthetic really
took this film to a unique visual realm. Gravity’s
visual aesthetic is based more in present day realism than 2001, but the attention to detail in Gravity
is reminiscent to that of 2001 in
that no detail seems too small to focus on. Fragments of shrapnel, the exterior
and interior of space ships and space suits are so well rendered that there really
isn't much room for questioning the aesthetics of Gravity, it feels and looks incredibly real. The use of depth of
field is another big attribute to the visuals of Gravity, like in 2001
using long shots of the overwhelming aspect of space really gives the audience
the perspective of just how vast open space might be, adding to the terrifying
sense of being lost in space. Another shared element between these two films is
the use of dramatic, emphatic soundtracks; music adds so much emotion and
tension to both of these films. The use of big orchestrated compositions during
critical scenes is nothing new but films like 2001 masterfully utilize the soundtrack to add feeling so well that
it feels sometimes that other movies are just trying to imitate Kubrick's
genius. Kubrick is simply a master at lining up the right music with his visual
components. Gravity seems to fall
into this category of imitation, while the music does add to the visuals it
never elevates the intensity of the scene quite like 2001 does.
These films have settings in space, characters who cross significant
thresholds and emphasize a man vs. technology dynamic, but the way each films
utilizes these components is very different. 2001 is unexpected, man molds and craft science, advancing our collective
creativity and ability to develop greater technology, only to have that same
technology turn on us. Hal seems to turn on Dave and Frank, no longer taking
their orders, killing Frank and trying to abandon Dave in space. The computer
has a mind of its own now, whereas Gravity
exposes man's own dependence on technology and the potential downfalls of
that dependency. Gravity becomes a
fish out of water story whereas 2001 is
in search of the precipice of mans understanding of technology in attempts to
surpass it.
2001: A
Space Odyssey and Gravity share some general categorical elements but have a lot more
differences than similarities. The abstract components of 2001 carry a lot of weight giving it a level of complexity and
depth that Gravity simply does not
have. However, Gravity is way more
effective in establishing personal connections with the main character, making Gravity a far more emotional film. In
the end, 2001 has the artistic
significance and content that gives it leverage to stand up to any modern day
eye candy, blockbuster film like Gravity.
Refrences
Ciment, Michel.
"2001: A Space Odyssey." Kubrick. [Paris]: Calmann-Lévy,
1980. 126-134. Print.
"Gravity."
IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/>.
Morgenstern,
Michael. "Gravity Review: In Space, Nobody Can Hear Your
One-liners."The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-morgenstern/gravity-review-in-space- n_b_4086012.html>.
Nelson,
Thomas Allen. "Reputation & Rhetoric, The Ultimate Cinematic
Universe."Kubrick, inside
a Film Artist's Maze. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1982. 1-19, 99-132. Print.
Phillips, Gene D. Stanley Kubrick: A Film Odyssey. New York:
Popular Library, 1975. 131-152. Print.
