2001: A Space Odyssey

[mkrnhr]

Because of the recent discussion about "AI" and "ChatGPT" etc. I've been thinking of re-watching the 1968 classic, 2001 A Space Odyssey (because of HAL 9000 obviously). Coincidentally, Rob Ager just released this short video about the film:

Basically, director Stanley Kubrick, after making fun of the cold war establishment in "Dr. Strangelove" (another must-watch movie IMO), tricked the big players (including IBM and NASA) and investors into supporting the financing of the movie as a pro space race, pro techno-utopia film while filming something that undermines that message.
Personally I think that the fact that the spaceship that cuts into the flying bone seen is better without the planned missiles, because ultimately, even seemingly "civilian" space programs are military anyway. The space as a silent, scary, unnatural and anti-human place is obvious upon first viewing (that's what I got from it as a kid anyway), but according to Ager, the movie can also be seen as a critique of technocracy itself. Must find time for a re-watch however.

 

[Zzartemis]

@mkrnhr Accompaniment for your thread...I used to enjoy listening to Deodato and the following is one of his:

Deodato - "Also sprach Zarathustra"

Description​

Eumir Deodato Almeida's singular rendition of "Also sprach Zarathustra" won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It is arguably the world's most renowned Latin jazz opus ever. The introductory movement of the original work, a tone poem by Richard Strauss (1896), served as the musical motif in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." Deodato's arrangement wondrously elaborates on the movie's modernistic theme. Strauss, in turn, was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's iconoclastic philosophical treatise of the same title (1883-85). Zarathustra, of course, refers to Zoroaster, the Persian prophet and religious poet of antiquity (traditionally, 6th century BC), on whom Nietzsche based the principal character of his book.

ENJOY!

 

[herondancer]

Eumir Deodato Almeida's singular rendition of "Also sprach Zarathustra" won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It is arguably the world's most renowned Latin jazz opus ever.

Thanks so much for the vid! I haven't thought about Deodata in donkey's years, but it was a favorite tune of mine when it came out, with a lot of memories attached to it. If you can believe it, it was a radio hit at the time with a version that was about 5 min long. What a treat to hear the whole thing.