Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: Human Evolution Towards Technology Evolution - Essay Example

This paper explores the camera movement, editing, story, and ideology of the film. “Space Odyssey” illustrates that human evolution is an epic that can be exemplified through the evolution of their technology, specifically technology that alien life inspired. The film argues that advanced alien and human technologies altogether ensure the continuation of the evolution of human race, although implications of dehumanization of humanity and humanization of technology affect the trajectory of human evolution.

Area 1: movement “Space Odyssey” does not have any active movements during its first segment, “The Dawn of Man.” During this part, instead of the camera following the subjects, who are the ape-like hominids, people make sense of the story through the cuts that describe the austere environment and the existence of uncertainty for early hominids. The shots describe the vastness of the early conditions of earth and the competition for survival among hominids and between hominids and other animals.

The lack of movement suggests that humanity is not moving or developing yet, and instead, they are frozen in time, until they go to the next step of their evolution. The film starts using camera movements only during the shooting of the “future,” which suggests that human progress is only visible through their technological advancements. The title of the film stands for an allusion to Homer’s epic, which indicates that the film also intends to capture the epic of human evolution in the future.

The emergence of camera movements in shooting the future suggests that this epic has not started in the absence of awareness that technology can be used to promote different purposes. Dolly shots and dolly zooms are applied when following the movements of the crew in outer space, beginning with the space travel of Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester). Kubrick also often pans the bodies of outer space technology, such as the space shuttle and the space station. Booker describes this as a way of “caressing” technological artifacts, which suggest a “powerful pro-technology statement” (82).

This shows the power of technology in improving what people can know and do. Pans and zooms inject realism of space exploration, which signify the inventiveness of the film. The camera often pans the moon and earth, which further glorify their size and intensify their mystery. The camera tilts too, when showing the earth and the moon, as if it seeks to explore a wide range of area for these massive space objects. The expanse of the earth and the moon underscores the smallness of humanity compared to their universe and that what they know is so little compared to the mystery that surrounds space and the possibilities of alien life.

Furthermore, most of the dolly zoom movements are focused on the technology, such as inside the space shuttle and space station. The lunar shuttle and EVAs, or extra-vehicular activity vehicles, have high-tech interiors. The camera often zooms into the monitors or to several monitors, in order to show how technology controls human life and aids human exploration for space knowledge, as well as the exploration for truth about their origins. These movements ensure that viewers have full “experience” of space exploration, including its wonders and drawbacks to humanity, which other films before “Space Odyssey”