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Sci-Fi Movies Still Haven’t Topped 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is still the best and most important science fiction film of all time, and modern-day science fiction movies have yet to top what the director's 1968 release was able to do. Of course, there have been intelligent science fiction films released recently, including Ex Machina, Annihilation, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049, and the genre has been popularized with multi-billion-dollar franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek; even the MCU can be considered science fiction. But one would have to go all the way back to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), which is credited as the first science fiction film ever, to find a movie as daring, ground-breaking, and influential as 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Written by Kubrick and famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s main plot begins with the discovery of a monolith on the moon, and upon investigation, a deafening radio signal is released. The story picks up later when Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) are on a deep space mission to Jupiter, later revealed to be a further investigation of the monolith’s lunar radio signal. The bulk of the film’s runtime includes Dave and Frank’s conflict with HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), their ship’s malfunctioning artificial intelligence, which exhibits signs of self-awareness.
A masterpiece of the science fiction genre, 2001: A Space Odyssey was groundbreaking in its exploration of complex themes, its prescience, and its visual language. Not only does it still hold up as a cerebral and visually stunning film, but it has since changed the genre, bifurcating science fiction films into two main categories, and even the best of recent years has not approached what 2001: A Space Odyssey was able to accomplish.
What Made 2001: A Space Odyssey Such A Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Film
When Kubrick approached Clarke about collaborating on 2001: A Space Odyssey, he said that he wanted to make a film about “man’s relationship to the universe.” It’s about as high-minded a concept as one can get, and it’s demonstrated in two main sections of the film. The prologue depicts what the film calls “The Dawn of Man,” which dramatizes a tribe of apes interacting with a monolith millions of years before the film’s main action. The visuals imply that the monolith bestows the apes with human-like intelligence – the ability to reason and use tools – which leads to humankind’s eventual journey to space. Such an elemental question – where do we come from? – is answered in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The second deeply philosophical question explored in the film is what makes humans human? Through HAL 9000’s self-awareness, the film wonders where the line of personhood is drawn. HAL demonstrates feelings of self-righteousness when his functionality is questioned, personal agency when conspiring against the crew members, and pain and fear when Dave is shutting him down – or is that all just part of his programming? The singularity, or artificial intelligence’s self-awareness, has been a frequent subject of science fiction films, including Ex Machina, AI: Artificial Intelligence, and even The Terminator series, but it was first explored in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It is impossible to understate how forward-thinking this is. The first rudimentary AI was developed in 1955, so in 1968 the concept of AI was so new and cutting edge. Though films and television had depicted humanoid robots, including the one in Metropolis, consciousness in a disembodied computer was untrod territory in film. And considering that most Americans are walking around with a type of AI in their pockets - though not self-aware, of course - that 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted the ubiquity of artificial intelligence adds to the film’s prescient brilliance.
2001: A Space Odyssey was also a visually stunning film, easily winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It captures space realistically with slow, patient movements and the total absence of sound. In the climactic moments of the film, Dave goes through what is probably a wormhole (the film never directly states), which was once again a recent scientific theory, and the kaleidoscopic lights that fill the frame invented the visual language for wormholes that has been repeated in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Contact, and Interstellar, just to name a few.
2001: A Space Odyssey might feel dated now – it has a sixties' version of futuristic production design and slowly paced sequences that aren’t as frenetic as most post-Star Wars space adventures – but when it was released, it was truly a never-before-seen event that has influenced much of what came after it.
How Sci-Fi Movies Have Changed Since 2001: A Space Odyssey
Since 1968 and 2001: A Space Odyssey’s release, there has been an explosion of science fiction on film. Broadly speaking, the genre has bifurcated into two general categories: realistic science fiction and fantasy science fiction. One shouldn’t assume that there is more prestige in realistic science fiction than in fantasy. After all, at its best, the fantasy science fiction franchise Star Trek, which takes great liberties with the laws of physics, aims for resonant philosophical themes just as high-minded as 2001: A Space Odyssey's, and realistic science fiction like Ad Astra was a slog that failed to connect its ambitious premise with a cohesive plot.
In most cases, realistic science fiction utilizes 2001: A Space Odyssey’s visual and auditory language: outer space has no sound, and ships move deliberately. Many try to replicate 2001: A Space Odyssey’s philosophical themes: Ex Machina is about a sentient AI that turns dangerous and manipulative; Contact is about the search for meaning in a vast universe; Arrival takes seriously the interactions between humans and extraterrestrial visitors and plays with the very nature of time, just as the conclusion of 2001: A Space Odyssey does.
But it’s the subgenre of fantasy science fiction that has seen the largest growth, dominating the film marketplace in some years. The Star Wars franchise, the MCU, and Avatar are each in the top ten box office grossers of the past ten years, and the visual language and plotlines of these films are pastiches of other genres. In many ways, they’re space westerns, just as the original series of Star Trek was first pitched, and the battles between spaceships are airplane dog fights with laser beams instead of ammunition. Deep philosophical themes aren’t absent from fantasy science fiction: Avatar and Thor: Ragnarok are about the ethics of colonization; Event Horizon is a deeply existential film about humans’ place in an uncaring universe.
The sum effect of this glut of science fiction is twofold. First, the incredible popularity of fantasy science fiction has educated the masses about theoretical science. Theories in quantum physics like the multiverse and relativity and advancements in technology like artificial intelligence and deep space travel are almost ubiquitous in popular imagination. Second, speculative fiction allows audiences and creators to engage in the kinds of “what if” scenarios that other forms of drama don’t tackle as well. Asking questions about the nature of personhood isn’t confined to science fiction, but such questions can be more starkly dramatized when placed in otherworldly settings. As society catapults into a new, technologically dominated age, science fiction exists as both a warning and a goal. Will technology render humanity as helpless as the characters in Wall-E or usher in the utopia of Star Trek?
Why 2001: A Space Odyssey Is Still The Best Sci-Fi Movie
2001: A Space Odyssey remains the best science fiction film of all time. It is an engrossing, thought-provoking journey with surprises at every turn. Everything from the clever twist of HAL lip-reading Dave and Frank’s scheme to battle of wits between man and machine to the psychedelic visuals of the wormhole sequence makes watching 2001: A Space Odyssey a hypnotic feast. If it were released today, it would still attract a discerning audience.
But in the context of 1968, it’s truly extraordinary. It’s difficult to name a recent film that has dramatized the effects of a technology only conceived of within the last two decades. Science fiction has always looked to breakthroughs in science for fodder for drama, but most recent films have been playing with questions debated in scientific communities during the early 20th century like AI and quantum relativity – subjects that 2001: A Space Odyssey explored over fifty years ago.
2001: A Space Odyssey managed to be both cutting-edge and iconic, a trend-setter and timeless. With its profound philosophical reach, its stunning visuals, and its prescience, Stanley Kubrick’s revolutionary science fiction opus not only inspired the crop of science fiction movies that followed it, 2001: A Space Odyssey remains the genre’s best.
