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Sunday 22 September 2013

1st experience of "2001: A space odyssey"


(Music: Johann Strauss- "The Blue Danube")

It was last night. And now, about a day later, my emotion remains mostly unchanged, I still feel overwhelmed and confused and drained. Watching "2001: A space odyssey" the 1st time is an incredible experience unlike anything encountered before and brings a wonderful mix of feelings that perhaps will never be felt again. 









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I confess that I did not understand it at 1st viewing, so a 2nd one is needed, soon. 1 of the reasons is my lack of knowledge about science, technology and philosophy (whereas Stanley Kubrick himself is an extremely intellectual, knowledgeable man, shown in the 1968 Playboy interview), another reason is my reliance on words due to the way films usually are and the fact that "2001" is different. So I received it quite passively, with emotions only. 
But then again, Kubrick said: 
"... "2001" is a nonverbal experience; out of 2 hours and 19 minutes of film, there are only a little less than 40 minutes of dialogue. I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalised pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content. To convolute McLuhan, in "2001" the message is the medium. I intended the film to be an intensely subjective experience that reaches the view at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does; to 'explain' a Beethoven symphony would be to emasculate it by erecting an artificial barrier between conception and appreciation..." 

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