Gravity and 2001: A Space Oddyssy

Gravity vs. 2001: A Space Odyssey

The films Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey share many different characteristics of science fiction that penetrate the core values of what makes a good science fiction film.   Both films bring to life the use of futuristic as well modern day technologies to explore areas of life that would otherwise not be possible.  The adventurers that both films take you on is an exciting one which shows what life could be like outside of the comfortable home we call Earth.  Through amazing special effects and great cinematography these films bring very emotional and contrasting visual experiences to the viewers.  The subjective and objective messages that appear throughout each film bring about questions and ideas of our human race that might not be so apparent in our everyday living.

            2001 provides a lot of philosophical insight to the human civilization in regards to where we have come and where we might end up.  The film starts showing pre-evolved humans as apes in the desert curiously scrounging around for food.  The group of apes is then forced away from their water hole by another group of these apes. Since being pushed away from their water whole the first group of apes find what is shown to be a large monolith in the desert.  Hesitantly, the group of apes all end up touching the monolith, which leads to them discovering how to use bone as tools to both hunt and kill. This scene is suggesting that the special device or alien object, which later plays a significant role, is perhaps the key to our human evolution of knowledge and progression.  After killing the leader of the other group to take back their water hole a bone is thrown in the air and the scene transitions a satellite (in the same shape as the bone) in outer space some millions of years later.  The match-cut scene links and shows coherence of the growth of mans evolution from just a savage creature to an intellectual being just by the very shapes used in this transition. The film continues on and man later discovers the same monolith buried under the moons surface. A group of astronauts go to investigate the monolith and then pose to take a picture, touching the monolith like the apes did millions of years ago. When they touch it, it then triggers a signal to be sent to a moon on Jupiter.  This signal in turn sparks the courage to travel to the moons of Jupiter to find out what this monolith is transmitting to. 

During this voyage, HAL, the ships AI, takes over the ship when a potential failure in his software makes the 2 crewmembers to think about disconnecting him.  HAL’s reasoning is that disconnecting him from the ships control will threaten the success of the mission.  HAL believes to be correct in his presumptions about taking over the ship and eliminating “human error” as he puts it.  Mark Jancovich in Re-examining the 1950s Invasion Narratives looks at this idea of humans being inaccurate in their own reasoning. He said, “human emotions have no foundation or validity, and it is only rational thought which has any positive value (Liquid Metal p. 333).”  While HAL claims to be perfect in reason and programming, it seems as though he could almost be seen as the most human of them all by begging for his “life” and showing fear when the only remaining survivor, Bowman, attempts to disconnect him.

This relationship between man and machine has always been present in science fiction movies.  There is always some sort of attempt to create life by using technology.  The creation of HAL can be closely related to the movie Frankenstein.  Man creates life and somehow that life fails to live up to human standards of a living being.  Perhaps this is a message that man will never be able to create life himself but will only be able to evolve into another, better form of life.

Bowman, the only remaining survivor of the mission to Jupiter, finally makes it to Jupiter to explore where the monolith is transmitting its signal.  Bowman’s pod then gets sucked into a psychedelic tunnel of light.  He then finds himself in a bedroom seeing different version of him until he is finally lying in a bed staring at the same monolith that was found on the moon. He then is seen as a fetus in a womb of light traveling towards earth.  This is again relating back to the beginning of the movie when the apes gain knowledge of how to hunt and use bones as tools.  It is the monolith, or whatever embodies the monolith, that moves humanity to evolve to the next stage of a higher being.

            While the movie Gravity does not carry as much of the same themes and/or philosophical messages that 2001 brings, there are similar ideas in the scenes that can be seen as being influenced by 2001.  The time in which these films are made does have a lot to do with the messages they carry.  In the 60’s and even earlier, many of the films bring a strong opinion to humanity and the course we are taking as a whole, while today’s films, like Gravity, are for more entertaining purposes.  The market has become oversaturated with pure entertainment rather then trying to bring a sincere message to the audience.

            Gravity starts out in with the complete silence of space showing a contrasting view of Earth’s warm beauty and the empty black of space.  The crew of space shuttle Explorer is on a standard mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.  All hell breaks loose when a field of debris from destroyed Russian satellites starts to intersect their location.  The ship is destroyed and all but 2 astronauts are killed, Dr. Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski.  This movie does seem to play off the theme of being stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean.  Being in space is a little bit more nerve wrecking than being on an island however, the movie is about the same thing, survival.  Stone and Kowalski make their way to the international space station to seek refuge and a possible way back home. Through a series of events Kowalski gets lost in space and talks Stone through the process of boarding the space station.  Stone is now on a mission to try and make it to an escape pod while simultaneously racing the deadly field of debris that is now orbiting Earth at over 20,000 mile per hour.  This contrast between the silence of space and deadly anticipation of shear destruction makes for interesting and attention grabbing style film.  This is present in 2001 however it does not seem as dreadful as Gravity because many of the scenes in space are filled with fun waltz music instead of dreary silence.  Stone makes it to an escape pod and when escape seems so close she finds that she can’t use it since the parachute has already been deployed.  She then has to use the pod to get to the Japanese space station and use the functional escape pod.  Racing the debris she makes it to the escape pod and begins speeding toward Earth.  When she finally makes it she again faces death and almost drown in the lake she lands in.

            Gravity does not hold the same philosophical ideas that 2001 has; rather we see small hints of influence in the film that connects the two in small ways.  When Stone makes it to the international space station she is portrayed, in a sense, as being back in a state of new life.  She curls up in the fetus position when she finally makes it to the safety of the space station.  The symbolism can be seen in 2001 as the first part of the film deals with the evolution of man and our transition into a higher being. It can also be connected to the end of the film when the new fetus is traveling toward earth in the safe womb of light. The womb of light and the international space station being a harbor of safety and life, seem to be almost the same thing by this connection.  This in turn can also be a correlation to the idea that technology and evolution are leading to the next evolutionary stage of humanity.  Later at the end of the movie Stone climbs out of the water to experience life on Earth again.  Just like Bowman in 2001 is looking upon Earth as a new, evolved being, Stone emerges from the water a new, or perhaps renewed, life. 

            The movie 2001 shows the evolution of man from apes, to space travel, to man becoming a new being entirely.  These motifs engage the viewer by showing that perhaps there is some supernatural being (the monolith) out in space assisting the human race in their evolution because we are not capable of doing so on our own. Jancovich recognizes this notion that science fiction films depict humans as being inadequate and not rational enough to make decisions beneficial to themselves.  Jancovich says, “…ordinary people ‘are not rational enough’ and need to be controlled by experts (Liquid Metal p. 329).”  This same idea of needing some type of hierarchy to influence humanity in the proper direction is explicitly shown in 2001 by these monoliths being the cause of humanity’s evolution.  Or perhaps we are simply not done evolving and technology will be the key to saving humanity.  The interpretation of this can be left wide open and may swing either way depending on one’s own opinions.

            Both movies engage their viewers in similar but different manners.  Gravity’s dense thematic elements of silence and contrasting suspense of eminent death and destruction make the viewer sit in suspense throughout the movie. 2001 and Gravity both share long scenes that are void of sound.  These scenes make both movies very realistic and provide depth to the emotion of the film. Gravity does seem more suspenseful and aesthetically pleasing than 2001. However, the special effects of 2001 for the time it was made were absolutely spectacular.  So the visuals are both pleasing and appealing for their specific purpose.

            Gravity and 2001 are both excellent science fiction films.  While 2001 does add more philosophical meaning to its storyline, it is satisfying to see that it does influence films like Gravity years later in small ways.  Especially when today’s films are mostly concerned with thematic elements that only serve as a visual spectacle, Gravity does share some symbolism with the same ideas of 2001.