Last evening I watched the first part of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, for the first time in probably well over twenty years, and I was amazed at how well it still holds up. I've always had problems with it, but I've also always enjoyed the sheer craft that went into making it.
One scene rang a seriously jarring note, however. Dr. Heywood Floyd has to pass through a voice-recognition system to identify himself; the instructions are duly recited and he is told to speak his name, his last name followed by his "Christian" name. "Christian" name? What the f...?
Why would a noted atheist like Arthur C. Clarke let a howler like that get into the screenplay? Surely, he would see this futuristic international space station as taking a more neutral stance on religious matters. And then it struck me. What if this was his subtle way of suggesting that in the future world of 2001, certain Christian sects had been able to establish a religious dictatorship? Hmmm.
Anyway, the conclusion of the first part, just before the intermission, is perhaps one of the most chilling moments in screen history, as it becomes clear that Hal the computer intends to harm the humans under his control. That Kubrick makes this clear not with words but with economical camera angles and deft editing, makes it all the more unnerving.
This scene is also the subject of one of my favorite Isaac Asimov anecdotes. Dr. Asimov, who in a series of stories about robots, had developed the Three Laws of Robotics, the first of which was that a robot could not harm a human being, or through inaction allow a human to come to harm. When Asimov attended a preview screening of 2001 back in 1968, he was so incensed by the idea of an intelligent computer (just another form of robot) intentionally doing harm to a human, that at the intermission he
went seething up the aisle toward a friend of mine I noticed in the audience.Posted by jt at July 3, 2006 07:43 AM
In tones of deep shock, I said to him, "They're breaking First Law! They're breaking First Law!"
And my friend answered, calmly, "So why don't you strike them with lightning, Isaac!"