When I first saw 2001 at age 11 or so, the Blue Danube spaceship docking sequence was boring and overly drawn out. I had no idea why Kubrick picked this particular song, and why there weren’t laser beams, TIE fighters, explosions or other displays of interstellar warfare. 10 minutes of a ship approaching a space station and docking. Lame.
When I saw it again at age 16, having learned about “motifs” and “themes” and “symbolism” from my AP English classes and having unwittingly turned into something of a Freudian (though I didn’t know enough to realize it at the time) this sequence was still boring and overly drawn out, but I took mild glee in pointing out that it was totally about sex. Granted, this was well before I had any firsthand knowledge of what sex was like, but from what little I learned in health class, I was convinced that this totally a sexual metaphor. But then again, I was pretty sure everything was a sexual metaphor of some kind, and that all symbolism and imagery had at their core sex as their basis. It made for some pretty interesting peer evaluations whenever I had to present my interpretations to the class.
When I watched this movie as a college student, I had another revelation: I was sure I sort of “got it”, or at least, I thought I did, how the interplay of sound and visuals cohered to make greater aesthetic statement. Sort of. The vaguely banal yet formal music highlighted how space travel was at the same time fantastic and commonplace within the context of the universe established within the story. Or something like that.
Now, a decent number of years and relationships later, I’ve come to accept that my 16-year-old know-nothing self might have been onto something, totally by accident, and that whatever other meanings might be secondarily distilled from the images (and my collegiate interpretation is, in retrospect, a load of complete horseshit) this sequence is primarily and overwhelmingly about sex, totally. A pointy ship slowly rotating and flying into a giant red rectanglar slot, set to the music of a naughty 19th century couples’ dance? Okay, I get it, Stanley, no need to be subtle here.
One Comment
I have never seen this movie. But I see that it was made in 1968. Let’s face it, those are great visual effects for 1968. And the music to the scene. Well, no one probably did that either. As far as the metaphor, maybe to one person it is sexual, and to another it is just a scene with great visual effects. Even with a sexual metaphor, can’t it sometimes be more than about just sex, as in the act. About achieving something or arriving or a finale or something great happening?
Post a Comment