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1. Ashlyn Drake
FILM 307
Scott Higgins
11.11.14
2014: An Essay
Stanley Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odyssey,” is an unusual film to say the least. The
majority of studio era Hollywood films utilized widescreen to support or tell the story; yet
“2001” is a movie whose narrative is less important and less interesting than its underlying
themes. The two scenes I will discuss, where Poole is murdered by HAL and HAL subsequently
shut down by Bowman, are more significant in relation to each other and to other motifs
presented in the film than they are as devices of plot. Much of the film is left up to interpretation
as is the subliminal meaning behind various cinematography choices used. In these two scenes,
Kubrick utilizes the widescreen format to subtly affect the viewer’s experience and
understanding of his ongoing themes of evolution, humanity, and deceivement. He frames the
action to show major differences between his characters, build tension, and connect the narrative
to a seemingly disjointed film.
The death of Frank Poole, if not frightening, is certainly inevitable. Earlier on, we watch
as Poole is defeated by HAL in a game of chess. We also know something that the two
astronauts do not: that HAL had read their lips as they had discussed shutting him down. The
scene begins with an image of Bowman watching Poole through a screen as he goes to replace
the AE-35. As with other shots in the film, Kubrick uses a wide angle lense with a small mm,
causing the edges of the frame to look distorted and slightly blurred. This effect is used for
multiple purposes: to depict the emptiness of space, peripheral vision, and in this case, to mimic
the quality of a surveillance camera. This quality puts the audience in HAL’s point of view. This
is a genius move made by Kubrick make the audience both fear and empathize with him. HAL
sees everything that happens aboard the Discovery One. Next, we see an over the shoulder shot
of Bowman as he watches the screen with HAL’s red eye beside the screen. We are reminded
that HAL is omnipresent and powerful. The image of Poole emerging from the space pod is
shown on the screen; he is in a frame within a frame. More interesting is that the shot of Poole
looks exactly like the shot of Bowman as he emerges from the pod when he took out the AE-35
earlier. The only difference is that Poole wears a yellow suit while Bowman wore a red one. It is
as if Bowman is watching himself, or better yet, that he has learned from experience not to trust
HAL and to objectively observe. This theme of objectively viewing oneself is replicated more
literally in the baroque room at the end of the film. We sense that Bowman is more capable than
Poole.
Next, we move outside the Discovery and into outer space where Poole moves towards
the ship to complete his task. The shot feels tilted as nothing in the frame is either perfectly
vertical or horizontal. This instability perfectly shows the audience the feeling of floating in
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2. space, where the lack of gravity creates a world where there is no “right-side up.” “Rebel
Without a Cause,” also uses the tilted screen for emotional impact but here, the effect also makes
physical sense. The shot also places the EVA pod, which is controlled by HAL, closest to us so
that it is the largest thing in the frame. Poole moves farther away from us so he looks smaller and
smaller. We watch Poole as he is the only thing moving but suddenly, the pod begins to turn so
our attention shoots back to the foreground. This method of directing attention within an
unmoving frame by moving characters instead is also seen in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
Next, we see another shot of the pod as it circles towards the camera, creating a symmetrical
image. This shot juxtaposed with the tilted angle shown just before, is eery; it becomes more
jarring as the pod moves towards the screen, claws outstretched, engulfing the entirety of the
giant screen. We do not see the murder happen. Only a series of quick shots getting closer and
closer to the red circle representing HAL. The pacing of these cuts is much faster than that of the
previous shots. It is as if HAL is racing towards the screen with murderous intent. Next, we cut
to Poole struggling with his breathing chord in open space, then Bowman leaving his seat to go
help. The following composition shows Poole and the EVA pod spiraling away into space until
they are nothing but dots on the black screen.
Soon after this sequence comes Bowman’s murder of HAL. There are only two players
left in this game as HAL has also murdered the hibernating members of the crew. We watch as
Bowman readies himself to enter the emergency airlock; his face is framed in a perfectly
symmetrical shot, again used in juxtaposition for what comes next. We cut to the inside of the
airlock as Bowman is thrown in towards us until he covers the frame. Kubrick quickly cuts to an
opposing shot from the other side and then cuts back again to the previous shot. The cut is
disorienting and sudden much like Bowman’s experience of the vacuum. We also see visual
proof that Bowman is more fit for survival than Poole. We see a dead Poole floating away
getting smaller and smaller and we see an alive Bowman shooting towards us; the camera even
moves so that he is always getting larger. We are then greeted with an extreme close up of HAL
after Bowman survives the airlock. As a red circle cannot show facial expressions like people,
the proximity becomes an tool representing emotional force. Next we follow Bowman as he
walks through the ship to find HAL’s control center. The fact that camera follows him is key.
Most of the movement during the Jupiter Mission has been done by characters or machines. For
the first time, a character’s movement has stimulated the camera to move as well. Not only that,
but the movement is not smooth and planned by shaky spontaneous, as if Bowman is leading the
way. As he gets closer to the center, the camera angle gets lower in relation to Bowman. By the
time he reaches the door, the frame is looking up at him a from the floor. The low angle shot
makes Bowman look tall and heroic, emphasizing how he has taken charge of the situation.
When Bowman enters HAL’s control room, we are once again thrust into zero gravity
space. But instead of tilting the camera, Kubrick holds the camera at a ninety degree angle. The
horizontality of the widescreen frame is perpendicular to the thousands of vertical rectangles that
make up the room. As Bowman begins to disengage the higher functioning parts of HAL’s
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3. programming, the camera alternates between shots of the white rectangles coming out of their
place, close-ups of Bowman, and close-ups of HAL. The movie has very few close-ups, much
like “Bonjour Tristesse,” and therefore makes them serve a higher narrative purpose. In this
scene, multiple close-ups are cut together to build the tension. HAL’s death is torturously slow,
not just for him but for the audience as well. Logically, turning HAL’s higher functions off
would probably involve flipping some switches. Why is it that the white rectangles have to
slowly come out of the wall instead of just turning off? The lights do not even go out. The
removed plates disrupts the perfect parallel lines created by the lights on the walls. We watch as
the visual balance is broken to represent HAL’s descent into delirium and then death.
HAL is the most “human” character we meet in the film. Unlike the men in hibernation
who are simply shut down, HAL fights for survival and even pleads for mercy in his final
moments. “I can feel it,” he says. Every human character we meet in “2001: A Space Odyssey”
seems more robotic than HAL, who acts through believable and logical intentions. We question
the meaning of humanity and empathize with HAL yet still rejoice when he is defeated. This is
because Kubrick sets HAL up as a formidable threat, an obstacle that must be overcome by Dave
Bowman. It is the bravery and composure he exhibits in the final scenes of the Jupiter Mission
sequence that make the audience feel as if he deserves the last section of the film. Bowman
proves himself worthy of the ultimate trip he experiences.
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