2001: A Space Odyssey (Part I)
I. Which came first--the film or the novel?
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Difficult of establishing authorial intention
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Novel is based on screenplay, which is creditied to both
Kubrick and Clarke
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Clarke: neither he nor Kubrick has the "'right' interpretation--whatever
that means."
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The New Critics: The Intentional Fallacy
II. Differences in Media, Narratives (Film vs. Book)
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Book's narrative "explains" much more for us
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Kubrick takes different track, seeks to go beyond verbal,
force view to engage in interpretation (cf. Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes)
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Clarke's "academy" narrative condensed into single image,
left to our interpretation.
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Clarke's "transparent" monolith vs. Kubrick's always opaque
monoliths.
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Kubrick compares his narrative style to music.
III. Technology and the Dawn of Man
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Principal novum of 2001: alien element affecting
evolution of humanity.
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Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra vs. Nietzsche's Zarathustra;
"man" as a bridge between the ape and the "super-man"; the necessity of
interpretation
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Clarke's "Academy": alien experimenters determine
"new way of life" with their success.
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Focus on TOOLS/TECHNOLOGY: man-apes become masters of environment.
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Clarke's "Ascent of Man": the "toolmakers" are "remade by
their own tools."
IV. From Pre-historic Africa to 2000/2001
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"News black-out" and the second monolith: TMA-1
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Fear of a paradigm shift: "cultural shock" and "social disorientation"
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Monoliths as a function of that which transcends human
understanding. "...its origin and purpose is still a total mystery"
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The mythic element of the quest (Homer's Odyssey)
V. Artificial Intelligence, as novum: The Question
of HAL.
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Does HAL have feelings? (The Turing Test)
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Is HAL a "conscious entity"?
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HAL and the symbol of the eye.