2001: A Space Odyssey

Gary Lockwood's exit from 2001: A Space Odyssey

I’ve always enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I was younger, the thrill was from the joy of watching anything space related. This was my first viewing in quite some time, perhaps as long as 20 years. As an adult, the space angle wasn’t the draw. I wanted to explore the film as a film…as an art piece. It’s only now that I could see the monoliths leading to man’s first act of violence…the dawn of weaponry. The use of the first weapon contrasts with the completion of an arc that includes man’s creation of replacement man…ie. the computer. The danger of man’s divestiture of control to the computer is shown of course by HAL taking over the ship. It is around that moment that I’ve chosen for the screen capture for this film. From that moment, man is then taken, perhaps, back to the power that created man in the first place? We can’t be sure what the star child means, but that’s my interpretation from the vantage point of being 40.