2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Design and Technology Film
06/02/14

Well, what to say about this film. Seeing this film for the first time in 2014 - 13 years after when it was meant to be set - probably diminished the impact of the futuristic ideas that went into the film. However, the creativity and vision of the writers of what the future may look like was very impressive. Some of the ideas were so revolutionary at the time that it is no surprise this film has been given the 'cult classic' label. The creativity of the writers to look 33 years into the future and imagine what life may look like is the most interesting part of this film: commercial space flight, video and audio calls to earth, communities in space and on the moon, voice recognition, trips to Jupiter and grip socks.


Considering that this film came out in the early stages of the space race and a year before Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landed the first manned mission to the moon, Apollo 11, on the 20th July 1969. It is no wonder this film was such a success considering the hype that was around at the time about space travel and what may come of it.

It was very interesting to see what they thought cameras would be which they did not get right, but they were certainly accurate when thinking about tablets and screens as well as two-way video calling. Such technologies have been made widely available only recently which shows great insight from the writers. Human hibernation, trips to Jupiter, commercial space flight are all yet to be realised, but we are certainly closer to these things than ever before.

The idea of living in space is an interesting one and I touched on it in the previous post about Marc Newson. At the moment we are not at the stage of commercial space flight and so no where near community living in space. However, around 3 astronauts are on the International Space Station at once living for a period of normally 6 months. Supply ships come to provide food and other resources to the astronauts. In this sense the idea of living in space has been realised, but not in the same capacity as in the film. Another concern about living in space is that scientists believe that living in space long term can be detrimental to your health. Bone, joint and weight issues of those in space have to be monitored and recovery is required once back to earth for the astronauts. This leaves me sceptical as to the practicalities of living in space and whether this can be realised even in my lifetime.


One of my main reasons for not getting excited about living in space is not seeing the point. Besides scientific discovery and it being 'cool' for a while, there is not much attraction. Most people choose not to live in places that are hard to live in like deserts, oceans and wastelands. Therefore the idea of living in a place that requires space suits, constant shipping in of supplies and a major lifestyle change (for the worse in my opinion) does not appeal.