On New Year’s Eve we watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was my third time seeing it, and it was even worse than I’d remembered. The background sounds were nearly intolerable. It needed Stephen-King-novel levels of editing/chopping. And the major plot elements seemed divided into two types:
1. Super, super obvious insights that were presented as if they were profound. Like when someone is on drugs and starts saying things that seem MIND-BLOWING but are…not. Even if accompanied by a banging drum and a discordant choir.
2. Stuff where someone involved in the making of the movie confused “things that do not make sense” with “things that are very, very deep and profound”—either because he/she personally confuses those things, or because he/she thought the VIEWER would confuse those things and find the result impressive. Like when someone is writing or reading poetry, and thinks that the more baffling/random it is, the more meaningful/deep/profound it is.
Anyway. That was my individual opinion of the movie. I found it just about intolerable, and I never want to see it again OR be in the house while others are watching it.
In expressing this view to the people I live with, I found that Elizabeth could not have agreed more. She did not see why this was the sort of movie her father felt she HAD to see, when it was clearly annoying, boring, and faux-deep. The male persons in my household, however, wanted to argue with me. What EXACTLY did I think was, quote, SO OBVIOUS, endquote? How did I KNOW that some inexplicable parts WEREN’T actually profound? They wanted me to prove to them the unproveable (i.e., that something does not make sense), starting from first principles. Hm, what a tempting offer, but no thank you. I mean, if you say “And also, so-and-so was a terrible actor,” and someone replies, “He was SUPPOSED to be a terrible actor! That was the POINT!,” then what more can the two of you say to one another to achieve peaceful understanding?
Since New Year’s Eve, I have mentioned this movie several times in mixed groups. In EVERY CASE SO FAR, the female people in the group have been of basically my point of view, and the male people in the group have been more aligned with the male people in my household. People have been placed variously on the spectrum, of course, and have had various intensities of feelings. But IN GENERAL, and even with this extremely small sample size, I have seen enough to make me want to do a poll.
Update: So, this is frustrating, but I can’t make the poll work. It wouldn’t format correctly. It insisted that people log in as a WordPress user, even though I unchecked that box when setting up the poll; each time I returned to the poll settings, that box was re-checked. The poll was a nice width on my main page, but if you clicked through to the address of the post itself, it was about one word wide so you couldn’t even tell what you were voting for.
I’m very discouraged. All I can think of is having free-form voting in the comments section, but that’s nowhere near as helpful: we can get 800 votes in a poll when we’d get 25 comments, because it’s way way easier and more fun to vote than to comment. Also, doing it in the comments section is going to make everyone more likely to argue: it’s less provoking to see the numbers and percentages than to see someone saying an opinion in their own words. Also, there are people who cruise around the internet looking to fight about their pet topic: if I get 50% comments in the comments section saying “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, IT’S THE BEST MOVIE EVER, YOU’RE JUST TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND ITS BRILLIANCE,” but the poll shows only 1% of voters say they liked the movie, it’s a good indicator I have stumbled upon one of those topics. If all I have is the 50% comments section with no 1% poll, I’m going to get discouraged about humanity.
It seems like the poll isn’t working yet, but I’ll chime in anyway. I took a film class in college in which the movie was shown. The (male) professor seemed to think of it as a cinematic work of art. I (a woman) ending up leaving about twenty minutes into the movie, because I couldn’t stand it for another minute.
I liked the middle bit of the movie (the part in space) but not the beginning sequence with the apes or the ending sequence with… I don’t even know, I’m still not sure what happened there. I am female.
My partner, who is male, thinks the whole thing is great.
I 100% agree with you – overblown, over long, and pretentious. I was worried when I saw your title asking for votes – I was afraid you’d come down on the side of liking it, that everyone would, and I’d feel all alone and miserly. So glad to hear I’m not the only one who fails to see the genius.
This will be the least helpful comment of the day… I’ve never seen the movie!
Ha ha! I had an option for that in the poll: “I haven’t seen it, but I wanted to vote.” I think it’s sad not to get to vote!
I voted for female and dislike it because I am and do, passionately.
I asked my husband and he said, “Did anything happen in that movie?” And one of his brothers is famous for rating movies on a scale of “That was weird, but not as weird as 2001: A Space Odyssey.”
I don’t know if you’ve watched the OA, but I finished the season with exactly the same “What the heck just happened?” feeling that I had when I first watched 2001 at age, I dunno, 12 or so. I haven’t seen 2001 in a really long time, though, so my opinions are not particularly strong. A sort of general “it was ok but I’m not sure I got it” feeling.
I vote: did not like.
One of the few movies I have walked out of even though I have been a lifelong consumer of science fiction (books and movies). Sometimes older movies on re-watching come across as surprisingly turgid because we’ve become used to much faster pacing and editing, however I can confirm 2001 seemed slow and derivative to me way back in the 60s.
HAHAHA, I love the way you convey how the male persons in your household attempt to present their argument, or broach their attempt to critique yours. As a woman in computer science, I know EXACTLY the tone of which you speak.
I don’t love 2001, but I don’t hate it either. The main thing I do think of fondly is the character of HAL. There weren’t many AI characters with much personality in the world yet at that point, and he’s become kind of a touchpoint for that reason. I think the rest of the (human) dialogue is intentionally banal to some degree, to emphasize the bits of emotion that we get from HAL.
I love HAL, too. I keep thinking that Steven King based the Jack character in The Shining off of HAL.
And OH MY both movies were directed by Stanley Kubrick! So…basically The Shining (the movie) is 2001 in Colorado?
I have not seen the movie but I am 100% sure I would hate it.
This is my answer as well.
I am a woman and I HAAAAAAAATED that movie! So dull and sexist and about as deep as tenth-grade poetry.
I admittedly haven’t seen it in a long time. I remember being pretty indifferent to it. Did not despise, but would not put it on again for background noise.
I generally like science fiction and fantasy but it doesn’t necessarily age well (with some significant exceptions). I wonder if that plays into people’s opinions. I read a classic SF novel recently, one people have strong feelings about, and thought: “meh.” Like, I recognize that it was ground breaking in its time and formed the basis for a lot of SF that followed, but it still reads as very dated and done today. I think 2001 is sort of the same.
This doesn’t account for the gender divide of course. Though, for the record, my husband doesn’t like it either.
So weird-my husband I were just talking about this movie yesterday. I remember watching it in high school and thinking “huh…that was super dumb”. He felt the same way, but we were both wondering if it had just aged into triteness, and blew people away legitimately when it first came out. Or if it was super dumb from day 1. I’m voting for the latter.
I feel a little sheepish saying this, but for me it really is one of those movies that is meant to be consumed while high. The first time I saw it I was the perfect amount of stoned (not a state I’ve experienced often) and I really enjoyed it – the pace was perfect! I’ve seen it since sober and like Marilyn above the only bit I liked was HAL.
I saw that movie in junior high (a loooong time ago), and all I really remember is that I HATED it.
Just commenting so you get above 25 comments: I never seen it.
I saw it years ago and thought – “meh.” My husband loved it. He, however, thinks that any sci-fi is a gift handed down to him from the gods. He just finished reading a book in which a group of futuristic elephants carrying lasers in their trunks tried to take over the earth. So stupid. So incredibly stupid.
I think it would also suffer greatly now from being produced in the past. A lot of tv and movies don’t hold up through time.
I’m part of an all-female household, which maybe explains why my wife and I couldn’t finish this movie. We really, really tried, but UGGGHHH. All your criticisms are so valid; it’s totally overrated.
My husband and I watched it years ago, and all I can remember of it is thinking it was stupid. (He, too, was miffed. As in, why all the hype about THIS?)
Also, I loved your whole point #2, especially the comparison to poetry. As a former college poetry instructor, I can attest to the truth behind the very common misconception that “random, weird = profound, deep.”
Funny. My dad thinks it’s a work of art. My mother can’t stand it. My father made me see it as a teenager (female) and I was bored and couldn’t figure out what was so great about it. it made no sense, but took too long about it.
I haven’t seen 2001 recently, but did try to watch it years ago. I remember thinking that I didn’t get what the fuss was about. I remember nothing about the plot.
You know what guys-love-women-don’t movie I absolutely can’t stand? Fight Club. My then-boyfriend, now husband really wanted to re-watch it and had the DVD. I stuck it out, but if it had been up to me, I would’ve turned it off and bleached my brain about 20 minutes in. Misogynistic, pointlessly violent, hate-filled, and just awful. He was really unhappy when I said I didn’t like it… and apparently complained about it to his work friends the next day. Because he told me that his work friends all told him that of course I didn’t like it: I was a woman and women don’t like that movie.
I love the man and he has many good qualities, but it actually is a little ding against him in my head even now that he likes that movie. I feel that it’s so wrong on so many levels, that it’s a negative to even like it.
Oh my, yes. Fight Club is an awful movie!
I cannot stand that movie! My dad and brothers LOVED it when I was young and now my husband and sons LOVE it and I cannot get out of the room fast enough when it is on. I basically decided several years ago that I don’t appreciate any movie or tvshow with ‘space’ or’star’ I the title as unaware of that very narrow view, but I don’t care!!!
I agree! If it has the words ‘star’ or ‘space’ in the title I’m out. I’d rather go clean a toilet – or really do anything else at all.
female hater here. For all of the reasons mentioned. Just… dumb, not deep.
Female. Science fiction enjoyer. Hate the monkeys, hate the end sequence, really like the middle. Mostly for the visuals. The flight attendant! My way of watching is to skip over the monkeys, and stop watching before the bedroom.
Of course, it’s all complete nonsense, but it’s been completely influential on the design of real-world objects and how we think of things as futuristic or not.
Woman & most boring movie ever.
I have hated that movie since I saw it stoned in college (which I view as in fact the ideal circumstances under which one can favorably view such a film).
Female
Have watched it multiple times and cannot find the appeal. My husband likes Kubrick in general, and when Kubrick died decided we would embark on a Kubrick movie viewing. Most of his movies were far better than 2001. Clockwork Orange is disturbing and excellent, as is the Shining. I like Lolita more than most, and think that Kubrick mostly stayed true to the source in that adaptation. I find Barry Lydon to be unwatchable. Full Metal Jacket is a war protest movie that gets self indulgent in the second half. Eyes Wide Shut is also pretty unwatchable.
I was polling my husband on this, and we both feel similar about 2001, not great, overrated, first movie I ever fell asleep during, etc. But, we then talked over Kubrick’s other films and came to the same conclusions as Kara.
The basic complaint we had about his films is that there seems to be “no there, there.” People performing actions and words, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of reason for us to care about the people, or understand what spark of humanity motivates them.
In the few times I’ve found myself having to sit through it (school-type situations where I couldn’t just busy myself cleaning out my sock drawer or something), I wondered if it was like the emperor’s new clothes, in that we were all SUPPOSED to like it and find beauty and depth, but really, everyone was just pretending because we were embarrassed to admit we weren’t on that plane. Or something.
Oh man, I pretended to enjoy 2001 in college in order to impress a guy, and a result he subjected me to an even more insufferable, beloved-by-many-men movie: Brazil (Terry Gilliam).
Female and dislike.
Female, and hated it. PASSIONATELY hated it. (And I too am a sci-fi lover.) HATED.
Female, liked it. I’m not a superfan or anything–I actually saw it for the first time maybe 6 months ago–but I think it’s a really interesting watch. I think because it’s so old it’s easy to think “oh, this is SO heavy handed” or “look at those computer sounds, so dumb” but I tried to view it as if I was watching it new, like it was the first time I ever watched a space movie like that.
The walking-in-space scenes are incredible, it’s shot so beautifully. I think the rotating sets look better than a lot of the stuff you see today. Overall I thought it was very visually interesting. The music is also amazing–again, thinking about how if you had never heard that song before. I also thought the computer ship character HAL was great (it reminded me of the great great grandparent of Smart House or something.) I thought the acting was good–the way the main character expressed himself even by just the look in his eyes and the scrunch of his face while he tried to do something added so much more than some extra bland dialogue.
Sure, the beginning and ending bits were a bit weird and I’m still a bit confused, but I still liked it a lot. The weird space lights part definitely reminded me of Interstellar.
Female and liked it- but haven’t seen it since I was an obnoxious teenager.
Old female. Watched it when it first came out in the late 60s and liked it very much, not so much in later viewings. Haven’t reached the I hate it phase yet. Also, seems I am the only one here who liked the monkeys. LOL
PS We were a weird bunch. My brother-in-law and his bride chose the 2001 theme song as their wedding march. (I just double checked on youtube and gawd we WERE pretentious. Title–Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra. It’s remembering things like this that makes me more forgiving of younger generations. lol)
I’ve seen it twice, first as a young teen and later as a pretentious youngish adult (late 20s/early 30s). The first time, I thought the beginning and end were boring, liked the HAL section, which seemed like a new story to me. I didn’t understand the monkeys and monoliths, but was mildly intrigued by them. It’s also possible I saw 2010 first and had some frame of reference for the monoliths stuff. Probably not the effect Kubrick was going for, but whatever.
The second time, I probably appreciated the boring silent section a little more (or told myself I did because I was in an insufferable phase). I still liked the HAL stuff and probably told myself the monolith stuff was profound and interesting.
Now, as a less patient and more crotchety middle-aged lady, my gut tells me the boring silent part is boring, but beautifully filmed. The HAL stuff is still good, because I love stuck in space horror stories. And the weird ending stuff is (probably) pretty to look at, but not all that profound or interesting.
And pretty to look at is not nothing, it’s just not what I generally want in a movie. Just like pretty writing on its own won’t make a book worthwhile.
My husband liked it; I did not (I am female). We have had those same conversations in our house. :)
(Can you set up a survey at Survey Monkey or one at Doodle Poll? I wonder if then you could just post the link to the poll rather than embed it?)
I haven’t seen the movie; however, I just asked my boyfriend for his opinion on it and read him a brief summary of your opinion. He sputtered for several minutes about “great work of filmmaking” and “it’s supposed to be disjointed” and “this person is applying contemporary standards of cinema to what was at the time a groundbreaking masterpiece.” Since I haven’t seen it, I can’t confirm that I would agree with you, but I STRONGLY suspect I would. VERY STRONGLY SUSPECT. So there is that data for you, as speculative as it may be.
Follow-up: my boyfriend realized I was typing as he talked and wanted to know what was going on. He is now irked and would like to make the following corrections: one, he did not call it a masterpiece because the term masterpiece is overused, not to mention sexist (he would like Swistle readers to know that he advocates for the term mistresspiece). Two, he does find many parts of the movie to be slow-paced and boring. Glad we cleared that up.
MISTRESSPIECE. BEAUTIFUL.
I think it’s certainly necessary to consider it through the perspective of when it came out, sure. I still find it boring and unwatchable. I’m a woman, over the hill and accelerating rapidly.
I LIKE science fiction in itself. I’m a huge fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, quite like Star Wars, love Firefly, etc. So it’s not that science fiction can never be watchable for me. And that includes the old stuff that came out in the 60s – things like the original Star Trek series, I can watch those with the knowledge that they came out in the 60s and I can enjoy them. Things like 2001, it doesn’t matter what filter I apply. Still turgid dreck.
Meg’s comment sums up my thoughts exactly. Love all the shows she does, cannot stand 2001. By the way, I’m also “a woman, over the hill and accelerating rapidly”. That line made me laugh!
I’m a woman & a sci-fi fan, and I hated it when I saw it years ago.
I am another female sci-fi fan who has never liked or understood why people love that movie so much. It is long, boring and not at all profound.
How about setting up a quick Doodle poll? You’d have to just paste a link instead of embed it, but a lot of us enjoy polls as much as you do and would do it! Then all they have to do is click their preferred option, no sign-up required or anything.