The key difference between Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
As far as the endless imaginative resources of the realms of science fiction go, it’s hard to look beyond one of the genre’s greatest-ever works, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story arrived as both a masterpiece film by Stanley Kubrick and a novelisation by sci-fi icon Arthur C. Clarke.
2001 is a richly thematic work of fiction that charts the evolutionary journey of humankind, from bone tool-wielding prehistoric apes to space-faring technologically advanced astronauts. All the while, each evolutionary jump seems to be influenced by a strange monolith that shows up at pivotal moments in human history.
Both Kubrick and Clarke dive headfirst into profound existential questions about where we came from and, more importantly, where we are going while also offering warnings about our reliance on technology. 2001 is simply a vital work of fiction and attempts to answer some of our deepest questions and anxieties.
However, there’s a distinctive difference between Kubrick’s movie version of 2001 and Clarke’s novel, with the main point being that where Dave Bowman, Frank Poole, and HAL 9000 are setting out for Jupiter in the film, in the novel, they are meant to be heading for Saturn. However, special effects coordinator Douglas Trumbull found it difficult to get the rings of Saturn to look right on film, so Kubrick had to change the destination.
Other than that, the differences in the film and novel versions of 2001 largely come from the way their particular mediums are experienced. Through prose, Clarke was able to write in great detail about the prehistoric apes’ evolution and HAL’s malfunction, whereas Kubrick had to condense everything into around two hours and 20 minutes.
In 1970, Kubrick spoke of the differences between his movie and Clarke’s film, noting, “It’s a totally different kind of experience, of course, and there are a number of differences between the book and the movie. The novel, for example, attempts to explain things much more explicitly than the film does, which is inevitable in a verbal medium.”
Kubrick continued, “[The movie], on the other hand, is basically a visual, nonverbal experience. It avoids intellectual verbalisation and reaches the viewer’s subconscious in a way that is essentially poetic and philosophic. The film thus becomes a subjective experience, which hits the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does, or painting.”
Check out the trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey below.
What is 2001: A Space Odyssey about?
2001: A Space Odyssey, the 1968 science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick and novelisation by Arthur C. Clarke, tells of the evolutionary journey of humankind, from the dawn of civilisation and the moment that prehistoric apes first used tools made out of bone to our voyages into deep space and beyond.
Kubrick offers a reflection on our existence and ponders the direction in which our species might be heading from an evolutionary point of view. He also details a severe warning about our reliance on technology as per a space mission that has very nearly gone wrong owing to a malfunctioning and seemingly malicious computer called HAL 9000.
