Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

2001: A space odyssey: A warning before its time

1984; Routledge; Volume: 1; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15295038409360039

0739-3180

Dale E. Williams,

Narrative Theory and Analysis

This essay examines the visual text of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Since previous commentaries lacked a rhetorical framework sufficiently complex to explain the nuances of 2001, this essay develops a formal model from a subset of Kenneth Burke's perspective on rhetoric, and uses the model to integrate the four basic symbolic elements of the film into a coherent message. It is argued that 2001 is essentially a “religious” film, a cinematic warning against our dependence upon the machines and tools we have created. The film's climactic sequence is explained as the visualization of ultimate transcendence.