...2014 Stanley Kubrick's Monolith: The Sixties Stanley Kubrick remains one of the most influential and even notorious directors of American cinematography. Beginning in the 1950's, his work spans five decades and is responsible for collecting the attention of modern audiences. However, it was in the 1960's that Kubrick substantiated his career and crafted his abilities as a director and a creative mind. During this decade, the United States underwent a generational revolution that influenced many of its cultural facets--in particular, motion pictures. Kubrick's two epics, Spartacus and 2001: A Space Odyssey, frame the beginning and end of this decade and thusly represent it as a time of human progression byway of revolution, sexuality, and violence. Spartacus launched the trajectory of Kubrick's career as well as sparked his creative style, which he then perfected in 2001. Both of these films, the largest productions Kubrick worked on during the 1960s, are therefore exemplary in...
Words: 3437 - Pages: 14
...essay topic I will be examining the roles of Hitchcock and Kubrick in their films. I will not be only explaining what an auteur is but the origin and why it is so significant to me and to everyone nowadays and why both of these directors are considered auteurs. The roles that both Hitchcock and Kubrick play in this essay are why that is so important for them to be considered auteurs. In my topic I will be arguing that Hitchcock and Kubrick were both Auteurs, but couldn't every director be an auteur isn't the definition of an Auteur a film director who is considered the primary creative force in the picture. Why are Hitchcock and Kubrick so special I am going to argue that they are great auteurs, how I'm going to do this is by viewing two hitchcock movies and two Kubrick movies and compare them to movies I have recently watched in the movie theaters. The two Hitchcock films I'll review watching are vertigo and to catch a thief . I choose these films because vertigo is the very first Alfred Hitchcock movie I watched and it was very interesting to watch such an old movie that was so entertaining. The way Hitchcock used the music and the way he is able to build the suspense and keep the suspense going even when without the music made it very shocking to me. And then in to catch a thief how Hitchcock was able to put an ordinary man in such bizarre events made it fun to watch. Two movies I have chosen for Stanley Kubrick are the shining and 2001 a space Odyssey. I choose the shining...
Words: 1284 - Pages: 6
...26 July 1928, Stanley Kubrick, was born in New York City's Bronx neighborhood. Music at a young age, got curious about chess and photography. 17 years old, the famous photo magazine "Look" also began working as a photographer. Columbia University Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, and like Moses Hadas attended classes given by renowned professors. Museum of Modern Art in any changes in the program was followed closely. Washington Square in New York City Marshal and Manhattan clubs, chess games of fortune did. DOCUMENTARY FILM FIRST Kubrick's first film essay, "Day of the Fight" with the name in 1950, he led all the money accumulated to date, boxer Walter Cartier subject of a documentary film of the 16-minute short. The first film yönetmenlikten assembly, he did everything from directing sound image. The film was bought by Howard Hughes and RKO şiketi legend movie was shown in New York, Paramount cinema. Look to the cinema to devote all his time on the success of the film magazine he quit his job. Kubrick's first film shot in 1950 until the end of 1955 continued to attract certain ranges, short documentaries. RKO'nun bid in 1951, "Flying Padre" now, Father Fred Stadtmueller'ı a documentary about the 9-minute, in 1953 for the International Federation of Seafarers "Seafarers," a 30-minute documentary called (Kubrick's first color film), and finally 1955 acquaintances in the debt-led "Killer's Kiss" in the film. In 1956, producer James B. Kubrick and Harris, who met with...
Words: 1244 - Pages: 5
...Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading As an Orwellian warning. It pretends to oppose the police state and forced mind control, but all it really does is celebrate the nastiness of its hero, Alex. I don't know quite how to explain my disgust at Alex (whom Kubrick likes very much, as his visual style reveals and as we shall see in a moment). Alex is the sort of fearsomely strange person we've all run across a few times in our lives -- usually when he and we were children, and he was less inclined to conceal his hobbies. He must have been the kind of kid who tore off the wings of flies and ate ants just because that was so disgusting. He was the kid who always seemed to know more about sex than anyone else, too -- and especially about how dirty it was. Alex has grown up in "A Clockwork Orange," and now he's a sadistic rapist. I realize that calling him a sadistic rapist -- just like that -- is to stereotype poor Alex a little. But Kubrick doesn't give us much more to go on, except that Alex likes Beethoven a lot. Why he likes Beethoven is never explained, but my notion is that Alex likes Beethoven in the same way that Kubrick likes to load his sound track with familiar classical music -- to add a cute, cheap, dead-end dimension. Now Alex isn't the kind of sat-upon, working-class anti-hero we got in the angry British movies of the early 1960s. No effort is made to explain his inner workings or take apart his society...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...One of the most ambiguous movies shot by Stanley Kubrick is “The Shining” – a horror film, that tells a story of a family that has moved into a hotel called “Overlook”, which was inhabited by ghosts. Throughout the movie, the plot develops around the Torrance family: Jack, Wendy, and their son Danny. Kubrick based the movie on a novel written by Steven King. The literary source is rather thrilling and intriguing, and the movie can be basically given the same positive assessment. According to the screenplay, Jack Torrance, a writer who had quit abusing alcohol, moves into a distant hotel in the mountains with his family. The winter weather conditions render the hotel fully isolated from the outer world. All roads leading to it are covered with snow, so no vehicles can pass. During this period, the hotel is closed. Isolation, however, is what Jack needs to write his new novel, and at the same time, he will work as the hotel’s keeper. The hotel was built on a patch of land where an old Indian cemetery was located. During the movie, Jack Torrance, influenced by the evil spirits, gradually goes insane and attempts to kill his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd), but fails to do so and dies. The first and foremost criterion to evaluate about “The Shining” is the atmosphere that was reproduced in the movie. Kubrick managed to convey a sense of isolation and detachment, as well as the mystical fear constantly increasing throughout the movie. Despite the luxurious...
Words: 741 - Pages: 3
...Defying Society Perhaps one of the most popular books ever written by Mark Twain is Huckleberry Finn, reflecting a time of racial discrimination whose language could arguably be deemed “ inappropriate”. The Scarlett Letter published in 1850 was considered at the time sexual and overtly offensive. Pablo Picasso illustrates his view of women in the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, where five naked prostitutes obscene postures are anything but traditional. The Color Purple directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel written by Alice Walker, displays a plot that depicts the hardships African American women went through in the 1900’s concerning racism, prejudices, and poverty. All of these works of art have been deemed as socially offensive, improper, or distasteful, however these are the exact reasons why they are so significant. Artistic endeavors, including film, do need socially unacceptable content in order to evoke emotion, fit into a specific genre, and to present familiar material in an unconventional way. Unpleasant images are a form of artistic symbolism that creates a story without any words. The audience can digest the meaning and emotion behind what is on screen without having to be told. For example, American History X displays racism through the use of symbols and colors when Derek, one of the main characters, steps out on his front porch half-naked showing his bare white skin covered in dark tattoos of swastikas and white-power...
Words: 1390 - Pages: 6
...Modern cinema described both Staley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock as the pioneers of their genres and professions. Social culture on the other hand named Kubrick an undeniable genius, free-spirit and in a biography of Stanley Kubrick, a “talented shit” (Baxter) and Hitchcock “The Master of Suspense” and what I gather to be mainly just a sick, obsessive pervert. That all being said, these men faced the new world that was emerging in film. It was the early 1960’s and the Hollywood Studio System collapsed which led to an intense weakening on censorship rules. From fluffy tales of love, suggestive and symbolic vampires, and only whispers and innuendos to appease the audience need for guttural expose, rose the dawn of sex and violence. This concept of weakened censorship paved the way for two very disturbed, very brilliant people to move to the forefront of mainstream cinema. Stanley Kubrick was a targeted to resurrect “Spartacus” at the beginning of his career and it was an instant classic and quite a feat for someone as new as he was. Hitchcock on the other hand was riding on success after success with his films “Vertigo” and “North by “Northwest.” While they had many differences in genre and execution, they were both...
Words: 834 - Pages: 4
...Kubrick’s Success Stanley Kubrick was one of the most famous and most recognized film directors of modern cinema. His milestone works were also often subject to controversy. It was yet ironic that the academy ignored him despite the perfectly executed elements in his films such as cinematography, narrative, production design and casting. It would be impossible to pin point the exact contributor to his success, since the combined form of all those elements are the source of the beauty and depth in his movies. For example the movie ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ would not retain the atmospheric intensity of the ballade if the music playing was ascend, which was a reversed version of a Romanian Liturgy. However, there must be a key element that distinguishes Kubrick from his contemporaries. Perhaps a secret formula? In my opinion a pattern of his style can be observed throughout his movies which is essentially staging to both convey an ambiguous narrative through visuals and add an overall visual aesthetic and beauty. This can also be identified as mise-en-scene. We can see that Kubrick was so keen on the on staging of the film that his movies took many shots until the perfect and satisfactory result was achieved by Kubrick. As one of the special photographic effects designer Douglas Trumbull in the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ indicates in his essay: “One of the most serious problem that plagued us throughout the production was simply keeping track of all the ideas, shots, and...
Words: 1294 - Pages: 6
...In 1968, science fiction scribe Arthur C. Clarke and movie director Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey came to the silver screen. The movie wasn't a space opera like Flash Gordon or Captain Video, a series in which Clarke had served as a writer and consultant. Rather, 2001 was Kubrick and Clarke's unique vision that was unlike any other movie of its genre. Less than a decade after the film's release, Jacob Kurtzberg, better known as Jack Kirby, added his unique style to the motion picture and its universe in the comic book pages upon his return to Marvel Comics, the publisher for whom he had co-created such iconic characters as the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk. This article will explore The King of Comics version of 2001: A Space Odyssey and how he brought it from celluloid to panel. THE ODYSSEY'S HISTORY After making the 1964 film Doctor Stranglove, director Stanley Kubrick became fascinated with the possibility of extraterrestrial life....
Words: 626 - Pages: 3
...his paper will examine the topic of heroism in Stanley Kubrick’s films Paths Of Glory and Full Metal Jacket by comparing the visual styles and narrative structures and offer insight into Kubrick’s views on war. Paths Of Glory is a 1957 film based on the First World War focusing on the political struggles of the French army as they battle the German army. It is a study of the bravery and cowardice that exists within the ranks of the army, as well as the results of extreme amounts of fear. The focus is primarily in the barracks and the court. The plot focuses on a group of soldiers who are charged with cowardice. No man is perfect, but war magnifies qualities such as honour and deceit, and this film illustrates this phenomena in a very clean, proper way. Paths Of Glory does not show actual combat very much, unlike Full Metal Jacket. Full Metal Jacket is a study of what becomes of a soldier at war. Set in the Vietnam War, it begins with a focus on the training of a platoon of U.S. marines and continues to follow the service of Private Joker in his experiences in Vietnam as he goes about his service. Full Metal Jacket is a well paced film that studies the violence of war, portraying the physical as well as the mental dangers in a hyper realistic way. One overarching element that ultimately combines both of these films is their emotional poignancy. Both are highly engaging, yet thoroughly disturbing films. These are two demonstrations against war, revealing the subject in an...
Words: 1810 - Pages: 8
...Does goodness really come from within or is it possible for one to change their evil ways? Issues such as the battle between good and evil are presented in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick classic film, A Clockwork Orange. If you are easily intrigued by the sight of violence and sounds of Beethoven then this is the film for you. Stanley Kubrick’s complex mind pulls an idea together that will leave you thinking for days. Aside from the inappropriate and disastrous story, it is an enjoyable and intriguing story for any audience member over the age of eighteen. Containing images of a rather violent and obscene nature, the film’s unique portrayal of a London dystopia becomes the backdrop of the story and the exploitation of the issues between the government...
Words: 1474 - Pages: 6
...The year is 1968. The Vietnam War is in full swing, Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated, and American Cinema is approaching a new renaissance. At the height of the space race between the US and the USSR, a film is released that is so different and thought-provoking, yet spectacular and beautiful, that people either walk out of the theatre the first time or go back to see it again. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film about discovery and what may come of the world, but above all it is a visually striking and experimental film that only Stanley Kubrick could pull off. Many considered 2001: A Space Odyssey to be slow paced and boring, and some even went as far as calling it annoying. It was a film that saw 241 walkouts at its premiere, Rock Hudson...
Words: 1665 - Pages: 7
...Dr. Strangelove Essay Relating Dr. Strangelove to International Politics As a class last week we watched a comedic satire on the context of mutual assured destruction between the U.S/Soviet Union during the Cold War. The movie is titled “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” by Stanley Kubrick. Throughout the film there are many situations in which the topics we have been studying in world politics are discussed in a comedic yet thought provoking way. The two most prevalent issues I saw displayed were the issues of information asymmetries/incomplete information, and the overwhelming presence of patriotism/nationalism themes displayed by the film to create a rally effect. I will discuss how these issues arose in the film and how they relate to international relations. There are many situations that arise in the film that incorporate a failure to communicate information. This actually seems to be the prevailing idea of the film. Information asymmetries occur when one side has more information than the other, giving more influencing power to the information holder. The first case involving information asymmetry occurs early in the film when General Ripper radios his orders to the bombers to drop hydrogen bombs on Russia (unconstitutionally), using a discrete three letter prefix that only he knows. He also requires all radios be confiscated, as they might be used to “issue propaganda” from the enemy. In doing this Ripper has created an information...
Words: 858 - Pages: 4
...Is Google Making Us Stupid and Facebook as a Crowd? The author begins this article by a brief description of the closing scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A space odyssey when Dave dismantles the memory circuits of Hal, an artificial brain that controls the space ship. He feels that someone is tinkering with the brain to make it change. He also goes into saying he doesn’t enjoy reading anymore of any length of time because he can’t really concentrate on the book. He’s not thinking the way he used to think. He can feel it most wrongly when he is reading. He begins looking for something else to do. Over a decade he’s been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing the great database of the so called internet. He states the Web has been a godsend to him as a writer. He feels instead of being a diver in the seas of worlds, he sees himself as a guy on a jet ski. He confessed recentely that he has stopped reading books altogher. We’ve been reading more since tat 1970’s and 1980’s, when the television was our medium choice. “We are not only what we read” says Wolf, a developmental psychologist. She states the “efficiency and immediacy above all else, may be weakening out capacity for the kind of deep/complex words of prose commonplace” The net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. In inject the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the others media it has absorbed...
Words: 612 - Pages: 3
...Saludos, en esta ocasión en el foro, hablaré sobre una expresión artística, en este caso, una película titulada el gladiador, es una película histórica basada en los gladiadores. Un gladiador era un combatiente armado que entretenía el público en la Antigua Roma en confrontaciones violentas y mortales contra otros gladiadores, contra animales o contra condenados a muerte. Aunque algunos gladiadores combatían por voluntad propia, la mayoría eran esclavos o condenados, que eran entrenados en condiciones muy duras y estaban socialmente marginados y segregados. ¿Qué expresión artística es? Película, El Gladiador. ¿Quién la realizó? Director: Ridley Scott - Actores principales: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou y David Schofield. - Productores: David H. Franzoni, Branko Lustig y Douglas Wick - Guión: David H. Franzoni - Fotografía: John Mathieson - Música: Hans Zimmer y Lisa Gerrard ¿Cuándo se realizó? La película se rodó en tres escenarios principales entre enero y mayo de 1999. Salió al cine en el 2000. ¿Qué tema trata? La película está ambientada en la Roma Imperial, iniciando en el final de la vida del Emperador Marco Aurelio, con su victoria sobre los marcomanos cerca de Vindobona (año 180 d.C.); y muestra a continuación cómo su hijo, Cómodo, se convierte en el nuevo emperador, Cómodo supone el fin del Alto Imperio y la dinastía Flavia, comenzando la...
Words: 971 - Pages: 4