I want Answers

I have been trying to soak up some American Culture these past few weeks at my local library. They have a pretty good movie collection, and seeing as I am busy reading baby books right now I am getting some "classics" in via DVD.

So far I have watched:

The Grapes of Wrath - by Steinbeck starring Henry Fonda
David Copperfield- by Charles Dickens starring "Harry Potter" as young Copperfield

and

Last night I watched

2001 A Space Odyssey- by Stanley Kubrick (Which was not a novel made into a movie... but I am still considering it an American Classic).

I was happy in the beginning to recognize the Willy Wonka reference made to this movie, you know when they send a candy bar into the TV via Wonka Vision and it ends up with the apes. When I saw the monolith in 2001 A space Odyssey I exclaimed, "A Wonka Bar!"

I don't know if many of you have seen Kubrick's movie. It is done very differently than many films, there is not a lot of dialogue, scenes that seem to drag on forever and some pretty weird sounds to accompany it all. At one point there is this creepy chanting wailing noise going on for like 5 minutes... I asked Chuck to turn it down because it was scaring the baby (when really it was probably more about me being freaked out by it).

It is very philosophical, and Kubrick leaves many questions unanswered for the viewer to interpret. When it was over Chuck asked me if I got it.

"NO! I exclaimed, and I want some answers!"

Chuck talked about how he enjoys movies that make you think. I disagreed, I want everything spelled out for me... I even want that little scene after the credits roll that shows you an "update" of events. Like the wedding scene in Napoleon Dynamite.

Chuck let me think about it for awhile (like 2 minutes) and then he started asking me questions to get me to figure it out.

The explanation still left me unsatisfied. I wanted to see an Alien dang it? And what good is this whole living forever technology that the Aliens discovered if only one Astronaut knows about it and he is currently a floating fetus in space? And what a miserable life to grow old and die alone in a big room on Jupiter (BORING!!!) And the monolith... could the Aliens see through it?

I had to go to this website this morning to have it explained further. It is kind of a long little video, but well worth it.

The best thing to come out of the movie was the opening theme song, which I have put at the top of my play-list for your listening pleasure.

But I will have to hand it to Kubrick for his artistry in scenes, it was very visually stunning for it's time...