2001: A Space Odyssey

Now I remember watching this movie before the class screening and it just did not make sense to me. Now that I watch this movie again, while still believing the movie to be more of a moving artwork, I realize the deep meanings. The fear of going too far with technology. It really is amazing how manking went from 1900 to 2000. From phonograph to mp3 palyers, from libraries to the internet, and from old filmmaking to digital cinema. It is quite something the no matter how much better the new technology is, it is not enough until it becomes as realistic as possible.
In 2001: A space Odyssey, the brilliance was with the breathtaking visuals of space travel, people were blown away with the detailed futuristic look, shortly before the real moon landing began, and the new computer generation travel scene where bright colors where flying by fast through some kind of narrow hall. In fact not until Star Wars did a space film do so successful with its visuals.
I certainly love going to theaters and see things that are beyond this world yet looks so real. Lev Manovich wrote about the changes in filmmaking and how the sense of what is real begins to blur. He certainly does paint a picture about how filmmaking has changed to computers for postproduction, creating realistic objects that a live actor never saw to connect his dialogue with. The idea of having something there that you know is real is just the debate of whether the Itunes style movie library will replace DVDs in the future.
I don't know what is in the future, nor do I fear it. Because if people want to continue to give people a digital cinematic masterpiece, it works even better when there something real to work on. (ex: Gollum in LOTR)