Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s short story The Sentinel, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is renowned for its groundbreaking visual effects and unconventional narrative. The 2-hour film has less than 40 minutes of spoken dialogue. As Kubrick wished, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a nonverbal experience in which music plays a pivotal role in conveying emotional context. In both The Dawn of Man and the stargate sequence, music heightens the anxiety among spectators, creates an effect of suspense, and strengthens the implications to the motif of evolution.
As the dominant sound of the scene which primates discovered the monolith, György Ligeti’s Requiem has a repeating pattern in the film. Three out the four appearances of the monolith in the film are accompanied by Requiem. Both the monolith and Requiem manifest when humans make significant progress in terms of evolution. In the sequence of The Dawn of Man, Requiem appears when the apes discover the monolith. Without explicitly presenting the monolith at the beginning of the scene, Kubrick guides the spectators to speculate what causes primates’ restlessness by showing apes’ grating screaming along with the eerie music. The shrieking of apes interweaves with the score until it is completely drowned out bythe music. Requiem’s texture resembles a whirring sound that forms a thin line between harmonious sound and noise. The musicality of Requiem brings out an illusionary effect that symbolizes the limits of humans’ intellectual capacity. The appearance of an extraterrestrial being is deemed as a mere disorder from humans’ perspective. Spectators may find it difficult to tell if the continual resonant voices are from the score or the ambient noises in the tunnel. Requiem’s quality of ambiguity is a representation of the humans’ inability to decipher messages from higher intellectual beings. According to Arthur C. Clarke, any technology far in advance of our own will be indistinguishable from magic.
The reappearance of Requiem in the entrance of the stargate sequence once again underscores its correlation with the limit of human intelligence. Entering the stargate, Bowman is slowly falling into a dead faint. Complementing by an extremely shaky frame, the whirring music intensifies the uneasiness and simulates a spastic visual. The music lures Spectators into thinking they are experiencing intense vibration as they are traveling through the tunnel with Bowman. Requiem rises to a crescendo then segues into a monotone orchestra piece.The variation in the layers of indistinct sound suggests a claustrophobic sensation that gives certain discomfort to the viewers.In the stargate, Bowman loses his temporal and spatial perception in psychedelic tunnels of colors. Spectators are as disorientated as Bowman when viewing this scene, and the usage of music in this case further indicates humans have not yet reached the level of cognition to understand certain conceptions.
Silence, as the counterpart of Requiem, is equally significant to the structure of the film. Contradicting to the reoccurring pattern, Requiem is absentin the final encounter of the monolith. Bowman’s heavy breathing is the only sound in the room. The silence is almost discomforting in an empty room with luxurious coldness. The disappearance of the indistinct gabble in Requiem is an emphasis on the step forward in human intelligence. At that point, Bowman has ascended to a state which an entity can transcend physical shells and exist as a spiritual presence. Spectators no longer hear the mysterious music that appeared on the previous occasions as Bowman received the enlightenment from an extraterrestrial being. The existence of monolith is no longer unintelligible to Bowman. Thus, the bizarre music is absent in the final appearance of the monolith.
The presence of music in 2001: A Space Odyssey has great narrative value in building the overall theme of evolution in the story. Using music like Ligeti’s Requiem to amplify The feeling of nervousness among spectators, Kubrick effectively conveys a notion: the potentiality for discovering unearthly existence that can enlighten humans in some way. From the discovery of primitive weapons (bones) to space expeditions, humans have evolved with considerable technological advancements. Kubrick expresses his great expectation to the development of technology and admiration to the vastness of the universe in the film.
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