My favorite scene in “2001: A Space Odyssey”

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite movies. I love science fiction in general, and there are so many reasons this is a great movie (including the fact that it’s directed by Stanley Kubrick). Aside from the fact that I love the visuals in most space movies, this film has crazy symbolism, mind-bending surreal scenes and enough hidden meanings to leave you unpacking them for years. The movie also influenced many sci-fi films for years to come.

This movie in itself is huge inspiration, and if you haven’t seen it, go watch it now and then come back and finish reading this post!!! The next part of the post & the video clip contain spoilers, because I’m going to share my favorite scene from the movie, so DON’T WATCH THE VIDEO until you’ve seen the movie!! (Unless you really don’t care, but you seriously should watch the entire movie first).

Spoilers are below, so click "read more" to continue reading at your own risk.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, several astronauts go on a mysterious mission towards Jupiter. The ship they travel in is controlled by a super-intelligent computer, HAL, who is supposedly incapable of making a mistake. However, the computer does make a mistake, arousing suspicions of the crewmembers that it is either flawed or lying. After HAL then kills several of the crewmembers, the remaining crewmember goes to shut it down and take manual control of the ship.
I love the character of HAL in general: the apparent “pride” he (it?) takes in his supposed infallibility and super-intelligence, the semi-human robotic voice, the glowing red eye-like cameras from which he sees the ship. It is fascinating to consider whether artificial intelligence has emotions in the way that humans do or whether it can only simulate emotions. Since we don’t know if HAL really feels emotions or is capable of empathy, his actions are completely unpredictable. In this scene, when HAL is faced with deactivation, he certainly seems to show fear, desperation, and an instinct for self-preservation. This scene is brilliantly disturbing, and I especially love the red lighting, the changes in HAL’s voice and the song he sings.