Nietzsche's Space Odyssey

Critics have called Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey "the first Nietzchean film", stating that its essential thematic influence is derived from Nietzsche's concept of man's evolution from ape to human to super-human.

I first came across the film during a GCSE music class where we were studying the opening chapter, The Dawn of Man in preparation for a task to compose a film score for a fictional scene. My first impression of the opening scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of incomprehension. At the height of my immaturity I found the howls and foot-stomping of various blokes attired in monkey suits extremely humourous. At no point did it occur to me the significance of the appearance of a geometrically perfect black monolith, nor did I really understand why some monkey was bashing about a load of bones. However, looking at this scene with my (only slightly) maturer manner, I can see the importance of the impact of philosophy and in particular the works of Nietzsche had on the art form.

Director Kubrick has said of the meaning of the film that; "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film." However, it is difficult to not include Nietzsche's beliefs as a clear reference point in the film.

Nietzsche's belief in the 'will to power' is clearly evident in the The Dawn of Man. Nietzsche stated that the human race will be superseded by a successor species who will rise due to their superior will to power. This replacing of authority is conveyed in the scene where one of the apes begins to think about the animal bones in front of him and devises how to create a deadly weapon out of them to assist him in further acts of violence towards other apes and to kill animals for food. In this act we can see the first Super-Ape, which is thus, the first human.This process will then continue within the human race, where a Super-Human will emerge. This idea of a Super-Human is a key concept of Nietzsche. He believes this has already happened through the figures of Jesus Christ, Napoleon, Alexander the Great etc. Interesting for Nietzsche is that in these evolutionary surges forward occurs in the personality of the individual.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey the moments of evolutionary advancements are preceded by the appearance of the mysterious black monolith which seems to act as a marker for the different stages in the journey of humankind.

Nietzsche

So another semester beckons with History and Context of Journalism Part Four commencing tomorrow afternoon. The first topic is concerning Frederick Nietzsche.

For Nietzsche the greatest, most powerful, and honest emotion is that of hatred. He was a man who embraced 'ruthlessness, war, and aristocratic pride.' He was of the opinion that evil was good as its end result was the production of 'a great man'. Bertrand Russell writes of Nietzsche in his book History of Western Philosophy that 'he alludes habitually to ordinary human beings as the 'bungled and botched', and sees no objection to their suffering if its necessary for the production of a great man.' Russel cites the example of Napoleon to convey this point. So does this indicate that Nietzsche would be complementary of other 'great men' who have inflicted mass suffering to the 'bungled and botched' such as Hitler and Stalin? Would he be in favour of Tony Blair and George Bush for their implicit responsibility for bringing suffering to the 'bungled and botched' in Iraq and Afghanistan? For Nietzsche 'the misery of a whole nation is of less importance than the suffering of a great individual.'

Chris described in his webcast lecture on Nietzsche how he agreed with him that hatred is the most powerful and honest emotion. Chris used the example of football fans as evidence to convey Nietzsche's belief. I have to agree with Chris on this one. If you conduct a study of football fans terrace chants you are likely to find more references to hatred of the other team rather than the glorification of your own side. This can also be seen through the booing of opposition players. Just because they turn out in different colours, the powerful and honest emotion of hatred comes to the forefront. The hatred for the opposition is the more powerful emotion than the want for your own team to win.