THE FCE BLOG by Claudia Ceraso

Friday, April 20, 2007

2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey(1968)

Announced in our previous post on FCE set books, this post is entirely dedicated to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a mixture of suggestions about sites that can help you interpret the book and a bit of memorabilia. This film directed by Stanley Kubrick has become an icon or even a cult movie.












The Film

Have you seen it? Why, then. Watch it!

Full version:
http://www.spiteyourface.com/one/film.html

Or a 2 minute and 01 second version:


-Not in the mood now for stopping reading to watch?
-I see.

The following links are published under my SPOILER WARNING! (What’s this?)

You probably landed on this post looking for inspiration for a movie review or composition. Basics to prepare your set book writing task. Try these:

Film Summary Notes and analysis

Check here for interpretations and allegorical meanings of the film.
.......................................

Now, here is something not to be missed (it’s much shorter than the film)

It is an interpretation of Kubrick’s film. There are different language options in the site, however, I trust you will practice your English! (Make sure you have Flash 6 installed in your computer.) Turn off the lights, turn on your loudspeakers and press the F11 key before you click.

Ready? Enjoy this fantastic animation.

http://www.kubrick2001.com/

20 minutes later...

Wow. Isn’t it just superb?

Comments are welcome.

......................................

Film Reviews

What’s the point in reading reviews? Film reviews are flooded with vocabulary. Some words are only to be learnt for recognition –you might sound rather pompous if you say those long words. Yet, it can give you hints as to words different from "very" or "good" or "excellent" and the most feared "nice" to jazz up your writings.

Some examples:

Memorabilia

Now a bit for the funs. Film lovers will enjoy the pics, the original cinema program
or The Zero Gravity Toilet: Instructions for passengers.

Among the list of cultural references in Wikipedia, I found this episode of The Simpsons, Deep Spacer Homer, dedicated to the film.

Musical Echoes

David Bowie’s song Space Oddity was written a year after the film. You can find the lyrics here. Three years after the film, Pink Floyd released Echoes.


Here you'll find about the backstage and anecdotes. Kubrick was indeed careful about the accent of the film characters (
from the Internet Movie Database).


These links listed under Memorabilia are sites I may use in my own lessons. Haven’t thought out exactly how I am going to use them. I know there are inspired teachers hovering this blog, so if you come up with ideas for a lesson plan, leave us a comment or a link to your own blog. Any suggestions will be welcome with a broad smile.

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6 Comments:

  • Great blog, Claudia. Maybe you can explain to me what Space Odyssey was about, as I was never able to understand it, believe it or not.

    By Blogger Martina Risso, At 9:34 am  

  • To Claudia's students,
    If you haven't seen the film, just do it before reading about it. It's a film, so it's meant to be seen. The story is told through Kubrick's eye, an eye which always places itself in the position of an active witness.
    You may find it a little slow, relax and overcome your own impatience.
    Just think about this: 2001 is the past (as "los Redondos" sing: the future arrived a long time ago), but is mankind's odyssey overdue?

    By Blogger Gabriela Sellart, At 4:28 pm  

  • Hi, Claudia!
    Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment there!

    I see you also favor a multimedia approach to learning. I like the idea of providing my students with a variety of authentic materials so that they can see the relevance of the topics we discuss in class and share their own ideas in a friendly and supportive environment.

    Let's keep in touch and share our blogging experiences!

    Best regards,

    Carla Raguseo

    By Blogger Carla Raguseo, At 2:59 pm  

  • I am posting a translation of Karina Crespo's comment (originally in Spanish) Thank you for allowing me to translate it!
    ........

    Hello Claudia!
    In spite of not knowing much English, it is a pleasure to visit your blog. Who knows? I might end up feeling the temptation to learn.
    Hug
    K

    ......
    Thank you so much Karina for this comment. If I can inspire you to learn... well, what can I say? Mission accomplished for my fceblog!

    Inspired in your comment, I have learnt how to put a notice in the comment window to remind readers about the basic site rules for comments.

    Thank you K!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 11:57 pm  

  • Nice collection of material on the film. On my own blog I wrote about how the film is constructed from three untruths.

    By Blogger Alfred Welles, At 11:30 am  

  • Reading your post now.
    http://alfredwelles.blogspot.com/2011/05/2001-three-lies-that-made-classic.html

    Thank you, Alfred.

    By Blogger Claudia Ceraso, At 12:35 pm  

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