Stanley Kubric - bite my wire!

So I'm on this kick where I'm trying to watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 Films of All Time List.

2001: Space Odyssey
Visually stunning.
Effects were.... hit or miss. Most of the "space" effects were just downright awful. Zero gravity effects were often contrived and seemingly illogical why any society would go to such great lengths to force a zero gravity atmosphere to behave as though it were not zero gravity instead of either embracing the floating fun or creating gravity - I have no idea. But at least it was consistently and artfully done so enjoyable to watch.

Sound was ANNOYING.
Okay Stanley Kubrick...so your an AARRTTist. We get it. That doesn't mean I want to listen to 5 minutes straight of dissonant, loud, high-pitched noise you are pretending is a sound track. So the zero sound in space appeased me to some extent, the sheer irritating quality of the sound that was presented when the film was not silent was just excruciating to the point that I turned it down despite my desire to push through for the sake of my own so-called cultural betterment.

Plot - existential tripe. So your sets and costumes are beautiful and extremely well done. Is that supposed to distract from me the tediously slow movement of the...well..for lack of anything else to call it...plot? Monkeys pretty. Got it. Monkeys loud and screechy. Got it. Monkeys territorial. Got it. Monkeys invent tool...and simultaneously, murder. Interesting. So it took five minutes of awful anticipatory music and fifteen minutes of shrieking ape men to make the point that this movie is about evolution and existence and progress and the place of "man" in the universe? At least Kubric was merciful enough to skip straight to the future space age instead of spending another twenty minutes inventing fire. Its that I did not appreciate how visually stunning the..er..prologue? was. Certainly I did. I also had great appreciation for the method of portraying the invention of tools and Kubrik's evident belief that this was the moment of evolutionary separation of beast and human. However, if you're going to make a movie about evolution or human-ness or the place of man in time or space, what's with HAL? Who cares about the homicidal malfunctioning computer? How does it have ANYTHING to do with the rest of the movie?

Okay.
Overall: 5/10, (5.25 weighted). Worth seeing - but only once, and only when you are in a patient mood. Feel free to skip the blank screen bad music bits and put it on fast forward during the tediously long bad visual effects I refer to as a disco kaleidoscope assuming you make it into the last third.
Visual/Art Direction: 8/10 (he loses points for the pseudo-Star Trek warp speed disco kaleidoscope)
Sound/Music: 0/10 (when the homicidal computer is the only thing pleasent to listen to in a two hour movie, you have problems)
Plot: 4/10 (2 points for human-ness plot, 2 points for the homicidal AI plot, 6 point penalty for having two entirely unrelated plots pretending to be a single movie)
Emotional Investment/Importance: 0/10 (I don't care about the monkeys. I don't care about the people. I don't care about the people. I don't care about the universe. And I don't think there's anything to learn here. I /would/ have thought this could be a 'ponder the big picture and how insignificant, yet important you are in it' flick given the evolution/human-ness plot, but then he went and ruined that with the whole homicidal HAL plot)
Happiness Factor: 0/10 (Happiness factor being 'things that make a person happy and elevate the mood.' Clearly not.)
Originality: 9/10. (This is hard to gauge as I'm seeing it out of the context of when it was created. However, it was released the same year as the lunar landing, prior to the personal computer, and two years after the Star Trek series began. Bonkers electronic beings and apce travel were not new concepts, but the quality of the portrayal of space for the time period is remarkable.)

My rating system: Each element is rated separately and do not impact the overall rating. The weighted overall rating is the average of the individual elements (less happiness as that is a specific-purpose-measure rather than an evaluation of the quality of the media in question).

Frak You PC haters!

So. How many times have you heard someone speak of being "politically correct" with disdain? Like it's the Man keepin' us down?

I have this ...acquaintance. He's a good guy generally. He expresses ideas and sentiments that sound as though he's respectful of women and has no problems with alternative sexualities, but then he'll turn around and say flippant things like "don't be a pussy" and "that's so gay." Once I asked him if he could choose another phrase and he rolled his eyes and got irritated like I was asking for some great imposition for the sake of being "politically correct" or "socially acceptable," but it was quite clear that he thought his words were just words - unimportant, inconsequential, no big deal.

Well here's a news flash for all you fools who agree with him. Words are powerful. Words have meaning. Words do more damage than any other force. It's not a matter of being "politically correct" or saying what's "socially acceptable." It's a matter of respect. I don't care if you think it is important to question the expectations society puts upon a person. I applaud that really. I don't care if you think saying politically incorrect things makes you cool or a rebel. It's irrelevant. We're not talking about society or "the Man" or what's "acceptable." We're talking about one person to another, being respectful, kind, and considerate. And if you think you do not owe kindness or consideration to a perfect stranger, then it is simply about having respect for another living being who is plodding through life just as you are.

I am not easily offended. I have solid confidence and no flippant remark about my gender, sexuality, hair color, home town, appearance, weight, or any other thing is going to take me down. I will not cry myself to sleep because you treated me as a lesser person because I have breasts. You will not see my face fall because you made a judgmental remark regarding my politics or sexuality likening me to the Third Reich or intimating that my soul will burn in damnation for all eternity. I will not feel shame because you think I'm fat. You will not make me feel less valuable because you mock my roots or judge my choices. I will not.

But some will.

Some will think themselves beautiful until they go to work every day with a couple of people who think it's okay to mock a woman's appearance because she is not a petite hourglass. Some will feel they have to hide because they are poor. Some will feel shamed because others make them feel like they are less of a person just because of who they love. And some WILL cry themselves to sleep at night. But just one flippant "don't be a pussy" or "that's so gay"? For some it might sting. For some it might hurt. For most, it is simply a discomfort. For all, it is a moment that passes.

But each new flippant, "no big deal" comment is another moment - another sting, another hurt, a greater discomfort. And when it's every day, it shuts a person down. It blocks them. You cannot move forward when you are ever expecting someone to come at you from a blind spot. And that's the best case scenario. The worst case is that the person who has to listen to you say those "inconsequential" little phrases of disrespect starts to believe them. That being a coward is the same thing as being a woman. That being a woman is being a coward. That being gay means you're stupid or bad or undesirable.

I will not be shamed or cry or doubt myself. But even I will be shut down. When you say something like that, you let me know that it's not okay for me to be simply be me. When you are so flippant with my gender or my sexuality, you show me that you are not sensitive to those around you, that you do not care if you hurt those around you, and that you do not respect me. You will never allow me to feel like it's okay to be myself. For that, you lose out. For that, you will never truely know so many people because you've put them in a box. You have restricted what they can say, how they can act, what thoughts and feelings they can share in your presence. You have built a wall around them and with each stupid, seemingly inconsequential phrase you disrespect them more and pull those walls in tighter until you suffocate them right out of your life.

Now if you really don't care if you hurt those around you - if you really intend to let someone know you DO think they are less of a person because of some ingrained aspect of their self, then carry on. You have every right to hold your own beliefs and you have every right to speak them. But for the majority of you who just think it is "no big deal" to speak with such disrespect, choose your words.