Beyond Zarathustra: Nietzsche and 2001: A Space Odyssey

The usual connection between Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy and the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is through Thus Spake Zarathustra, and it was hailed at its release by at least one contemporary review as the “first Nietzschean film.”¹ Central to Thus Spake Zarathustra is the concept of man as mainly a bridge between the ape and the superman. Richard Strauss’ homonymous tone poem, one of the musical cues of the film, also invokes a reading on 2001 on Nietzschean themes. Little has been written, however, to substantiate these claims, often giving way to facile interpretations. I will argue that there are indeed confluences between Stanley Kubrick’s film and Nietzsche’s philosophy, and these are grounded on the notions of truth and abstraction, the death of God, Will-to-Power, and Eternal Recurrence. 2001 is undeniably asking ambitious questions about the nature of intelligence and humankind, its place and fate in the universe; and it can be seen as a fitting illustration of many Nietzschean ideas, properly attuned with its time and medium. This essay does not aim, however, to be a comprehensive reading of either Nietzsche or 2001, but rather discuss their connection in order to clarify aspects of both.

A Critical Survey of Crash

by Pedro Groppo

J.G. Ballard’s most controversial novel, Crash (1973), embodies his ambiguity toward aesthetics, morals, sex, and violence as it conflates car crashes and sexual desire. The concept of “death of affect,” a distancing stance that keeps morality and affect at bay while appreciating some aesthetic aspects of an event is often used in conjunction with Ballard’s fiction. The critical debate over Crash, according to Andrzej Gasiorek, tends to center around its moral rather than aesthetic values (82), attempting to examine the moral ambiguities of Crash to try to understand and better appreciate this much misunderstood novel from a variety of perspectives.