This January, an IC lecture explored how Stanley Kubrick transformed sci-fi into the genre we know today.
Every month, International Cinema (IC) holds free showings for a selection of international films. These films explore various themes and display a wide array of cultures.
In January 2025, faculty members from the College of Humanities presented lectures about three films before their showings. Among them, Professor Dennis Cutchins (American Literature, Adaptation Studies) discussed five reasons why 2001: A Space Odyssey was a revolutionary movie—and contains lessons still relevant nearly 60 years later.
“Five Reasons You Really Need to Understand Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 Science Fiction Film” by Dennis Cutchins
Think of sci-fi and you’ll come up with a whole range of films, from the action and adventure in Star Wars to more intellectually rigorous films like Interstellar or The Martian. But go back far enough and you might be surprised that older films in the genre didn’t seek to explore the edges of the galaxy—in fact, they were essentially soap operas and Westerns, just in space.
So, what changed? The release of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a genre-redefining film that transformed sci-fi into the far-reaching visionary genre it is today. To explore this groundbreaking film, Cutchins gave an IC lecture on January 22, 2025, that described five ways the movie was notable and discussed lessons still relevant to our modern world.
#1: An A-Grade Film
The first distinctive thing about the film, Cutchins explained, was that it was made to win an Oscar. Prior to 1968, science fiction movies were almost entirely sensationalized, monster-fighting plots designed for an age demographic of 10–12. Kubrick’s vision for 2001 was much more expansive, and the effort ultimately paid off—in the end, 2001 was nominated for four awards and won Kubrick the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
#2: Scientific Science Fiction
Part of what made the film Oscar-worthy was the scientifically rigorous premise and plot. Kubrick’s coauthor, Arthur C. Clarke, was a radar specialist during World War II and, after the war, earned a degree in mathematics and physics from King’s College London. Together, he and Kubrick theorized technology so realistic that the problems explored in the movie have just barely become relevant today—for example, the consequences of depending on an AI programmed by flawed humans. “It’s a wonderful reflection on our dependence on technology and the dangers of that,” Cutchins said. “Kubrick and Clarke were warning us about the dangers of AI long before AI was a practical reality.”
#3: An Artistic Masterpiece
“Just as 2001 was scientific because it was made by a scientist, it’s artistic because it was made by an artist,” Cutchins said. He explained that the movie was entirely practical effects—an impressive feat when most sci-fi films today rely heavily on computer generated imaging (CGI) animation for their graphics and backgrounds.
Additionally, every shot in the film conveys information through content as well as style. For example, a shot of an astronaut running in a gravity-generating wheel gives the subtextual impression of the astronauts as mice in a lab experiment. “It’s communicating something about these astronauts’ isolation and the danger they’re in with one little shot,” Cutchins explained. “You’re rewarded for keeping your eyes open and [paying attention].”
#4: A Visionary Piece
As a big part of his vision to make 2001 more than sci-fi had previously been, Kubrick crafted the film to raise serious questions about the nature of life, humanity, and the future and to hypothesize about the origins of human life. While some of the film’s proposed answers to those questions may not necessarily hold water today, many of its themes and central questions do still remain relevant. Cutchins said, “[The film aspired] to be more than a soap opera or a Western in space. . . . It’s Clarke and Kubrick commenting on what we as humans do with our technology.”
#5: Lingering, Lasting Influence
Finally, 2001 has remained an influential movie since its release in 1968. Many of today’s sci-fi movies are heavily inspired by it, including major films like Interstellar and Arrival. And even more than that, the movie changed the tone of science fiction films forever, opening up a whole world of intellectual and future-thinking possibilities for the genre. “Science fiction is an arena in which we can explore exactly what it means to be human,” Cutchins said. “2001 is definitely a film that does that.”
Below is a selection of the other films shown in January.
Lakota Nation vs. United States (2022)
“This is our Mecca, the most sacred place in the world.”
In 1876, the US government broke a treaty with the Sioux tribes and illegally seized the Black Hills, a move that cut the Lakota people off from their sacred places of worship. While the Supreme Court awarded the Sioux $100 million in reparations in 1980, the tribes have refused to accept the money, stating that their sacred land was never for sale and the only true recompense is returning the land to its original native ownership. This documentary, directed by Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli and executive produced by Mark Ruffalo, explores topics of betrayal and subsequent resistance in the face of cultural destruction, painting a devastating picture of the injustice at the heart of the United States’s dealings with Native American nations.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
“But . . . I don’t understand. Who could have polluted the entire earth?”
Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 postapocalyptic fantasy film Nausicaä tells the story of a pacifist princess tasked with defending her valley from outside war-driven kingdoms and empires. One thousand years after an apocalyptic war destroyed civilizations and ecosystems, the land is covered with vast toxic forests, and humanity is relegated to semi-survivable settlements between them. Amidst this, a neighboring country invades Nausicaä’s valley to capture a superweapon, which they intend to use to destroy the forests—forests that Nausicaä has discovered are actually detoxifying the planet. Confronted with the horrors of war and humanity, Nausicaä must find a way to stop the conflict before history repeats itself. The film explores themes of pacifism, resistance, and the value of every living thing—even the creatures and people we don’t understand.
Wadjda (2012)
“You know that girls don’t ride bikes?”
Saudi Arabia’s first female-directed film, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, features the story of a girl named Wadjda, who desperately wants a bike so she can race the neighbor boy, Abdullah. There’s just one problem: in her society, girls riding bikes is frowned upon, and her mother refuses to buy one for her. Undeterred, Wadjda sets out to raise the money herself. This award-winning film captures the difficulties of life as a woman in Saudi Arabia, turning a critical eye to current issues while still keeping a hopeful outlook on the possibilities of change in the future.
To read more about previous films and lectures featured at the IC, click here.