Nietzsche Influenced Kubrick

A detailed Summary of Nietzsche Influenced Kubrick

Taking Nietzsche's philosophies in a modern, contemporary setting, I would like to show how they are applied to the films of Stanley Kubrick. However, as opposed to many of the presentations I've seen, I'd like the majority of the presentation to lye on what I know, not what is on the video screen.

Although my concentration will be on 2001: A Space Odyssey, it would be tragic not to at least mention Kubrick's other post-Dr. Strangelove releases in terms of Nietzschean philosophies:

-Released in 1999, Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick's final film. In it, we find a number of references to the use of masks. Kubrick asks the viewer if you know what mask you're wearing and when. Is it on or is it off? Sometimes you yourself forget. We end with a scene where Dr. Harford walks into his bedroom, and the mask from the orgy is sitting there next to his wife. At that point, Harford drops the metaphorical mask he's been wearing to hide from his wife and cries to her "I'll tell you everything."

-In the late 1980's, Full Metal Jacket opened in theaters across the country. Here we find a strict balance of Apollo and Dionysus. The film is structured in two distinct parts: before and after the soldiers go to war, or

-It's difficult to watch The Clockwork Orange and not place it in context with 2001. This film is an expression of what's happening on earth while the other men are in space. Kubrick himself called Alex "natural man in the state in which he is born, unlimited, unrepressed." Alex backs this in the film by saying that "thinking was for the gloppy [stupid] ones." We find that thought (an Apollonian trait) is lost, and Alex is all about acting on instinct and impulse (Dionysian). Further, The Clockwork Orange is an example of a society where everyone acts on instinct and impulse, where no one believes in any laws, where the intelligent man is repressed. In essence, The Clockwork Orange is an example of a strictly Dionysian society. Moreover, here is what Alex thinks while he is listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony: "It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal. Like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense. It was gorgeousness and gorgeosity." Now compare that to Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human:

Finally, Alex is given the Ludovico treatment in an attempt to lessen his Dionysian spirit and create some resemblance of the Apollonian side to him, only to become temporarily "cured" until the end of the film. So, if this is what a strictly Dionysian world would be like, what would a strictly Apollonian world be like. I wouldn't say that's exactly what the space environment in 2001 represents, but it's worthy of discussion.

Richard Strauss wanted to write an homage to Nietzsche. Of three tone poems, a 19th century term that expresses a conscious attempt to illustrate a text or idea through music, one was for Nietzsche. "Thus Spake Zarathustra" was 33 minutes long and supposedly the worst one, both critically and technically. One reviewer even wrote "O Zarathustra, do not crack your whip so ominously! Don't you know that noise kills thought?" Strauss said he didn't want to portray Nietzsche's work, but the piece was supposed to "convey in music an idea of

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Approximate Word count = 1344
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English