"Ray Bradbury harshly criticized Kubrick's treatment of the story at the
same time that he praised Arthur C. Clarke. "Clarke, a voyager to the
stars, is forced to carry the now inexplicably dull director Kubrick the
albatross on his shoulders through an interminable journey of almost thee
hours."[66] Many who had gotten their start in the "Golden Age" of science
fiction under the tutelage of esteemed editor and author John W. Campbell,
were dismayed by the sharp turn that the genre took in the 1960s. Instead
of focusing on the possibilities of science and technology, many "New Wave"
writers increasingly focused on issues like religion and spirituality. Many
older writers did not see this as science fiction at all, but as fantasy.
They saw Kubrick's film as taking Clarke's hard science fiction masterpiece
and turning it into another New Wave spiritual tale. Like many of the
critics, their expectations did not meet the final result. Campbell claimed
that "2001 departed from Clarke's original ending - an encounter with a
truly superior race - to wander in an LSD trip of fantasies."
......................................................................................
I'm sure everyone has seen this quote many times.
Bradbury attacks:
1. 2001---"New Wave Spiritual Tale"
2. Kubrick----"inexplicably dull"
3. "New Wave", sci-fi writers----those who were young in the 60's that
increasingly focus on "issues like religion and spirituality."
4. Religion and Spirituality----as opposed to science and technology
So all of this assumes a duality of mind and body, matter and mind, that the
younger LSD experimenters, had eradicated.
Bradbury did the uncredited Narration in the remake of "King of Kings."
So was he offended by 2001?
Bradbury even must forget about his own best work.
Not all the old guard Sci-fi writers were snobs
Heinlein Loved 2001.
And of course Arthur Clarke had suggeested the idea of the Ending of the
film contrary to how Bradbury calls it---- and he loved the film.
....................................................................................
Philip K. Dick on his exploits (we can safely assume he related to 2001)
"There flooded in the perception of something in the sky. I wasn't on LSD or
any other drug, not at the time; just this deprivation of the sense of other
living things about me. What I saw was some form of evil deity.not living
but functioning; not looking so much as scanning, like a machine or monitor.
It had slotted eyes and always hung over one particular spot. I've used it
for the title of my next-but-one story, A Scanner Darkly.
"I really believe there is an evil archetype or form-destroyer -
eidos-destroyer - normally kept at a distance from us by society,
friendship, conviviality, but which can strike at us when alone. This is
what happens in mental illness, this is why LSD is such a deadly drug: it
exposes you alone. I've experimented with LSD but always under control."
"DICK: Right, right. This is a very crucial stage now, because Brahmin is
not completely asleep. Brahmin is waking up. And when it wakes, this dream
world will disappear -- parts of it will begin to vanish right before our
eyes, as it begins to wake up. Brahmin is not dancing, Brahmin is sleeping,
but soon it will dance.
I think we've reached the most crucial time in 2,000 years. I think that
there has already begun, some titanic process of revelation to man, of what
man is, where he came from, what his role is, and that is very much
connected with Brahmin waking up. Because if Brahmin is asleep, we, too, are
asleep. That everything is asleep, because there is nothing that is not
Brahmin. And as we wake up, we remember -- it's a form of remembering -- and
we remember suddenly who we really are, where we came from, and I really
believe in this, and it's in my new book, and I know that Bantam editor is
going to want all that taken out. He's going to say, "Phil, I don't know. I
think you really believe all this stuff, don't you?" And I'm going to have
to say to him, "Well, when the white man says jump, I jumps."
But the fact of the matter is, I really In my book, the character suddenly
remembers -- the satellite has him remembering, going back 2,000-3,000
years, and he remembers his origins, and they're not on Earth, they're from
beyond the stars. And I honestly believe that.
In the Greek Orphic religion, they -- that was the mystery that you learned.
You recovered your memory. It's called anamnesis, which was the loss of
amnesia. You remembered your origins, and they were from beyond the stars.
They weren't all that successful, but I think now the time has come, where
that kind of memory will return to human beings. Long-term memories, which
are buried in each of us, which is very much associated with Jung's racial
unconscious, you see. And when we begin to remember, then we can begin to
understand what our real role is, because the two are very closely
identified: the memory of that very long, long life-span, and what we should
do.
We will understand what right conduct is. And I think that it will spook the
Jesus freaks. And I say that as an ardent Christian, but I think it will
spook most Christians. I think they will discover that they have been
worshiping planes that they made out of tinfoil, to attract other planes.
It's not going to be what they expect at all.
Actually, I don't think we can say till the memory sets in, till that
anamnesis sets in. And when it sets in, as it begins to occur, it will be
the great turning of the cosmic wheel for mankind, and the universe.
I'm very optimistic about it. I think it's gonna be a really exciting thing.
And although I put down drugs, and I certainly donít recommend that anybody
take them, I think that some of the people who took LSD experienced a little
of this. And I think that there was a certain validity in what, like, Huxley
said about the doorways of perception. And Castenada, too, and things like
that -- people who were working with some of the mescaline-type drugs --
that there is another reality very close, that's impinging on our reality,
and will probably very soon break through to our reality. Either we will
break through to it, or it will break through to us. But the two will
impinge on the other, and we will suddenly discover awe are in a world which
has more dimensions to it than we had thought.
I guess that means I'm taking my own writing as more fact than fiction than
I used to. I don't think I ever took it as completely fiction, I always, you
know, was reaching for an answer. Groping for an answer to the question of
"what is real?" "What is reality?" And I think I am finally beginning to get
a sense of what is real. And one of the things that is not real is time.
There's no doubt about it. Change and time are not real. The Greek
philosopher Parmenides was the first one to come forth and say that the
universe does not really change. There is some underlying structure that is
always the same. If we could only find out the nature of that, and reach
down to it. And it is somehow symmetric, and that was about all he could say
about it; that it was somehow symmetric."
Movies