The Visual Arts Society had its third Movie Night showing none other than Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 science fiction masterpiece, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”  
The film was shown Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Contemporary Art Gallery. Free pizza, soda and cupcakes, were provided during the viewing.
Hailed one of the greatest films of all time, “2001: A Space Odyssey” focuses on themes of humanity’s evolution and is critically praised for its cinematography. Most of the plot concerns itself with astronauts sent off on a mission after signs of extra-terrestrial life are discovered. Meanwhile, they must contend with their ship’s central computer, the sentient HAL 9000, who becomes more sinister as the film progresses.
Most of the attendees were unfamiliar with the film and found it to be different from anything they had seen before.
“It was pretty cool,” said Jordan Wilkins, a guest. “Not what I expected. I had looked on the Internet Movie Database to get an idea of what it was about beforehand. It was pretty cool, though kind of freaky in the end.”
Olivia Moreno, a sophomore fine arts major, was fascinated by the film’s antagonist HAL and the ambiguous ending.
“Just whoa,” said Moreno. “It was interesting to see HAL’s progression into evil and how he was given a single human consciousness. It got interesting toward the end with its allusions to evolution and higher consciousness.”
Felicia Woods, also a guest at the screening, had to adjust to the film’s slower pace.
“I really began to realize the difference between how movies were made then and the way they are now,” said Woods. “When they make movies now they try to utilize and fill everything with some sort of sound, while in this there’s just minutes of atmosphere, and there was hardly any dialogue. I’m definitely a product of this generation because when I started watching it I was kind of bored with it and aggravated with all the pauses, but after a while I adjusted to it and felt it was artistically satisfying.”
Dillon Raborn, president of the Visual Arts Society and art history major, also saw the film for the first time. He enjoyed the picture, but felt as though one viewing was not enough to absorb all the layers of meaning the movie had to offer.
“I’ll need to watch it again,” said Raborn. “I need to figure it out. I feel like I need to do some reading on Kubrick. It’s definitely intriguing if nothing else.”
The final VAS Movie Night will feature Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and take place Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Contemporary Art Gallery.