Monolith by Carlos

Monolith by Carlos - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

Films have always spoken to me, the stories and characters on the screen have been for me what Hercules and Theseus must have been for the ancient Greeks of antiquity. Pictures on the screen have made me weep and laugh and study, endlessly trying to decipher the mysteries and understand the scope of lessons presented. Cinema has become a culture in and of itself, a culture that the people have easily adopted and loved since those first black and white images of women leaving a factory in 1888. At the time it was a technological marvel, seeing those moving shapes across the wall, silent but alive, it must have been like magic. I believe that sense of magic is at the root of all cinema, and in a way, all art. It is the work of illusion and guile that fools the viewer into believing what they see, if only for a few hours. It is wonderful, but it is an elusive, ponderous thing.
The first time I saw Mr. Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey, I was too young to realize what I was seeing. I thought there was something wrong with the television, I was unable to comprehend the scope of it or understand the genius at work. Many people have made films, and many science fiction films of similar plot have presented spectacles for the eye, but few have ever reached the level of true illusion 2001 accomplished. Sitting across the table from Mr. Kubrick, I know the first things that would come out of my mouth would be questions: How did you know? Had you always known you would were capable of magic like that? A rotating set and a treadmill makes a man appear to jog across the wall, nothing more than a machine and a clever use of camera work, but for a rare moment I was stumped. A tiny model and a backdrop creates the illusion of being in outer space with such realism that I can hardly believe the film was made a year before footage of the actual moon landing itself. When you were met with an obstacle, finding a way to create convincing backgrounds in the studio, you created your own technique to bypass it. A projector shot footage of Africa onto a mirror made of silver to redirect that projection onto a massive wall of glass beads that reflected the projection image into the camera. All to make the background sharper than the foreground so as to create beautiful scenes of a primordial world, so much clearer than sets, made without leaving the studio. More personal than blue screen, more perfect than projecting on a wall. Manipulation of a score as to leave the audience in the dark, sometimes to leave them in silence, to make them hear themselves, hear each other, and to let that experience become part of the film itself. Was it a flash of lightning or a stroke of divine logic that spoke to you and instructed you on how to create wonders? Protagonists displaying no emotion except focused determination for over an hour, his wall finally breaking down when he is moments away from exposing himself to the vacuum of space, all at once creating tension and horror such that my heart leaps into my throat every time I see it.
Wit, creativity, and ingenuity are three attributes I value most in people. It is my belief that we need more of these aspects in our community, that we should celebrate them more frequently. Mr. Kubrick was a master magician, an artist of illusion who gave his films the thought, practice and patience that they required. He built a relationship with his viewers by conveying a message, a message too rarely extended to audiences in the world of cinema: “Think about it”. It is not obvious, it will not be spelled out, but just give it a minute and think about it and take from it what you will. There are a few others who were daring enough to ask that question, I would not mind sharing my table with them either. A shared meal is only as good as the conversation shared over it, and I have no doubt that Mr. Kubrick and I would have volumes to talk about. What movies made him cry? What stories inspired him when he was young? Where are all of the secret films hidden? Or maybe I would just ask him what he thought the magic was.