The Sentinel vs 2001: A Space Odyssey - Essay Example

Still, those works consist of major literary differences when it comes to featured imagination of objectives and attempts from aliens regarding human civilization. In Space Odyssey (Kubrick), Monolith is somehow responsible to catalyze human evolution. A comparison of millions of years is parallel with the monoliths placed over moon and Jupiter. Overall, the tales seemingly confronts with the interruption or possible command over human activities and ongoing. Quite the contrary, the Sentinel describes of a possibly old civilization which had been troubled of its own loneliness and had placed the sentinels to indicate to other possible civilizations that the life exists, or had existed, in the universe other than the one they had seen.

The Sentinel and 2001: A Space odyssey, two different forms of storytelling, manifest differently as each of those forms consist of some specific additions and substitution in adorning the story along with providing a considerable drift to the imagination of the viewer - or the reader. A comparison of Style and Construction Typical of Clarke’s flair includes his idiom of wondering over the mysterious structure of the universe. In literal formats, he often explores the wonderings arriving from revelation of something secretly hidden, alien or unknown.

Mystery of Monolith and the sentinel pyramid both are unexplained in the stories. No one comes to know what is the origin and exact purpose of those objects. Both the plots, in the short story as well as in Kubrick’s movie, are laid to bring out an open space for assumptions over key-points and climax of the story. Still, it doesn’t leave the matter unfinished as the tales build up to secure the riddling nature of universe. While Space odyssey is founded of a plot concerning whole human civilization and a time-span that covers millions of years, base plot in the sentinel is constructed over some astronauts looking to uncover a new part of moon’s surface.

Mostly the story of the sentinel is recited by protagonist Wilson in a first person narrative. In literal form, it is the voice of Wilson’s consciousness that comes straight ahead to the reader; and subsequently, reader comes to know the story only through Wilson’s perspective. No other perspective –such as director’s perspective in a movie- is involved in narrations. Contrastingly, Space Odyssey is much more of a director’s work. In the movie, sound is used as a supportive to visual.

Mostly the story is told by pure audio-visual medium following the norms of film-editing and visual storytelling. Resultantly, it is not the words that express the happening and emotions attached with events in the movie, rather it is cinematic rhythm and impact of cuts that replaces words used in literal narration. Cameras are moved for a number of reasons and in many complex combinations of ways. Movements can alter the audience’s sense of time, speed and space, follow action or characters, reveal information that was previously off-screen, concentrate the audience’s attention on specific details and emphasize a point of view shot (Cinematheque).

Similarly, such contrasting differences appear in Kubrick’s choice of not outlining any specific climax purpose for his movie, compared to Clarke’s choice of letting the reader know why the sentinel was placed. Clarke’