2001: a Space Odyssey and Psycho
In the 1968 science fiction epic ‘2001: a Space Odyssey’ HAL-9000 is a supercomputer aboard the spaceship Discovery, this computer controls all of the ships systems and is designed to support and aid the ships crew. Kubrick presents HAL predominantly as a voice, the computer is visually represented as small red lights present in all compartments of the ship. However, Kubrick doesn’t consistently reference the visual representation of HAL when he speaks, associating it’s identity primarily with the audio. The computer is a perfect representation of the acousmetre as this voice permeates all places on the ship, it is omnipresent. As a result it is also all knowing, and with control of the ship’s systems it is omnipotent. These acousmatic powers give HAL-9000’s soft friendly human voice a very sinister underlying quality.
As the film goes on HAL begins to malfunction in subtle ways, and the crew decide that it must be shut down to prevent any further serious mistakes. However, HAL realises this and decides to try and kill the astronauts in order to save himself. Herein lies the engagement with the acousmetre, the deacousmatization of HAL. Through struggle the crew manage to reach HAL’s ‘brain’, a room of computer modules which a crew member is able to remove in order to shut down the supercomputer. As the crew member removes the modules HAL begins to lose his consciousness, and with that his control. The interesting part of this for me is the engagement of dialogue with the acousmetre using the deacoumatization. HAL begins to apologise and plead for his life, expressing fear which humanises this previously God like entity. The voice, engagement with language and visual contextualisation of HAL are used to express the dynamic of power and in turn dramatically change the effect/perception of the entity for the audience.
Alfred Hitchcocks 1960 film ‘Psycho’ contains a very interesting example of an acousmetre. The film follows a young girl who’s car breaks down, she ends up staying in a motel run by Norman Bates, a man who has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother whom he looks after. The young girl overhears a dispute between Norman and his mother, this is the first exposure to the acousmetre as the audience is privy to the mothers voice but not her appearance. Hitchcock has established an acousmatic character engaged with action. Later in the film the young girl is savagely murdered in the famous shower scene by a visually obscured character. Norman cleans the scene in order to protect her from justice, he goes upstairs to try and find a place for her to hide. As Norman carries his mother while she talks, Hitchcock films the scene from above and far away, offering the audience a form of deacousmatization. This turns out to be a mislead as it is revealed that the mother is dead and Norman ‘plays her’ from time to time.
Bibliography:
Chion, M. and Gorbman, C., 2008. The voice in cinema. New York: Columbia University Press.
CHION, M., GORBMAN, C., & MURCH, W. (1994). Audio-vision: sound on screen.
Liquid Architecture. 2018. Michel Chion: The Voice in Cinema, or the Acousmêtre and Me (Liquid Architecture). [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRik_1-eSdE&t=456s> [Accessed 25 November 2021].
Önen, Ufuk. 2008. Acousmetre : the disembodied voice in cinema. Journal for Bilkent University Dept. of Communication and Design – Master’s degree. [Accessed 05/12/21]