Jump Cut: Montage as Metaphysics in Kubrick’s 2001

Matthew Gumpert

doi:10.5195/cinej.2026.854

Jump Cut: Montage as Metaphysics in Kubrick’s 2001

Authors

Matthew Gumpert Bogazici University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1144-6991

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.854

Keywords:

Kubrick, odyssey, cataclysm, monolith, cut, suture, syntax, Eisenstein, montage

Abstract

Our first impulse is to view Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as an odyssey in the Homeric manner. Odyssey here refers to a persistent narrative mode that continues to dominate our reception of literature and film, one that privileges continuity and coherence as formal, diegetic principles. But when viewed through the lens of Eisenstein’s theory of montage, 2001, it becomes clear, is expressly designed to challenge those principles. Rather than championing development, evolution, progress or return (all variations on the Odyssean trope), Kubrick’s film, I argue, is a manifesto for rupture and discontinuity, for metaphysics as montage.

Author Biography

Matthew Gumpert, Bogazici University

This work was supported by the Bogazici University Research Fund (BAP), Grant Number 19871.

References

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Published

2026-05-22

How to Cite

Gumpert, M. (2026). Jump Cut: Montage as Metaphysics in Kubrick’s 2001. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(1), 347–373. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.854

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Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2026): Spring

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Articles

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