Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey
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Since the 1968 premiere of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, it has been analyzed and interpreted by multitudes of people ranging from professional movie critics to amateur writers and science fiction fans. Film criticism has existed since the earliest days of the motion picture, but 2001 holds a place unique in film history due to its openness to interpretation by audiences.
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[edit] Ideas in visual imagery
Due to a spartan use of dialogue, powerful imagery, realistic special effects and a use of ambient sound far ahead of its time, Stanley Kubrick created a film that can be interpreted in many ways by different people. He encouraged people to create their own interpretations of the film, and he refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories.
In an interview with Playboy magazine, in 1968, Kubrick stated, "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophy and allegorical meaning of the film -- and such speculation is indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level -- but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point."
Many of these interpretations of the film involve spiritual or religious ideas. The late Pope John Paul II was a great admirer of the film, showing it at private screenings in the Vatican. "His Vatican recently named 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the most important movies of all time." [1]
[edit] Representations
The Monolith in the movie represents monumental transitions of time in the history of human evolution or the journey of many from ape-like beings to beyond infinity - and hence an odyssey. Each time the monolith is shown, man transcends time on to a different level of cognition.
The first appearance of the monolith occurs at the threshold of the invention of tool and the beginning of language to form groups in order to defend a particular group against another. The first killing in the movie occurs here, that of an ape-like being killed in inter group conflict.
The second appearance of the monolith is after 4 million years but this time on the moon. Thus the period of transition between ape-like man and a time traveller is embedded between the appearance of the monolith. The second killing (of Poole) occurs here. After David Bowman disconnects HAL, the killing ceases. Thus all the killing in the movie occurs between the first invention of language and the destruction of the greatest creation of man (i.e.: HAL the artificial intelligence computer that can communicate in natural language).
The first speech in the movie appears after almost 25 minutes of the movie, similarly the last speech in the movie occurs before the last 25 minutes of the movie. Thus the monolith marks transition and transcendence of language and time in the odyssey of man.
The third time the monolith is shown is between Jupiter and beyond. David Bowman transcends through this time warp through the monolith (representing it as time itself) to breakdown traditional concept of life and meaning.
The fourth time all that was seen and lived turns into a germ of life or a fetus. It further transcends the monolith to emerge as an embryo that looks back at earth from which it arose and evolved. Thus returning to the basic creation on a highly evolved level.
From what is shown on the movie, the concept of Man, Mind and Creation can be related to Dave, Hal and the Monolith, respectively.
Dave, Dr. Floyd and the Apes seen in the beginning of the film represents the human essence, and hence the different steps on human evolution through time.
The supercomputer Hal turns all man´s desire of technology advance into reality. A machine that can "think" for its own is the final step on humans' developing of the "artificial mind".
The Monolith means Creation, or in other words, God. Every time it is seen in the movie, a "jump" in evolution occurs.
The scene where David Bowman is seen traveling through a time warp can be interpreted as a trip through hidden paths of the time-space dimension. The exact time David is captured by one of these "hidden paths" or "hidden doors" can be seen when the monolith aligns with Jupiter and the Sun. At this point David´s pod is warped into the time-space dimension.
The "Star Gate" scene depicts David´s travel on light speed through Jupiter and far beyond, even reaching the end of time. When he gets to the final momentum of existence (i. e. the end of time), he realizes what he achieved and that he will never return from there. In other words, David saw what no other man will ever see in a billion years of mankind's existence.
Because David traveled with the speed of light until the end of time, he got older and was given a chance to see himself in another plane of existence. He saw himself on Jupiter dressing as an old man and finally, when the monolith appears (meaning the Creation) and a new form of life is created, as a "Star Child" fetus.
It is important to note that at the end of time the dimension of time itself evolves in terms of seconds. This can be seen when David accidentally breaks a wine glass and sees himself lying in a death bed.
This sequence of events suggests that time has no definition at the end of time, and that the birth of the Star Child means either a new form of life or the dawn of man.
[edit] Allegory
One allegorical interpretation of the film is made by Leonard F. Wheat in his book, Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory. He states that, "Most... misconceptions (of the film) can be traced to a failure to recognize that 2001 is an allegory - a surface story whose characters, events, and other elements symbolically tell a hidden story... In 2001's case, the surface story actually does something unprecedented in film or literature: it embodies three allegories." The three allegories are:
- Friedrich Nietzsche's best-known book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The most obvious reference here is the famous opening soundtrack by Richard Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra, also based on the book.
- Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, which is clearly part of the film's title.
- Arthur C. Clarke's theory, expanded by Kubrick into a spoofy narrative, that man and machine will one day merge into a symbiotic entity, a sort of humanoid machine. This is perhaps the most obvious allegory of all, as we watch an ape's weapon, the bone thrown into the sky, visually change into a spaceship. Technological progress eventually gives us HAL - a truly humanoid machine. [2]
Nietzsche's philosophical book describes Man as a transition between apes and the Superman (Übermensch). The Superman is the being that "sails over morality", and that dances over gravity (the "spirit of gravity" is Zarathustra's devil and archenemy), a state Man reaches through self-mastery, self-cultivation, self-direction, and self-overcoming, as well as mastery of others and of his environment. Nietzsche describes the journey from Man to Superman via several metaphors, including the sun ascending to its zenith and a rope walker traversing an abyss. Nietzsche states that the book's true underlying concept is the Eternal Recurrence of the Same Events throughout history, an idea inspired by the sight of a towering, pyramidal rock he once saw beside a Swiss lake.
Wheat finds the allegory of the Oddysey by means of hidden verbal references. For example, "it is indeed plausible that HEYWOOD R. FLOYD encodes Helen as HE, wooden horse as WOOD, and Troy as OY. But what about that Y between HE and WOOD. And what about the R, F, L, and D? Consider these answers. Y is Spanish for 'and.' R, F, and L, in turn, are in ReFLect. And D could stand for downfall, demise, death, doom, or destruction, of which the first - downfall - best fits 'the fall of Troy.' When you put all the pieces together, Heywood R. Floyd inflates to Helen and Wooden Horse Reflect Troy's Downfall." He argues that the monolith, known as TMA-One is a version of the Trojan House because by mixing up the letters to TMA-One we find the phrase "NO MEAT," which Wheat claims is a reference to the Trojan Horse being made out of wood.
Wheat writes that, "We see, then, that 'the infinite' is God. And 'beyond the infinite' means beyond God - after God, after God's death. Kubrick is alluding to the death of God. And who is it that has just died? Hal. Conclusion: Hal... is God."
In addition, numerous theories and interpretations have been put forward by amateur and professional movie scholars and critics alike, with a number of Web sites postulating the meaning behind HAL's behavior and the enigmatic journey into the unknown. One of the older 2001 web sites, "2001 and Beyond the Infinite," proposes the relationship between Mankind and the machines (or tools) he has used to survive over the course of history:
- "Man has come to depend on his tools so completely that he is a slave to them. Without his tools, Man would not have survived, four million years ago. Even today, Man needs tools to continue his existence - but those tools threaten to destroy Man as well. This is one of the central themes of 2001: Is Man stronger than his own tools, or are the tools really the masters?" [3]
[edit] External links
- 2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive
- 2001 and Beyond the Infinite: Web-based analysis of the film published online in 1996
- Alchemical Kubrick - A favorable review of 2001
- In depth analysis of the film's deeper meaning
- Kubrick2001: the space odyssey explained - Flash animation
- Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory by Leonard F. Wheat
- Two Views of 2001
| The Space Odyssey series | |
|---|---|
| Films | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) |
| Novels | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) | 2061: Odyssey Three (1987) | 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997) |
| Comics | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1976) |
| Short stories | "The Sentinel" (written 1948, first published 1951 as "Sentinel of Eternity") |
| Characters | HAL 9000 | David Bowman | Dr. Chandra | Walter Curnow | Heywood Floyd | Frank Poole |
| Vehicles | Discovery One | EVA Pod | Leonov | Orion III | Aries Ib | Space Station V |
| Locations | Earth | Moon | Clavius Base | Tycho | Jupiter | Europa | Io | Ganymede | Saturn | Iapetus |
| Cast | Keir Dullea | John Lithgow | Gary Lockwood | Helen Mirren | Douglas Rain | Roy Scheider | William Sylvester | Leonard Rossiter | Margaret Tyzack |
| Crew/creators | Arthur C. Clarke | Peter Hyams | Jack Kirby | Stanley Kubrick |
| Interpretations | Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| Music | Alex North's 2001: A Space Odyssey |
