2001 Thoughts

2001 Thoughts

 

In a little over a week I’m going to see 2001: A Space Odyssey for like the 30^th time and it got me thinking about how much I like that movie, and how much is in it.

 

A Facebook friend of mine asked me about the ending and what it all meant so I though it would share mu understanding of the film, and what I got out of it.  First off, if you’ve never seen the movie and ultimately plan to, SPOILER ALERT!!  Second, this is what I’ve discovered over multiple viewings and documentaries and the book and long discussions.  And it’s all about what I got out of it.  I’d be very interested in others thoughts as well. 

Oh, and this is a blog, not an essay (though I wrote one in college about the music in 2001, have to dig it up as I recall at one point comparing the music and scene it covered to an orgasm).  My point being, sometimes I just like a free flow style of writing.

 

I think to get the ending you need to get what the thing is about and especially the meaning of the monoliths seen throughout the film. When we first encounter the monolith it is before man has evolved to, well man.  We see a pre-man society on the brink of extinction.  A Monolith appears (placed by aliens during the night) and it teaches these pre-men how to kill.  By learning how to kill, they survive to ultimately become man as we know it today.  Love the flash forward (of like 2 million years) from the first weapon (an animal bone) to the modern (or when I saw it, future) weapon, a nuclear bomb circling the Earth.

 

There’s an anomaly on the moon that needs to be investigated and we ultimately discover another monolith.  This planted by the aliens (probably like the day after the other was placed on Earth) as a signaling device that man had evolved.  The alarm goes off when the sun hits this monolith for the first time in 2 million years to signal the aliens that these guys have evolved enough to reach the moon, detect an anomaly, and dig it up.  The signal goes off towards Jupiter and so do we, to find who set the alarm in the first place.

 

Great stuff ensues, including a paranoid computer named HAL (I have heard discussions on both sides as to whether HAL was purposely named as it is one back from the letters IBM – for the youngin’s, that was like the only computer people knew back in the day).  We go to Jupiter, lots of people die (2010 explains HAL’s paranoia so I won’t bother here) and ultimately Bowman leaves the ship in a pod and attempts to land on, guess what, another monolith.  His last words are never uttered in the movie but are the first words of 2010, “My God, it’s full of stars.”

 

This monolith is actually a star gate to the aliens’ home world, galaxy, universe, where they came from.  Cool special effects.  A big blinking eye.  And then a hotel room.  Yep, a hotel room.  As Bowman explores the room we see his life pass very quickly before our eyes until we see him as an old man lying on his death bed and what does he see?  Yep another monolith.  He reaches his hand towards it and as the camera pans form the monolith back to Bowman he is but a fetus.  A glowing fetus floating in the room.  A Star child who is then looking over the Earth.  This last scene is the next stage in evolution.  Another step that could only be helped along by the aliens.  In the book we learn a bit more.  We see the Star Child reach out and destroy the orbiting nuclear platforms.  We have been brought full circle.  From the first murder to the elimination of murder (in its grandest scale) and watched over by our next stage of evolution.

 

Now some fun stuff along the way.  The Theme from 2001 as it’s often referred to is actually Richard Strauss’ Also Spake Zarathustra (or Thus Spoke Zarathustra).  The work was based on Nietzsche’s writings of the same name which explore the concept of Pre-Man, Man, and Superman (our next stage of evolution).  Wow, pretty good choice of music and boy it sure sounds like that’s what it’s about.  I finally read Nietzsche’s work a few years ago and all I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t a Philosophy Major (and I like the music better).

 

So, A Space Odyssey.  A trek.  Named for the book by Homer that featured Odysseus, an archer.  And the main character in the movie is named Bowman.  Hmmmmm.  Side note, on my second leg of my first international round trip the pilot’s name was Bowman and it was on Pan Am.  A coincidence 2001 fans can appreciate.  The movie they showed was Network, but that’s a whole different discussion.

 

The book about the making of the film indicates that there was only one error in the film.  While in zero gravity, there is a character drinking food through a straw and when he stops the food goes back down.  Wouldn’t happen in zero g’s.  True, but I’ve seen a few more.  The most glaring is the one through the viewport on the ship landing on the moon.  Seems to switch to looking upward to seeing the moon’s surface.  Not possible, the viewport faces away from the moon.  Also, the numbering system for the pods seems a bit off.  But this is just nitpicking.  Speaking of the pods, look for one in Watto’s junk yard in The Phantom Menace.

 

I could go on.  The discovery.  Is it a skull and backbone?  A brain and spinal column?  Or is it the sperm cell that leads to the conception of the Star Child?

 

And all the birthdays.  Heywood Floyd’s daughter, Frank Poole, HAL’s birth (mentioned, not seen), the birth of the Star Child.

 

In the star gate sequence there is a white round object that seems to be moving away from something and maybe dissolving or has a tail of some sort.  They accomplished this by dissolving an aspirin in oil.  This scene has lead to what I refer to as “The homunculus in 2001 theory”.  That’s the theory that pretty much states that you can find anything you want in a movie if you are willing to look hard enough.

 

So that’s it.  Just some thoughts on one of my favorite movies.  I’m guessing after my next viewing I may want to share some more thoughts.  It’ll be only the second time I’ve seen it in Cinerama (the mode in which it was meant to be viewed).  And I’m seeing it with the kids.  It’ll be interesting to see George’s take on his third viewing and Victoria’s on her first.

 

Thanks for reading and comments are more than welcome.