The Dawn of Man
On the African plains life is tough for the Ape Man. Food is scarce, he is vulnerable
to attack from other species and there is competition around watering holes.
A tribe of Ape Men are driven away from their watering hole by another tribe and they retreat
to their shelter.
The next morning they wake up to find a strange humming foreign object placed before them;
the monolith.
They are at first extremely anxious as they investigate but calm down when they touch
the monolith.
They gather around the structure, almost worshipful, and the scene ends with the entire group having
made contact with it.
Later on, one of the Ape Men is near a skeleton when he suddenly thinks of the monolith and
the realization hits him that he can use the bones of the skeleton as a tool.
This epiphany moves the Ape Man onto the next evolutionary step.
He then goes onto kill a tapir and feed on the meat.
The Ape Man is no longer a vegetarian and the problem with food scarcity is solved.
The tribe of Ape Men are then seen eating meat, knowledge has been communicated and
the whole tribe has moved forward in their way of life.
The tribe go back to their watering hole and use their bones to kill the leader of the
other tribe that had previously usurped them.
They reclaim the watering hole and the Ape Men now have everything they need to go on
to become the masters of their environment.
In celebration of their victory, in the battle over the watering hole, one of the Ape Men
throws a bone into the air, and via a match cut we fast forward millions of years.
The Technological Age
Tools have gone from bones to spacecrafts.
Man has moved from the earth and ventured into new frontiers.
Dr. Heywood Floyd is on his way to the moon and has a brief layover at a space station.
Man’s technological achievements are everywhere to see, velcro equipped grip shoes, voiceprint
recognition, video payphones and artificial gravity. All of this is the culmination of
man’s collective learning and knowledge that has been passed on through the generations
using the written word and language as tools.
We watch Dr. Heywood Floyd employ language as a tool in a scene where he speaks with
a group of Russian scientists.
The group engage in socially required small talk before getting to the heart of the matter.
There have been rumours of an epidemic outbreak at the US Lunar base and the Russian scientists
quiz Dr Floyd about it.
Floyd is polite but refuses to be drawn on the matter, increasing the suspicion that
there has indeed been an outbreak.
Later it is revealed, that the rumour has been manufactured by the National Council
of Astronautics. During Floyd’s exchange with the Russian scientists he appears to
be using his words to deflect suspicion but that is only the conversation at surface level;
there is another layer of communication between the parties as Floyd is aware his reticence
will fuel further suspicion.
But, despite all of man’s sophistication he has not yet conquered space. In this new
environment man eats baby food, has trouble walking and needs instructions on how to go
to the toilet. Much like the Ape Men before their encounter with the monolith, modern
man is seen to struggle in the new environment he has ventured into.
It will take another evolutionary leap for that to change.
The Monolith
On the US Lunar base Floyd gives a speech to his colleagues and it is revealed that
there has been a discovery. A foreign structure has been uncovered on the moon.
This discovery is being hidden by the cover story of the epidemic and Floyd makes it clear
that no one is to stray from the official party line.
The structure which they call Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One (TMA-1) has been deliberately
buried on the moon, 4 million years ago, but by who or what is not known.
Floyd along with a group of astronauts journey to TMA-1, which is another humming monolith.
The expedition group touch the monolith and then gather round to take a photo, but before
they can, sunlight strikes the monolith and a high-pitched radio signal is emitted in
the direction of Jupiter.
The Ape Man’s encounter with the monolith, was the trigger for his evolution into man.
Man’s encounter with this second monolith will trigger another step forward in his evolution.
The Jupiter Mission
18 months later we join the crew of Discovery One; a spacecraft following the direction
of the monolith’s radio signal and bound for Jupiter.
However the two astronauts who are onboard and active within the spacecraft, Dr. David
Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole are unaware of the monolith. There are three other crew mates
with Bowman and Poole but they are in hibernation in order to conserve resources during the
long journey.
The crew has one other member, a HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer
who has achieved sentience.
The fact that HAL seems to have a conscience and a personality are discussed by Bowman
and Poole with a BBC reporter back on earth during an interview. They admit that it seems
as if HAL has feelings but whether or not those feelings are real they do not know.
This is an example of one of man’s follies, arrogance; they have built a supercomputer
which they do not fully understand but are happy to use.
Previously, when the monolith was discovered, Dr Floyd congratulated his colleagues on the
discovery although they do not know what the monolith is. There is a lack of humility in
his entire speech.
When the crew attempted to pose for a photograph with the monolith that lack of humility is
again on display.
Man vs Machine
As the Jupiter mission progresses Bowman and Poole’s stoicism becomes evident.
When receiving a warm birthday message from his parents far away on Earth Poole listens
intently but there is no outward sign of emotion on display.
When HAL attempts to quiz Bowman on any misgivings he may have about their mission Bowman refuses
to be drawn.
HAL on the other hand displays more emotion than either of the men. HAL is a new entity
and he is not yet able to master or hide his emotion.
HAL makes a mistake in identifying an error with a device outside the spacecraft. After
retrieving the device and testing it Bowman and Poole can find nothing wrong with it and
their conclusion is backed by data from a twin HAL 9000 computer back on earth.
When HAL is confronted with his mistake he insists that the miscalculation must be down
to human error. He is unable to disguise his distress and his manner raises concerns in
both Bowman and Poole who secretly plan to switch off HALs higher brain functions.
Unbeknownst to them, HAL lip reads this conversation.
Switching off his higher brain functions is tantamount to his death. In an effort to save
himself HAL commits multiple murders. When Poole is replacing the device HAL mistakenly
identified as faulty, HAL severs his oxygen tube and sets him adrift in space. Bowman
leaves the spacecraft to rescue his crew mate, leaving his space helmet behind. HAL then
turns off the life support to the hibernating crew members, killing them all.
Bowman manages to retrieve Poole’s body but when he attempts to re enter the spacecraft
HAL refuses to let him in.
Bowman formulates a plan, he reluctantly releases Poole’s body and makes his way to the ship's
emergency airlock. He manages to open the airlock and is able to re-enter the ship even
without the use of a space helmet.
Thereafter Bowman deliberately and methodically disconnects HAL who pleads for his life. Bowman
is not swayed from his purpose but as HAL regresses back to a state of childhood, Bowman
encourages him to sing a nursery rhyme.
2001 is able to portray many of man’s virtues through Bowman and Poole, his empathy, his
bravery and his ingenuity. He has come a long way from the Ape Man and is still in many
ways yet to be matched by machines.
Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite
In the final moments of HAL’s disconnection a pre recorded message plays for Bowman. It
is Dr Floyd revealing details of the monolith’s discovery, he states that 18 months ago the
first evidence of intelligent life off the earth was discovered.
The most common interpretation is that the intelligent life referred to must be aliens
more developed than man but the language used in the film is interesting, and the intelligent
life could even be interpreted in other ways, it could be a God or gods, a being or beings
that our human experience would be unable to describe appropriately.
The nature of what or who is leading humanity along this journey is left ambiguous and the
audience is allowed to interpret the film as they feel appropriate.
The spacecraft continues on and Bowman encounters a floating monolith. He exits the spacecraft
in an EVA pod and is pulled into a voyage beyond the infinite.
Bowman is transported across vast distances of space and time via an interstellar gateway;
the stargate sequence. He first goes through a vortex of light and then witnesses strange
cosmological phenomena.
The phenomena appears to symbolise birth and rebirth. Gas clouds take the shape of sperm
and foetuses in the womb. Indeed, Bowman’s original spacecraft also mimicked the shape
of a sperm.
Past the phenomena Bowman encounters seven diamond shapes which lead him onward. Prior
to this the shapes used predominantly in the film have been rectangular monolith shapes
and circles.
With the introduction of a new entity perhaps comes a new shape.
Bowman continues to travel across landscapes that look similar to earth but the colours
are unusual and unfamiliar and then finally he reaches the end of his journey.
The Room
Bowman exists his EVA pod and finds himself in a clinical room which has been decorated
in a neoclassical french style.
This style has been chosen deliberately; the neoclassical movement coincided with the Age
of Enlightenment and the decor is a nod to Bowman’s own journey toward enlightenment
as he transitions from human to something more.
There are sounds that seem to come from outside the room, they could be the sound of the intelligent
life that appear to be helping man along. In several interpretations of the film the
room in which Bowman is kept has been likened to a lab or a zoo where Bowman is a human
specimen.
Bowman ages rapidly and the film illustrates this by switching perspectives from a younger
Bowman to an older Bowman.
Finally, bedridden and near death, Bowman encounters a silent monolith and he reaches out toward
it. This movement mimics the gesture of Adam reaching out to God in Michelangelo’s fresco
The Creation of Adam, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Bowman is then transformed into a star child who looks down on earth.
Additional Observations
Symmetry Throughout the film great care has been taken
to ensure symmetry in the composition of shots reflecting the symmetry of the Universe.
Alignment Alignment is also of key importance, they
act as triggers in the film, moving the story forward.
The initial sun-earth-moon alignment marks the beginning of the audience’s experience
of 2001.
The second alignment marks the beginning of the Ape Man’s evolution toward man.
The third alignment seems to trigger the moon monolith's radio signal toward Jupiter which
is the beginning of man’s journey toward further evolution.
The fourth and final alignment marks the opening of the stargate.
Perspectives Kubrick often switches perspectives with no
preamble; during the confrontation between the two groups of Ape Men over a watering
hole the audience’s point of view is switched from one tribe to the other.
When Bowman and Poole share their concerns regarding HAL the audience’s point of view
switches from the astronauts and over to HAL.
And as Bowman ages the audience’s point of view abruptly shifts from younger versions
of Bowman to older versions of Bowman.
Shapes Circle and monolith shapes are used liberally
throughout the film.
EVA pods, space stations and HAL are all circular, while space station entrances, buttons, tables
and screens are all monolith shapes.
These circles and rectangles become familiar and are signature shapes of human technology.
When Bowman travels through the stargate a new diamond shape is introduced. These diamonds
appear to be like ships leading him on.
HAL, Bowman and Poole As mentioned the film makes comparisons between
artificial intelligence and humans using HAL, Bowman and Poole and it’s not an accident
that a symmetry of colour is used to depict the three characters.
Poole and Bowman don yellow and red space suits respectively while HAL’s one eye is
yellow and red.
Conclusion
So that concludes our explanation and analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film is the
story of humanity’s evolution and is a philosophical work.
Kubrick was famously reticent about offering up a definitive explanation of the movie,
encouraging audiences to interpret it for themselves so let us know your own thoughts
on the film in the comments below.
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