DAWN OF MAN
-- Opening of film dovetails neatly with end of DR. STRANGELOVE: "We'll
meet again, some sunny day . . ." First image in film is of a
rising Sun.
-- DAWN OF MAN sequence in 2001 a "prequel" to DR. STRANGELOVE.
Obviously, Kubrick pondered deeply the astonishing reality that idea
that man was smart enough to blow up the earth, but not smart enough
to stop that from happening (man doesn't want to nail himself, but he
does). How could such a phenomenon occur? Beginning of 2001 attempts
to show how we got fooled into heading down the wrong path. Story of
man told in actions of the simians.
-- "If there's a World War III, World War IV will be fought with
sticks and stones." Bombing ourselves back into the Stone Age.
-- Sun not just light, but heat (a desert). Sun not necessarily good!
Sun is positive in relation to dark, but not to desert. There, sun =
negative, water = positive. Messages: a) relativity; b) need Sun AND
Water to survive -- objectivity -- avoid dissection, look for
integration. White = evil, black = evil, together = good (negative
+ negative = a positive).
-- Leopard kills Zebra. (Zebra = coexistence of black and white?)
-- Opening of film a twist on GARDEN OF EDEN myth. The "Garden" turned
out to be a desert, and it turns out Adam was a chimp. Adam's rib
isn't his, it's from a dead animal. He doesn't create a woman with
it, he kills with it. The Tree of Knowledge is inanimate. The Apple
eaten: meat? steel?
-- Why the twist? Earth not a garden to lose, but a desert to irrigate
and make a garden. We didn't lose Paradise, we failed to work for
it.
-- First discovery of Monolith: everything out in the open, can't miss
it, can't hide. Has to be, for the apes. Has to be obvious to
be seen. Second discovery of Monolith: truth is below the surface,
have to dig for it. Still can't hide (from HAL), but now
you're shut in (in a loop: Poole shadowboxing around periphery,
space station circular like a Ferris Wheel -- loop = lack of
progress, going around in circles).
-- Kubrick reverses typical semiotic code: black here can be good
(monolith = knowledge, or black = the stage, the platform, open
possibilities, hole to jump through), white can be death, evil
(bones, sterility, cold, clean = lack of diversity).
-- Merging of the literal and metaphorical: Man both a literal and
metaphorical chimp. Even though the answer is right in front of
us, we miss it. Once the obvious is discovered, we're on our way.
-- Bone right there in full view. Don't have to dig to find it. You
do, however, need to de-anchor the bone from its old frame of
bone-as-STRUCTURAL DEVICE and re-anchor to bone-as-WEAPON. That's
something. Note: if "necessity is the mother of invention,"
(father?), then a primal impulse provided the intellectual
energy needed to make the shift (the same combination that leads
to development of the atomic bomb [cf. later match cut]).
-- Bone is discovered when the chimp is cut off from the group. When in
a group, listening to the music of the spheres. Alone, coming up with
bad ideas (compare Jack's writings in THE SHINING, Ripper's plan in
DR. STRANGELOVE). "Bad" because not thought through (since not
discussed with others; no feedback).
-- Chimp at first seems harmless. He's "playing" (beginning of
creativity?). But he's playing with fire. It's not just that he's
beating some old bones apart that inspires dread; but the knowledge
of what this will lead to down ("up") the road. (Technical knowledge
+ impulse without correlative long-term view).
-- "Dawn of Man" music plays while chimp is playing with bone. Now the
"dawning" is the dawning of consciousness (the movement from
unconscious to conscious, night to day, is mirrored in the movement
of chimp to man [ignorance to knowledge]). Note that as Kubrick
films the scene, it only "dawns on" the chimp that he CAN use the
tool to destroy. What doesn't yet dawn on the chimp is why he
SHOULDN'T (the "is" precedes the "ought"; technical knowledge comes
easier than moral knowledge). The chimp is only smart enough to
discern the obvious.
-- Existence of the bone guarantees that chimps must now divide into
separate, rival groups: must split apart for "survival" (even
though the splitting-apart leads to DR. STRANGELOVE scenarios).
In case it wasn't clear before, it is now: bone = death in more
ways than one.
-- Apes by water -- you'd think they'd cooperate, start agriculture.
Instead, they fight over it. Don't think about future retaliation.
-- The man-apes were given the use of tools by the Monolith, but
they learn to kill other man-apes AFTER the Monolith has
disappeared. (M.M.)
-- Pro-MoonWatcher (as bone-wielder): he went first; took risk.
Con-MoonWatcher (as bone-wielder): he was the chimp who steered us up
the wrong path.
-- Is the chimp who touched the Monolith the same one who wielded the
bone? Maybe the chimp who touched the Monolith is the one who
got killed by the bone (echoes of Christianity).
-- Monolith points up and down, not left and right. Vertical orientation
(go deep and high, not sideways).
-- Abstraction = high (in the clouds) = confusion. Concrete (desert
looks like) = clarity (landscape, bare terrain).
-- The bone goes UP. UP = "progress"? (But "what goes up must come
down"). Watch for the precise moment when Kubrick cuts from bone
to satellite, and focus on the directional motion of the bone.
DAY OF MAN
Space Station/Moon
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-- The switch from Richard Strauss to Johann Strauss (on the downbeat
of the bone) is a marvelous pun, and makes me think of the dance
tunes with which the Convalescent in Zarathustra celebrates his
"invalidity."
(G.A.)
-- Stewardess returns Poole's pen ("the pen is mightier than the
sword"). Moonwatcher's bone comes back (theme of circularity --
boomerang -- karma -- what goes out comes back in [see also
THE SHINING -- throw ball against the wall, it comes back]). Note
that here this "coming back" is not obvious; the tool changes form.
Bone then, pen now. This shift in form hides what's really
going on. Have to see below surface to get closer to "reality."
-- Design of spaceships: organic form, inorganic materials = fusion
of organic with inorganic.
-- Banality of dialogue matches quality of food. "Garbage in, garbage
out."
-- Hypothesis: World finally achieved cooperation (Russians together
with Americans on space station), and was given their reward.
-- Floyd's conversation with daughter: he does not say "I love you"
at the end.
(M.C.)
-- Floyd's daughter says "yes" repeatedly, much like Molly Bloom
on the final page of Joyce's ULYSSES.
-- Floyd's daughter: Mommy's gone shopping, Daddy's at work,
the babysitter/sister is in the bathroom. And what does she
want for a birthday present? 1) A telephone (even though they
have "lots of telephones," according to Floyd). To this Floyd says
"no". 2) A pet (e.g. a "bushbaby" [bush + baby = return to roots +
return to roots]. To this Floyd says "we'll have to see about that"
(i.e "no"?). But maybe only one of them sees.
The parent-celebrating-child's-birthday-electronically theme
is seen from the other point of view later on, when Poole is
similarly congratulated. (The parent's "Happy Birthday" song
in that scene foreshadows HAL's later "Daisy Daisy.") [Note
that with his sunglasses on (indoors, so doubly shielded from
the sun) Poole sees even less than Floyd. "18 months" (two
birth-cycles [generations?] later, the Child is more removed
than the Parent. Apparently, we've learned well.
-- There is, implicit in the idea that an American child in a future
society could ask for a bushbaby as a birthday present, a notion of
`human technological triumph over nature' . . .
(C.C.)
-- Floyd is "missing the party."
-- Floyd's speech: he and the person introducing him "go around
in circles."
-- "You know, that was an excellent speech you gave us, Heywood. . .
I'm sure it beefed up morale a helluva lot."
Here are five statements Floyd made in that speech:
1) The cover story of an epidemic might cause concern and
anxiety to relatives and friends.
2) Floyd found the cover story "personally embarassing."
3) The truth could not be presented to the public without
adequate "conditioning" of said public.
4) The cover story would be maintained "as long as deemed
necessary by the Council."
5) "Formal security oaths" would be obtained in writing from
"everyone who has any knowledge of the event," including
the scientist complimenting Floyd.
-- On the ceiling, aimed at Floyd's audience, are cameras.
-- On one of the ship's readout screens, the phrase "TERM DIAG."
"Terminal diagnosis"?
-- Floyd and his companions to the moon are lit as though the
blood was drained out of their bodies, their faces as gray
as their suits.
-- "Well, how about a little coffee?" Coffee is the beverage that
wakes you up after you've been dozing.
-- The sun is not shown striking the monolith when the astronauts are
near it.
(G.A.)
-- At the TMA-1 site, as the handheld camera is following Floyd
around, you can catch a glimpse of Kubrick, holding the camera and
looking in the viewfinder, reflected in Floyd's visor. Kubrick gets
to "shoot" Floyd and "expose" him at the same time. Now let's see
what develops . . .
(B.T./B.K.)
Discovery 1
^^^^^^^^^^^
-- There is no ceiling and no floor, because the room is always
turning. (M.M.)
-- Astronaut food looks like baby food.
-- Note: food is getting blander and blander, from the savage (eating
raw flesh) to the bland (indistinguishable sandwiches) to the
ridiculous (paste), reflecting the personality of its consumers.
Interior life revealed by exterior life, or "you are what you eat."
-- Bowman burns fingers; a sign, like the zero-g toilet, that a closed
design process inevitably leads to "bugs." He got "burned."
-- HAL wins the chess game (beats Poole). HAL will always win in a
closed, finite system. In an open system, humanity can prevail; that
is, IF humans have retained their humanity -- and if they make sure
the system remains open.
-- From the BLADE RUNNER Faq:
10. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHESS GAME?
The chess game between Tyrell and Sebastian uses the conclusion of
a game played between Anderssen and Kieseritzky, in London in 1851.
It is considered one of the most brilliant games ever played, and is
universally known as "The Immortal Game".
The Immortal Game, in algebraic notation, was as follows:
Anderssen - Kieseritzky (London 1851):
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4 Qh4+ 4 Kf1 b5 5 Bxb5 Nf6 6 Nf3 Qh6 7 d3 Nh5
8 Nh4 Qg5 9 Nf5 c6 10 Rg1 cxb5 11 g4 Nf6 12 h4 Qg6 13 h5 Qg5 14 Qf3
Ng8 15 Bxf4 Qf6 16 Nc3 Bc5 17 Nd5 Qxb2 18 Bd6 Qxa1+ 19 Ke2 Bxg1 20 e5
Na6 21 Nxg7+ Kd8 22 Qf6+ Nxf6 23 Be7 Checkmate.
The chess boards in the film are not arranged exactly as they would
in be the Immortal Game, and Sebastian's board does not match
Tyrell's.
The concept of immortality has obvious associations in the ensuing
confrontation between Tyrell and Batty. On one level, the chess games
represents the struggle of the replicants against the humans: the
humans consider the replicants pawns, to be removed one by one. The
individual replicants (pawns) are attempting to become immortal (a
queen). At another level, the game between Tyrell and Sebastian
represents Batty stalking Tyrell. Tyrell makes a fatal mistake in the
chess game, and another fatal mistake trying to reason with Batty.
-- While watching his parents on TV, Poole is as horizontal as the
mummies which flank him, other than a slight elevation of the head.
-- Poole jogging: hamster in the exercise wheel. (P.B., p. 121)
-- HAL: "I'm sorry, Frank, but I think you missed it." (P.B., p. 144)
-- DAVID (David vs. Goliath) BOWMAN (Ulysses was an archer). Bowman
kills the Cyclops (HAL has one eye [tunnel-vision? Seeing only at
one level? Only seeing one interpretation as legitimate?]).
-- HAL's view is, literally, "warped."
-- HAL: "There can be no question about it." HAL a) has no doubts, and
b) has no doubt that his lack of doubt is unproblematic (he's
"incapable of error").
-- HAL's birthday: "The 12th of January, 1992." 12 + 1 (January) +
21 (1 + 9 + 9 + 2) = 12121. A palindrome. The same thing forwards
as backwards. Symmetry and Circularity without transformation.
-- Bowman draws ("back to the drawing board"). His drawing is of
almost childlike simplicity. Simple to us, but for him, in
his culture, a "great leap for(back)ward." This is irony so
subtle it's gasping for air.
-- Man must return to childhood to become a superman. Bowman =
"boy-man." (M.W.)
-- Astronauts in closed pod attempt to beat HAL at his own game -- and
they fail.
-- HAL knew what was on Jupiter. Wanted to fight to receive the honor.
The human spirit beat the mechanical "spirit."
-- HAL made a mistake, and that's what made him "human." (Kubrick
proves computer erred by contrasting the Space HAL's answer with
the Earth HAL's answer. One of them had to be wrong). (Also: HAL's
ingenuity at reading lips, curiousity at seeing Bowman's picture).
DUSK OF MAN
-- Hibernating astronauts: the reduction to absuridity (reduction ad
absurdum) of man in 2001. The only thing separating these people from
death is the shape of a line on a graph!
-- Hibernating astronauts: sleep becomes death with a machine at the
helm.
-- Pod turning to murder = machines "turning on" man. (G.A.)
-- Careening pod: HAL throwing away the murder weapon. (P.B., p. 128)
-- Everyman/Hero leaves spacecraft to save his companion; goes out to
take the risk, so impulsively that he leaves his helmet behind
(also, error, trust). Does something "stupid" that we "rational"
people would not do. Has faith in himself and his fellow man.
Ultimately, conquers obstacle. This entitles him to receive insight.
-- The tiny pod holding up Frank's body like Mary in the Pieta, and
the giant ship Discovery just sitting there in space like some giant
God who isn't appeased by Dave's offering. Really cool.
(A.F.)
-- Bowman has to let go of death for life. (M.W.)
-- Bowman has to go outside the system to break into it. It is only
when Bowman is outside the system that the system reveals itself
to him. (The word "RAD" flashes on the screen as Bowman goes to
save Poole).
-- Bowman achieves his cosmic destiny by regaining the violence, the
anger, which his numbed colleagues seem to have abandoned.
(P.B., p. 145)
-- 2001 "breaks" at the literal level here: HAL could have killed
Bowman quickly by depressurizing Discovery; Bowman wouldn't have
had time to put his suit on. Notice the quick cut from tube
to ship, Bowman suited. This breakage may have been intentional, as
if to say,"in the REAL world, you may not be so lucky." (ala DR.
STRANGELOVE).
-- Bowman blown into the tube: this subliminally echoes our most primal
memory -- leaving a safe, warm environment to be blown out into a
hostile one. Here, however, Bowman wills his own birth by flipping
the switches that will explode him into a very frightening situation.
(This contrasts with an earlier image of Bowman emerging from the
pod to retrieve the AE-35 unit, safely suited, slowly emerging).
-- Inside HAL's brain: red.
-- HAL's brain: tiny monoliths (many, broken up, not unified). When HAL
loses the Monoliths, he dies.
-- In disconnecting HAL, Bowman, in essence (on behalf of humanity),
'lays down the bone' (sort of like putting aside one's sidearm when
entering a temple) before passing through the Stargate . . .
(G.A.)
NIGHT OF MAN
-- As the Jupiter monolith (the crossbar of the "crucifix") turns
edge-wise from the light, it becomes invisible. (G.A.) [Note that
the logical progression from surface to depth is invisibility: can't
"see" it at all, even if you've dig for it and hit it]
-- Journey through Infinite: He's being fed all the knowledge of the
Universe -- and he can barely take it (trembling, almost shattered).
-- That psychedelically colored, blinking, astounded eye of Bowman's,
so much in contrast to the eye of HAL . . . (G.A.)
-- 18th Century decor at end: must go backward to go forward? We took
the wrong turn back in the 18th century (pre-Industrial
Revolution), so now we have to backtrack to get back to the
right fork? (Compare myth of THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR. Goes
into the maze, but carries a thread with him so he can go back
in case he takes a wrong turn; compare that myth with the end of
THE SHINING).
-- "Charge: $1.70": 170 first three digits of 1700 (beginning of
18th Century).
-- By volunteering for the mission, Dave Bowman risks going to Jupiter
and losing all human contact -- which is exactly what happens.
(J.B)
-- The room is a cage. The room is a cradle. (C.P.)
-- 18th Century decor: that move in the 18th Century was the one that
nearly got us checkmated in the 20th -- well worth analyzing.
-- At first, Bowman wears the suit. But once he learns he doesn't
need it, he sheds it.
-- The Last Supper: finally, the food looks good!
-- Four times monolith appears:
-- When ape-man learns to use bone as tool.
-- When astronauts on moon examine monolith.
-- When Bowman approaches Jupiter.
-- When Bowman is reborn.
(J.A., p. 290)
-- Shape of monolith: a piece of the puzzle -- you only see a little
knowledge at a time -- just enough to get you to the next level.
-- Shape of monolith: a brick (building material).
-- Shape of monolith: a tablet (e.g. Ten Commandments). (P.G)
-- Shape of monolith: a door.
-- William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed,
everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
-- Confucius: "The way out is through the door."
(J.A., p. 289)
-- "Alien noises" in the background: "alien" may refer to alien
CONCEPTS.
-- 1 CORINTHIANS 14:10 -- "There are, it may be, so many kinds of
voices in the world, and none of them is without signification."
-- If you concatenate the three images where the Monolith has been
touched (by Moonwatcher, Floyd, and [almost] by Bowman, I think the
meaning of the rhyme becomes clear -- the young apeman, the
middle-aged astronaut, and the dying man (the ancient, immanent
father of the Starchild) are a portrait of the human race in the
metaphor of a personal life -- which makes the image of the Starchild
itself almost like a massive musical chord, the necessary resolution
of it all.
(G.A.)
-- End of film: twist on the VIRGIN BIRTH myth. Here, not only
no Father, but no Mother.
-- The human race ends at the end of 2001. Just as it begins at the
beginning. The Starchild is not human.
(G.A.)
-- The film ends when all relevant events that might be recorded by the
eye or film have ended.
(J.Z.)
-- REVELATION 10:4 -- "And when the seven thunders had uttered their
voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and
write them not."
-- "Progression" of man; close to earth to away from earth (Myth
of ANTAEUS). At end of film Starchild is "coming back to Earth"?
Has to leave Earth to understand why must go back to Earth (going
backward to go forward). This reverses the direction of the film
up to this point, from leaving roots to returning to them. "Absence
makes the heart grow fonder."
-- MATTHEW 18:
"At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst
of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth
me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his
neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. . . .
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:
it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say
unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven.
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. . . ."
-- StarChild To Earth: "Will you let me live, or will you abort me?
Will you embrace me, or will you fight me?"
-- The feeling that, post-Starchild, Floyd will be right there in the
thick of it, holding his daughter high above his head as she turns
seven.
CONGRUENCE
-- INDIRECT COMMUNICATION
-- When Human touches Monolith the second time, he touches
through a coating. Now secondhand, not direct.
-- HAL: Artificial intelligence.
-- HAL/IBM connection.
-- Banal dialogue.
-- "I'm really not at liberty to discuss this."
-- Talking to daughter and parents through screen.
-- Lip-reading.
-- EYES
-- Leopard
-- HAL
-- Pod
-- Bowman
-- Starchild
-- LYING
-- Cover story on base.
-- Astronauts not told purpose of mission.
-- Hal lies to astronauts.
-- LACK OF AWE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE AWESOME
-- Floyd has no reaction to spinning Earth in the phone booth.
-- Astronaut photos in front of monolith (contrast with ape
reaction).
-- [X deliberately planted Y] "How about a little coffee?"
-- MURDERS
-- By MoonWatcher
-- By HAL
-- By Bowman
-- By the Monolith?
-- BIRTHDAYS
-- Man
-- Floyd's daughter
-- Poole
-- HAL
-- StarChild
ISOLATION IMAGERY
A pervasive theme of - for lack of a better word - loneliness IN SPACE
ODYSSEY. Many of the physical compositions of the frame are based on
isolating one figure (ship, computer, human being, Child). Although the
earlier prehistoric scenes are often violent, all relations are
physical, "bunched up," tight, close. All latter glimpses of man are set
against cold sterile, often near-blinding white backgrounds which
contrast a lone figure with its/his expansive surroundings. The human
zoo scene is a good example, but an even clearer one for me is the Poole
jogging scene. The music playing during that scene to me expresses the
great loneliness of an expansive, infinite space.
(D.Z.)
WEIGHTLESSNESS IMAGERY
One possible theory I would like to advance (with very little evidence
to back it up) is that Kubrick suggests a parallel between `physical
weight' and `moral weight' through the visual elements of the film. The
film's earliest `amoral' act is immediately followed by the celebrated
slow-motion shot of a bone club in free-fall, cutting to the weightless
free-fall of a military satellite in orbit around the earth. In the
film's most morally-ambiguous passage -- the death of HAL 9000 -- Bowman
also is floating in the weightlessness of the Discovery: his passage
from the centrifugal carousel to HAL's central processor is intended, I
would suggest, to show that his act of murder possesses little moral
weight when viewed in the context of a wider violence that is inherent
in the human condition.
(C.C.)
GENERAL
-- Alignment of planets along axis: think of what had to be true for
2001 to be made -- Kubrick had to have had major success prior to
that point to get the funding for such an expensive film, the studio
had to be headed by someone who wasn't a "bean counter," the nation
had to be in the midst of sending a man to the moon (thus making the
topic of space "hot"), and America's consciousness had to be totally
twisted from the 50's mentality that infects even DR. STRANGELOVE, a
1964 film. Yet, every four million years or so, planets DO align on
an axis.
-- In my opinion, what makes 2001 pure art is that the message and
the medium are inextricably bound together. The "story" that 2001
conveys cannot be so done in any other medium -- it is pure cinema.
It is not a simple narrative that can be put in words, nor is it
something that can be done with still images, sounds, music or any
other artistic medium . . .
(J.H.T.)
-- If 2001 were a font, it would be Helvetica. (quoted by R.C.)
-- Surface of film is outer space, depth of film is inner space.
-- Radical film: use of sound especially -- abstract images -- no
dialogue at end. (Lao Tzu: "[T]he sage . . . spreads doctrines
without words . . ." [A SOURCE BOOK IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY, p.
140]. "Of that which we cannot speak, we must be silent." Showing,
not telling.
-- In 2001, time is noticeable by its absence. The forces behind the
monoliths are able to span the millennia between ape and space
travel, and by the final scenes (of Bowman's retirement), time has
become irrelevant.
(R.V.)
-- First words of the film: "Here you are, sir."
-- Last word of the film: "mystery."
-- Twist on Nietzsche: Man can't go it alone. Existentialism +
Theology, not just Existentialism.
-- Almost utter submergence of the "female" principle [or soft vs. hard
or warm vs. cold or "yin" vs. "yang", for a more neutral
formulation] (except huddling of apes in beginning): warmth,
caring, nurturing, real physical contact, "down to earth" etc.
GONE. Child and Parents viewed through a TV screen. Women in film
made robotic, just like the men.
-- At end of film Starchild is looking directly at us.
(Compiled by B.K.)
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