Did anybodt of you understand 2001 - A Space Odyssey?

Maybe you can help me with the plot,especially the symbol of the monolith and the weird sequence in the end.

 

I couldn't tell ya dude, I couldn't even figure out what the hell was going on.... but what I did know about it, is that I didn't like it.

 

whats not to understand?

 

the end drove me nuts too. although its good to watch something you don't understand once in a while.


am thinking of getting the book. maybe that will help.?

 

I read a few passages in the third part and didn't understand a thing.Think it's even more cryptic than the movie!I've been searching for a few interpretations since the post but none of them was satifieing.

 

I'm reading alot into it (all arts open to interpritation right?) but I like to think it means "you and your life is the one universe you have any buisiness or need to try to understand and that's several life times worth of exploration right there."

The fetus openning his eye at the end looks like he's saying "Oh, I get it".

 

I havent read the book but have heard that it explains a lot! Hes rebirth and everything. The monoliths (I think) were set up on the moon and earth in primitive times by an advanced civilization from Jupiter. Thats why the mission is to Jupiter. Im not sure what they do, though. Im pretty sure though that it has to do with advancing the human race. Remember when the monkeys in the beggining encountered the monolith? I believe that after that they discovered how to use bones as tools. Thus humankind (the monkeys) took a major step forward. When he is born again that could represent a huge leap in humankind. Maybe he returns with the knowledge of his past life. The movie really is how you interpret it but I think the book explains it if you want a clearer explanation.

 

In ancient monolith of the nomadic arabians is mirrored in 2010.

The arabic peoples in ancient history worshipped a giant black stone they believed fell from the heavens. The Kabaa is rumored to be that ancient stone. If I'm not mistaken, one of the stops during the pilgramage to Mecca is to visit the Kabaa. They worshipped the stone because they said it was the harbinger of knowledge and wisdom as it was. It was said to have given man intelligence among other benefits. But many ancient civilizations had legends of giant meteorites and such. The movie seems to expand on that story as you can see by the battle for water with the primatives.

 

I liked that monolith, it would have made a lovely kitchen work surface, I wouldn't want those monkeys hanging around though.

Troublesome animals playing with their bones.

In conclusion then: a lovely film.

"The monolith was originally to have been a black tetrahedron; however, it did not reflect light properly. Kubrick then decided to use a transparent cube; however, that proved to be too difficult to use, because of the reflections created by the studio lights. Next came a rectangular monolith cast from Lucite that looked unconvincing, and finally the familiar black slab."

"Kubrick was very well read. It is rumored that the image of the star-child came to him from the "Spirit of the Earth" in Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound": "Within the orb itself, Pillowed upon its alabaster arms, Like to a child o'erwearied with sweet toil, On its own folded wings and wavy hair The Spirit of the Earth is laid asleep..."

 

Astronaut Dr.David Bowman's body was just a single sperm that fertilized an ova to become the the foetus that you see at the end.

 

each slab gives the beings more intellegence. first after seeing the slab the apes start using bones as weapons, then the astronaut doctor creates HAL, then the astronaut becomes the "star child" Very complex story, you seem to get more and more out of it as you watch it over. I think its still being studied in some colleges today.

 

I agree. I think the slab is a symbol for technology. It's perfect and unique. Very smooth and unnatural. Well it brought the apes the use of bones as weapons, but what they realized that technology is a double edged sword. HAL is considered a great invention, but once again, it's double edged. I still don't understand the very end, with the room. I found a great site called http://www.modemac.com/2001/ He's written a huge guide on the film and it's symbolism. I've only started reading the first bit, it's real interesting.

 

Well, this is what I've gathered: The monolith is the symbol of technology. It brings the apes the use of weapons(the bones). What the apes realize is that technology is a double edged sword. It can save you, but at the same time it can kill you. This happens again with HAL. HAL was keeping them alive in the ship, but at the same time tries to kill them. Also, what happened with hal (which in turn happened with us) is that technology has made us over confident and arrogant. HAL made a mistake. His ego was so large that he could not accept that(remember, the news cast on BBC was talking about how HAL 9000 has never made a mistake in it's whole history.). They compare this to humans in several ways. The astronauts were very very bored. Their montonous lifestyle has turned them into zombies(or robots, if you wish). Not only that, but several ships are shaped to look like human skulls, which is obviously showing you the human/technology relationship. Now when bowman goes through the whole "tripped out journey" to the alien planet, I think this has a very specific meaning. I think it symbolizes sex. Everything before the journey and the victorian room was before sex; the actual journey was the sex. Now he is in the victorian room. He walks a bit and sees himself. So the reg bowman has disapeared. Then the glass breaks, which is, as I now understand it, a portent, which is a symbol of a great change taking place(it's a jewish wedding tradition). Then it shows an even older bowman on his death bed. The monolith appears once again, and the star child is born. The three stages in the victorian room are the baby(bowman/the star child) maturing in the womb, the journey being conception. I think how technology ties into this is that we're still just infants in the womb, we think we have these technological advancements, but they have'nt even begun to start yet.

Another alternative I can think of is that the journey was actually birth, and not sex. That the stages spent in the victorian room were actually the time between birth and life. When he was born, he adopted all the technology and evolutionary advancements of human kind, then was born as the starchild, yet still only a child, being that human kind's technological advancements are still in their infant stage. I have'nt read 10, but when I do, my understanding of the story could deffinately change.

 

there are so many interpretations

 

I always thought the Monolith served as a catalyst for evolution.