I’ve seen this film about a dozen times but I just don’t get it:confused:
Is there anyone out there can tell me what the ending is supposed to mean, the Earth and the Star Child.
WTF is it all about?
It’s about transcending that which is primitive/primeval, to be reborn upon the wings of freedom in a universe of wonder and delight.
Well, the movie starts with a bunch of hominids on the verge of a great evolutionary leap …
The return to Earth reinforces that “There’s no place like home.”
Wow, ya don’t say
I love this movie. That is all.
Well, to be blunt, you’d pretty much have to ask Kubrick, and I don’t think he ever said anything on the record about it.
Having said that, reading Clarke’s novelization (three decades ago) of the screenplay, I think the point is that you’re looking at the “birth” of the next stage in human evolution, one that had escaped the corporeal bonds and bounds of the physical human form.
The novelization also ended with atomic explosions, but I guess Kubrick decided “Naw, guess not. Been there, done that already.”
And for another thought, hey, Kubrick did that later, too. Thirty years later, we’re still asking about that photograph at the end of “The Shining,” also of which he has no comments on the public record.
Maybe he just liked screwin’ with us.
What the hell else were you looking for? The movie is thirty years old. If anyone knew the definitive answer you could have found it on wikipedia. Instead, all you are going to get is a bunch of recycled old opinions from a bunch of smartasses on a internet message board.
I’ll have you know my smart ass opinion was dynamically generated on the spot, no recycling!
Here’s one group’s theory. (Warning: Flash video)
It’s a pretty neat little thing.
Well, to me it’s clear that it’s about an extraterrestrial civilisation – the one that created the black monoliths – and how they affect people on earth. However, that civilisation is so different from ours that it’s incomprehensible. So it’s a movie about incomprehension, which means that you can make all sorts of guesses about what it “really means”, and no one can prove you wrong.
It means we are all lesbians.
Think about it.
Arthur C Clarke’s novel spells it out pretty clearly. At the beginning when Moon Watcher has worked out how to use tools to his advantage there is this passage:
“Now he was master of the world, and he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.”
At the end when the Star Child has returned to Earth and destroyed the orbiting bombs there is the following passage:
“For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.”
The inference being that it is another stage in “nudging man along the path” to his next phase of dominance or evolution.
Being serious now, what I like to think the end implies is that man has turned into a machine. Where in the beginning technology was used to help man along, in the end, man becomes technology. He becomes efficient, systematic, and emotionless.
This is backed up by the fact that HAL, a computer, displays more emotion through out the film than the humans do. Dave is shown through out the film doing routine and systematic things, with little emotion. He even never gets scared of dying. HAL, on the other hand, begs Dave not to kill him.
So the more technology we develop, the more like technology we will become.
I tend towards SunSandSuffering’s theory, that it was mental/spiritual evolution that was involved. I don’t think becoming a machine had anything to do with it.
Uhhh, I’m not so sure about this. It seems to contradict the lesbian angle which sounded right to me.
This explanation is the only one that addresses not only how warm and satisfied the ending makes you feel, but how sticky as well.
Except that to go on to the next level, Dave had to kill Hal, and in fact he had to take a risk that HAL did not anticipate him taking. Dave actually became more emotional through the crisis, yelling at HAL.
OTOH, in 2010 Dave considers the reborn HAL human enough to take with him into the OverMind.
I don’t remember him yelling. He seemed extraordinarily contained throughout the crisis. At most, he was frustrated that things weren’t going according to his plan. “Where the hell did you get that idea HAL” is as close to losing it as Dave gets.
He doesn’t hesitate much and he never panics. When HAL won’t open the doors for him he gets slightly frustrated, but then he coldly proceeds to make some difficult decisions. He lets Frank drift off into space. He makes it through the emergency airlock. Then without a second of thought, he makes his way toward HAL’s main controls and disables him. Compare that to other “crisis in space” movies and Dave is a total robot.
I just watched it a few days ago on Blu-Ray. It was like watching it again for the first time.
Then it hit me. 2001 has some parallels to The Beatles’ career, observe:
Movie starts primitively, at the dawn of man, as they make an evolutionary leap in tool usage. A bunch of screaming man-apes ensue.
Beatles start primitively at the dawn of brit-rock, and make an evolutionary leap in music. A bunch of screaming teen-age girls ensue.
Movie then goes headlong into an exhibition stage, showcasing the spread of humanity across the solar system.
Beatles go headlong into an exhibition stage, causing Beatlemania to spread across the world.
Movie then enters the orbit of Jupiter. The film starts to take on a new, objective and serious feel.
Beatles enter the mid 60s. and start to take their music into a new, artistic and serious sound.
Frank dies at the hands of an artificial whack-job. Movie then encounters the giant monolith and “Beyond the Infinite.” Psychedelic Insanity ensues.
Beatles encounter drugs. Psychedelic awesomeness ensues. The Beatles disband at the hands of an avant-garde whack-job.
YMMV.