Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey
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Since the 1968 premiere of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, it has been analyzed and interpreted by multitudes of people ranging from professional movie critics to amateur writers and science fiction fans. Film criticism has existed since the earliest days of the motion picture, but 2001 holds a place unique in film history due to its openness to interpretation by audiences.
Due to a Spartan use of dialogue, powerful imagery, realistic special effects and a use of ambient sound far ahead of its time, Stanley Kubrick created a film that can be interpreted in many ways by different people. He encouraged people to create their own interpretations of the film, and he refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories.
In an interview with Playboy magazine, in 1968, Kubrick stated, "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophy and allegorical meaning of the film -- and such speculation is indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level -- but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point."
Many of these interpretations of the film involve spiritual or religious ideas. The late Pope John Paul II was a great admirer of the film, showing it at private screenings in the Vatican. "His Vatican recently named 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the most important movies of all time." [1]
One allegorical interpretation of the film is made by Leonard F. Wheat in his book, Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory. He states that, "Most... misconceptions (of the film) can be traced to a failure to recognize that 2001 is an allegory - a surface story whose characters, events, and other elements symbolically tell a hidden story... In 2001's case, the surface story actually does something unprecedented in film or literature: it embodies three allegories." The three allegories are:
- Friedrich Nietzsche's best-known book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The most obvious reference here is the famous opening soundtrack by Richard Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra, also based on the book.
- Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, which is clearly part of the film's title.
- Arthur C. Clarke's theory, expanded by Kubrick into a spoofy narrative, that man and machine will one day merge into a symbiotic entity, a sort of humanoid machine. This is perhaps the most obvious allegory of all, as we watch an ape's weapon, the bone thrown into the sky, visually change into a spaceship. Technological progress eventually gives us HAL - a truly humanoid machine. [2]
Nietzsche's philosophical book describes Man as a transition between apes and the Superman (Übermensch). The Superman is the being that "sails over morality", and that dances over gravity (the "spirit of gravity" is Zarathustra's devil and archenemy), a state Man reaches through self-mastery, self-cultivation, self-direction, and self-overcoming, as well as mastery of others and of his environment. Nietzsche describes the journey from Man to Superman via several metaphors, including the sun ascending to its zenith and a rope walker traversing an abyss. Nietzsche states that the book's true underlying concept is the Eternal Recurrence of the Same Events throughout history, an idea inspired by the sight of a towering, pyramidal rock he once saw beside a Swiss lake.
In addition, numerous theories and interpretations have been put forward by amateur and professional movie scholars and critics alike, with a number of Web sites postulating the meaning behind HAL's behavior and the enigmatic journey into the unknown. One of the older 2001 web sites, "2001 and Beyond the Infinite," proposes the relationship between Mankind and the machines (or tools) he has used to survive over the course of history:
- "Man has come to depend on his tools so completely that he is a slave to them. Without his tools, Man would not have survived, four million years ago. Even today, Man needs tools to continue his existence - but those tools threaten to destroy Man as well. This is one of the central themes of 2001: Is Man stronger than his own tools, or are the tools really the masters?" [3]
[edit] External links
- 2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive
- 2001 and Beyond the Infinite: Web-based analysis of the film published online in 1996
- Alchemical Kubrick - A favorable review of 2001
- In depth analysis of the film's deeper meaning
- Kubrick2001: the space odyssey explained - Flash animation
- Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory by Leonard F. Wheat
- Two Views of 2001
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| Films | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) |
| Novels | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) | 2061: Odyssey Three (1987) | 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997) |
| Comics | 2001: A Space Odyssey (1976) |
| Short stories | "The Sentinel" (1952) |
| Characters | HAL 9000 | David Bowman | Dr. Chandra | Walter Curnow | Heywood Floyd | Frank Poole |
| Vehicles | Discovery One | EVA Pod | Leonov |
| Cast | Keir Dullea | John Lithgow | Gary Lockwood | Helen Mirren | Douglas Rain | Roy Scheider | William Sylvester |
| Crew/creators | Arthur C. Clarke | Peter Hyams | Jack Kirby | Stanley Kubrick |
| Interpretations | Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| Music | Alex North's 2001: A Space Odyssey |
