Other Science Fiction Series

2001 - A Space Odyssey

POSTED BY: Calhoun
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 20:27
VIEWED: 3014
PAGE 1 of 2

CALHOUN

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 11:18 PM

Can someone explain the ending(or all of it) for me please.

So these rectangular prisms made Dave see himself aging throughout his lifespan? why?

And whats the big bug eyed baby in a bubble at the end all about?

CHRISISALL

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 11:25 PM

The short version: Dave was being accelerated through his lifetime by the aliens, and at points he could see the folds in the continuum, as well as his future purpose. At death came his rebirth as a higher life form- the Star Child. He was left at Earth's doorstep to send a message of peace, but alas, that last bit was not filmed- the detonation of all orbiting nuclear platforms.

K?

The laughing Chrisisall

KWICKO

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 11:49 PM

The story goes like this:

The monolith is an interstellar "alarm", of a sort, and an impetus to action. One is left on Earth early on in the evolution of Man. Its presence makes him think, he invents weapons and begins to advance.

Flash forward a couple million years. Something has been found on the Moon. It's a perfect rectangle, 1 foot thick, four feet wide, and nine feet tall (the squares of 1, 2, and 3). Its composition is unknown, its surface impregnable to any instruments known to Man. (In the short story, they set off a nuclear weapon next to the monolith, which "sets it off" as an alarm.) In the movie, uncovering it sets off the alarm, which sends a signal beyond Jupiter.

The alarm is the signal "the others" have been waiting for. The alarm was their way of seeing if anything interesting became of early Man. To hear Arthur Clarke explain it, the monolith was left on the Moon and impervious to anything short of a nuclear explosion for two reasons: 1) We had to get to the Moon to find it, meaning we'd achieved space flight, and, 2) we had to HAVE nuclear technology (advanced physics), yet not have wiped ourselves out with nuclear weapons. These two things would serve as a signal to "the others" that we were ready, as a species, to join the rest of the wider Universe.

It's spiritual, it's similar to Childhood's End, it's Man becoming a citizen of the galaxy, it's us being welcomed into something much larger, older, and vastly more intelligent than us, and being shown that we ARE welcomed.

The end is the journey through the universe, through space and time, Dave Bowman being shown (as all Man is being shown, really) that space and time can be manipulated, that they are bendable, we can see ourselves born, age, die, and be reborn again, and it's all just a flash of moments, but it IS important, because we are now children of the universe. The Star Child is the galaxy, The Others, god, or what have you showing itself to a planet which has earned its place in the cosmos.

At least, that's what I got out of it last time I watched it. It changes every time I see it, part of the beauty of leaving so much open to interpretation!

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

ECGORDON

Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:34 AM

Or, as Stanley Kubrick himself said:

Quote:
"I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophical content...I intended the film to be an intensely subjective experience that reaches the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does...You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film."

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Star Child is the galaxy, The Others, god, or what have you showing itself to a planet which has earned its place in the cosmos.

Yeah, but in the form of Dave reborn, right?
I mean, uhhh, right?

The perplexed Chrisisall

KWICKO

Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:51 AM

Chris - Yeah, in a way. I mean, it's Dave, but at the same time... it ISN'T. 2010 makes it a bit clearer, when Dave takes a shape those who knew him would know, and says he "remembers" Dave Bowman. So he's conscious of Dave, but no longer tethered to that identity. And Dave is just a tiny part of him now, something so insignificant as to be almost forgotten - yet important enough to be remembered all the same. The Star Child is the best of Dave's humanity; in fact, the best of ALL of our humanity. It's our promise, our potential, there to be seized, or at least recognized.

But again, that's just MY take on it, and only my most recent one!

As ECG pointed out, it's SUPPOSED to be subjective; it's supposed to hit you deep down, where you live.

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 7, 2010 3:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Chris - Yeah, in a way. I mean, it's Dave, but at the same time... it ISN'T. 2010 makes it a bit clearer, when Dave takes a shape those who knew him would know, and says he "remembers" Dave Bowman. So he's conscious of Dave, but no longer tethered to that identity. And Dave is just a tiny part of him now, something so insignificant as to be almost forgotten - yet important enough to be remembered all the same. The Star Child is the best of Dave's humanity; in fact, the best of ALL of our humanity. It's our promise, our potential, there to be seized, or at least recognized.

Mike, that's so perfect!!!!
I can and will totally subscribe to your interpretation of that event.

The laughing Chrisisall

CALHOUN

Thursday, January 7, 2010 6:21 AM

OK that clears things up somewhat.. I was very tired when I watched it :)

What about HAL going psycho? was related to the aliens? or purely coincidental?

NAVYSEILS

Thursday, January 7, 2010 9:03 AM

I thought that was just some AI self preservation. Not related to any alien forces. Hal deemed himself the most suitable to oversee the mission successfully and when he learned that the crew wanted to shut him down after he made errors he took steps to ensure that did not happen, very extreme steps.

IMNOTHERE

Thursday, January 7, 2010 1:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
(In the short story, they set off a nuclear weapon next to the monolith, which "sets it off" as an alarm.)

Point of clarification: that's the original short story "The Sentinel" which was the inspiration for the movie and just deals with the discovery of an artifact on the moon.

The full-length novel "2001" has a slightly less spaced-out version of the ending which makes things pretty clear - although we could have a long geeky debate as to whether it was actually "the same" ending as the film. The novel is a bit odd as it was written semi-independently alongside the screenplay, so its neither the "original story" or a novelization of the film.

It all gets retconned a bit in the novel 2010 which explains the Star Child's mission a bit more.