2001: A Space Odyssey. What are your interpretations of the ambiguous symbolic references?

Question

The black monolith, the tossing of the bone... This was a visual masterpiece, as well as philosophical thriller, and throughout there are images and moments which become implanted and rooted to the mind. Decipher some of the ambiguous meanings and defend your conclusions.

...No, I did not extract a passage from an essay prompt. This is my question to you...

Hey Oscar. I didn't ask for a smart@$$ remark. If I wanted an answer for my F%*$ing homework, I'd have gone to some better source of information, not a Q & A on yahoo where I get responses like yours.

Answer 1

The monolith gives self awarness to whatever touches it.
the ape touched and made the first tool, which he used to kill another simian/human.

When HAL, the computer, came closer to the monolith, he also became self aware. Interesting that HAL used this self awareness to first protect himself and then to kill human beings.

The book, or rather the movie, which came out first, is probably trying to convey the idea that one of our first task when we become self aware is to protect ourselves. Or maybe our first instinct is murder.

The white bone thrown up in the air at the start represents the tools we have are only the extensions of ourselves. The orbiting space station is only merely complicated and sophisicated tool.

At the end of the film, there is a baby being born. One could argue that a new civiliation is being born, at least partly from the civilization that created the monolith in the first place.

An interesting side note of the movie. One of the character talked about, but is never seen is Dr. Smyslov. Smyslov is the name of an ex-world chess champion. . Kuprechik (sp.) loved chess.

Rob

P.S. - Let me know what interested you in this movie. I loved it too! =)

Answer 2

HI .The movie 2001 :A Space Odyssey was a remarkable movie for its time, made in 1968 and used Special Effects that had not been seen before. As far as all the symbolic references go first of all the movie is science fiction entertainment and it's up to you how you decipher the various events throughout the movie.I have not read the book so i can't compare it to the movie.I have been told that the book reveals what the ending in the movie means but that's all i know . The movie can be enjoyed solly on its visual achievements and clever use of classical music.One thing that this movie does correctly is it portrays space as deadly silent and you do not hear the sound of any vehicle traveling in space in the movie.
Cheers.

Answer 3

~Ok, I'll help with your homework. Clarke was a racist. Does that give you any inkling what the big black oblisk might be. Arthur was afraid you might not figure it out. That is why he surrounded it by apes swinging bones. Think!!!!!!!!!!!

He was also an acid aficionado. - Thus the "I see blue" scenes on the voyage back up the birth canal


Edit: Hey tmoney, if you had the brains to read and interpret, you wouldn't be asking at all. So on what basis do you claim I am wrong. I know enough about both Clarke and Kubrick to stand by my answer - on what do you refute it? And if you think Arthur wrote the book to be a piece of entertainment, maybe you should research Mr. Clarke's activities before he moved to Tibet. Talk to me when you learn a little about the subject, and wash you fingers out with soap. Such nasty things you typed.

Answer 4

the black monolith is just a symbol of the beginning of civilization, the man-apes at the beginnning of the movie lived at the mercy of their environment (having to share their watering hole with the pig-creatures and other tribes of man-apes).

after coming in contact with it, the man-apes start being more using tools, and become more aggressive, starting a civilization.

the bone tossed into the air is matched with the satellite. something not made explicitly clear in the movie, but is made in the script is that these satellites are weapons systems. one weapon being synched up to another.

the slow dance of these satellites, i'm not sure. you could say that they're doing their own kind of waltz. that something primal like killing has evolved to a point where there are rules of formality perhaps or that it's become rigid and organized. elegant in a way.

Answer 5

Personally, I read the book as a work of entertainment. I really have to try hard to read something that isn't too stimulating intellectually and this one fit the bill when I read it. Not that it *can't* include those interesting symbols, but I purposely avoided considering them when I read it...

So sorry, I don't have a specific answer, but I will say that the book was the most intellectually stimulating work of entertainment I've ever read...

Answer 6

Well there are way too many to go into, but you know that there is a website where all of these symbols are explained by Kubrick...

www.kubrick2001.com

Answer 7

the light show at the end was cool