whats the meaning of "2001: A Space Odyssey"

0	It made no sense to me. This weird wall with a baby coming out of it and a AI computer that tried to kill the guy? scifi 2001 odyssey space asked Jun 20 '12 at 19:17 cameronnnn 165●19●23●31

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the meaning of it is ITS A MOVIE!! it is meant to be enjoyed, there is no meaning, some guy, probably in a dark room, sat down and wrote a story and they made a movie of it... that's it... no meaning... just a movie...

answered Jun 20 '12 at 20:45

trueb
15.0k●50●99●257

While Stanley Kubrick was certainly one to advocate movies for movies' sake, it's a little more complicated than you suggest. Here's what Kubrick said about "2001"

"You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film—and such speculation is one 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."

Hardly 'no meaning, just a movie'.

(Jun 21 '12 at 08:33) dunfiddlin

Oh and this was certainly not written in a dark room! The film and the novel were written simultaneously and collaboratively, each influencing the other, after Kubrick told Clarke that he wanted to make 'the proverbial good science-fiction film'.

(Jun 21 '12 at 08:38) dunfiddlin

you are free to speculate about any philosophical and allegorical meaning of any film, book, story, anything. like for example, I think "Dude where's my car" has some deep philosophical meanings, and lets not forget "Good Burger."

If you look deep enough into any story you can always find meaning beyond what was presented.

If I wrote a book, and said it was true and should be treated as a religiousness text, does that mean it is? likewise if I wrote a book and said it contained the meaning of life does that mean it does? If I wrote a book and said it contained deep philosophical and allegorical meanings and you should think about it, does that mean it does? My point here is just because an author or director says something, does not make it true.

If you get to the point where you have to ask what the meaning of a movie is, chances are there is not one.

(Jun 21 '12 at 19:36) trueb

Some it is explained in Arthur C. Clarke's sequel (also a film) "2010" and some of that gets further explanation still in "2061" although it's important to remember that the sequels were not written until well after the movie.

Hal, is the archetype for AI gone wrong and something of an antidote to Asimov's notion of the Laws of Robotics. Clarke essentially fears that, no matter how well programmed AI may be, the possibility that even without dysfunction it may prove to be harmful cannot be excluded. This idea is given a more mathematical analysis in Douglas Hofstadter's work on Godel's Incompleteness Theorem so it's certainly not 'meaningless'.

answered Jun 21 '12 at 08:25

dunfiddlin
1.2k●4●18

2001: a Space Odyssey in a nutshell:

As the movie opens we are presented with homo sapien's tribal ancestors. And they are in every sense of the word animals. They have no tools, and are subject to the cruelty of the environment around them. Then the large black monolith appears. The monolith is a machine designed to give an evolutionary push. So after the the apes encounter it, one of them realizes that he can use bones as weapons and teaches the other apes this as well. They have gained intelligence enough to fashion weapons and presumably tools and can also communicate well enough to pass on the knowledge. In the next scene they successfully take back the watering hole that was taken from them by a neighbouring tribe.

In the next portion of the movie we fast-forward to a little beyond present day. We have created a colony on the moon. During an excavation on the moon ,humans uncovered another monolith. This one was only meant to send a signal to its creators, aliens presumably, from untold light-years away. The signal is shown on-screen when the loud ringing occurs and the astronauts hold their hands to their helmets demonstrating the volume of the signal.

Next is the Jupiter Mission. And yes this part is mainly about a malevolent AI that goes crazy when it is ordered to lie. After the AI is subdued, a third monolith appears in orbit around Jupiter. Dave, the pilot, flies into it and is transported far far away. This monolith is a gateway of some sort. Dave witnesses many different alien landscapes as he goes. Personally I think the destination is in a completely different galaxy, but that's my own interpretation. But it is really REALLY far away in any event. Once he gets there he discovers a room that is prepared just for him. He grows old and dies there, but there are hints that time was sped up so he may have experienced growing old and dying in only days, hours, or perhaps only minutes.

Finally in the last scene he is reborn. Here is the second major evolution of the species as a result of this alien race. The fetus being rather large and in space makes one think that this evolution is into a godlike being, perhaps not too different than the aliens that created the monoliths.

In short, what is suggested in this story is that the human race was started by the genetic manipulation of our ape-like ancestors, giving us an evolutionary kick-start, by an alien race so evolved that to us they seem like gods.

answered Jun 22 '12 at 19:18

AlanStryder
2.0k●8●20●42

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