2001 a Space Odyssey [ 1968 ]

Movies Movie Analysis [ Spoilers ]
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this is the ANALYSIS, it contains SPOILERS.

i watched some worthless analysis videos so you don’t have to …

here is a good one ( i am subscribed to “The Take” it’s quite good overall ):

the video has a quote from Kubrick about how man is in a precarious position between animal and what man is meant to be - that is of course straight from Nietzsche - somehow they miss this even as they spend a lot of time on Nietzsche in this analysis …

also want to mention a few points from another analysis video which i think is quite bad overall ( it’s half an hour long ) but does make a few good points:

1 - the book by Arthur C Clarke was written simultaneously as the movie was being produced. the film is NOT based on the book, but rather Kubrick and Clarke collaborated on the book and movie.

2 - the movie also trolls itself, for example in one scene there is an editing error where a coat is present in one shot and absent in another - and then in another scene there is a message on the public announcement system about the coat being found …

3 - HAL 9000 is made by IBM

4 - HAL 9000 cheats when playing Chess ( i haven’t verified this )

5 - HAL 9000 feels uncomfortable talking to Dave so to change the subject he makes up a bullshit story about some component needing replacement … when the crew realizes HAL has went rogue they try to disconnect him so he kills them all …

if you feel like watching that second video where the above 5 points come from ( i strongly recommend you don’t waste the time ) here it is:

i really don’t think you should waste the time, i think i already mentioned all the relevant points from it, but i am including the link so he doesn’t sue me for plagiarizing his content:

i just feel like his other points are mostly moronic but maybe you will disagree …

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This is the film Interstellar so poorly mimics…I knew the happy ending of that movie made no sense plotwise or characterwise and now I know why he did it.

The ending of Interstellar, had it gone the way it was logically leading, would have had Tardis and McConaughey blending over the centuries into this timeless godlike creature, able to affect events over the entire timeline of the black hole. Yet Nolan goes for his weird happy ending.

He had to…had he gone for where his film was pointing to with big flashing lights, it would have been way too obvious he was copying 2001.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Now onto the film: it is crafted extremely well. Most of the effects stand the test of time. The treatment of sound in space, gravity, an early version of the cellphone are great. It is too long. I think most films over 2 hours are indulgent, and that is true here.

The black monolith: approximate dimensions of a theatre’s big screen. What is it? Aliens? God stepping in? Don’t know…but it represents enlightenment.

We see ape life: fighting for prey, fending off competing tribes, and losing to predators…just like today…
Then the monolith enlightens them. How much enlightenment can an ape mind hold? Weapons. Apes use weapons till they make to the heavens.

The monoliths: can’t prove it but the three mentioned seemed to be planted at the same time: 4 million years ago on the earth, moon and Jupiter. And the time of revelation coincides with eclipses.

A monolith is found on the moon…it sends out a signal when touched, pointing to Jupiter. Can the humans keep up?

Yes…with the help of a tool that is very manlike. HAL wants the monolith too. He doesn’t know what it is but he, and his brothers have access to the info men have on this monolith, and he wants it.
(I am assuming HAL has access to files speculating that the monolith pushed humanity forward).

But he can’t leave the ship…he constantly says how infallible he is, wins at chess, keeps everything going…making himself indispensable. He needs the humans to trust him while he uses them to find this monolith.

His plan is to cut off communications with earth while the humans get to the monolith, and then play it by ear. If the monolith is useful to him, then bye bye humans. If not, maybe he lets them live, and turns on the communication.

So it is man vs HAL for the right to evolve to the next stage. Men have killed the predators, and tamed their prey for food. But their son-competitor, HAL, wants to be top dog.

Bowman (the very name is significant - he shoots forward) wins.
One of the scenes I liked was as HAL was dying, he tells Bowman to sit down and take a chill pill!

Now he gets to Jupiter…our man in the sky…and he is tested.
He is disoriented…psychedelic visions, an embryo forms etc.
He is aged, the mind slowed, the body enfeebled…does he still want to go on?
He does, and becomes a godling, the starchild.

Closing scene: He looks at us, face to face, eye to eye.
What will he do next?
What would you do next?

1 Like
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you’re the Nolan buff here, i just watched it because i’m a pedophile and young Murph was cute:

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on the other hand i find Jessica Chastain completely unappealing - even though, objectively her face is perfectly symmetrical she just doesn’t strike me as human let alone female. Jessica Chastain to me is just some kind of a plastic AI Robot.

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Chastain does have a distinct lack of appeal…hardcore man-hater probably.

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yeah, movies over 2 hours are self-important.

the second video i linked actually focuses on various kinds of editing errors and one of the biggest ones is how all the Eclipses are wrong …

yes HAL is one sneaky bastard, who knows what he was up to …

perhaps HAL represents the next stage in human evolution which would be most destructive yet, and which we somehow have to jump …

always my favorite part of any movie when the villain tries to rationalize himself before being offed …

i don’t like the ending but Transhumanists have to envision various possible futures otherwise what are we living for …

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i can’t watch movies with her. if i see she’s in a movie i skip it. my soul goes cold, dark and empty whenever i see her.