Coressel
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- May 26, 1999
- Messages
- 699
Hallucinogenic Aroma of Lunation
The genius is not in how much Stanley Kubrick does in ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' but in how little.
What makes this film so great is that Kubrick didn't make it obvious exactly what he intended us to grasp from the film, his little use of dialogue but rather stunning visuals and compelling music carry the story. I doubt any two people share the exact same views of what the film is expressing. All I know is it spoke to me, and I am still thinking about it. I'll have to watch this again very soon.
Seb
------------------
"I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time. I do not see his like elsewhere. His name will live in English letters; it will live in the annals of war; it will live in the legends of Arabia." - Winston Churchill on T.E. Lawrence
What is a little unclear to me is when Dr. Flyod and his party visit the monolith on the moon and the sun aligns with it and the loud high frequency pitch is heard. I'm not sure what the significance of that is.
The way I (and many others) have looked at that scene you describe is that it's a beacon that signifies that man has now reached the technological point where we are engaging in space flight. The beacon is an "alarm clock" to alert the alien species that planted it that we are ready for the next step. The scene of Dr. Floyd talking (after the deactivation of HAL) has a little explanation. He says "Except for a single, powerful radio transmission - aimed at Jupiter - the black monolith, etc....".
The computer HAL represents Man's final tool. Man, in his evolution has created and discovered new technology. He done this so well and advanced so far, that he can now create artificial intelligence. His tools are smarter and more capable than Man is, and therefore Man is not necessary. When HAL makes a mistake (one of the signs that HAL is quite human-like), the two astronauts discuss shutting him off in one of the pod's on Discovery so HAL does not hear what they say. Unfortunately for them, HAL is much smarter than they think. In another one of the landmark shots in the film, we see HAL's perspective of the discussion and how he reads their lips. While one of the astronauts is replacing the part HAL mistakedly told them would malfunction, HAL kills him. HAL then proceeds to kill the other members of the crew that are asleep (not sure what their significance is) and locks Keir Dullea outside Discovery.
Sebastian
In my interpretation of the film, HAL doesn't make a mistake.
HAL, the only member of the Discovery crew that knows the purpose of the mission, deliberately kills the crew because HAL believes that he is superior to Man, therefore he should be the one to take the 'big step'.
There is no reason why a computer should not be able to evolve!
HAL realizes that when the Discovery reaches it's destination, the 'higher beings' will be confronted with both Man and his (superior?) tool, HAL.
The dilemma is of course, who is the superior, Man or his tools? Has Man retained control of his tools, or have his tools superseded him?
The events on the Discovery are essentially a re-enactment of the Dawn of Man sequence, only this time it is HAL that is flexing his intellectual muscle, rather than the apes.
Ultimately, Man once again proves himself.
------------------
I agree that HAL deliberately killed the astronauts, but after reading your post I'm unsure as to why. Whether he did it because he was angry and afraid of being shut off (remember him begging not to be when the last astronaut was doing it), or whether he killed them, as you said, because he believed he was a superior being.
HAL killed the crew because he felt that he had to prove his superiority over Man, before the eyes of the monoliths.
He knew that some sort of evolutionary process was imminent and HAL wanted to be the recipient of that process.
HAL wanted to evolve, it was survival of the fittest, not unlike Moonwatcher killing the rival ape or the cheetah (unshown in the film).
Also, if Man were chosen to evolve, would they still need their tools (computers such as HAL)?
Probably not.
For HAL, it was a simple matter of survival and hopefully evolution. Everything HAL did was quite deliberate and planned, he never made a mistake.
------------------