By Jay Weidner
This
Article is now available in Spanish
It
is important to remember that , unlike Citizen Kane and other
great films, '2001' was a smash hit. It was actually the first
film where repeat business kept it going for months at the
box office. Nowadays it is common for a person to see a film
like 'Titanic' or 'Star Wars' a number of times. Hollywood
accountants depend on this for their decisions. '2001' took
an entire generation by storm. It was the late '60's and the
largest generation on the planet was seeing the film on a
ritualized basis. Cinerama theaters across the country reported
scores of 'drugged-out' hippies flocking to the theater on
a nightly basis to 'trip out' on the film.
Strangely
though, no one in the audience really seemed to know what
the film was about. The film seemed to cause everyone to come
away with a different interpretation. And no one could adequately
explain the last 25 minutes. It was generally agreed that
this was the most controversial part of the entire movie.
Indeed many thousands of hours were taken up in coffee houses
and dormitories, in universities and colleges, discussing
the various possible meanings that the ending was describing.
Everyone agreed that it had something to do with transformation,
but no one knew really much more than that. Even Arthur C.
Clarke, who helped Stanley write the script, didn't understand
the unusual ending. And Stanley wasn't talking. He steadfastly
refused to discuss what '2001' was about to anyone. In the
rare interviews that he did give, concerning the film, he
again refused to discuss the content at all. Most critics
at the time thought that Kubrick simply did not know how to
conclude the movie so he contrived this ending. I can assure
you that this is not so. The ending to the '2001' explains
everything that Stanley is conveying in the rest of the film.
Without the ending, the film would be nearly worthless. It
is in that ending that Kubrick reveals his deep inner profound
knowledge of alchemy, gnosticism and the ancient view of the
spirit domain.
Reading
through many critical reviews of the film I find it amazing
that no one really understands what is happening. There are
some very erudite explanations that do cover parts of the
plot, yet no one really gets it. The late film critic, Paulene
Kael, so thoroughly misunderstands the film that she calls
it: 'a monumentally unimaginative movie'.
A description in a movie guide calls it a 'science fiction
drama about a computer who takes over a spaceship'. This is
like saying that the works of art on the ceiling at Sistine
Chapel are 'some paintings about the Bible'. Even today, in
the year 2000, while this is being written, I still find no
one that understands the film. Looking through hundreds of
web sites devoted to '2001' I fail to find even one reference
to the esoteric or alchemical nature of the film. Scanning
through esoteric and alchemical websites also fails to find
anyone who understands the true esoteric nature of the film.
It is almost like Stanley built this film so that people at
some future date would finally understand it, possibly in
the year 2001?
As
an aside it is important to not underestimate Arthur C. Clarke's
important contributions to '2001'. After all the script is
ostensibly based on his short story 'The Sentinel'. Written
in 1953, it tells the story of a group of astronauts who discover
an artifact on the moon that is left by an alien race. Truthfully
though the movie is more properly based on Clarke's novel
Childhood's End. This fabulous novel is a science fiction
treatment of an essential Gnostic ideal or mythology. There
can be no doubt that Kubrick had read Childhood's End and
understood it's real significance. By aligning himself up
with Arthur C. Clark, Kubrick was able to bring in these Gnostic,
alchemical ideas through the convention of science fiction.
It has always been a mystery as to where Arthur C. Clarke
came up with the idea for Childhood's End. He insists that
he knew nothing of gnosticism or ancient magical traditions
when he wrote the book that many have proclaimed to be the
best ever written in the genre of science fiction. Whatever
Clarke wants us to believe is not the subject of this essay.
Suffice to say that Clarke was a well-read individual. It
appears odd that he wouldn't have known of the Gnostic traditions.
Kubrick, unlike Clarke, proves that he knows what he is doing
at every step and this is the real reason why he is not talking
about the film to anyone.
Stanley himself invented many of the special effects in '2001'.
The images of real people moving around inside the windows
of the flying spacecraft was an ingenious invention that revolutionized
the way movies would look from then on. Even Steven Spielberg
and George Lucas admit what they owe to Stanley for his ground
breaking technical breakthroughs. Like Citizen Kane, the vision
and power of the film changed the way that all of cinema would
look after it. This is true, especially, for science fiction
films, which all seem to pay homage to '2001' in one-way or
another.
Let's
begin with a description of the film so that we can place
everything in context. The very first shot of the film is
a magical sun-earth-moon alignment. We are witnessing the
end of a lunar eclipse. The sun is pulling away from this
rare alignment. The shot is taken from just beyond the moon's
point of view. The Earth is rising over the moon, with the
sun rising over the Earth. The soundtrack is the 'World Riddle'
theme from Strauss', 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'. Right away,
from the beginning, Kubrick is showing the viewer the relationship
between the writings of the philosopher Frederick Nietzche
and his film, between transformation and extinction. The Zarathustra
essays by Nietzche are his most revealing and magical. Zarathustra
is the great prophet of the Zoroastrians, who are the early
holders of the great alchemical tradition. Kubrick is saying
that this film echoes the words of Zarathustra who taught
of the great transformation from the mundane to the angelic.
This is one of the most dramatic openings in the history of
the cinema. It is important to note that these magical, celestial
alignments are dotted throughout the film and that they hold
a key to the main theme.
Even after a superficial analysis of '2001' one realizes that
Kubrick is never doing anything in the film that is spontaneous.
Every shot has a meaning that Kubrick is attempting to convey
in a truly magical way. 'If you see this film, you will be
transformed', he seems to be saying from the very beginning.
'The Riddle of the World' will be explained to you. And the
first answer to this great question has to do with these stunning,
magical alignments of celestial bodies. One of the main tenets
of alchemy is that planetary and celestial alignments cause
dramatic events to occur on Earth. One of the most dramatic
of these alchemical alignments are solar and lunar eclipses.
From the very beginning of the film there is this magic moment
when three worlds line up. Something amazing is about to happen.
But what is the major event that occurs on Earth because of
the lunar eclipse? I believe that it is the film itself that
is being conjured by this solar/lunar magical alignment. Every
time that '2001' is shown - this lunar eclipse precedes it
- like an astrological, celestial marker.
The
next shot in the film is a sunrise taken from down on the
surface of the earth. Where are we? and when are we? Kubrick
answers the question with a subtitle: The Dawn of Man. This
is the first of four chapters in the film. In alchemy the
process of the transmutation of the spirit goes through four
stages, or realms. Kubrick also breaks the film into the four
aspects. In the 'green language' or the 'language of the birds'
of alchemy, many of the messages and writings can be broken
down into this type of four-part transmission. The quatrains
of Nostradamus, the inscription on the mysterious cross at
Hendaye, and many other examples show that this secret alchemical
language unfolds this way for a reason. This is the first
of four parts in the film. Each separate part will expand
out into more vast realms that mirror those of alchemy and
the Great Work.
The next few scenes in Chapter One show a typical day in the
life of the apemen who thrived on Earth millions of years
ago. They forage for food, cower from their enemies (mostly
portrayed by a leopard) and they exist in a meaningless, never-ending
sequence of events, that are mostly concerned with survival.
Kubrick has no romantic feeling for these man/apes. In a sense
they go about their business without any knowledge of the
outer universe. Their only quest is for food and water. Kubrick
even creates a scene of a pathetic wrangling between two tribes
of the apemen over a watering hole. There is no violence in
this scene, only grunts and gestures. The apemen do not know
how to be violent, not just yet. The apemen go to sleep in
their cave with the cries of the nocturnal carnivores filling
their ears. It is a dark and lonely universe that Kubrick
reveals. There is no magic here.
But the magic is there. It waits until the dawn of the next
day to appear. This scene is perhaps the most compelling and
beautiful that has ever graced the screen. The lead apeman
wakes up to catch the first rays of the sun coming up over
the horizon. As he opens his eyes he sees something that is
totally impossible. In a world of scrub bushes, sharp rocks
and dangerous animals, the apeman has never seen anything
like the object that stands before him. Standing in the middle
of the tribe of apemen is a black, stone monolith. It stands
about 12 feet high. Its rectangular edges are flawless and
exquisite as it stands like a sentinel in the middle of the
sleeping apemen.
The soundtrack is playing Ligeti's 'Requiem' and 'Lux Aeterna',
which sounds like a psychedelic Gregorian chant. This is a
religious and spiritual moment of great importance. Kubrick
is not hiding this in any way.
The leader of the apemen begins to become frighten. He jumps
up and down and begins grunting and chattering as he beholds
the magnificence of this monolith. The other apemen are awakened
by his noises and they too see the black monolith. The entire
tribe starts going completely crazy. They dance and scream
as they frightfully contemplate this strange and beautiful
arrival into their mundane existence. The leader of the apeman
is beside himself. He carefully crawls over to the monolith.
He attempts to touch it, but his fear is so great that he
pulls his hand back. One more time, as the music on the soundtrack
becomes more numinous, he attempts to touch the absolutely
pure and straight edge of this visiting slab of rock. Slowly
he gathers the strength necessary and his fingers touch the
smooth sides. Kubrick gives this moment an indefinable sensuality.
The way that the fingers of the apeman brush gently along
the smooth sides of the monolith are as sexual as this film
is going to get. With the sacred music mixing with the magical
alignments, Kubrick is saying that this is a great spiritual
moment. As soon as the lead apeman has gotten up the nerve
to touch the monolith, Kubrick cuts to a dynamic shot of the
monolith lying directly under a magical moon, sun alignment.
This scene is occurring just after a solar eclipse. The sun
and the moon have just parted from their eclipsed point. Once
again an eclipse has preceded an intiatory event. This is
exactly what Kubrick is attempting to tell us. The monolith
appears when there are certain magical alignments of the sun,
moon and stars. Again this is of a deep alchemical significance.
Kubrick is telling us, flat out, that the sun, moon and stars
are directing our destiny.
This
is the first time in the film that the black monolith appears.
When one considers the entire film it becomes apparent that
this is, really, the story of the black monolith. In fact,
Kubrick magically cuts out all of human history in the famous
shot where the bone turns into a spaceship. In this cut Kubrick
completely dispenses with everything that has happened to
the human race and goes directly to the very next human encounter
with the monolith. He does this throughout the film. The only
story that he is concerned with telling is that of the monolith.
The first time that this black stone appears in the film it
is revealed in a very religious and spiritually styled motif.
This stone, this monolith, has invaded the apeman's reality
and he will be forever altered by this encounter. The monolith
is a turning point in the history of man. It is directly intervening
with our history. It is directing us on a path that it has
chosen. Kubrick shows us that we don't have all that much
to do with these grand decisions. They are being made elsewhere.
Someone else is making them. But who? Is it God? Aliens? A
false god? And these interventions are not necessarily majestic,
noble and wonderful. Kubrick is clearly showing that this
intervention is a descent, in a way, both for the ape and
for man.
The next episode, after the monolith appears, is the famous
scene where the apeman leader is sitting in a pile of animal
bones and realizes - again clearly defined by Kubrick as an
intervention into the mind of the apeman by the monolith -
that the bone can be used as a weapon. To the music of the
World Riddle theme, again from Strauss' 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra',
the apeman suddenly understands that he can kill animals by
using the bone as a club. The very next scene shows that the
apemen are no longer scrounging for seeds and leaves, instead
they are eating raw meat, presumably from an animal that they
have just killed with their bone club. Kubrick clearly shows
this action in a way that makes the meat appear extremely
repulsive.
Finally, he ends the first sequence with another confrontation
between the two ape tribes by the water hole. This time, though,
the leader of the apemen now has a bone club in his hand.
The other tribe goes into their ritualized shouting and gesturing
in order to show that they can dominate the water hole. The
leader of the other tribe runs up. He yells at the apeman
who holds the bone in his hands. The leader of the tribe of
bone-wielders places both hands on the 'handle' of his weapon
and strikes the other ape in the head, killing him instantly.
The leader of the rival apemen falls down to the ground motionless.
This stuns and frightens the apemen in the rival tribe and
they run away. Kubrick then shows the other apemen in the
tribe come forth and pound their bone weapons on the body
of the dead rival apeman. Kubrick pulls no punches here. He
wants you to know that this first murder is an act of cowardice.
He shows the meek apemen pounding their bones on the dead
body and acting as if they had done something incredible in
this act of murder.
The leader of the apemen, the first murderer, howls victoriously
and throws his bone into the air. This is where Kubrick magically
transforms the bone into a spaceship and rejects all of human
history in one-twenty-fourth of a second. In his audacity,
Kubrick is telling us that all of history is meaningless.
He dispenses all of civilization as if it were insignificant.
And, in a way, that is the complete point. He is telling us
that the apemen's encounter with the monolith and whatever
is about to happen in this film is vastly more important than
all of the wars, famines, births, marriages, deaths, disasters,
discoveries and art of the last 4 million years.
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