[galaxy99]

anyone seen this film, I would be grateful if you could tell me, from your own interpretation, what do you think the black rectangle box represented? All answers and explanations very welcome.thankyou

[Helbore]

Do you mean the obelisks? If I recall (and its been very a long time since I watched the film or read the book), the obelisks were supposed to have been placed there by an advanced alien race and were used to trigger an acceleration in evolution. They were also designed as a puzzle, so that humanity would be slowly led into contact with the aliens who put them there.

Stage 1 was the obelisk on Earth that the chimps found. Stage 2 the one on the moon and stage 3 were at Jupiter. There's a film of 2010, which goes into the story further and there were books 2061, and 3001 (I think) which concluded the whole story - though I never read 3001.

[galaxy99]

Thankyou for your answer, I just looked it up and they are called monoliths, some kind of catalyst maybe ,for the next stage of evolution.At first I thought it was religious,but now it makes more sense

the astronaut lies dying in the bed puts his hand towards the rectangle (monolith) the computer and the astronaut wanted to get to it first.

[Helbore]

Yep, monoliths, not obelisks - you're right! Told you it had been a long time.

[Eddie Badger]

Arthur C Clarke described the monolith as a super Swiss Army Knife. It's an object that can have a multitude of functions. At the start of the movie it's a teaching tool, the one on the moon is a device that attracts the attention of a suitably advanced society (it has a powerful magnetic field), then it sends a signal to Jupiter where another monolith acts as means of travelling through space.

[galaxy99]

Originally Posted by Eddie Badger

Arthur C Clarke described the monolith as a super Swiss Army Knife. It's an object that can have a multitude of functions. At the start of the movie it's a teaching tool, the one on the moon is a device that attracts the attention of a suitably advanced society (it has a powerful magnetic field), then it sends a signal to Jupiter where another monolith acts as means of travelling through space.

so it has many purposes then, not just one.Thank you for that, to me at the start i thought maybe it was an omen of change. But as you have said it can be many things, but why the deafening noise when the doctors landed on the moon,what was it then,where were the initial astronaut party and why did they not respond?

[Eddie Badger]

Originally Posted by galaxy99

so it has many purposes then, not just one.Thank you for that, to me at the start i thought maybe it was an omen of change. But as you have said it can be many things, but why the deafening noise when the doctors landed on the moon,what was it then,where were the initial astronaut party and why did they not respond?

The noise was a radio signal aimed at Jupiter. What triggered the signal appeared to be the sun in a certain position above the Monolith. Once the Monolith had been exposed for the first time in millions of years it was activated.

The novel by Clarke is quite handy for explaining a lot of what happens in the movie. On the other hand it may remove some of the mystique that makes 2001 such a great movie.

[galaxy99]

I agree the mystique is better kept in tact.

[spiney2]

the several clarke novels were not consistent!

originally it's a "star gate" with the proportions 1:4:9 representing squares of 1st 3 prime numbers (and symbolising a number sequence continuing beyond 3 dimensions into hyperspace .....). in a later novel it's a giant computer which is shut down by malware ........

..... the film lux antenna sequence is supposed to represent journeying through hyperspace ....... kubrick had a different vision from the literal minded clarke and parts of the film are symbolic.

[spiney2]

..... the screenplay was developed from a short story where an alien device on the moon emits a "radio shriek" once uncovered. the idea is it's a "baby alarm" to indicate when the human race wakes up (ie gets space travel)!

[spiney2]

.... the whole idea of 2001 is marxist dielectic (yes really). ie evolution is a logically necessary process which ends with mind liberated from matter. the appearence of a monolith symbolises a transition stage on that journey.(at least for kubrick).

hence Also Sprach Zarathustra. which is a better guide to the film than clarke's novelisation.

"Another singular feature of Zarathustra, first presented in the prologue, is the designation of human beings as a transition between apes and the "Übermensch" (in English, either the "overman" or "superman"; or, superhuman or overhuman"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra

[Andy Birkenhead]

OW ! My brain hurts !!

[galaxy99]

O man, take care!
What does the deep midnight declare?
"I was asleep—
From a deep dream I woke and swear:—
The world is deep,
Deeper than day had been aware.
Deep is its woe—
Joy—deeper yet than agony:
Woe implores: Go!
But all joy wants eternity—
Wants deep, wants deep eternity."

[Johnny Clay]

Kubrick wanted the monolith to be like the box the Pan Am building came in.

Sideways, it has much the same ratio as a widescreen cinema screen.

The Hilton Millenium Hotel in NY was directly fashioned after the monolith. It was built mere yards from the World Trade Centre, which, of course, met its fate in 2001. (Tin foil hat ahoy!)

What does it mean? Lord knows, but it's certainly been analysed to death, and is but one important aspect of a film that still, decades later, makes most other films look like they're not even trying.

[Virgil Tracy]

Originally Posted by Johnny Clay

Kubrick wanted the monolith to be like the box the Pan Am building came in.

Sideways, it has much the same ratio as a widescreen cinema screen.

The Hilton Millenium Hotel in NY was directly fashioned after the monolith. It was built mere yards from the World Trade Centre, which, of course, met its fate in 2001. (Tin foil hat ahoy!)

What does it mean? Lord knows, but it's certainly been analysed to death, and is but one important aspect of a film that still, decades later, makes most other films look like they're not even trying.

eh ? it came in a box ?

the monolith has a golden ratio - 1:4:9 , the square of the first 3 integers

[galaxy99]

I agree, could watch it over and over again, I got it on blu-ray and the music is fantastic that goes along with the planets and the satellites, dancing like ballerinas, was the desired effect. The whole concept is amazing when you consider it was made in 1968.

[Helbore]

Originally Posted by galaxy99

I agree, could watch it over and over again, I got it on blu-ray and the music is fantastic that goes along with the planets and the satellites, dancing like ballerinas, was the desired effect. The whole concept is amazing when you consider it was made in 1968.

I remember reading how the "dancing" motion wasn't actually the desired effect, but a result of the filming techniques they used to create the SFX sequences. I can't remember the nitty-gritty of why, but it was not possible to have objects intersect or cross in front of one another.

It was only when they saw the effect that they decided it would actually work as an artistic choice and chose the music to accentuate the effect.

Its interesting to think that if they had the capability to make the effects like they do today, they may never have used that style. Still, that's good film-making right there. Making a potential negative into a huge positive for the film, rather than just "making do" because they couldn't do any better.

It was still one of the milestones in cinema for visual effects development, though. I think it was the first film to use motion control (or, at least, the first to do it on a large scale).

[spiney2]

the orignal idea was for cinematographer douggie's split scan stuff to represent "light beings" on screen. ie pure intelligences completely liberated from matter. u get some idea of that in the final star baby bit. but they ran out of money.

arthur clarke was obsessed by olaf stapledon's "overmind". 2001 basically being a rehash of Childhoods End. kubrick kept that but embedded it in a much wider cultural context.

the monolith is a plot device symbolising "evolutionary transition". sorta Hegelian ....

[spiney2]

some insight can be got from book Lost Worlds of 2001. which gives succesive versions of the developing screenplay. but it only tells you what arthur was thinking. not stanley, and HE made the film .......

[paulschapman]

Originally Posted by galaxy99

anyone seen this film, I would be grateful if you could tell me, from your own interpretation, what do you think the black rectangle box represented? All answers and explanations very welcome.thankyou

Read 2010 - it gives an answer.

Basically the obelisk sent a signal to the aliens whenever it detected contact and in this way the aliens knew the progress of man from the monkeys that start to the movie - all the way to travelling to Jupiter.

The Aliens wanted to shepard life - the destruction of Jupiter in 2010 was to provide a sun for life on Europa (which lived under the ice).

It is also why they ordered man to leave Europa alone and give life on that planet a chance to evolve.

[Eraserhead]

I'm not sure if the monoliths were meant to trigger an evolutionary leap or to monitor and report on such a leap as it naturally occurs.

We get the first obvious demonstration right at the beginning of the film when the apes learn to use tools (to batter their opponents!) and then the jump-cut from bone to space station representing the next evolutionary leap into space travel.

The last evolutionary jump is supposed to be about us transcending our physical form and becoming "star children".

I'm not sure Kubrick and Clarke both had the same ideas about the monoliths (and the story in general) but I think both were generally satisfied with the result.

[balthasar]

I thought the monolith gave the tools to Ape/man to evolve and explore?

[Virgil Tracy]

Originally Posted by balthasar

I thought the monolith gave the tools to Ape/man to evolve and explore?

yeah , we see them touching it and they get ideas , specifically the idea to use objects as weapons , then the one ape uses a bone and kills an ape from the other tribe who are dominating th waterhole

and the orbiting ship in the jump cut is supposed to be a nuclear weapon.

[spiney2]

the monolith is a tardis.

kubrick shot this sequence where a bloke - wearing a toilet seat on his head - comes out of it and says "I am a time lord ........".

kubrick is a perfectionist. there were 2000 retakes. hence title of film.

the actor playing this scene finally died of old age. none of the 2001 takes was useable. so it's not in film.

[galaxy99]

Originally Posted by spiney2

the monolith is a tardis.

kubrick shot this sequence where a bloke - wearing a toilet seat on his head - comes out of it and says "I am a time lord ........".

kubrick is a perfectionist. there were 2000 retakes. hence title of film.

the actor playing this scene finally died of old age. none of the 2001 takes was useable. so it's not in film.

seriously,

why did the pilot age so fast going through to Jupiter and then finally seeing himself dieing in the bed? sorry about all the questions. I would have been better reading the book.
Maybe the time travel was accelerated going to Jupiter and it really took 40 light years to get their, then the giant baby