2001: A Space Odyssey
Summary
The ambiguous end of Stanley Kubrick ’s sci - fi epic2001 : A place Odysseycontinues to befuddle audiences , but many elements and the core message of the ending can be explained . Some of Kubrick ’s movies have straightforward endings , like the nuclear annihilation of Earth inDr . Strangelove , but most of them terminate on an ambiguous banker’s bill , likeThe ShiningandA Clockwork Orange . The ending of2001 : A Space Odysseyis particularly puzzling because the movie accept a phantasmagoric , psychedelic turning in its last half - hour , and the complex science fiction narrative does n’t make the2001 : A Space Odyssey endingany clearer .
The movie terminate with Dave Bowman going through the Star Gate , watching himself age into decease from the comfortableness of a neoclassical bedroom , and getting born-again as a fetus be adrift above Earth in an ball . The symbol , content , and hidden meaning in this conclusion are open to rendition , and there might not even be a definitive answer even despite the2001 : A Space Odysseyending explained by Kubrick himself . However , there are some constituent of Kubrick ’s challenging outer space - faring tale that can be objectively explained .
Stanley Kubrick ’s 1968 classic , 2001 : A Space Odyssey , remains the good and most influential sci - fi movie of all time . Here ’s why .
What Do 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Monoliths Actually Do?
The mythology of2001 : A Space Odyssey , which is a classic example of hard sci - fi , revolve around the secret of the monoliths . allot to Arthur C. Clarke’sSpace Odysseynovels , the monolith were built by an unobserved ancient alien civilization . scream “ The Firstborn , ” they were the first intelligent species to evolve in the Milky Way . Every time a monolith drink down up , it promote humanity to make a technological advancement . When the anthropoid get the first monolith in the chess opening sequence , they learn to apply tool . When astronauts regain another monolith under the Moon ’s surface sending radio waves to Jupiter , it encourages them to launch a foreign mission to the satellite .
When he gets to Jupiter , Dr. David Bowman ( Keir Dullea ) finds an even bigger monolith orbiting the satellite . ConsideringStanley Kubrick created2001 ’s event without CGI , this scene is truly impressive . Not only is it a astonishing spectacle , but it also sets up the resolution of the film ’s themes . After David departs from the Discovery in an EVA fuel pod to get a close look at the monolith , it sucks him into the “ Star Gate . ”
What Is The Star Gate?
After encountering the final monolith , David is draw into the Star Gate , a vortex of colored visible light , bizarre landscapes , and incomprehensible cosmic events . The Star Gate chronological sequence only lasts a few minutes , but at the end of it , when Dave is spat out into a enceinte , fancy chamber with his own apace aging self , nine years have passed . The space effect in2001 : A Space Odysseywere so mind - blowing that they set off aconspiracy theory that Kubrick faked the Moon landing , and the Star Gate chronological succession is by far the most mesmerizing stretch of the entire flick .
The Star Gate is more than just a thrilling set part in the2001 : A Space Odysseyending ; it launches Dave into the terminal leg of his interstellar journey . As it turn out , pay back to Jupiter was the easy part . The last monolith acts as a kind of wormhole that chooses Dave to sling humanity into the next footstep in its evolution .
While the canonical history of 2001 : A Space Odyssey is the same between the Koran and moving-picture show , there are some major difference .
What Is The Bedroom Dave Bowman Ends Up In? Human Zoo Explained By Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick tend to obviate explaining his movies , alternatively leave it up to the audience to determine their own meaning . Yet he made an exception in the event of2001 : A Space Odyssey , which is frequentlyranked among Stanley Kubrick ’s best movies . In an interview that resurface from an unreleased 1980 infotainment by film maker Jun’ichi Yaoi , Kubrick explain ( viaIndieWire ):
I ’ve tried to avoid doing this ever since the picture came out . When you just say the idea they sound foolish , whereas if they ’re dramatized one feel it , but I ’ll try . The idea was supposed to be that he is exact in by god - like entities , creatures of arrant energy and intelligence with no shape or signifier . They put him in what I suppose you could trace as a human menagerie to study him , and his whole life passes from that peak on in that room . And he has no sense of clip . It just seems to chance as it does in the photographic film . They prefer this elbow room , which is a very inaccurate reproduction of French computer architecture ( advisedly so , inaccurate ) because one was suggesting that they had some idea of something that he might think was pretty , but was n’t quite sure . Just as we ’re not quite sure what do in zoos with fauna to endeavor to give them what we think is their natural environment . Anyway , when they get eat up with him , as happens in so many myth of all cultures in the humans , he is transformed into some kind of A-one being and sent back to Earth , transmute and made into some sort of superman . We have to only guess what happens when he goes back . It is the pattern of a bang-up deal of mythology , and that is what we were trying to suggest .
The2001 : A Space Odysseyending excuse by Kubrick reveals that the neoclassic chamber that Dave find himself in is an inclosure . The enclosure was build by the god - comparable aliens that captured him thought he ’d care . In the Yaoi interview , Kubrick compared the bedroom ’s “ inaccurate replication of French computer architecture ” to the affected recreation of animals ’ natural habitats in zoo enclosures .
This seems to confirm the religious interpretation that2001 : A Space Odysseyis about the search for God . The game of the movie is driven by scientific innovation , but Dave ’s transformation into the Star Child defies scientific explanation and suggest unearthly intervention . The2001 : A Space Odysseyending explicate by Kubrick also detailed Dave ’s future , as he revealed to Yaoi , “ When [ the foreigner ] get fetch up … [ Dave is ] post back to Earth , transformed , and made into some form of superman . ”
Dave Becomes The Star Child: Friedrich Nietzsche’s Übermensch
The iconic final shot of2001 : A Space Odyssey – feature Dave as the Star Child , floating in Earth ’s orbit – is deliberately enigmatic to leave viewers scrambling for meaning . This closure image is one of the reasons2001 : A Space Odysseyneeds multiple viewingsto be understood . The ending fetch the overarching narrative full forget me drug with the next microscope stage of human evolution . The movie begins with apes evolving into human being when they realise they can use violence to get what they want in the opening “ Dawn of Man ” sequence , and it end with its central human character transcending his own biological science to become a Modern life signifier altogether .
Stanley Kubrick ’s sci - fi piece of music 2001 : A Space Odyssey is just as mind - suck and thought - provoking now as it was in the sixties and still retain up today .
From this perspective,2001 : A Space Odysseyvisualizes Friedrich Nietzsche ’s philosophic belief that the human race is a nosepiece between the ape and the Übermensch . The Star Child , an advanced manikin of human being that flies across the galaxy in an eyeball , can be interpreted as Stanley Kubrick ’s imagination of the Übermensch.2001 : A Space Odysseywas one of the former sci - fi movies to comment on evolution , follow bythe replicant evolution inBlade Runner .
The True Meaning Of The Ending
It ’s easy for an interpretation of the2001 : A Space Odysseyending to get drop off in the specifics of how the monolith opened the Star Gate and what turned Dave into the Star Child . But , loosely , the2001 : A Space Odysseyending excuse the content that the universe is out of human beings ’s ascendency . There are force in the cosmos much greater than the human subspecies , and most of them have yet to be get word by world – and if they were to be unwrap , they might be beyond human comprehension , much like this moving picture .
