Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey never explicitly gives us its themes or explanations of the plot. It does not even follow the standard plot line of classic film and literature. Instead it is ambiguous and symbolic – this is what makes it a mythological documentary. It seems contradictory; the film emphasizes time while venturing into the infinite where time fleets before our eyes; it details the accomplishments and understanding obtained with new technology while recounting the new problems, complexities, and destruction that arises with its inception. The film, in all, documents the progression of the human race from its birth to its death and rebirth. But it also shows the sense of adventure and exploration associated with an epic. Even the title is an allusion to mythology by using “odyssey.”
Despite its ambiguity, the film gives us both a warning and hope as a race in our journey towards technological progress and the infinite. He shows us that though technological advancement and destruction are inevitably connected, so is rebirth to destruction. This is why I believe that Kubrick was trying to show us something different than what Walker describes as mutation. He is showing us the inevitability of rebirth after destruction. It seems that the Star Child is in essence the continuation of the human race – a definite birth in an infinite world.
Walker’s themes remark on man’s intelligence. Kubrick seems to tell us that despite our evolution we still move towards death and destruction (and as Walker claims a mutation of this death into rebirth). Both the apes and the men were affected by the presence of the monolith. However, as technology progressed, we too began to seek to conquer more than just the ape tribe nearby; we began to look towards space. But as soon as we began our quest into the dark unknown, our technology revolted against us. It left us nearly dead forcing us to in turn revolt against it. With our quest still not complete we pushed on towards the infinite transfiguring ourselves to make it to a mutated future - a future that has reverted to the past. However, our inevitable destruction is then coupled with an inevitable rebirth.
The anxiety and fear motivates much of the works within the science fiction genre. 2001 is no different. Just as Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove was prescribed from the nuclear scare, 2001 rose out of the unknown fears associated with the space race. The film’s reoccurring black monolith is the embodiment of these fears. It represents the future and the deep, dark unknown. But Kubrick is careful to detail the importance of the monolith in that it provides direction and points us to something. Does it push us to become better? We see the death of both the apes in the beginning and the astronauts aboard the Discovery. However, unlike several other films within this genre, 2001 also gives us hope. The monolith is always paired with a dawn of hope. And destruction is paired with rebirth. Perhaps, he is trying to tell us that our end is inevitable, but so is our rebirth. Born again, innocent as a child, bound to commit the same mistakes as the race before it.
Great work here, Bradley. I'm not sure we can be sure, though, that technological advancement and destruction are inevitably linked. Perhaps it's more like we recognize this linkage from our own experience with it, and particularly in the ideological developments of technology that drove the Cold War and the space race. In this sense, maybe we can see the film as documenting a familiar pattern and extrapolating it into the future. But maybe Kubrick is suggesting that this linkage isn't inevitable. And maybe what we take as rebirth is actually mutation as Walker suggests, the kind of change that would be necessary for humans to escape the cycle of destruction they have chosen rather than been born to.
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