2001 Space Odyssey” (translated in Chinese as “2001 A Space Odyssey”) has been discussed and analyzed countless times as a classic in the history of cinema. Here, I have no intention of explaining in detail the intentions of script writer Arthur C. Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick – in front of such a film that is almost completely open to the audience, such an explanation is completely futile.At the beginning of the film, the uncivilized apes feed on insects and berries, as well as on fierce animals. But after the appearance of the mysterious black stone, everything changes: the ape man who looks up at the stars at the beginning of the film comes into contact with the black stone, and he gains the ability to use tools to hunt other animals. When his species learns to use tools, they take back the water they were robbed of by killing their own kind. The ecstatic ape throws the tool used to kill his kind, a bone, into the sky, and the bone is replaced by a spacecraft with the same shape through a classic montage.
The second appearance of the black stone is on the moon, when humans already have the ability to go into space, and the hair-drinking apes are already eating space food gracefully, but the hypocritical pleasantries between the Americans and Russians in the capsule, and Dr. Freud’s domineering bossiness in presiding over the meeting, still make people think of the apes who smashed the bone stick on the heads of their kind for the sake of puddles – -Dr. Floyd’s actions at the discovery of the Black Rock are no different from those of the apes who first confronted it, further illustrating this point.
During the trip to Jupiter, the program entered before departure causes the computer HAL9000 to crash, and action is eventually taken to get rid of the crew – an action that results in the captain destroying HAL’s logic unit, i.e. killing the human computer. Thereafter, the Black Stone swept silently through space and appeared in front of the captain.
The appearance of the black stone brought a magnificent and incomparable special effects: dreamy light from the darkness of the universe, the captain was brought into an incredible space-time. And then the captain has aged, in a rococo-style bedroom, the dying captain to the black stone to reach out his hand, and with the help of the black stone to become a space baby: without the help of any tools, he is free to travel through space, in the universe overlooking the Earth, the film ends.
The entire film is almost devoid of plot and dialogue, so the film is completely open to the viewer – yet it still makes an inducing reflection.
The most striking symbol is the Black Stone. The four appearances of the Black Stone are completely crucial to the film, and each time brings a huge twist: the ape man learns to use tools under the guidance of the Black Stone, that is, completes the leap from animal to human; the appearance of the Black Stone on the moon leads to a journey to Jupiter; the Black Stone guides the Captain through space; the Black Stone helps the Captain evolve into a space baby. What is the Black Stone? This seems to be the first question to be asked by the movie, but it is not answered. In fact, this question does not need to be answered. 2001 Space Odyssey is essentially a reflection on the history of man and his future, with the Black Stone as the trigger for a twist that could be interpreted as God, hypertechnology, genetic mutations, or even man’s own desire for evolution. But in any case, in front of the fate of mankind, this key can only be suspended, the film’s fundamental lies in the fate of mankind.
The film begins with apes, moves through humans, and finally reaches space babies, a process that contains the fundamental symbol of the film: Nietzsche’s doctrine of the superman. The soundtrack uses Richard Strauss’ “Also Spracht Zarathustra” – the music for Nietzsche’s “Thus Spracht Zarathustra” – from which the evolution of man can be understood as a result of Space babies: “supermen” are “intelligent children”.
In the age of apes, tools not only brought peaceful labor, but also brought killing and competition. From bones in the hands of apes to space ships, even HAL is nothing but humanized tools, and space babies happen to be beings who can travel through the universe without passing through tools, so that Nietzsche’s doctrine of superman goes completely to space. After this, where will the fate of human beings go? Is it complete transcendence or eternal reincarnation? The film does not give a definite answer – it is all open again for the audience to create