The movie people love to interpret

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2010)

I think part of the reason "2001" has had such an enduring legacy is, aside from special effects that look good even today, the opaque, almost subliminal story. Part of this is Kubrick's style, as his movies have often been detached and almost cold, and part of it is deliberate.
When we have something we feel is important and want to understand it, but what we are told is vague or uncertain, we keep guessing and trying to figure it out, and that uncertainty keeps us going to achieve enlightenment. More often than not when it is finally revealed to us we either feel disappointment, that it was somehow less than we expected, or we reject it and keep looking for more answers.
Two things to remember is "2001" is a work of fiction, and therefore can be open to revision and reinterpretation from what it originally may have meant, such as in the ho-hum 2010 sequel, and it was also done by a human being just like one of us. A very smart one who was good at what he did but nonetheless a person, so nothing in "2001" should be considered as some greater message or doctrine, it's the story he gave to us.
So here goes, "2001" is essentially the story of the evolution of the human intellect. The monolith is an enabler as much as a symbol of each turning point. I've heard one interpretation that the monolith represents the movie screen itself (turn the thing sideways) and is Kubrick wanting us to think about the movie, and each appearance of the monolith is accompanied by that awful wailing music which is meant to jar us and make us realize we're at a turning point where we won't see things the same. I agree with this view.
We begin with humans as Australopithecus, who are physically vulnerable to attacks by animals and other tribes, until we learn to use tools. This is the first appearance. The second is when we have reached the moon. This is essentially the stage we're at now, and why the thing is on the moon is it required us to become technologically and mentally developed enough to find it. The turning point here is we are finally realizing we need to look beyond ourselves.
The third stage precedes the next appearance of the monolith, makes up the bulk of the movie, and also has generated the most controversy. If the signal from the moon monolith had instead gone to some distant star and the spaceship scene was thousands of years later then it would have been easy to see it as another stage. Instead it's only 18 months later.
The development is our technology has started to outpace us. We (as in the astronaut's behavior) are becoming cold and cerebral, and the computer is more emotional than us.
HAL has his infamous fault where he decides to kill the crew. I've seen this as he was given a mission of critical importance, that there was an alien intelligence that had directed us to Jupiter, and questioned if the crew could handle both the secret and finding out he'd been withholding it. HAL decides it's too much of a risk and that to complete the mission without them is the way to go.
In this scenario we are at a turning point, we cannot go any further as we rely more and more on machines, and in the process become more artificial in our behavior, while computers like HAL may act more "human" but are still equipment and can make decisions that are ultimately inhuman.
The last stage is almost purely symbolism. Dave goes on a trip, whether physically to somewhere else, dimensionally to another plane of existence, or in his mind alone is beside the point. (Although most people seem to think he traveled across the stars is the most satisfying answer).
The room at the end similarly could be a construct by the alien intelligence to give him something easier to relate to, a transcendental dream, or Dave's mind finding some way to rationalize what is going on. What does happen is Dave reaches the next stage, where we no longer need our frail bodies that age or our technology, and he becomes the infamous Star Child. How he actually does this or what this next stage allows us to achieve is left out.
So there it is, take my interpretation or leave it. Some things don't work too well; such as the stage of humanity finding the second monolith on the moon doesn't come across as much of a turning point as the others, the movie implies we're facing an alien intelligence, but instead of giving us motives we're stuck with the sci-fi workaround of intelligences beyond our comprehension, and lastly now that Dave is the Star Child, just what is he going to do with himself aside from float around?