4. 2001: A Space Odyssey - The Monolith Is A Cinema Screen/Represents The Film Itself
Honestly, 2001 is a film that is so broad and so ambiguous that I'm really just scratching the surface here. I could write entire articles on how well put together the themes of Kubrick's film are. The greatest thing about the movie it that it's designed to purposefully have multiple meanings and a plethora of symbolism. By choosing a large, black obelisk as the icon on which the most important events of the movie are based around, Kubrick has opened the door to endless interpretation. One bit of symbolism I've always found incredibly interesting is the idea that the monolith represents the cinema screen. The shape of the monolith matches the shape of the screen but one difference is that it is standing instead of being presented horizontal. You'll notice whenever the apes first find it the one that is called moonwatcher in the script is seen caressing its surface. This is the same ape who made the tool after coming into contact with it. As he is awing at the monolith he tilts his head at a 90 degree angle as you would when trying to watch a movie on an upright screen. The astronauts who find the monolith on the moon treat it the same way as the apes then it isn't seen again until the films famous "stargate" sequence. In this sequence the monolith over Jupiter is actually horizontal, like a regular cinema screen, instead of being vertical like the others. This is when Dave is advanced beyond human comprehension and reborn as the "starchild" and the film closes. In this scene Kubrick is revealing to the audience that the monolith is the cinema screen by turning it. By doing this he is suggesting that the viewer is about to gain a great deal of knowledge, which is symbolized by Dave going through the stargate. We're basically viewing the entire film through the monolith. Think of when the movie opens. It stays on a solid black screen for a suspicious amount of time as György Ligeti's Requiem plays out. Requiem plays every time a monolith appears in the film thus suggesting that we're actually looking at one during the film's first minutes, which we don't know because it's too close to see the borders. If you were to watch the credits in full the same song plays towards the end but doesn't end until long after the credits have rolled. The screen just remains black as it had during the opening moments. Even the opening where the sun rises over the Earth and Moon, as Strauss' Thus Spake Zarathrusta plays, is tilted. The Sun should rise over the Earth's equator not the North Pole. This opening suggests we are watching the movie through a monolith. Kubrick's aim was to advance the audience just as the monolith advances everyone it comes in contact with. In this way 2001: A Space Odyssey is actually a monolith.