2001 is a Bible story.
2001: A Space Odyssey was a favorite to put on when I worked at a video store. The monkeys, in the first part of the movie, were so annoying they would drive people out of the store.
Rewatching the movie recently I noticed an overlap with the the Book of Genesis from the Bible. The movie opens with a dawn; a ‘let there be light’ moment.
Then there’s the Garden of Eden as the monkeys live in a relatively idyllic state, an Eden. The monolith is a tree of knowledge, giving the ability to use tools.
One monkey uses a bone to kill another monkey. It’s the first murder. Cain slays his brother Abel.
I’d argue the millions years of evolution, depicted in a jump cut from bone to the space ship (which is an orbiting nuclear missile platform) is Kubrick (or Asimov) implying that we haven’t really evolved at all. We’re still just monkeys with weapons.
The last section of the movie is showing humans getting help evolving to the next stage of enlightenment. One could argue that the astronaut David Bowman turning into a space baby, in a second jump of evolution, is a Jesus metaphor. He’s going to bring a new level of enlightenment back to humanity. This second thought of mine is stretching the metaphor a bit, but it is funny to think about.
I have a number of other thoughts about the movie. HAL didn’t malfunction, he followed programing. He thought humans were fallible so he needed to get rid of them in order to finish the mission as described. And that in order to move to the next step of evolution we needed to abandon our tools, ego, and the material world.
When I posted the bible/2001 idea to the FaceBook 2001 fan page, people dismissed it, saying neither Kubrick nor Asimov were religious. I don’t see it as religious. Creation and ascension myths span a myriad of cultures. Both writers were very well read and had wicked senses of humor.
On the forum someone did point out that the shot of the astronauts sitting around in the space station mirrors (I want to say, apes) the monkeys squatting around the watering hole.
KICKSARTER ALERT
Tuesday, September 10 I’m launching a Kickstarter for Too Much Coffee Man Saves the Universe (and other mistakes). I’d ask you to sign up for my campaign alerts. It will help me with the success-algorithm.
It collects my mini-comics, early one-page comics, short stories, and the epic Saves the Universe story I did for Dark Horse Presents. Similar to the first book it will have several essays giving context to the early work including an explanation for the bullet-hole-issue of JAB that we actually shot with a gun.
Grab your instrument of choice and join the band wagon.
Ha. You’re totally right. I transposed the authors. Thank you!
Interesting! That also makes the Monolith both Satan and the apple… except there’s no-one around to forbid the apple, and no-one to punish Cain. You may wear your bow-tie with impunity.