2001 analysis - part 60: The reason the aliens need diamonds; final observations

Above left: Heywood Floyd and the lunar lander captain converse. Floyd's food tray, which had been sitting in his lap, begins to float upward when Floyd lets it go. It seems we are to believe that this happens because the lunar lander environment is, theoretically, at zero-gravity. However, note that the captain is leaning on the seats as if his upper body weight is being supported by them. Also note that Floyd's seatbelt is loosened, indicating that he doesn't need to wear it to be held down. Above right: Just before Bowman and Poole enter an EVA pod to discuss HAL's recent behavior, we're shown this view of the AE-35 unit with its covering removed (the red and black object lying on the counter-top), that Bowman earlier removed from the communications antenna mechanism. Since the pod bay is normally at zero-gravity, the unit, which is unsupported here, should have begun floating upward. The fact that it has not means that somehow, a gravitational (i.e., 'inertial') force is acting upon it to hold it down.


The plot of Arthur C. Clarke's sequel to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the novel 2010: Odyssey Two,[a] reveals the reason why the aliens need diamonds: The diamonds are to be used so as to help achieve nuclear fusion, converting the planet Jupiter into a star (i.e., to effectively make it a sun). In Clarke's novel, the planet Jupiter is discovered to have a core consisting of diamond. The monolith (containing diamonds), once placed on Jupiter, begins to 'reproduce' itself at a rapidly accelerating rate, eventually resulting in millions of monoliths covering the entire planet; at this point, Jupiter becomes dense and massive enough to collapse upon itself, due to the high density and weight of the diamonds in the monoliths in combination with the planet's diamond core, triggering thermonuclear fusion. The alien race 'stole' enough diamonds from Earth to 'seed' a process whereby the crystals could be 'reproduced' via successive duplications of the monolith on Jupiter. The rays from the star Jupiter has become will thaw out one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, and allow life to evolve there. The civilization to be established on Europa would then correspond to a utopia, a kind of 'paradise', that would have resulted if, in 2001, HAL had defeated Bowman (and had not killed the three hibernating astronauts). Ultimately, the utopia on Europa is being used to represent that which will result here on our own planet, if evil hermaphroditic Jews, certain high-ranking Freemasons, and other parties are allowed to succeed: the establishment by them of a 'utopia' in the United States, in southern Indiana, which only the evil parties are to inhabit, leaving the rest of us to occupy the remainder of Earth, in far-from-optimal conditions.

Final observations
1) The reason 'normal' gravity seems to be in effect in Discovery One's pod bay, while Bowman and Poole are testing the supposedly faulty AE-35 unit, must be because, in accordance with the hint from The Silence of the Lambs discussed in part 36 of this analysis, Discovery One changes attitude and direction by simultaneously banking and accelerating, while Bowman and Poole are in the pod bay testing the supposedly faulty unit, and the resultant 'inertia force' creates the equivalent of gravity while the two men are working on the unit. Bowman and Poole don't notice anything unusual, however, because the alien is at this point influencing their minds. HAL must have changed the ship's direction in order to re-position it so that the hibernating astronauts would be able to implement the planned action to be conducted on Jupiter (i.e., the movement of the monolith, containing diamonds, to the planet).


The AE-35 unit is the piece of equipment that keeps the communications antenna pointed toward Earth. The alien caused Bowman to 'forget' to install the new unit he brought with him when he went out to the antenna to remove the old one. (As mentioned earlier, we're never actually shown Bowman putting in the new unit; Poole was watching Bowman from the ship during this time period, but the alien was influencing his mind so that he wouldn't notice Bowman not putting the new unit in.)

Above left: Poole sits inside Discovery One, while he watches Bowman outside the ship replacing the (supposedly) faulty AE-35 unit. Above right: The view of Bowman that Poole can see is on the screen inside the tan square.

Left: An enlarged view of Bowman at the antenna. Left: An enlarged view of Bowman at the antenna. Above: Bowman removing the supposedly faulty unit. The alien influences his mind so that he 'forgets' to install the new unit he brought with him. Also, the alien influences Poole's mind so that Poole, while watching Bowman, doesn't notice that Bowman doesn't install the new unit. When Bowman returns to Discovery One, he brings the old unit with him, but the new unit is left sitting on the edge of the antenna; the point is that the situation becomes one in which no AE-35 unit is installed.


Since no AE-35 unit was installed when HAL changed the ship's direction, communication with Earth was lost. Although it appeared that Bowman and Poole communicated with mission control after testing the unit in the pod bay, the reality is that this 'communication' with Earth was pre-recorded prior to the actual mission. The evidence that this is the case is shown in the four screencaps with captions below.

Above left: Before removing the supposedly faulty AE-35 unit, Bowman and Poole are in contact with mission control from Discovery One. Note the man on the screen (indicated by the arrow) speaking from mission control. Above right: An enlarged view of the man on the screen from the screencap at left. Note that he is wearing a light bluish-grey shirt.

Above left: After testing the supposedly faulty unit (i.e., after the ship has changed direction and communication with Earth has been lost), Bowman and Poole appear to again be talking to mission control from Discovery One. Above right: An enlarged view of the man on the screen from the screencap at left. This appears to be the same man shown earlier above (note the hair), but he's wearing a different-colored shirt. Also note that the time displayed on this screen ('20 ...') is earlier than the time shown in the other screencap above ('21 ...'), which is the opposite of what we'd expect. The point is that this second man is, in fact, not the same person as the man who was wearing blue. In actuality, this second 'communication' from Earth was pre-recorded on video-tape, and then the tape was pre-installed on the ship, and it has been designed for HAL to play as a 'response' when the two astronauts attempt to contact Earth, to ask what action they should take next regarding the AE-35 unit. Bowman and Poole know nothing about the tape, and they believe that they are actually speaking to mission control during both conversations. Since the second conversation is not to be part of the mission broadcast, it need only be designed to fool Bowman and Poole themselves. Of course, all of this implies that at least some of the people in mission control are deceiving the two men, which makes sense in light of the fact that Heywood Floyd, in his pre-recorded message played near the end of the movie, is not truthful when he says that the purpose of the monolith is unknown.

The Discovery One communications antenna structure.



2) Recall the 'physiological' description of Discovery One given in part 14 of this analysis. If we go further with the description (i.e., of the ship's structure being similar in 'physique' to a human being's body), and take the communications antenna assembly (shown above - the large round antenna in combination with the two smaller ones, one on either side), as representing the ship's genitals, then the symbolism of the antenna structure being normally pointed toward Earth, has to do with chordee. A chordee is a medical condition in which the head of a man's penis curves downward or upward, at the junction of the head and shaft of the penis. If we take the penis with this condition as curved downward, then the head would be pointed toward the ground, i.e., toward Earth. A chordee may be caused by an underlying condition, such as a disorder of sex development or an intersex condition.[b] Intersex, in biology, refers to an organism having physical characteristics intermediate between a true male and a true female of its species.[c] Note that Discovery One's 'phallus' (the large, center communications antenna) is genitally ambiguous, in that it is rounded, instead of elongated like a normal penis. Also, its 'testes' (the two small antennas) appear abnormally small when compared to the phallus. The point of all of the foregoing is that Kubrick is depicting the ship as a person with ambiguous genitalia.

In a National Institutes of Health study, the most common cause of ambiguous genitalia in newborn patients was congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-OH deficiency.[d]

According to the National Adrenal Diseases Foundation,[e] "Non-classical CAH is among the most common genetic disorders, with Ashkenazi Jews having the highest prevalence. In the general population depending on the ethnic breakdown of a given community, 1-5% may be affected with non-classical CAH [the milder form of CAH]. Non-classical CAH does not progress to classical CAH [the more severe form of CAH] in affected individuals." (material inside square brackets in original).

Non-classical CAH is a mild variant of one of the common causes of female pseudohermaphroditism.[f] Pseudohermaphroditism is a condition in which the individual has a single chromosomal and gonadal sex but combines features of both sexes in the external genitalia, causing doubt as to the true sex.[g]

Today Ashkenazim constitute more than 80 percent of all the Jews in the world, vastly outnumbering Sephardic Jews.[h]

With the physical structure of the Discovery One spaceship symbolizing an Ashkenai Jewish person having congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Kubrick must be saying that abnormalities having to do with genital (and thus gender) ambiguity, play some part in the evilness of some Jews. In fact, the specific Jews Kubrick had in mind are the evil hermaphroditic Jews mentioned above, who wish to form a 'utopia'.

3) In the Dawn of Man segment of the movie, the leader of the tribe of ape-men that regains control of the water hole by using bones as weapons, represents the biblical figure Nimrod; and the second battle between the two tribes of ape-men (which takes place at the end of the movie, chronologically speaking) represents the battle between Nimrod and Abraham, and thus symbolizes the final battle between monotheism and paganism, with paganism winning. As an aside, note that the triumphant tribe's leader, and the members of his tribe, walk in a more upright posture while they are carrying their new bone-weapons, than they do in their normal quadrupedal gait. This suggests that Kubrick believed that the reason man evolved into an upright-walking creature was so that he could carry weapons.

Above left: The tribe's leader walking on all fours, prior to his discovery of how to use weapons. Above right: The tribe's leader standing on two legs while holding his new weapon.


4) Jung's theory of psychological types no doubt has relevance to the movie. For example, Bowman's type is introverted thinking.




Above left and right: The EVA pod, under HAL's control and with mechanical arms extended is, metaphorically speaking, like a puppeteer operating a marionette, in that it is 'pulling Frank's strings' so that his limbs jerk about as he drifts off into space.


5) The 'jerking' motions of Frank Poole's body, once he's been knocked off into space by the EVA pod (under HAL's control; see the screencaps above), indicate that he is, symbolically, being manipulated like a marionette (i.e., a puppet operated from above by strings). Note that the viewing window of the pod can be taken to represent HAL's eye, indicating that the pod 'represents' HAL himself, who in turn represents the evil elite hermaphroditic Jews (who Kubrick believed control much of the popular and news media), and evil high-ranking Freemasons; also note that the pod's outstretched mechanical arms can be taken metaphorically to be 'pulling Frank's (invisible) strings' as he floats off into the distance. Since Poole here represents the general public (recall the 'gene pool' name symbolism mentioned earlier in the analysis), then Kubrick is saying that the members of the general public are being manipulated by the evil hermaphroditic Jews (who, as stated, control much of the popular and news media) and evil high-ranking Freemasons.







From The Silence of the Lambs: FBI trainee Clarice Starling deciphers an anagram that cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter has given her, as a (supposed) clue to help the FBI apprehend a certain serial killer (Jame Gumb). This shot in the movie is a clue about something in 2001, in specific, Heywood Floyd's name being an anagram for 'Defy Holy Wood' (as was discussed earlier), and as described below, there is also another anagram of Floyd's name that has significance for our analysis.


6) If we expand out the spelling of Heywood Floyd's name, as was done with 'TMA-1' earlier (to get TMA-One and thus 'no meat'), we get 'Doctor Heywood R. Floyd'. An anagram of this is 'O, doth wooly fodder cry' (wooly can be spelled with either one 'L' or two, both are valid). Here, 'wooly fodder' is a reference to lambs (i.e., sheep) who will be led to their slaughter, and 'cry' refers to the noise these lambs will make when they are led there. The word 'wooly' is being used to mean 'confused' or 'muddle-headed'. The word "silence" in the Lecter movie's name is a clue that the lambs being referred to by the anagram of Floyd's name are currently silent; for these lambs represent the members of the general public who, in their state of confusion and muddle-headedness, do not know that they are about to be led to their virtual slaughter by the evil parties mentioned above.

7) There is an important societal/cultural context within which what was said back in part 41 of this analysis, about the manipulation of Bowman's psyche, must be viewed. The manipulation of Bowman's psyche by the alien (which has usurped the place of mediator between Bowman's unconscious and conscious mind), via taking advantage of Bowman's shadow-contaminated intellect, symbolizes that which evil elite hermaphroditic Jews, evil feminists, and other parties (e.g., certain high-ranking Freemasons, as noted above), working together, have done to us as a society: These parties have tapped into our individual psyches (specifically, our unconscious minds) in order to manipulate us. They have effectively contaminated our conscious and unconscious minds, then used the same means to get control over use, as that used by the alien to get control over Bowman (as just described).



   

Above left and right: The stewardess walking toward Heywood Floyd's seat on the Pan-Am space plane, takes steps as if she is just learning how to walk (see video here). This is a metaphor for the idea that some women are childlike.


8) In light of what was said earlier in the analysis about part of the movie taking place 'in' the unconscious, about Floyd dreaming during at least part of his trip to the moon, and etc., it must be the case that some of what we see in the movie depicts a dream Bowman experiences, after hitting his head on the airlock wall and then disconnecting HAL: The sequence of events that we see beginning with the monolith floating near Jupiter, and ending with the giant fetus near Earth, consists partly of a dream Bowman experiences just before he dies from his head injury.



     

9) Referring to the above screencaps and images, the red and yellow coloring of the spacesuit and air pack that Bowman is wearing in the early parts of the 'hotel room' sequence (far left), are a reference to William Blake's Great Red Dragon Paintings, in specific, to the two paintings shown above. The red painting is The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, and the yellow one is The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun. [Images from the Wikipedia 'The Great Red Dragon Paintings' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] Since the biblical great red dragon (from the book of Revelation) can be taken to represent Satan, the indication is that even though HAL, who is now assimilated within Bowman, was only a 'pupil' of Satan, it is the case that all along, part of his plan was to usurp the power of Satan himself. This is in accordance with the hint about A Space Odyssey in The Silence of the Lambs, mentioned in part 21 of this analysis: Jame Gumb, the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, effectively tries to usurp Satan's place. His attempting to do so is indicated by the fact that he tries to cheat Hannibal Lecter, who himself represents a personification of Satan, out of rulership over an 'evil kingdom' that is to be established. (This kingdom represents the same thing as the utopia that is being represented in A Space Odyssey as described above, i.e., the real-life 'paradise' to be established in southern Indiana).

10) See below.

Above left and right: As suggested in part 25 of the analysis, Bowman experiences a bad (drug) trip while passing through the stargate. This is an indication that he has been using psychoactive drugs during the Jupiter mission.


11) Note that many of the more influential and well-known feminists are/were Jewish:[i] Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Andrea Dworkin, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Susan Faludi, Naomi Wolf, Susan Sontag, Bella Abzug, Gloria Allred, Ruth Westheimer, Cathy Young, Susan Brownmiller, etc. (see here).


12) See below.

The audience of Manhunter is briefly shown this view of serial killer Francis Dollarhyde's right hand raised in a 'semi-pointing' gesture, when he first shows himself to the evil journalist, Freddy Lounds. As described immediately below, this particular view is a hint about something in A Space Odyssey.

When Bowman raises his right hand toward the monolith at the end of 2001 (shown at left), he is not only pointing toward it, thus indicating that he's reached a kind of enlightenment regarding it (he has come to know its true meaning), but he is also giving a Nazi salute to the monolith. This represents him giving a Nazi salute not only to ideological feminism (since the monolith was planted by an alien race representing radical feminists), but it is also a Nazi salute to those forces in the popular and news media that are evil (in accordance with the hint from Manhunter just described), which includes the evil elite Jews who control this portion of the media. Therefore, this final act of Bowman is the indication that when he is reborn as the 'starchild', the next step in Man's evolution, he has become a fascist entity who associates being enlightened with 'worshiping' both ideological feminism and evil Jewishness.



     

Above left: This view of the monolith from its base, with the sun and crescent moon above it, has the appearance of the bottom and middle portions of a pyramid, with the sun in place of the top of the structure, and the crescent moon higher up in the sky. What is being suggested here is the idea of 'common man' being at the bottom of some 'pyramidal' (i.e., hierarchical) structure, such as a power structure. Above right: The reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States (1776).[j] The eye above the pyramid in the Great Seal, which is known as the Eye of Providence, is today a common motif in Freemasonry. The point is that the sun above the monolith represents the high-ranking Freemasons who, in the evil parties' 'new world', are to be at the top of the aforementioned power structure, and the crescent moon represents the evil elite hermaphroditic Jews, up above controlling all.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame." --F. Nietzsche


a. Clarke's novel, 2010: Odyssey Two, continues the events of Kubrick's movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, not those of the Clarke novel of the same name.
b. Wikipedia, 'Chordee'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordee.
c. 'intersex'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/science/intersex.
d. Zdravković D, Milenković T, Sedlecki K, Guć-Sćekić M, Rajić V, Banićević M. Causes of ambiguous external genitalia in neonates. [Abstract] Srp Arh Celok Lek. 2001 Mar-Apr; 129(3-4): 57-60.
e. National Adrenal Diseases Foundation Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) page.
f. Kukreti, P., Kandpal, M., Jiloha, R.C. Mistaken gender identity in non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia. [Article] Indian J Psychiatry. 2014 Apr-Jun; 56(2): 182–184.
g. 'pseudohermaphroditism'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 26 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/science/pseudohermaphroditism.
h. 'Ashkenazi'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashkenazi.
i. Some of the persons on this list are deceased.
j. Image from the Wikipedia 'Great Seal of the United States' page; Great Seal of the United States (reverse) by Ipankonin (this vector image was created with Inkscape), licensed under GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.


   

2001 analysis - part 59: Kubrick believed that all civilizations have a common source

Athanasius Kircher's map of Atlantis, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. From Mundus Subterraneus 1669, published in Amsterdam. The map is oriented with south at the top. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Atlantis' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]



Recall that in 2001, Kubrick draws our attention to the idea that The Odyssey and the story of Jonah and the whale have a common source (the Epic of Gilgamesh). This indicates that he believed all civilizations have a common source; and, Kubrick is symbolically depicting the idea of the lost continent of Atlantis in 2001, as a 'metaphor' for this belief.

Atlantis (in Greek, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, "island of Atlas") is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC. According to Plato, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune." Scholars dispute whether and how much Plato's story or account was inspired by older traditions.

The possible existence of a genuine Atlantis was discussed throughout classical antiquity, but it was usually rejected and occasionally parodied by later authors. The Timaeus remained known in a Latin rendition by Calcidius through the Middle Ages, and the allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up by Humanists in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and Thomas More's Utopia. Atlantis inspires today's literature, from science fiction to comic books to films. Its name has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations.

Some ancient writers viewed Atlantis as fiction while others believed it was real. Later, Francis Bacon’s 1627 essay The New Atlantis describes a utopian society that he called Bensalem, located off the western coast of America.

In the middle and late 19th century, several renowned Mesoamerican scholars, starting with Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, and including Edward Herbert Thompson and Augustus Le Plongeon, proposed that Atlantis was somehow related to Mayan and Aztec culture.

The Dawn of Man segment of the movie is set in Mexico.


The 1882 publication of Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly stimulated much popular interest in Atlantis. Donnelly attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from Atlantis, which he saw as a technologically sophisticated culture, saying that Atlanteans invented gunpowder and the compass thousands of years before the rest of the world invented written language. Donnelly also sought to establish a connection between the city of Aztlán and Atlantis.[a] Aztlán is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica and, by extension, is the mythical homeland of the Uto-Aztecan peoples. Aztec is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan." Aztlán was historically considered by some to be the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization.[b] Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.[c] By setting the Dawn of Man in Mexico, Kubrick must have been alluding to Donnelly's attempt at establishing a connection between Aztlán and Atlantis.


a. Wikipedia, 'Atlantis'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis.
b. Wikipedia, 'Aztlán'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztl%C3%A1n.
c. Wikipedia, 'Mesoamerica'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerica.


      

2001 analysis - part 58: Correspondence with Joseph Campbell's monomyth

In 2001, David Bowman experiences the hero's journey. "Hero's journey" is another name for Joseph Campbell's monomyth, which, according to the Wikipedia 'Monomyth' page,[a] is a basic pattern that its proponents argue is found in many narratives from around the world. This widely distributed pattern was described by Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). An enthusiast of novelist James Joyce, Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

Campbell held that numerous myths from disparate times and regions share fundamental structures and stages, which he summarized in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

Campbell and other scholars, such as Erich Neumann, describe narratives of Gautama Buddha, Moses, and Christ in terms of the monomyth and Campbell argues that classic myths from many cultures follow this basic pattern.

In a monomyth, the hero begins in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unknown world of strange powers and events. The hero who accepts the call to enter this strange world must face tasks and trials, either alone or with assistance. In the most intense versions of the narrative, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help. If the hero survives, he may achieve a great gift or "boon." The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, he or she often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero returns successfully, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Moses, and Gautama Buddha, for example, follow this structure closely.

Campbell describes 17 stages or steps along this journey. Very few myths contain all 17 stages—some myths contain many of the stages, while others contain only a few; some myths may focus on only one of the stages, while other myths may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order. These 17 stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into three sections: Departure (sometimes called Separation), Initiation, and Return. "Departure" deals with the hero's adventure prior to the quest; "Initiation" deals with the hero's many adventures along the way; and "Return" deals with the hero's return home with knowledge and powers acquired on the journey.

The stages of the monomyth, and their depiction in A Space Odyssey, are described below. (Note that not all of the 17 stages are being depicted in Kubrick's movie).

Departure

1. The Call to Adventure: The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown. This is represented in 2001 by HAL's announcement to Bowman and Poole that the AE-35 unit is about to fail. Up to this point, there has been normalcy aboard Discovery One, in the sense that a steady routine has been followed during the mission; but now, Bowman must 'venture' into the unknown (space) to retrieve the unit.

Bowman has ventured into space, after HAL has announced something is wrong with the AE-35 unit.


2. Refusal of the Call: Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances. Bowman does not appear to undergo this stage - there is no refusal on his part to venture out of the ship.

3. Supernatural Aid: Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest. The 'supernatural' in our case is the alien, and it 'makes itself known', in a sense, via its working with HAL, when Poole is attacked and thrown into space, and also when it makes Bowman forget to put on his space helmet when he goes out to retrieve Poole. Obviously the alien is not lending aid here, but is instead attempting to do away with the astronauts, so it is really acting counter to this stage of the monomyth paradigm, in the sense that Bowman experiences a negative 'version' of this stage: The alien is betraying the hero. Note that the 'talisman or artifact' mentioned above, is here the AE-35 unit itself.

The above left screencap shows Bowman withdrawing the (supposedly) defective AE-35 unit from the Discovery One communications antenna, while a new unit is sitting next to him (as indicated by the black arrow). The above right screencap shows Bowman visually inspecting the unit he has just removed. We are never actually shown him installing the new unit in the antenna, for it is at the point shown here that the camera cuts to the view shown at below left, where we see what appears to be an X-ray image of the (again, supposedly) defective unit, with its cover plate removed, as it is being examined in the Discovery One pod bay. The below right screencap shows a 'HAL's-eye' view of Poole and Bowman examining the unit.

4. The Crossing of the First Threshold: This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known. This stage is represented in the movie when Bowman re-enters Discovery One through the emergency airlock.

Bowman's crossing of the threshold, and his entry into the belly of the whale as well, is represented by his entering Discovery One through the emergency airlock.



5. Belly of The Whale: The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis. When Bowman enters the ship through the emergency airlock, this represents his entry into the belly of the whale.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Initiation

1. The Road of Trials: The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Bowman's task, his ordeal, comes when he defeats HAL.

2. The Meeting With the Goddess: This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. The alien, as Melusina, is the goddess here, and Bowman is to see uniting with her as uniting with his true love.

3. Woman as Temptress: In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey. The physical and pleasurable temptations which Bowman faces are those in the 'hotel' room (the Louis XVI-style bedroom) - objects of art, real food, etc. Recall that the hotel room is created by the alien race, from Bowman's unconscious contents.

Bowman in the Louis XVI-style bedroom, surrounded by objects of art, and eating real food.



4. Atonement with the Father: In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. The 'ultimate power' in A Space Odyssey is represented by the monolith, which sits near the foot of Bowman's bed at the point in the movie shown below.

5. Apotheosis: When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return. Recall that Bowman, in becoming Mercurius/brahman at the point at which his body is fully infused with the alien life force and is reborn, has united and then dissolved all internal opposites.

6. The Ultimate Boon: The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail. The alien has provided Bowman with a kind of immortality, and he is now ready for the stages of Campbell's third phase, the Return. The fact that he has returned (to Earth) is symbolized by the giant fetus floating near Earth at the end of the movie.

a. Wikipedia, 'Monomyth'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth.


      

2001 analysis - part 57: Fundamentals of chakras; Vishuddha (throat) chakra

Chakra, also spelled Cakra, Sanskrit C̣akra, ("wheel"), are any of a number of psychic-energy centres of the body, prominent in the occult physiological practices of certain forms of Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism. The chakras are conceived of as focal points where psychic forces and bodily functions merge with and interact with each other. Among the supposed 88,000 chakras in the human body, six major ones located roughly along the spinal cord and another one located just above the crown of the skull are of principal importance. Each of these seven chakras is associated with a specific colour, shape, sense organ, natural element, deity, and mantra (monosyllabic prayer formula). The most important of these are the lowest chakra (muladhara), located at the base of the spine, and the highest (sahasrara), at the top of the head. The muladhara encircles a mysterious divine potency (kundalini) that the individual attempts, by Yogic techniques, to raise from chakra to chakra until it reaches the sahasrara and self-illumination results.[a]

Vishuddha is the fifth primary chakra, and is positioned near the throat. This chakra is associated with creativity and self-expression. Recall that Bowman is somewhat creative - he uses his artistic talent to sketch various things on Discovery One, such as the hibernating astronauts in their pods.



a. 'chakra'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 04 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/chakra.


      

2001 analysis - part 56: Clarification on the meaning of the end sequence

        

   

The flashing of Heywood Floyd's image on a video screen on Discovery One (top left and top center), is reflected in Bowman's space helmet as Bowman goes into a trance-like state (top right). Floyd, whom as stated earlier had had his body occupied by an alien life force, pre-recorded this message (while an alien) so that Bowman, the Jupiter mission commander, would hear it and obey it after he disconnected HAL. Note that what Floyd says in his recorded message indicates that he 'knows' the ship is now in Jupiter space, and he thinks that the three hibernating crew members have been revived. Also recall that Bowman was present at TMA-1 - the alien 'individual' occupying Floyd's body at that time (the same one who later 'combines' with Bowman) 'used' TMA-1 to set up Bowman's psyche so that he (Bowman) would see the need to unite all opposites within himself, then dissolve the internal tension of opposites. The point is, the alien set up Bowman's mind knowing that it would later be him who would view this video. The alien is setting itself up to unite with Bowman, who has now assimilated his shadow (HAL) - the alien figured that if Bowman overcame HAL, he would disconnect HAL's 'brain', which would then trigger this video to start. However, it was ultimately the case that the alien hoped that HAL would defeat Bowman, i.e., that Bowman would not be able to re-enter the ship, or that he would die while doing so and thus not be able to disconnect HAL. In this scenario, the three astronauts would be revived and then they'd physically move the diamonds to their final destination; then after this, the aliens and Satan would 'share' in a kind of 'evil empire' that would have been established. In any event, the fact that HAL kills the three hibernating men, means that in the end, Satan cheats the aliens out of their diamonds, which represents the media Jews cheating the radical feminists out of victory. After Bowman has physically exited Discovery One in his pod, per Floyd's instructions, he passes through the stargate, which as was said earlier, depicts Bowman's movement through a wormhole connecting Jupiter space with Earth space. Also as stated earlier, Bowman is here moving backward in time several million years as well. The alien needs Bowman not only to move through space quickly, before he dies, but it also needs Bowman to see the various images representing conception, such as the fetus-like image shown at above left, so that he will see the need to be reborn. In one sense, all of space is here being depicted as a womb. Bowman must also transit through the circles of Hell (above right), experience the beatific vision, etc.





After Bowman has been 'examined' by the alien through his dream (the hotel sequence), to see if he 'qualifies' as a suitable being with which it can unite, the moment of conception occurs: The actual 'merging' of the alien life force with Bowman, which began while Bowman was viewing Floyd on the video monitor (recall that the alien was 'storing' itself in the ship's circuits all along), is completed (above left) shortly after Bowman experiences enlightenment. The resultant combined being (above right) is a union of all opposites: good and evil (Bowman and his shadow), Man and machine (Bowman and HAL), the masculine and the feminine (Bowman and the alien), Apollonian and Dionysian, etc. The resultant being is also the personification of Mercurius and brahman/atman. The physical appearance of the being inside the fetus has qualities of both Dave Bowman (its overall facial appearance) and the alien (its high forehead and large eyes). It 'evolves' to the point where it can physically plant the monolith on Earth, now providing the aliens with another opportunity to determine the fate of mankind (development of the use of weapons, the incomplete citrinitas, etc.); and of course, they now have another opportunity to transport the diamonds, which are still contained within the monolith, to Jupiter (or some other planet). Note that the monolith must have moved through the wormhole with Bowman, to go from Jupiter space to Earth space.


      

2001 analysis - part 55: A reference to the biblical book of Proverbs

After David Bowman (sitting on our left in the screencap at left) and Poole notify mission control of the problem with the AE-35 unit, a man speaking from mission control (on the monitor just above Bowman's head) 'rogers' the "two-zero one-three", which is the 'code' for the AE-35 unit failing. At one point, the man states that mission control is reviewing telemetric information in their mission simulator, and will advise the astronauts on what to do about the problem. The number '2-0-1-3' is a reference to the 20th book of the bible, Proverbs, chapter 13.


As stated in the caption to the above screencap, the number '2-0-1-3' used by the man at mission control, when speaking to Bowman and Poole, is a biblical reference to the book of Proverbs (the 20th book of the bible), chapter 13, which is quoted below [New Revised Standard Version]:

1 A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
2 From the fruit of their words good people eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.
3 Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.
4 The appetite of the lazy craves, and gets nothing, while the appetite of the diligent is richly supplied.
5 The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.
6 Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.
7 Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.
8 Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats.
9 The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.
10 By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice.
11 Wealth hastily gained will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
13 Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.
14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.
15 Good sense wins favour, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.
16 The clever do all things intelligently, but the fool displays folly.
17 A bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy, healing.
18 Poverty and disgrace are for the one who ignores instruction, but one who heeds reproof is honoured.
19 A desire realized is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.
20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.
21 Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.
22 The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.
23 The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.
24 Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.
25 The righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above verses correspond somewhat to what we said earlier, about how Bowman's and Poole's respective fates are, in part, due to their respective attitudes toward life.


      

2001 analysis - part 54: The monolith and the 'Pulp Fiction' briefcase

From Pulp Fiction: Jules, with one hand on the briefcase, points his gun at Ringo.



Earlier in the analysis we said that the aliens have placed diamonds stolen from Earth inside the monolith, and that they are transporting them to Jupiter. We have also observed that the Pulp Fiction briefcase is physically similar in appearance to a small monolith.

It was observed in the analysis of Pulp Fiction (on the Can Analyze blog) that the briefcase contains something different for each man associated with it: Ringo sees gold in it, Vincent sees drugs, Marsellus sees money, and Jules believes it contains enlightenment (in the Buddhist sense). We can link what each man sees in the case with the fact that the monolith contains diamonds, when we realize that diamonds can be taken to represent certain things. Obviously, diamonds are of high monetary value, so this explains why Marsellus sees money inside the briefcase. To explain Ringo seeing gold, we note the connection between diamonds and gold: Philosophers...had a more naturalistic approach to explain the origin of gems: Plato for example believed gemstones were a consequence of fermentation in the stars, where a diamond actually formed the kernel of gold-bearing mass. In fact often diamonds were linked to gold, which may have found its origin in the joint occurrence of diamonds with quartzite, quartz veins and an occasional occurrence of gold in them.[a]

The connection between diamonds, and Jules seeing enlightenment, is derived from the name of a Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra; in Buddhism, the ultimate goal is enlightenment, which is what Jules is seeking. Vincent, who is depicted as being a drug user, believes drugs are in the case; this is no doubt linked to the 1967 Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, whose title can be taken as having the 'initials' 'LSD'. LSD is a hallucinogenic drug; recall that earlier in the analysis, we linked hallucinogenics to the 'psychedelic' images Bowman sees in the stargate.

Above left: Pulp Fiction's Vincent Vega. Above right: Pulp Fiction's Marsellus Wallace (with shotgun). The man standing near him is boxer Butch Coolidge.


It is no doubt the case that each of the four men mentioned above represents, to at least some degree, a character from A Space Odyssey. As we've already noted, Vincent represents David Bowman, at least within the context of Bowman passing through the stargate (the 'trip' metaphor); Marsellus, who sends two hit men to retrieve the briefcase, represents Satan; Ringo corresponds to Heywood Floyd; and Jules represents the 'ape-man' in 2001 who discovers that a bone can be picked up and used to hit things (i.e., it can be used as a weapon; the ape-man's ability to make such a discovery, was enabled by his earlier having touched the monolith). Then, within this context of each man in Pulp Fiction representing someone in A Space Odyssey, we can also draw a correspondence between the briefcase contents, and what the monolith represents in each of its four appearances: In the first and last appearances of it (in the primeval segment, and at the foot of Bowman's bed at the end), it represents enlightenment; at TMA-1 (Ringo/diner in Pulp Fiction), it 'contains' gold (in the sense of the correspondence of gold with diamonds, as described above); and when it is shown floating near Jupiter, it 'contains' drugs, within the context of the David Bowman/Vincent Vega-drugs correspondence. Ultimately, then, the monolith physically contains diamonds, and metaphorically speaking, it in part represents enlightenment. Note that in Pulp Fiction, we are never shown Marsellus looking inside the briefcase - this corresponds to the fact that we are never specifically shown Satan himself 'looking at' the monolith in A Space Odyssey. However, the 'cash value' of the briefcase contents for Marsellus corresponds to the high value of the monolith contents to Satan. The fact that Satan places high value on the diamonds in the monolith, explains why he sent the two hit men to TMA-1, to retrieve the diamonds from the aliens. (Also, recall that one of the aliens at TMA-1 is working as an informant for Satan).


a. Wikipedia, 'Diamond (gemstone)'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_(gemstone).