This blog will analyze the films of Stanley Kubrick for underlying meaning and symbolism, allegory, metaphor, etc. This includes the study and application of hints given to us in the movies of certain other filmmakers who were influenced by Kubrick; these hints have been designed by these filmmakers to help us interpret Kubrick's movies.
From The Silence of the Lambs: Above left: Clarice Starling deciphers Hannibal Lecter's clue to the authorities, as to the supposed name of the serial killer she is seeking: Clarice determines that "Louis Friend" is an anagram for "iron sulfide", which is also known as fool's gold. The point is that Lecter has given a false clue in order to misdirect the authorities. Above right: A short while later, Lecter spits up a pen clip that he had hidden under his tongue. He subsequently uses the clip to undo his handcuffs and escape from his cell in Memphis. The magician, Houdini, would sometimes use the method of hiding a key in his mouth, to help him escape from various contraptions.
Heywood Floyd's name is an anagram for "Defy Holy Wood." 'Holy Wood' is here a reference to Guaiacum sanctum, a species of flowering plant in the creosote bush family which is commonly known as Holywood or Holywood Lignum-vitae.[a] According to T.H. White's version of the King Arthur story The Once and Future King, this is the wood from which the magical wand of Merlin is made.[b] The point is that ultimately, the 'Holy Wood' obtained from the anagram of Floyd's name is a reference to magic wands. Stage magicians often use magic wands as part of their misdirection. Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of a group of persons is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another.
The relationship of the foregoing to A Space Odyssey, is that Kubrick is using certain things in his movie, such as the false idea that the purpose of the monolith is unknown, the 'edited' Jupiter mission film, etc., to tell us that the real-life media has kept the public's attention focused on various topics over the years, the constant reporting of which directs the public's attention away from a massive, fundamental shift that has been taking place for the last several decades: the destruction of the very fabric of our society by certain evil Jews working in concert with radical feminists. The mainstream news media has been systematically omitting the reporting of anything that might suggest we have suffered any ill effects due to, or exacerbated by, feminism, such as, for example, the deleterious effects on society of the increasing rate of fatherlessness, in terms of its negative effefcts on children.
Above left: The idea that the monolith on the moon is something that has just been discovered, is a false one. It is part of the fictional story Jupiter mission viewers on Earth are going to be given, to account for the monolith's presence. Above right: HAL's camera eyes on Disovery One are being used to broadcast and/or record the Jupiter mission, for viewers on Earth. The fictional version of the monolith scenario, and the fact that the mission film/broadcast is to have certain parts 'edited' out, comprise a 'metaphor' for how the real-life mainstream media has misdirected the public.
One of Kubrick's purposes in making the Dawn of Man segment of the movie appear as if it could be set in Africa instead of Mexico, is to show us how convincingly things can be made to appear other than what they are in reality.[c] Things being made to look other than they really are, is one method by which radical feminists and the Jew-controlled mainstream media have fooled us, for example, by presenting us with false information and statistics regarding domestic violence and other phenomena. (The linked-to site reveals information which has been hidden from the public, by the mainstream media and other parties).
With his warning to Defy Holy Wood, Kubrick is telling us to defy misdirection such as that conjured up by various persons in positions of authority, by certain people in the entertainment industry and news media, and by those in agenda-driven special interest groups, such as radical feminists.
a. Wikipedia, 'Guaiacum sanctum'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaiacum_sanctum.
b. Wikipedia, 'Lignum vitae'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae.
c. As described earlier in the analysis, Kubrick believed that in reality, Man originated in some part of what is now Mexico.
Earlier in this analysis we saw that a partially-'faked' film and/or broadcast of the Jupiter mission is being made, and that part of the mission is actually being filmed in the space station instead of on Discovery One. We know (because of the red symbolism in the station, as previously mentioned) that HAL's camera 'eyes' are present in the station; the meeting with Floyd and the others, which supposedly takes place at Clavius (on the moon), is actually being filmed in the space station as well, since the participants in the meeting can be seen to be under the influence of 'normal' gravity, as opposed to the reduced gravity of the moon. Things that we know take place in 2001 which are not to be part of the film/broadcast include the fighting among the six astronauts at TMA-1 (after the monolith starts making a high-pitched noise), the attack on Poole (and certain related events) during the Jupiter mission, and nothing that takes place in the interior of the moonbus, since we don't see HAL's eye there. (The red color of the cockpit only indicates that the two men piloting the bus are hit men sent by Satan).
Above left: The red coloring at the far right side of the space station, suggests the presence of HAL's camera 'eyes' on the station. Above right: As a photographer walks between the meeting room tables, we can see that he is under the influence of 'normal' gravity. This is a hint that the meeting is actually taking place on the rotating space station, not on the moon.
It was determined in the analysis of Pulp Fiction (on the Can Analyze blog) that the 'Gold Watch' scenario in Tarantino's movie, symbolizes the leading edge baby boomers (those Americans born during the years 1946-1955) giving their children's generation (Generation Y) a false version of history. (Technically speaking, some of the leading edge baby boomers' children are members of Generation X, the generation born immediately prior to Y, but for convenience we will here refer to them as if they are all members of Generation Y. Members of Generation Y are sometimes called millenials.) As it turns out, it is precisely this generation which is the target audience for the 'movie within a movie' being made within A Space Odyssey: Kubrick was saying (actually, predicting, in 1968) that the generation whose parents are leading edge boomers, will have been brainwashed by these boomers, by having been given a false version of history by around the year 2001 (i.e., by around the beginning of the 21st century): Generation Y will be the first generation raised on feminism. Members of this generation will not know of the confrontation between the unconscious (the feminine) and the intellect (the masculine), since they are not to be shown the TMA-1 showdown. They are not to know that the aliens, who represent evil (or 'radical') femininity, are stealing diamonds from Earth and transporting them to Jupiter for their own gain, but are instead to believe that the reason for the trip to the moon, and thence to Jupiter, has as its purpose to investigate the source and meaning of the monolith. The general idea is that Kubrick was predicting that by the time of the coming of age of the children of the leading edge boomers, history will have been revised and re-written so that this new generation, and those subsequent to it, will not know what actually went down with regard to what Jung called the 'feminine principle' asserting its place, nor will they know that certain evil women (radical feminists) 'conspired' with very evil men to achieve their ends. These generations will not know what the true source of our current social malaise is.
The question then becomes, who were these evil men in reality? The answer is that they are precisely the creators of the false film/broadcast, i.e., they are men who run the entertainment industry and the news media. Let us consider that portion of people belonging to Generation Y who were born between the years 1981 and 1989. In the year 2001, these persons were in the age range 12-20, and the leading edge boomers were in the range 46-55; the former is a prime age range for being subjected to brainwashing, and the latter an appropriate range for influential persons in the entertainment industry (and news media).
It's largely due to that portion of leading edge boomers who comprise the historical 'hippies' that our current situation has become so undesirable, since they are the people who, back in the 1960's, heavily contributed to making the atmosphere conducive for the public's acceptance of ideologies such as feminism.
Kubrick predicted that the popular media would eventually come to be run primarily by Jews; thus the idea of radical feminists conspiring with 'bad Jews' in the entertainment industry and news media, to brainwash the subsequent generations. The use of the words "conspired" and "conspiring" in the foregoing, is not meant to imply that the parties involved actually sat down together at some point and decided to brainwash everyone. However, etymologically speaking, the English word "conspire" comes from the Latin conspīrāre, which literally means, "to breathe together" (from spīrāre, "to breathe").[a] Radical feminists and certain powerful persons in the entertainment industry and news media, operate in harmony so closely that they effectively 'breathe together'.
Recall that just prior to his interview of Bowman and Poole, Mr. Amor mentions that there is a seven-minute delay between when the two astronauts speak and when their words are heard by Mr. Amor, due to the time required for radio waves to travel the eighty million miles from Discovery One to Earth. Amor also mentions that the delay has been edited out of his pre-recorded program. All of this is a hint from Kubrick - it refers to the seven-second broadcast delay used by television and radio stations when doing live interviews and shows, in order to prevent profanity, bloopers, and other undersirable aspects of these interviews and shows from reaching audiences. The point of Kubrick's hint is that the Discovery mission, and the monolith at TMA-1, are in fact being shown to viewers on Earth, but with undesirable events such as the fighting at TMA-1 'edited out'.
As mentioned earlier in the analysis, Frank's skimpy manner of dress in this scene, is a hint that he and Dave Bowman have been periodically having gay sex during the Jupiter mission.
Carl Jung tells us that the chemical wedding must be between man and woman.[b] One reason Kubrick is depicting Bowman and Poole as not engaging in any kind of 'final union' with each other, is to get across the idea that there can never be a truly complete union between two people of the same sex (though as stated above, the two men are periodically having gay sex with each other while on their voyage). But even if there had been a female astronaut on Discovery One in place of Frank Poole, there wouldn't have been a complete citrinitas, because 'radical' femininity (in the form of the alien), and the Jews who Kubrick believed control the popular media (as represented by Satan's 'presence' in the movie), would still have ruined everything, using the same method we've already described (the false 'diagnosis' of the AE-35 unit, the attack using the pod, making Bowman forget his space helmet, etc.). And, if Bowman had been sitting outside the ship with a woman in tow instead of a man, HAL wouldn't have been any more likely to let the pod enter the bay, even if he's no longer working with the alien by this point.
a. Collins Free Online Dictionary, entry for "conspire". Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. Web, n.d. URL = https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/conspire.
b. That Jung regards the chemical (i.e., chymical) wedding as a union between man and woman, is evident from his Psychology and Alchemy: "Here the supreme opposites, male and female (as in the Chinese yang and yin), are melted into a unity purified of all opposition and therefore incorruptible." (--Jung, C.G., The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 12, Princeton University Press, 1968, para. 43.) Gay unions obviously do not consist of supreme opposites, nor do unions between transsexuals, since a person cannot be surgically or otherwise modified such that he or she acquires all of the traits and characteristics of the opposite sex. Also, incestuous unions do not consist of supreme opposites, since each partner has some of the other within him/her, due to their familial relationship.
A view from above of the lunar lander landing pad opening, as it prepares to receive the lander. The rectangle of lights shows an emphasis on the horizontal and thus the conscious and the male,[a][b] but the partially-open enclosure gives the appearance of a vagina dentata; thus, the pad represents a trap for the male.
In 2001, Kubrick is depicting the aliens as symbolizing a specific subset of women that are inherently evil. The fact that the aliens are evil is why the alien individual aboard Discovery One (in the ship's circuitry) works with Satan in the latter part of the movie ('via' working with HAL) to defeat Bowman and Poole. The alien wants to unite its own feminine essence with Bowman (should he defeat HAL), instead of allowing Bowman and Poole (as yang and yin) to themselves 'unite': At a fundamental level, the alien is jealous. Due to the observation that the aliens are feminine in nature, certain things in the movie now fall into place: the fact that the aliens are stealing diamonds - "diamonds are a girl's best friend"; the fact that the alien life forces 'infuse' men's minds and control their thoughts and actions, and cause fighting among them (at TMA-1) - this is actually Kubrick's depiction of the idea that some women tend to manipulate men.
Heywood Floyd talking with his daughter on the space station telephone.
Also explained is the emphasis Floyd placed on the word "telephone" while talking with his daughter, the reason the daughter wanted a telephone for her birthday, the fact that the mother was out shopping at the moment that Floyd called, and the idea of the daughter's caretaker (Rachel) being in the bathroom at the time of the call - these are references to the idea of some women being frequent phone-talkers, shoppers, and bathroom-occupiers. Also explained is Floyd's becoming somewhat emotionally 'touchy' during the space station meeting, when asked about the (supposed) epidemic at Clavius.
Naturally, the aliens planted the monolith with an emphasis on the vertical, and thus the unconscious, which in the case of a man (here, Bowman), is said by Jung to have feminine characteristics.[c] The implication is that the aliens' 'feminine evil' wants to control humanity's destiny. Also, recall that it's the presence of the monolith that enabled our ancestor to discover how to use weapons.
Recall that in the Clavius lecture room, the presence of evil itself was represented by a man. It was Kubrick's belief that the 'female evil' we've been talking about conspires with very evil men in doing its work.
It must be the case that the aliens enlisted the help of men to steal the diamonds, for the simple reason that the aliens themselves consist of pure energy, not having physical bodies, and are thus unable to move physical objects. Therefore, they used human beings' (specifically, men's) bodies to mine the diamonds, and they (the aliens) want the diamonds transported to Jupiter. The fact that the aliens represent a feminine presence, ties in with the reason they needed men to carry out the diamond 'heist': What's being symbolized is some women's inability to do 'heavy' work. Kubrick is also using this scenario to convey a belief, that some women 'use' men to do 'real' work, or the idea that these women don't 'carry their part of the load', or etc.
The aliens must have originally intended that the three astronauts who were placed aboard Discovery One in hibernation, would have physically moved the diamonds to their final destination (on Jupiter). The fact that HAL kills the three of them (while they're in hibernation) thus indicates that in the end, he cheats the aliens.
This light on Discovery One indicates that the hibernating astronauts' life functions have been terminated.
a. Jung links vertical height with the unconscious, and he links the horizontal (i.e., width) with the conscious: Jung, C.G., The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 12, Princeton University Press, 1968, paras. 287, 291. Google Books. URL = https://books.google.com.
b. In a male (here, David Bowman), the conscious mind has masculine characteristics.
c. Jung, C.G., The Collected Works, Vol. 12, para. 320. Google Books. URL = https://books.google.com.
Top left:Pulp Fiction's Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega being waited on, in the Jack Rabbit Slim's restaurant. Earlier we observed that Mia represents yin to Vincent's yang, and that this corresponds to Frank Poole representing yin and David Bowman representing yang, in A Space Odyssey. Top right: Just prior to Vincent (standing on left) taking Mia to the club, he purchased some heroin from his friend and drug dealer, Lance (standing on right). We note that Lance gives Vincent the heroin in a plastic bag instead of a balloon, since he's out of the latter. Small plastic bags are normally used to store cocaine, not heroin. Above left: Some time later, after Vincent and Mia have left the club and after Mia has mistakenly inhaled some of Vincent's heroin, thinking that it was cocaine, Lance rushes to help revive her while being harried by his wife, Jody. Above right: Lance is forced to give Vincent instructions from memory on how to inject Mia with adrenaline, since he could not find his black medical book in time. The point is that if Lance had been able to find the book, Mia might have been 'completely' saved, and Vincent would have therefore saved the feminine within himself. Correspondingly in A Space Odyssey, Bowman would have saved Poole, representing the feminine within Bowman, and therefore, the alien's manipulation of Bowman's psyche would not have been possible, thus preventing the alien from 'combining' with Bowman.
What Tarantino is getting at by portraying Lance, Jody, and the rest of the scenario in Pulp Fiction as he does, is some idea of a source for the whole problem (i.e., the 'perpetual-doom' cycle within which mankind has been trapped). The fact that Lance has run out of balloons, and the fact that Vincent is found 'idling' in the bathroom at several key moments in Tarantino's movie, indicates that Tarantino is depicting at least part of the reason for the problem being men, or at least a certain subset of men, having been pre-occupied, unprepared, and/or flat out incompetent at certain key point(s) in history.
Melusine by Ludwig Michael von Schwanthaler (1845). [Image from the Wikipedia 'Melusine' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]
As described earlier in the analysis, the alien who eventually 'combines' with Bowman represents Melusina (also known as Melusine), the feminine aspect of Mercurius. From Jung's Alchemical Studies:
"[Melusina] was descended from the whale in whose belly the prophet Jonah beheld great mysteries. This derivation is very important: the birthplace of Melusina is the womb of the mysteries, obviously what we today would call the unconscious...Melusina can be interpreted as a spirit, or at any rate as some kind of psychic phenomenon...Melusina is clearly an anima figure. She appears as a variant of the mercurial serpent, which was sometimes represented in the form of a snake-woman by way of expressing the monstrous, double nature of Mercurius. The redemption of this monstrosity was depicted as the assumption and coronation of the Virgin Mary...
"The anima belongs to those borderline phenomena which chiefly occur in special psychic situations. They are characterized by the more or less sudden collapse of a form or style of life which till then seemed the indispensable foundation of the individual's whole career...One is confronted with a hopeless and impenetrable darkness, an abysmal void that is now suddenly filled with an alluring vision, the palpably real presence of a strange yet helpful being."[a]
a. Jung, C.G. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 13. Princeton University Press, 1967. pp. 143, 144, 177.
Above left: A view of Frank's car moving down a boulevard at night, from Michael Mann's Thief. (Frank is the name of the main character in Thief.) Note that the streetlights make the boulevard appear not unlike an airport runway at night. Mentioned in the analysis of Thief (on the Can Analyze blog) are its several references to aircraft and flying - it is as if Mann is depicting Frank as some sort of 'metaphorical' jet pilot, one who never really 'takes off', i.e., one who remains earthbound. Also, in the comparison of Thief and Mann's Heat, in the Michael Mann analysis (on the Can Analyze blog), it was observed that one thing being depicted via the symbolism in the two movies (taken together), is the tension each of us experiences between wanting to live a life free of restraints on the one hand, and yet at the same time desiring stability in our lives. Above right: Frank Poole listens to his parents' pre-recorded birthday message. Recall that Frank's father mentions that an administrative error in Frank's pay has been corrected, and that he should now start receiving his new higher salary. It is as if even while in outer space, at a great distance from Earth, Frank is still tied to 'earthbound' concerns. As an aside, Frank's 'skimpy' manner of dress in this scene is a hint from Kubrick, that Frank and Dave are having gay sex while aboard Discovery One.
From Man and His Symbols:
"We have been talking of wild birds as symbols of release or liberation. But today we could just as well speak of jet planes and space rockets, for they are the physical embodiment of the same transcendent principle, freeing us at least temporarily from gravity. In the same way the ancient symbols of containment, which once gave stability and protection, now appear in modern man's search for economic stability and social welfare.
"Any of us can see, of course, that there is a conflict in our lives between adventure and discipline, or evil and virtue, or freedom and security. But these are only phrases we use to describe an ambivalence that troubles us, and to which we never seem able to find an answer.
"There is an answer. There is a meeting point between containment and liberation, and we can find it in the rites of initiation that I have been discussing [The chapter author, Joseph L. Henderson, has been discussing the Eleusinian Mysteries and other ancient rites of initiation.] They can make it possible for individuals, or whole groups of people, to unite the opposing forces within themselves and achieve an equilibrium in their lives...
"Initiation is, essentially, a process that begins with a rite of submission, followed by a period of containment, and then by a further rite of liberation. In this way every individual can reconcile the conflicting elements of his personality: He can strike a balance that makes him truly human, and truly the master of himself."[a]
a. Man and His Symbols. Ed. with introduction Carl G. Jung. London: Aldus Books, 1964. p. 156.
Bowman appears to get emotional near the end of his disconnection of HAL's brain. By the time Bowman's done with this process, he has assimilated his own psychological shadow, as represented by HAL.
To link David Bowman's assimilation of his own shadow to his experience as Jonah in the whale, we refer to Joseph L. Henderson in chapter 2 of Man and His Symbols:
"Dr. Jung has pointed out that the shadow cast by the conscious mind of the individual contains the hidden, repressed, and unfavorable (or nefarious) aspects of the personality. But this darkness is not just the simple converse of the conscious ego. Just as the ego contains unfavorable and destructive attitudes, so the shadow has good qualities - normal instincts and creative impulses. Ego and shadow, indeed, although separate, are inextricably linked together in much the same way that thought and feeling are related to each other.
"The ego, nevertheless, is in conflict with the shadow, in what Dr. Jung once called "the battle for deliverance." In the struggle of primitive man to achieve consciousness, this conflict is expressed by the contest between the archetypal hero and the powers of evil, personified by dragons and other monsters. In the developing consciousness of the individual the hero figure is the symbolic means by which the emerging ego overcomes the inertia of the unconscious mind, and liberates the mature man from a regressive longing to return to the blissful state of infancy in a world dominated by his mother.
"Usually, in mythology, the hero wins his battle against the monster...But there are other hero myths in which the hero gives in to the monster. A familiar type is that of Jonah and the whale, in which the hero is swallowed by a sea monster that carries him on a night sea journey from west to east, thus symbolizing the supposed transit of the sun from sunset to dawn. The hero goes into darkness, which represents a kind of death. I have encountered this theme in dreams presented in my own clinical experience.
"The battle between the hero and the dragon is the more active form of this myth, and it shows more clearly the archetypal theme of the ego's triumph over regressive trends. For most people the dark or negative side of the personality remains unconscious. The hero, on the contrary, must realize that the shadow exists and that he can draw strength from it. He must come to terms with its destructive powers if he is to become sufficiently terrible to overcome the dragon. I.e., before the ego can triumph, it must master and assimilate the shadow."[a]
a. Man and His Symbols. Ed. with introduction Carl G. Jung. London: Aldus Books, 1964. pp. 110-112.
Disclaimers 1) In certain instances it has been determined that the creators of some of the productions analyzed on this blog, and/or the creators of source material(s) used in the making of these productions, may be making negative statements about certain segments of society in their productions. These statements should be taken as expressing the opinions of no one other than the creators.
2) This blog is not associated with Stanley Kubrick or the Kubrick estate, nor is it associated with any of the studios, authors, publishers, actors, writers, editors, crew, staff, agents, other filmmakers, or any other persons or entities involved at any stage in the making of any of the films or source materials that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced herein.
3) In keeping with the policies of the filmmakers, authors, studios, writers, and publishers, that have created the productions (and their source materials) that are analyzed, mentioned, or referenced on this blog, any similarity of the characters in these films or source materials to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
