When the monolith shows up the first time it is when the apes first learn to use weapons. This puts that group of apes above all the others, allowing them to fight and win. Later it shows up again right before we first see HAL. While HAL ended up being destroyed at the time it was created it was thought that it would grow to be the next big thing and HAL did try to take over and beome the next dominant race. Finally it shows up tight before the birth of the star baby, which I assume is better than humans as it is shown as being literally above the people on earth.
I don't think that the monolith was causing the evolution for the first two because it never moved or talked, so I don't think there was anyway for it to communicate and help the species evolve.I also think that if it had caused the evolution HAL would not have failed.
I do on the other hand think that there is an argument to be made that the monolith caused the final k evolution. I think that the monolith would have had reason to do this because the previous step in evolution (HAL) had failed, so if the monolith really was there to watch the evolutions (and maybe even check to make sure that they happened) it could have been angry that there wasn't a new species and want to create one.
One thing that really points to this to me is the holding tank like feel of the room at the end of the movie. To me the room doesn't look like a home, but instead a place where he is being kept. This could be because it is supposed to look futuristic, but we are never shown an exit, all the rooms are the same, and his way out, the ship, disappears which makes it seem like he's not supposed to leave. It could be that somebody/something else is holding him there, but the monolith seems to have the reason and did show up there.
Yeah, maybe they sped up his aging so they could make his rebirth into a star baby faster. The whole thing with the holding tank reminds me a lot of the slaughter house 5. Also, what if the obelisk is not alien tech, but rather an actual life form we can't comprehend. Rly sounds a lot like the a whole "human ant farm" situation
ReplyDeleteI'd never thought of the room as a holding cell. As I was watching it I got a sense of confinement, however, I didn't realize that there weren't any windows or escapes. It's a little weird to think this monolith was just kind of hanging out and watching us as if we're in a real life SIMS game.
ReplyDeleteThe monolith's role in this movie is so undefined and weird. I do think that it is some sort of otherworldly baby cam checking up on humans.
ReplyDeleteI don't think HAL failed like you said. I think it was the first instance of a man made object becoming sentient and that made HAL a not so good robot. But I guess since dave ended HAL is was sort of a failure. What if the ending scene is a punishment for Dave killing HAL? Idk but your point about how Dave is being almost imprisoned by the monolith made me think of that.
I agree that it's there to look over human evolution and observe them. The second time the monolith appears, it doesn't speed up any evolution or anything, it's there to make a deafening noise while the humans take a group picture on the moon.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very similar to mine, but except at the beginning to me it seemed more like the monolith was more of an observer and the previous dominant species always created the next going from the monolith to humans to HAL to the space baby.
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe they sped up his aging so they could make his rebirth into a star baby faster. The whole thing with the holding tank reminds me a lot of the slaughter house 5. Also, what if the obelisk is not alien tech, but rather an actual life form we can't comprehend. Rly sounds a lot like the a whole "human ant farm" situation
ReplyDeleteYes, to all of this, but especially to the "holding tank feel" at the end. Ebert might say it's just a bedroom, but the creepy, confused connotation of that scene indicates more to me--Why is he here alone? Why does he stay here, doing little other than attending to basic needs, for so many years? (Or are the years themselves sped up?) Why is it a 17th century bedroom with modern comforts?
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is just my own paranoia. I saw a kids' sci fi movie when I was about seven in which these two children find out that they're in an alien zoo, and that everything around them--parents, bedrooms, friends, neighborhood--is just simulated environment. I'm still deeply scarred, guys. That stuff is terrifying!
All of this is the long way of saying that yes, I totally agree with this assessment.