Stanley Kubrick explains the plot of 2001

[Meule]

Wait...2001 had a plot?
Oh, I guess maybe if it wasn't THE MOST BORING MOVIE EVER MADE and I was able to stay awake past the cool monolith/ape-men beginning I might have noticed that.
Rich

Bingo
Let's face it: if you have to explain your own movie you've obviously done something wrong

[cdhall]

Very cool. I never read the book, I don't think, or liked the movie. When I get new glasses I may rip through some books I should (re)read. I think there are about 100 on the list...

[johnmiic]

If you read 2001 you can get that. There are more descriptions of how the Monolith was a sort of teacher to the apes and tried teaching them things till they caught on. In the book it uses graphics and visuals. The film is not so obvious about this. All you get is the rising storm of opera singers.

If you read 2010 - Odyssey Two Clarke tries to explain more of it but it's sprinkled throughout the book. There are some great comments on what the Monolith is in the book:

If an alien civilization can make a device that functions after 3 million years we have to assume they're still out there and may come back for it!

The Monolith is a tool but an all purpose tool-like a swiss army knife.

[megoscott]

I thought the same thing, Sandman. I haven't watched it in years, but I don't know how much of that is possible to glean from the film.

[LadyZod]

You know, pretty much all Stanley Kubrick movies give me a headache. It's not that I find it difficult to understand or appreciate... it's the sound editing. There's a hollowness to the audio tracks on his films that give me the worst cluster headaches/migraines whenever I try to watch one.

I enjoyed 2001, but had to pop a couple of aleve and put a cool cloth over my eyes for an hour afterwards.

[Sandman9580]

It's surprising that the kind of person who'd make such an obscure and mystifying movie would be the kind of person to give an interview and say exactly what it was about. But then I've heard that Clarke's 2001 novel explains a lot -- so I guess it wasn't like he was "betraying" his movie.

[Cmonster]

Only the great Kubrick could break that film down so simply and eloquently. Granted, it's his film, but still...

SC

[megoscott]

Huh. He makes it sound so simple. Dangerous Minds | Stanley Kubrick explains the plot of