2001: ASO Ending... WTF?! *spoilers*

So I watched 2001 after much urging from friends and people on GS, and the first time I watched, it got boring, so I turned it off. The second time, I thought maybe if I paid more attention I would like it more, so I watched, and.... I liked it! The plot really had me, and I liked the characters. The part where Frank is forced to shut off HAL, and HAL is begging him to stop, singing for him, apolagizing, saying he's scared, it was classic. And then.... The movie goes to Hell. The colors, and the eye, and the planets, the monolith, the old guy, and then the giant baby floating in space. What thehell was that?! It made NO sense! Nothing! I actually stayed up last night, thinking about what the point of the ending was, and still, nothing. How? Why? What was with the colors? Why the bedroom? And why was that baby there? I don't get it! :cry: Is anyone else as baffled as I was about how weird and abrupt the ending was? I honestly think the makers just decided to start tripping at the end of writing the script, and they condensed the sensation of a high onto the big screen, especially that part with all the colors.

.http://www.kubrick2001.com/spazzx625

I love the film and I've seen it about eight times, but even I don't understand the ending. Or most of the film actually.

My take on 2001's ending is that your not supposed to understand it. Whatever being Bowman comes into contact with is beyond our understanding hence the random end. Watch 2010, answers some questions.

Short version: the modern human evolves after meeting the alien monolith just like the apes evolved in the prologue. I never understood why people say the baby is giant. It's a symbolic image and was handled badly, but there's no way in hell that baby is bigger than a regular baby. The book further explains that Dave turns into a god-like creature that will supervise the human evolution.

I think you're supposed to define the ending yourself, there is no real explanation, you just have your opinion on what happened.

So I watched 2001 after much urging from friends and people on GS, and the first time I watched, it got boring, so I turned it off. The second time, I thought maybe if I paid more attention I would like it more, so I watched, and.... I liked it! The plot really had me, and I liked the characters. The part where Frank is forced to shut off HAL, and HAL is begging him to stop, singing for him, apolagizing, saying he's scared, it was classic. And then.... The movie goes to Hell. The colors, and the eye, and the planets, the monolith, the old guy, and then the giant baby floating in space. What thehell was that?! It made NO sense! Nothing! I actually stayed up last night, thinking about what the point of the ending was, and still, nothing. How? Why? What was with the colors? Why the bedroom? And why was that baby there? I don't get it! :cry: Is anyone else as baffled as I was about how weird and abrupt the ending was? I honestly think the makers just decided to start tripping at the end of writing the script, and they condensed the sensation of a high onto the big screen, especially that part with all the colors.

enterawesome

It was intentionally vague. As I understand it, the monolith caused Frank to evolve in the same way it caused the monkeys to evolve in the beginning of the movie. He became the giant baby in space. That's my shallow, probably wrong attempt at trying to explain at least some of the ending. Most of the symbolism is still beyond me.

When the movie was released, it was known to have a confused ending. Kubrick recommended to read the book before watching the movie and it kept people from watching the movie during it's release. It was not a big blockbuster in theaters because of this.

Short version: the modern human evolves after meeting the alien monolith just like the apes evolved in the prologue. I never understood why people say the baby is giant. It's a symbolic image and was handled badly, but there's no way in hell that baby is bigger than a regular baby. The book further explains that Dave turns into a god-like creature that will supervise the human evolution.

Baranga

Also, the reason David becomes a "Baby" in space is to symbolise humanity's "youngness" or adolesence or inexperience in the universe. As humanity becomes more adept at interacting in the universe, then he will begin to grow into a teenager -> adult -> etc.

.http://www.kubrick2001.com/" title="http://www.kubrick2001.com/">http://www.kubrick2001.com/spazzx625

.http://www.kubrick2001.com/spazzx625

Read 2001, 2010, 2061, and 3001, as well as The Sentinel, by Arthur C. Clarke. Incidentally, I wrote a paper on this for my "writing intensive exit course," TC. If you're interested, PM me. I don't want to post 3 pages worth of text. :) I actually disagree with much of what that website asserts. An inarguable issue with their analysis begins in the first 30 seconds of the pseudo-documentary, when they provided a quote by Kubrick about the personal interpretation of 2001. The problem is that 2001 is the work of two men, not one. Clarke had a very clear theme that he wanted to convey, while Kubrick wanted it to be a mysterious allegory. To understand the meaning of 2001, one must follow Clarke's train of thought, not Kubrick's. Kubrick, for all of his accomplishments, was annoyingly mysterious when it came to his visions and ideas, and as a film director was not as capable as Clarke in developing a narrative (he was far better at developing images, often with little context). To be fair, it is important to understand that all of my peers - Clarke fans - harbor some continuing resentment of Kubrick for his treatment of Clarke, so evaluate my criticisms of Kubrick with that in mind. That documentary focuses on Kubrick's vision, not Clarke's, which, while similar, deviate from one another markedly.