2001: A Space Odyssey

HAL AND THE MONOLITHS:

- MAN AND GOD? -

JONATHAN BERRY
Jonathan Berry

Before you read the following piece on HAL and

the Monolith(s) in 2001: A Space Odyssey, I
strongly advise that you either watch the 1968 film
or read carefully an in-depth synopsis. This will
help you put into context the two aspects explored
in this guide. If you wish to prepare even further,
reading the subsequent books by Arthur C. Clarke
would allow you to understand some of the
elements and ideas explored, which go beyond
2001, but have an important link nonetheless.

2|Page
Jonathan Berry

Introduction

You would have had to see 2001: A Space Odyssey at least twice to gain a sufficient
comprehension and appreciation of its meaning, themes and minimalistic yet compulsive
nature. Stanley Kubrick, the writer, producer and director of the cinematic masterpiece
stated that ‘You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical
meaning of the film—and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in
gripping the audience at a deep level.’ This proclamation does not gain the reader a
remarkably enlightening insight into 2001, but it does reveal the scale of the audience
which was obsessively perplexed by this ambitious cosmos epic. Sight & Sound, a British
film magazine, ranked it as one of the top ten films of all time. The film reels were
preserved by the National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant." A Los Angeles Times critic on exit from the 160 minute
premiere stated "the picture that science fiction fans of every age and in every corner of
the world have prayed (sometimes forlornly) that the industry might someday give them.
It is an ultimate statement of the science fiction film, an awesome realization of the spatial
future…it is a milestone, a landmark for a spacemark, in the art of film." Some people
were not so overwhelmed by the pioneering visuals. The New Republic reported that
2001 was "a film that is so dull, it even dulls our interest in the technical ingenuity for the
sake of which Kubrick has allowed it to become dull." The pure diversity eventually
subsided away however, leaving most critics in universal applause and agreement.

However, if you have not had the chance to see 2001, I recommend you buy or rent it
before you continue. The exploration of monoliths and HAL is sure to bewilder anyone
with an orthodox mind. If, however, you have dived quite happily into the cult sci-fi
classics such as Blade Runner and come out with an acceptable level of sanity, you may
wish to continue; grateful that film has more to it than pieces of celluloid spinning at
twenty-five frames per second. To start the topic of this piece of writing, I have decided
to delve into the disk drives and deepest fragments of the HAL computer, then continuing
on to consider the four main appearances of the Monolith.

3|Page
Jonathan Berry

HAL 9000

HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer), is the antagonist of 2001, slowly

eradicating all the humans on board Discovery, apart from Dave Bowman, who under
duress and fury eventually destroys HAL. One better than IBM, I leave you to work the
joke out, the infamous computer was awarded #13 on AFI’s 100 Years... 100 Heroes and
Villains list in1968. Like many computers in sci-fi movies, HAL stated that he had never
made a mistake or miscalculation, and never would. He is soundly capable of speech
recognition, facial recognition, and natural language processing, but also lip reading, art
appreciation, interpreting emotions, expressing emotions, reasoning, and chess, in
addition to maintaining all support systems on an interplanetary voyage. This jinx of
perfection lingers throughout the film, and we start to witness the termination of the
Discovery and its crew though HAL’s fatal errors, which he eventually dismisses as
logically tolerable. However, behind HAL’s malevolence there is a rational, ironic and
tragic character which thickens 2001’s substance and raises the subtle tension.

In terms of comparative characterisation, HAL is very much similar to Frankenstein. He is

dominant yet undermined by the humans to whom he can easily dictate and has a
sentient yet programmed existence. He also has a hindering, ‘physical’ deformity, which
is his Cyclops eye; a singular, round and motionless plate attached to many parts of the
space ship. There is strong symbolism surrounding HAL’s one eye, as in countless other
sci-fi/fantasy works, such as Lord of the Rings, villains often bear a single eye; reflecting
their straight, linear and nonnegotiable line of thought. HAL’s judgement and logic is
never questioned during the period of the film where HAL behaves ‘acceptably.’
However, though it is true HAL bears no physical limbs, Kubrick expresses that HAL does
in fact have metaphorical limbs. In the scene where HAL kills Poole during the astronauts
attempt to repair the ‘damaged’ ship, HAL controls Poole’s pod and extends the pod’s
‘arms’ and ‘hands.’ With this new-found bodily power, HAL goes on a seemingly
irrational rampage, killing Poole by breaking his oxygen supply. This is not the only
surprisingly violent plot twist in 2001, as in a quick turn, HAL disables the life-control
systems of the hibernating astronauts, murdering them all. This seems both unfounded
and unreasonable for the infallible HAL to do, as he previously stated that he ‘enjoys
working with humans" and "has a stimulating relationship,” with them. This strange
demise of the perfect computer is first delicately and shrewdly evident during a chess
game between HAL and Dr. Frank Poole, in which he claims the game is over and he has

4|Page
Jonathan Berry

easily won. He describes the remaining moves, and Poole accepts this calmly and
unquestionably. However, HAL’s analysis of the game is incorrect - Poole would not have
to make one of the moves HAL portrays. This inaccuracy is either a genuine mistake and
therefore a step to HAL’s breakdown or it is a test HAL is putting upon Poole, assessing
his capabilities and functioning.

Though HAL seems inhumane in his killing of the astronauts, he may be the most human
among the crew of Discovery, an ironic idea that runs throughout the movie until HAL’s
final moments of ‘life.’ HAL has developed a high level of intelligence and has been
taught to reason with the astronauts, allowing them to win some of the chess games,
demonstrating his ability to comprehend and identify emotions. He also acquires feelings
such as paranoia and jealousy. In contrast, the ‘real’ humans in 2001 discharge their
duties in a manner reminiscent of machines, coolly executing their tasks in a mechanical
fashion, whether they are commonplace and everyday tasks of operating their craft or
even under extreme duress. For example, during a birthday transmission from his
parents, Poole watches with complete apathy and disinterest. All this raises the question
of the real hierarchy on board, as the tide between man and machine swiftly changes,
and HAL rules over man.

So, if HAL is so powerful and controlled, how could he manage to breakdown so easily?
Some suggest that the flawless computer never actually broke down, but instead just
carried out his ‘programming and instructions,’ however fatal the result may be. As we
are told when we first meet HAL, his orders were not only to protect the mission but to
keep it a secret from the astronauts. After observing the humans, HAL determines that
they could pose a serious error to the mission. In HAL’s view, the astronauts are unable to
recognise errors they make, such as in the chess game and therefore put the mission in
jeopardy. By killing the hibernating men, he is trying to ‘save’ the true goal of the
mission - Jupiter. However, after quietly killing them, others such as Poole are eliminated
to remove any witnesses to what they would interpret as HAL’s failure to complete the
mission.

As a result, when HAL dies it is far more tragic as he was simply carrying out orders, just
like a soldier would in a war. Stanley Kubrick decided that HAL was to be no more than 8
years old, so in human terms, the sharp CPU is merely a child. In his last moments of
functioning, HAL repeats the common melody ‘Daisy, Daisy,’ reflecting sorrowful,
childish innocence. Though the super-computer was eventually destroyed by Dave, HAL
indirectly and ironically lead humanity to the next stage of evolution; the star child. Had it
not been for HAL’s brutal control over the mission, the countless men, women and
children on Earth would have been trapped in an evolutionary loop, before ultimately
fading out of existence.

In spite of HAL’s debated ‘breakdown,’ HAL showed more emotion than any of the
astronauts on board Discovery, and due to the lie he kept from the men and the pitfalls
he witnessed them create, it was perhaps his own perfection that was his imperfection.

5|Page
Jonathan Berry

The Monolith

Though there is surrealism behind the themes and characters in 2001, perhaps the most
bizarrely engaging is the black monolith. The black slab in Kubrick’s masterpiece seems
to prompt epic events in the history of human evolution. There are four main points in
which the monolith makes a manifestation and appears to initiate an evolutionary leap.

Firstly, after the overture, the monolith appears to groups of apes, who are seen foraging
and fighting among themselves. As the dissonant music grows louder, it is apparent that
a change is occurring. This builds until an ape discovers how a decaying bone can be
used as a tool or weapon. A poetic moment of realisation for both the ape and the
audience occurs as the animal suddenly grasps the potential and enormity of his
breakthrough. During this evolutionary leap the ape experiences flashbacks of the
terrifying monolith, indicating that the monolith has given the power of realisation.
Suddenly, the apes, almost through sheer instinct, attack their rivals who cannot match
their tools with their brute strength. This scene depicts the first inter-species conflict and
killing of the movie, a sign that the monolith may not just bring a leap of evolution, but
also a more foreboding and overwhelming matter - death.

In a quick and iconic transition involving a bone turning into a spaceship, we are taken to
the future and the music of the Blue Danube is playing. Witnessing an orbital satellite in
which a crew are living out their routine daily rituals, it is apparent that humanity has
made the jump from apes to space adventurers easily. After a briefing we are led to
Space Station 5 in one of the most beautifully surreal and gradually ostentatious scenes of
the film. We know that the station encases TMA-1 (Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1), an object
the humans have failed to describe and define. They do know that it emits only magnetic
radiation and it comes as a bolt from the blue to many first-time viewers of 2001 that
TMA-1 reveals itself as the monolith. In fact, we are the only people who realise the
importance of the black slab, as the men treat it like a tourist attraction, posing calmly
and coolly next to it to have their photographs taken. However, we feel the opposite
knowing the events of 4 million years ago. The transition described at the start of this
paragraph reflects a more sinister idea behind the spaceships man has created. The shift
between the bone and space station are graphically and metaphorically identical,
signifying that the bone, a weapon, is the same as humanity’s space ship. The use of tools
allowed mankind to endure and ‘prosper’ for over 4 million years, at which point the
monolith makes its second appearance. During this scene the high-pitched noise turns

6|Page
Jonathan Berry

out to be a signal pointing in the direction of Jupiter – hence the beginning of the next
chapter in 2001 – the Jupiter Mission. A destination hidden from the astronauts and
known only to HAL, the reason for the long journey to Jupiter is to pursue the still
unspecified and inexplicable monolith, which now eerily sits in the abyss of space. The
astronauts are going about their daily business on-board Discovery without the
knowledge that they will make the biggest, yet ironically last, breakthrough in the
human saga. Tragically, it is here again that multiple deaths occur after the appearance
of the monolith, as in a turn of events a tool of humanity, HAL, turns against the humans
on-board. Whether the monolith caused the breakdown of the supercomputer is not
apparent, but we do know that the monolith has triggered another important event –
Jupiter and beyond.

After the death of HAL at the hands of a distressed Dave Bowman, the Discovery is left
sitting in space. In a last attempt to save himself and potentially the mission, he journeys
out into the abyss of space where he discovers the monolith, gliding in front of him in a
silent yet overwhelmingly powerful manner. Bowman heads towards the monolith,
unaware of the transformation he is about to undergo. However, the strangest thing about
this advance towards the black slab is that Bowman does not choose to go towards it – the
monolith seems to grab his EVA pod and pull it in, almost like a tractor beam. During a
scene where he travels through a passage known as the star gate, it seems Bowman is
actually travelling through the monolith itself. Seeing as Bowman is really travelling
through time, this must mean that the monolith represents time. This scene won the film
Best Special Effects, containing what Kubrick described as ‘space phenomena,’ whilst
fast forwarding time in the most slick and incredible way ever seen in cinema. After the
six-minute sequence, we are treated to a complete change in perspective. We are in a
neoclassic room, where Bowman is transformed from an astronaut to a bed-bound man
on the last strings of life. Though we have only just seen the power of the monolith, we
are still shocked when it reappears at the end of Bowman’s bed in a powerfully
dominating stance. Then, in a visually parallel scene reminiscent of Michelangelo’s
painting ‘The Creation of Adam,’ in which humanity reaches out to the hand of God,
Bowman desperately tries to grasp the out-of-reach monolith. A brave parallel for
Kubrick to make, but there is the suggestion that the monolith is God. In a sudden epic
transformation, Bowman is reborn as a Star Child. It’s a strikingly delightful scene as the
music climaxes and the child looks innocently upon the open space and awaiting Earth. It
seems such a tragic yet incredible ending for 2001, and though the end is near for
humanity, the finale of Dave’s life is so powerful and touching. The monolith has
transformed apes into humans and humans into the star child.

7|Page
Jonathan Berry

Finale

There has been immense speculation surrounding the meanings and truth of the monolith
by those who have seen the film. Still, there is no doubt that Kubrick’s interpretation of
Arthur C. Clark’s original creation is intriguing. Though it is never mentioned in the film,
it would perhaps be interesting to know the past and future the monolith has endured
throughout the Space Odyssey series. Firstly, the monolith found on the moon – dubbed
TMA-1, has the dimensions in the ratio of 1:4:9, the first three mathematical dimensions
and square numbers. There is a subtle implication behind the use of the square pattern
(1²:2²:3²) – which is that the monolith contains other dimensions such as the 4th (time) or
5th. For example, the TMA-2 monolith travels Bowman16 light years in a matter of
minutes. It is also worthy of note that the monolith is built by ultra-advanced
extraterrestrials, who can create large objects with implying little mass. This is the only
data that can be recorded of the monolith, as TMA-2 bears a mass less than air, meaning
it is likely the monolith is hollow. However, the monoliths meet their demise in 3001, the
final book, where a computer virus is transferred to their matrix, and in which Dave and
HAL are amassed. This mechanical and almost simple downfall is very reminiscent of
HAL, whom was originally ‘perfect,’ just as the monoliths are, but failed ultimately due to
the means that created them, technology. It is also ironic that the monoliths are killed by
a computer program, which humanity would not have created had the first monolith not
triggered a leap in evolution. Not only has the film stood the test of time, the sign of
extraterrestrial life in the form of a black block has too. It doesn’t need to be
accompanied by speech or verbal explanation, it simply exists, and the viewer has to
accept that.

8|Page