The opening sequence shows the evolution of man from beasts, most importantly the creation of tools. The primates encounter the Monolith, a foreboding and mysterious obelisk that resonated with strange sounds. Upon encountering this object, the primates take up bones and rocks as tools to utilize what they could not before. Apes fight against one another for territory and kill other animals for food in a much more efficient manner than before. The previously dependent primate becomes reliant on only his tools to make his way, a parallel to modern ideas of progress.
Kubrick does not show this progress in the most positive of lights. While I would not doubt that Kubrick would be for progress to survive, it seems that the primates are some disgusting beasts that are now provided with the options of forsaking their clan in order to find more food for the individual primate. Soon after the monolith bestows this gift of utility, the primates kill animals with ease but without interaction. They lay bone to the flesh of another animal with little regard to its social effects. In fighting with other primates, we see the primate asserting an idea of territory that was not as practical before the monolith. The independent primate is the epitome of man's regression into dependence on technology and the evolution of non-human elements for survival.
In the next scene of the film, the viewer is treated to great special effects by Kubrick, with the purpose of showing human dependence on machines. In a humorous scenario, Dr. Heywood Floyd reads an extensive instruction guide to using the space bathroom. Space flight attendants are shown walking in circles to get to compartments and deliver food that is adjusted to space but taste similar to food on Earth. This short window into the future is an indication of how humanity chooses to live: as an independent being reliant on technology to cultivate the world around it.
More poignantly, Kubrick's usage of special effects accentuates this point even more. The mere fact that Kubrick looks into this interpretation of the future requires a great amount of film technology (though no computers were used). The creation of this scene is self-reflexive to film making and is great in explaining what Kubrick sees as technology's place in humanity: necessary for curiosity, but dangerous to our connection to home. No doubt, an equally impressive amount of technology would have to become available for all of Kubrick's reality to take hold.
Upon discovering the Monolith underneath the moon's surface, the scientists curiously take pictures of the object and attempt its study. Emanating from the black object is a strong wailing sound that keeps the scientists at bay. This same sound occurs in the "Dawn of Man" scene, indicating a change within the species and a new charge. The Monolith embodies what human progress is: destructive preservation. I believe that Kubrick saw this paradox inherent within humanity, requiring it within his movie as an underlying theme. The destruction of natural barriers is deemed as successful preservation and expansion of humanity. This is obvious in the scenes with the HAL 9000 computer and Dr. Bowman.
Following the moon Monolith discovery, Kubrick goes into a detailed explanation of man's relationship with computers in the future. This is accomplished by showing different views of the vessel traveling to Jupiter, holding several scientists and an all-powerful computer. HAL 9000, a computer with an unblemished level of success, runs everything on board the ship. Dr. Bowman and Dr. Poole go about their business and leisure without much concern about how the ship is working, a testament to their trust in technology. One great example of the scientist's leisure is Poole running around the inside of the vessel. Presumably, Kubrick used a semi-circle track and followed Poole with a tracking shot during the duration of the scene.
Meanwhile, the other three scientists were cryogenically frozen until their arrival at Jupiter, with all of their life functions preserved by the ship's computer. Kubrick makes sure to show all of these fuctions of the computer by simply showing them in action. Interestingly, Kubrick cues the audience's attention to who is running the vessel in two ways.
The first way is in the lighting used when HAL 9000 and Dr. Bowman are talking. HAL 9000 is cast with a white, rectangular light to show the importance of the computer in not only the mission but also to the livelihood of man in space. In contrast, Drs. Bowman and Poole are shown in stark colors, still in color but lit in such a way as to take the colors and hues out of their skin.
The second manner in which Kubrick shows HAL's importance is in the interview that HAL and Dr. Bowman participate in television. In this interview, Bowman says that HAL is just like another member of the crew and in answering the question of HAL's "emotions," he sounds very uncertain and does not seem to want to venture too far. Bowman seems passive and clueless to how important HAL really is, while acknowledging his importance. HAL, on the other hand, speaks with pride of its flawless record and how many functions it performs. HAL is shown as a self aware entity, capable of pride and responsibility. This is a transition into the major function of Kubrick's 2001: the transposition of human and mechanical roles.
The two scientists aboard the vessel are portrayed as dry, unemotional, and failingly logical. Conversely, HAL is a figure with great pride and confidence. In an effort to create a more user-friendly computer, the scientists of 2001 instead created a problem: how to deal with a computer with human problems and mechanical strength. In relying on HAL for all of the ship's functions, they are merely relying on a reflection of mankind's faults. HAL's great confidence prevents it from admitting that its detection of problems aboard the ship was incorrect.
HAL is shown as an uncertain, concerned figure that wants merely to prevent the human scientists from falling into their own trap. Curiosity and technology have carried mankind to the cusp of interstellar travel and to the brink of discovering the meaning of the Monolith. This being said, the discovery of such a meaning may or may not have even been within the grasp of mankind's capabilities. HAL acts as a voice of reason, a voice that is shunned by the newly mechanical humans because of HAL's failed attempts at sabotage.
HAL's interpersonal capabilities are shut down by Dr. Bowman in the end because HAL was becoming a threat to the mission. Bowman acts as the logical, rational scientists who fears the worst from a humanized computer run amok. HAL attempts to sing a song to Bowman, showing its creator's interests in making it more human. Bowman removes the intellectual and conventional functions of HAL in order to preserve its mission, which states a lot about how humanity seeks the destruction of all barriers in its path to creation.
HAL is a fallen figure, created by man and destroyed by man when convenience was at hand. Creating a machine that is not only a controlling figure in the operations of technology but also is capable of human interaction and error goes against what technology and humanity is all about. Kubrick, among others, would probably argue that the idea of a HAL 9000 computer and anything of that ilk would be very difficult for mankind to comprehend and deal with. Our technologies are not meant to usurp human power but to augment it, taking away human error when possible. Kubrick shows the HAL 9000 computer as a warning to what progress in technology can bring.
In the final part of the movie, Bowman is taking through an express vision of evolution and discovery. After reaching Jupiter, Bowman experiences the full power of the Monolith and is plunged into a sort of omnipresent sense of discovery. What he discovers, however, is not a universe of plenty but an exploration of the inner self and man's limitations.
The colorful sequences, which are likely manipulations of the film stock with color, and the presence of Bowman's eye in the background is transposed onto pictures of valleys and mountains. Whether these are Earth valleys and mountains are uncertain, but it would seem to follow that this is a harkening toward simplicity and earthliness. Bowman experiences such discovery over a long period and then is exposed to a timeline of his evolution.
Bowman ages before his own eyes until he passes away in a very stark, futuristic setting. In this sequence, Bowman sits to have tea on his own in a room ordained with nothing but black metal furniture and a tea set. This can really only represent the result of man's foray into technological endeavor and attempt at discovering the meaning of the Monolith and the universe. What is left of mankind is a plain, emotionless creature that is defeated by its own curiosity. Bowman dies, like humanity, in a world that is unexplained and very unhappy.
Stanley Kubrick's 2001 is a work that seeks to show the dangers of technology on human autonomy, not only in what the film portrays but how the film was created. This film acted as a film technology guide for many science fiction movies in the future, including the Star Wars series and Event Horizon. Much more than this, the influence of 2001 as a social philosophy work seems to be understated. Kubrick was not merely tinkering with film pieces and a story that could be interpreted in many ways (though the former is partially true, as Kubrick was quite enamored with his own abilities). Rather, the film speaks to the human condition and its relationship with human creation. 2001 warns humanity that in enabling itself to escape from the bounds of Earth and of natural boundaries in general, it is also enabling a disassociation from what mankind is: progeny of Earth.
