It's great to see so much response to my original query.  Not very often
does the audience come away with so many different reactions and
interpretations to one film.
 
Many people have pointed to Arthur Clarke's novelization of 2001 as an
explanation for the film and its symbols.  I suppose I should have stated in
my original message that that I am familiar with the book.  However, once
read, I was extremely disappointed because I felt it broke everything down
so literally that it ruined the poetic mystery of the film.  I have since
disowned the book as an interpretation to the film because I believe
Kubrick's vision is so much different than Clarke's.  Take for example, the
docking of the spacecraft just after the match-edit with the ape's bone.  In
the background, The Blue Danube Waltz is playing while we witness this
magnificent, and obviously sexual, docking of the ship.  There is such power
and grace to the scene which is crushed by Clarke's unimaginative
re-telling/interpretation.
 
Whether Kubrick, intentionally or not, included all of the symbolism as a
farce requires an entirely different reading of the film.  Personally, I see
the satire of the second half as a dominating element in regards to theme:
Are we creating machines that will ultimately kill us?  Do we care that we
are destroying ourselves?  Satire has been a prevalent or underlying theme
in almost all of Kubrick's films.  DR. STRANGELOVE is the obvious parallel
to 2001 because they both deal with the annihilation of the human race.  In
a similar manner, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE predicts the ultimate degradation of
society while poking fun at the politics which created the disorder.
 
If 2001 is a joke, then Hal might represent our fear of homosexual
domination - there is indeed some sort of repression at work.  The monolith
may signify nothing, or a place saver as Mr. Desilets pointed out; but it
might simply mean that we require something other than our own race to lead
us, thus degrading human capabilities.  I still don't believe the monolith
is a form of intelligence because it doesn't show any signs of real
communication.  I like the idea of it simply filling the void for something,
although we're not sure what that something is right now.  Has anyone else
looked closely at the satire in 2001?
 
My next task will be to look up THE MAKING OF 2001 because of its numerous
mention in the replies.
 
 
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Philip Spagnolo             Loneliness has followed me my whole life,
everywhere.
                                In bars, cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere.
                                    There's no escape; and God is only man.
[log in to unmask]                                      --Taxi Driver (1975)
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