There is no doubt that Stanley Kubrick's
2001: A Space Odyssey draws from
Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. This
becomes evident from the first frames of
the film, as the opening title card is
set to the Sunrise Fanfare from Richard
Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, a
musical composition inspired by
Nietzsche's philosophical novel Thus
Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and
None. Just as Strauss did, Kubrick
sought to create a work of art that
comprised the evolution of man as
depicted in Nietzsche's epic. As Jerold J.
Abrams argues in his essay Nietzsche's
Overman as Posthuman Starchild in 2001:
A Space Odyssey, Zarathustra provides
perhaps the most plausible
interpretation of the ambiguous final
image of the film. The Starchild, as it's
come to be called, is a representation of
Nietzsche's ubermensch. Abrams argues
that the monolith transforms Bowman into
the Starchild just as Zarathustra
prepares humanity to go forward into the
next stage of the overman. If it is to
be concluded, however, that the
culmination of man's evolution in 2001
is in accordance with Nietzschean
philosophy, then the evolutionary process
that Kubrick maps over the course of the
film must also follow a Nietzschean
order. In 2001, Kubrick provides such an
order as he equates scientific
advancement
with the Nietzschean death of God, an
essential stage in man's evolution
toward the overman. Later on I will
discuss how Kubrick dissents from
Nietzschean philosophy as he replaces
the role of God with extraterrestrial
intelligence, suggesting that a greater
designer or creator is necessary for
man's evolution, but we'll get to that
later.
Nietzsche provides the framework for the
death of God in his parable of the
madman in which the madman a precursor
to the character of Zarathustra cries to
the people in a public market quote
whither is God I will tell you we have
killed him you and I nietzsche
establishes that the death of god will
occur indirectly by man's actions that
is scientific advancements will promote
a secular world in which God plays no
role it could be argued that 2001 with
its depictions of futuristic technology
presents a future where God has already
died it is difficult to determine God
status in the film as no mention of God
or religion is made except for the
automated attendant that asks dr.
Heywood Floyd for his Christian name as
a form of identification identification
when you see the red light go on would
you please state in the following order
your destination your nationality and
your full name surname first Christian
name and initial this indicates perhaps
in significantly that religion
specifically Christianity at least
existed at some point in the film's
universe of course the absence of any
mention of God does not indicate that
God is dead rather the event of God's
death can be singularly traced to the
discovery of the monolith on the lunar
surface
in his speech before the council
regarding the cover story
the Floyd says I'm sure you're all aware
of the extremely grave potential for
cultural shock and social disorientation
contained in this present situation if
the facts were prematurely and suddenly
made public without adequate preparation
and conditioning as the concept of God
is both culturally and socially
ingrained
largely throughout humanity Floyd is
aware of the potential catastrophe that
could result from the announcement of
dis discovery the monolith is after all
as dr. Halvorsen explains deliberately
buried and hasn't been covered up by
natural erosion or other forces it seems
to have been deliberately buried
deliberately indicating that God as man
has come to understand him is not the
ultimate creator or designer yet it is
here that 2001 strays from Michi
as there still must be a nonhuman
overseer that deliberately buried the
modeling even if that overseer does not
align with man's preconceived
anthropomorphic version of one
the death of God marks the beginning of
Nietzsche's Age of nihilism in the will
to power
Nietzsche explains that nihilism as a
psychological state begins when we have
sought a meaning in all events that is
not there the discovery of the lunar
monolith as evidence of extraterrestrial
intelligence suggests that the meaning
man has ascribed to life in the form of
an anthropomorphic God is non existent
this is discouraging as a warrants that
man's previous efforts to find meaning
have been futile thus man's efforts
preceding the discovery of the lunar
monolith are altogether insignificant
Kubrick visually implies this
insignificance through his iconic match
cut between a primitive bone weapon
and the satellite orbiting the Earth in
a single cut the film's narrative jumps
ahead millions of years
Kubrick deems everything between these
two points in the evolution of man as
unworthy of viewing or including in this
movie
additionally the visual congruence
between bone and satellite symbolizes
the relative similarity between the
evolved man and the Apes shown earlier
in the dawn of man sequence this
pronounced similarity parallels
Zarathustra teaches you have made your
way from worm to man and much in you is
still work despite all his scientific
and technological advancements man has
not advanced far beyond ape the
structure of 2001 further elucidates the
evolved man's closeness to the earlier
eight Kubrick divides the film into
three distinctly titled sections the
dawn of man Jupiter mission and Jupiter
and beyond the infinite the
aforementioned jump ahead to man's space
exploration and Floyd's entire narrative
are contained within the dawn of man
section implying that even the
scientifically advanced man is a
relatively early incarnation with in
mankind's greater evolution after all
Floyd and the other scientists are just
as confused by the presence and function
of the monolith as the earlier Apes are
it is not until Kubrick shows the lunar
monolith his visual symbol of the death
of God that the film advances to the
next stage the Jupiter mission
paralleling Nietzsche's age of nihilism
the characters in this section of the
film manifests a loss of purpose David
Bowman Frank Poole and the other
astronauts are not aware of the purpose
of the mission only the Hal 9000
computer is aware quote-on-quote of the
missions true purpose of finding
intelligent life in Jupiter space
Kubrick shows the mundanity of the
astronauts existence Poole passed the
time playing chess and begins to nap
as he listens to a video message from
his parents the outer space setting
serves as a perfect visual metaphor for
the age of nihilism as it embodies the
madman's description of a post death of
God existence as one in which we stray
as through an infinite nothing
the vast infinite nough subspace
contributes to man's nihilistic feelings
of insignificance
it is therefore only fitting that after
Floyd reveals via a pre-recorded video
message to Bowman the purpose of the
mission the film advances to the next
stage Jupiter and beyond the infinite
once Floyd tells him his purpose
Bowman overcomes the nihilistic
infiniteness and enters an unknown realm
which Cooper depicts with imagery that
can only be described as Otherworld
Quinn
even though Kubrick provides a Nietzsche
and death of God as an evolutionary
turning point in 2001 he functionally
replaces God with extraterrestrial
intelligence as Abrams argues in his
aforementioned essay the existence of
aliens in 2001 obscures what is perhaps
the most fundamental insight in
Zarathustra that is the absence of a
greater designer or creator yet the
aliens that abrams refers to are not
present or shown in the film no more
than God is even if the extraterrestrial
intelligence that creates and places the
monoliths is godlike it is certainly not
godlike in any traditional sense of the
term 2001's godlike designer is not
anthropomorphic nor is it a mission or
omnipotent to after all even if it is
the monolith that dictated man's
evolution it is ultimately man's actions
that spark evolutionary transition
technological advancements and space
exploration allowed man to discover the
lunar monolith just as Bowman's ability
to overcome technology allowed him to
discover the Jupiter monolith and travel
beyond the infinite
by emphasizing man's influence over his
own evolution 2001 illustrates
Nietzsche's active nihilism Zarathustra
instructs that man must set himself a
goal this goal is found in the over man
that man must actively strive to evolve
toward Zarathustra also refers to man's
ability to create the over man likewise
2001 is a celebration of man's ability
to create the development of the Hal
9000 computer for example demonstrates
man's desire to create a superior
intelligence this reflects Kubrick's own
optimistic belief in the existence of a
nonhuman intelligence in the 1968
interview with Playboy Judith displays
this optimism saying I will say that the
god concept is at the heart of 2001 but
not any traditional anthropomorphic
image of God I don't believe in any of
Earth's monotheistic religions but I do
believe that one can construct an
intriguing scientific definition of God
once you accept the fact there are
approximately 100 billion stars in our
galaxy alone that its star is a
life-giving Sun and that there are
approximately 100 billion galaxies in
just the visible universe in this rare
interview Kubrick confirms the presence
of an extraterrestrial replacement God
at the heart of 2001
while science inevitably leads to the
death of God
Kubrick proposes that science can create
a new conception of God or a quote
scientific definition of God as active
nihilism requires a man to seek meaning
in the face of the death of God
Kubrick's understanding of an
extraterrestrial intelligence as an
alternative to God provides the active
nihilist with a scientific solution
