Stanley Kubrick: “You begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the man-apes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression. Then you have a second artifact buried deep on the lunar surface and programmed to signal word of man’s first baby steps into the universe—a kind of cosmic burglar alarm. And finally there’s a third artifact placed in orbit around Jupiter and waiting for the time when man has reached the outer rim of his own solar system.
When the surviving astronaut, Bowman, ultimately reaches Jupiter, this artifact sweeps him into a force field or star gate that hurls him on a journey through inner and outer space and finally transports him to another part of the galaxy, where he’s placed in a human zoo approximating a hospital terrestrial environment drawn out of his own dreams and imagination. In a timeless state, his life passes from middle age to senescence to death. He is reborn, an enhanced being, a star child, an angel, a superman, if you like, and returns to earth prepared for the next leap forward of man’s evolutionary destiny.
That is what happens on the film’s simplest level. Since an encounter with an advanced interstellar intelligence would be incomprehensible within our present earthbound frames of reference, reactions to it will have elements of philosophy and metaphysics that have nothing to do with the bare plot outline itself.”
—In what is the fullest encapsulation unearthed to date of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick himself. As the director was known to avoid direct conversation about the “subject” of his films, this is exceptional. After this exchange and the wide release of 2001 Kubrick was more at odds with full divulsion in interviews. Though he wanted to publicize his films as much as possible and therefore appease the curiosity of an interviewer it was the inevitable “What does it mean?” question that began to bring the exchange to a halt. It is this type of impulsory De facto summery which bored the director. In order to avoid a rehash and risk cutting the thoughts of the audience against his own interpretations he would later begin to say “The film should speak for itself.”
For further consumption, an esteemed interpretation of 2001, regarded by Stanley himself as “the most intelligent”, was by the young Margaret Stockhouse. Completed as a school assignment in her Junior year, a 15 year-old student of North Plainfield High School, New Jersey, 1970. LINK
