2001: A Space Odyssey (spoilers)

I just watched the movie a few days ago. Let me say, it was really confusing at some parts. Especially towards the end where he goes through like the Doctor Who colorful time thing for a while. It's also an insanely slow movie, taking around an hour to get to the more or less main plot line, sheesh, how long do we have to be looking at monkeys for? Who thought this was a good idea? Anyways, my theory for the ending is that the obelisk kidnapped one of the monkeys, turned it into the Dave, then he hallucinates the rest of the movie as a side effect or maybe they put him on LSD or something, then he dies and the white room thing is the afterlife. The reason the obelisk is in the afterlife is because the obelisks are or belong to some higher beings. What are your guys' thoughts on the movie?

 

I've only watched 2001 recently, but I've gotta say it's one of my favourites. Your theory seems a little off to me and I think the role of the monoliths (or at least what they do in-universe) is quite straightforward. Each appearance of the monolith corresponds with a stage in human evolution. The first monolith in the 'Dawn of Man' sequence inspires one of the man-apes (referred to in the book as Moonwatcher if I remember correctly) to use bones as tools or weapons. The second monolith or 'T.M.A-1' is activated once humans excavates it and sends a signal to Jupiter saying humans (or at least someone) has developed sufficient technology to reach and excavate the moon, making them ready for their next stage in evolution. Of course the third instance of the monolith is what triggers the LSD (or 'stargate') sequence after which Dave finds himself in the white room where he lives his life and on his deathbed we see him turn into another strange being, the next stage of evolution. It seems unlikely that the movie was just one big LSD trip as it kinda undermines the theme of the movie and still acknowledges the monolith as something made by a more advanced form of life. Rather, I think you can safely infer from the movie that the monoliths were placed to stimulate and observe human evolution. The pretty colours at the end are likely the result of the way the creators of the monoliths see reality. The room at the end is probably not the afterlife - isn't it strange that Dave leaves the room at the end of the movie then? - but rather a kind of testing chamber. Dave has clearly proven himself intelligent by defeating HAL and getting to Jupiter in the first place, but the monolith makers had never observed normal human behaviour before and as such create a somewhat crude imitation of a normal human environment. They observe Dave for the rest of his life (possibly in a compressed or sped-up way like the movie is edited) and finally deem him fit for the next stage of evolution, after which he is turned into the glowing child-like being he is at the end. I fiend it hard to believe that Clarke or Kubrick would turn their space epic about grand concepts like evolution, technology and God into an ape's LSD trip.

TL;DR: What are you smoking with this theory lmao

 

That's what Wikipedia says. At first I didn't get the movie either, only after reading up on it, but I am the kind of guy who goes "oooh pretty colours" and loves the movie just because of that. Also, consider the fact that the movie was released in 1968, one year before the moon landing. That and so many other things about the movie are so insanely impressive.

 

I honestly think that with this movie (and other Kubrick movies, but this one in particular) it's more important to ask how it makes you feel rather than specifically looking for a greater meaning. I see so many people saying 'I don't get it' about the movie and completely miss the point. Everything you need to know is right there on the screen. Also yeah it's crazy that the film was made before the moon landing and before there had been a picture of the whole earth from space even. My post mainly just saying how the movie can be explained through straight-forward observations instead of the theory presented in the OP. I don't think 'getting it' is even the way you should be watching the film.

 

I don't know, I just wanted to come up with something funny bruh