I'd have to read the book, but I wouldn't call the Star Child ending any happier than the movie's. If a supreme being were to arrive on Earth and impose its will unilaterally, I think many of us would react in horror no matter if the outcome was considered morally "right" or not. Kubrick may have preferred ambiguity rather than certainty and, based on the views I just stated, I prefer his to Clarke's overly simplistic, utopian ending.

@AlienFanatic said:

I prefer his to Clarke's overly simplistic, utopian ending.

Me too. If you enjoyed & more or less understood Kubrick's film, I don't see any reason for you to read the book. It spells out all the wonderful ambiguity that Kubrick intended.

The way Kubrick's film ends, we have no idea what spacebaby intends to do next. Maybe in his infinite wisdom he sees the human race as a pestilence and decides to destroy it. Or maybe (more likely) he has no agenda yet.

Clarke's book sorta ruins it by making the star child into a "good guy". Happy ending for everyone. But I can't help but wonder if Kubrick's story is supposed to disturb us on some level. The death of HAL was very emotionally done... with HAL reverting to a child and singing a song with his last breath... So I think Kubrick deliberately planted the idea that Bowman wasn't concerned with being kind, merciful or "morally right" as much as he was just interested in protecting himself.

Bowman's final evolution, the white room scenes, didn't seem to involve any sort of moral awakening. If anything it remained about "the self", seeing himself from different perspectives while clinging to odd customs of civility. That's why I think Clarke made a big leap of logic by implying that the star child would be interested in fixing the problems of the world.

Can anyone give a guy some explanation as to the old man that Bowman sees right near the end of the film? I kept thinking that one of the old men was an old Bowman; I don't remember if they all were right now. Why would Bowman see an old version of himself before evolving into Spacebaby?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

@Satch_the_man said:

Can anyone give a guy some explanation as to the old man that Bowman sees right near the end of the film? I kept thinking that one of the old men was an old Bowman

Yup, you're right. At the end, Bowman begins seeing himself in different states, growing older. I think this was Kubrick's abstract way of showing his mind evolving. Maybe by seeing yourself as an objective viewer you reach a higher consciousness. Who knows. But yeah it was all Bowman at the end.

In the book, Clarke says Bowman was dumped in a space menagerie and studied by alien beings. But that's another one of those literal interpretations I don't like. I think the movie was deliberately NOT literal at the end.

Thanks for the heads up, rooprect.

@Invidia said:

why should one assume the CONTACT that BOWMAN has with the MONOLITH on his DEATH BED lead to anything else but BAD NEWS for the rest of society when the STAR BABY shows up floating out there in SPACE above Planet Earth???

Since the MONOLITH hasn't been a GOOD thing for the APES or for MAN, and has only resulted in WAR like situations for them, why would one assume the arrival of the STAR BABY would result in a different or in a more OPTIMISTIC situation???

Now we're talking! Thanks also for the tip about Eraserhead, I haven't seen it but I will now.

Your interpretation is even more cynical than mine, lol. It didn't occur to me that maybe the monolith is what gave us violent impulses. I was thinking primates/humans were at fault for that. But now that I think about it, the ape in the beginning was completely nonviolent, but the monolith turned him into a maniac who seemed to get off on bludgeoning others to death (the famous victory dance and triumphantly throwing the bone in the air).

In Clarke's book he stopped short of saying that, but he did show the monolith taking a more active role in teaching the ape how to throw rocks (why learn to throw rocks unless you plan to hit someone), how to feel envy (he was shown visions of other apes who were fatter), etc.

That's also really interesting that Kubrick liked Lynch's interpretation... that says a lot about what Kubrick may have had in mind!

Very cool! I saw Forbidden Planet when I was a kid but I don't remember anything about it. Time to watch it again.

That's a really interesting idea about intelligence increasing ID and destructive tendencies. Have you heard of the Fermi Paradox in astronomy? It says that space is so vast and time has gone on so long, the universe should be packed with living things by now. But it's not. Why not?

One possible explanation is when civilizations become advanced enough for interstellar travel, they destroy themselves instead.

Really depressing. But it makes sense. This sounds right in line with Forbidden Planet. Yay for us, huh?