I love the way this film still blows people's minds today. The whole film is a demonstration of show not tell.

@rightwingersexposed8800

7 жыл бұрын

It didn't blow minds then or now. There are deeper and more intelligent films to do that.

@1simo93521

7 жыл бұрын

Konstantin Krastev It was one of the most influential films of the twentieth century! But whatever pal.....

@rightwingersexposed8800

7 жыл бұрын

Simo Was it, because it doesn't really strike a conversation or a discussion.

@DustinSummy

7 жыл бұрын

Well not with that attitude it doesn't, buddy...

@GamerNxUSN

3 жыл бұрын

@@rightwingersexposed8800 yet here you are discussing it in the comments of a 15 minute video discussing it.

Fun fact: in the books, the monoliths were 1:4:9, and supposedly continued the pattern into the higher dimensions.

@maxscribner1743

7 жыл бұрын

The same dimensions as the iPhone 5 models

@hominymanchild

4 жыл бұрын

1 + 4 + 9 = 5 Hmmmm... 🤔 ~*

@streetrat48

4 жыл бұрын

The book came after the film.

@3ambreakbeats977

4 жыл бұрын

CHRiS ROuSE 1+4+9=14...1:4:9 etc

@aadityamarathe777

3 жыл бұрын

Monolith Spotted. Hello I'm from 2020.

The book is really explicit about the role of the monolith (and pretty much everything else). It does actually explain how it all works. When I saw the movie I was like "WTF is this? This is confusing, the book isn't. Damnit Kubrik". I have to say your explanation of the way he told that part of the story makes me a lot more appreciative.

@paulfelix5849

2 жыл бұрын

Way late to this party but I agree 100%. The book and film were created together. It requires experiencing both to get the whole story in full context. Mat's breakdowns here are good, but just enough off the mark to strongly suggest he hasn't read the book.

@mwalkerl

Жыл бұрын

The book and movie were created in tandem

@soloyoujo

Жыл бұрын

@@mwalkerl I don't see how that affects my comment in any way.

@pr6549

Жыл бұрын

The book and the movie are two different things

@paulfelix5849

Жыл бұрын

@@oscarernestoroberts4190 The movie premiered in April of 1968, the book hit shelves in the stores in June 1968. Given the differences in process of the two industries at the time, that's all but simultaneous. As to NASA's 'obsession' with Egyptian iconography... no. They went Greek.for the space programs ( Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo). Even the recent 'return to the moon' program is named Artemis - another Greek myth figure. The Space Shuttles were named after old time sailing ships. So far, only their program to send satellites to asteroids have Egyptian names (Osiris). Oddly enough the first asteroid visited was named Bennu, also an Egyptian name. The rest of your drivel doesn't deserve answers.

If there's anything I've learned about Matt Colville, it's that the more you guys complain about him saying monkeys, the more likely he is to say it just to spite you

@mariotapia2337

3 жыл бұрын

Cringe...

Matthew Colville videos always put me in a good mood

Forget Morgan Freeman, I want Matt Colville to narrative my life.

@sillyking1991

7 жыл бұрын

nah, have 3 narrators. Freeman for the calm boring times, Matt for the happy exciting times. and Samuel Jackson" for the bad times.

@dragatus

6 жыл бұрын

It would save time.

@InnoVintage

3 жыл бұрын

Well... I guess a five hour psychoanalysis for every ten seconds of my life would be nice. But it would take up a lot of time.

Just goes to show how much Kubrick thinks about every single detail in his films. Also worth noting: the fanfare part (what you describe as the "Heureka sound") of Thus Spoke Zarathustra was called Sunrise, adding to the shot of the sun emerging from behind the monolith. The composition was inspired by Nietzsche's text of the same name, so individual strength, advancement and the lack of ethics in the wild -- notable themes in this part of the film -- are subtly underlined via this connection. Whether this was intended, I'm not certain.

@RaptorJesus

2 жыл бұрын

It's Kubrick. It would be stranger were it *not* intended.

To be honest, I enjoy your breakdowns of the movie about 10,000 times more than the actual movie. So thanks for doing this. Please keep it coming!

I don't know if the movie stayed true to this, but in the book, the ratio of the lengths of the sides of the monolith was 1:4:9, i.e. the first 3 natural numbers squared. And it's more clear that the monolith was the means by which intelligence was curated in humans.

I love your DM videos but the 2001 series is fantastic. Keep up the awesome work!

2001 was my favorite movie, so it's nice to see you recapping it and explaining the finer points. Thanks for a great video!

Yes! So glad you revisited this. Can't wait for the other videos. Thank you for breaking down such an awesome movie!

I am such a fan of your movie reviews and dissections (might i call them). Thank you for blessing us with your impeccable delivery and knowledge! super fun videos

Just saw this in my inbox, really served to brighten up my day. :)

The novel explained it more explicitly. It actually went into the proto-humans heads, chose the ones with the best potential, and basically put new ideas in their heads.

@NickGreyden

7 жыл бұрын

Yes. It got in the heads of the proto-humans and, over time, taught them more and more complex thoughts. I don't think it actually taught them tool use, but instead kind of "made" them do tasks and the ones that lacked the coordination and dexterity to preform were weeded out and the ones that "graduated", by virtue of the tasks forced to preform, became more intelligent and were able to leverage that jump start to get ahead. In a very real way, the monolith was a stern teacher to early man teaching it to think.

@DustinSummy

7 жыл бұрын

This is neat, but the book and the movie aren't necessarily consistent. I think Matt shows pretty clearly that everything you need is in the movie. I personally don't like to imagine that the mechanics of how the monolith "works" are known. I like to keep it mysterious and alien. Any explanation is just ad hoc rationalizations, anyway. Let it be spooky.

@SOLIDSNAKE.

10 ай бұрын

You mean like a TV

I just found your 2001 videos and loved them- I hope some day you'll return to the topic & talk a little bit about HAL :)

Great explanations. I already knew the general meaning of the Dawn Of Man piece but your detailed explanation really added depth to it all.

Thuroughly enjoyed this analysis. Thought provoking, and while I thought I've seen this film enough times to understand what it was attempting to convey, listening to your thoughts really made me want to watch again to better 'get it'. Would love to see more in this series.

Fantastic series of videos. Love watching you talk about this stuff. Pretty sure Arthur C. Clarke is the one who came up with the idea of aliens influencing human evolution though because it was based on a short story he published over a decade earlier called Encounter in the Dawn.

I've really been enjoying your movie reviews, and especially appreciate your analysis of 2001, so far. Both videos have made me want to re-watch the film. I also am interested in checking out Possession now.

i really love your analysis of 2001 so far. I always pictured the monolith as a physical representation of Insight or Ingenuity. The human ability to understand abstract thought. The monolith is so foreign to these monkeys that in a way it forces them to think of possibilities that were previously not considered possible. "well if this big impossible thing can exist, maybe other things can too" and the birth of human insight and ingenuity.

Amazing video and series!!

I could listen to MC talk for hours, jeez! Never took the time to watch this movie and now I feel like I have been missing out.

Anyone here from the monolith found in Utah

@lol_luis4317

3 жыл бұрын

Yup

@dimitrijoestar158

3 жыл бұрын

Me!

@estelle4612

3 жыл бұрын

I'm like what the hell is that what is everyone talking about 😳

@lol_luis4317

3 жыл бұрын

@@estelle4612 lmao 😂

@joandelacruz26

3 жыл бұрын

There’s an alignment happening that it hasn’t happened since the middle ages 😰

I really love the way phrase things, everything sounds more than they are, in a good and epic way.

Ooh nice framing Matt. Good use of the rule of thirds. Also great video, as always.

Late to the game on this, but the books by Clarke are a little more explicit. TMA's (Monoliths) are robotic swiss army knives. Advanced tools of another civilization that seek out potential intelligence and encourage it as a primary imperative. The "how" depends on the situation, e.g. in 2010: Odyssey Two TMA-2 disappears, reappears in Jupiter's atmosphere, and begins multiplying to increase the planet's mass to initiate fusion. And this time, not to nudge humans in a certain direction, but another developing species beneath the ice of Europa. Hence Dave Bowman's final message: "All these worlds are yours - except Europa. Attempt no landing there."

I've not a clue what this is, I just like listening to you discuss things in a way that my brain appreciates x)

Great description! I totally agree. Kubrick is my favorite director (it might be hard to tell) and 2001 is one of my all-time favorite films and it's always great to see new discussions about the film from respected individuals. I loved the Russian scene. I never picked up on the spy context and I love it! This is the one film I'd love to see in theaters. Still haven't had the chance, but one day. Additionally, I love how we never see the aliens; it gives them that unknown but felt presence that one has with a deity, if that makes sense. Looking forward to the video on good ol' HAL!

This is one of the greatest movies ever made. I can watch this over and over and still get something different out of it. That is what Stanley Kubrick wanted. To stir our imagination and intellect with his art.

OK.... You Got Me.....! Liked and subscribed..! First Time I ever thought of the Monoliths as uplift devices......

This was amazing!

The book version of 2001 explains act one in more detail. It's a great read.

wonderful dissection of this piece, ty

Great video Matt, It's also one of my all time favorites. The predator is a Leopard though, not a cheetah. On that note, I always found it hilarious that there is apparantly filled with tapirs in east africa,according to this movie:)

I thought the Eureka moment was a lightbulb and a ping!-sound. Gotta re-watch this movie, again.

In 2010, if I remember correctly, Dave tells Heywood that the aliens made a mistake and want to correct it with the monolith/Jupiter... Something many miss is that the monolith is there when Moonwatcher is learning to use tools. Then Kubrick shows the monolith has vanished. THEN Moonwatcher uses the tool as a weapon... yes, in the book he kills the cat with the tool while the monolith is there, but I interpret that as defence. After he's no longer guided by the monolith he turns to aggression. This is the mistake Dave is referring to, they left us to our own devices before our primitive lizard brains had s elves out of lust for violence.

I watched this immediately after reading Nameless... Some pretty amazing concepts in both that comic and this movie. Its been years since I watched 2001, I'm going to have to put some time aside and watch it again!

I took a film class this past winter and we watched 2001. We came to a conclusion that every interaction with the monolith included a passing of information, coincidentally influencing the evolution of man. I love your analysis. I came up with a lot of similar ideas analyzing the dawn of man.

2017 - still waiting for HAL video

@samprastherabbit

6 жыл бұрын

Day 11,689...Still I wait for Colville to return through the Phase Rift with HAL... My supplies are running low & my suit is breaking down. I fear the environment will overcome my defences before +++END+++

2020 all of Matt's movie videos help me sleep

Glad I'm not playing the "when Matt says monkey" drinking game. I'd be dead 🤣

thanks for the videos. by the way, you have nice hair. so classy.

Oh I love everything you say and talk about. The dungeons and dragons stuff is amazing, but you find a way to make even movies we've all seen ages ago interesting again too. It must be honeyed voice and beautiful beard.

Absolutely love the movie reviews. Still waiting on more.

You could also read the book, albeit, unlike the movie, the book is very forward, up-front and detailed in a more obvious way. As a bonus, a lot of the scenes from the movie and book correlate in interesting ways and, having read and seen both, you can take more out of both.

“The cheetah isn’t good or bad, it’s just successful.” BRB, gotta go write my BBEG’s evil speech.

First 5 seconds is my new favorite GIF.

The soundtrack for this movie is amazing!

Gosh, you should narrate audiobooks. It is so good!

From over a year ago. Can't believe I missed this!

Good review

The very first time i saw 2001 A Space Odyssey i saw it with my family when i was younger. I asked my Father "What is the monolith". He said it is 'The Wall Of Knowledge'. You'll notice every time it shows up life advances in some way. Arthur C. Clarke wrote 4 Space Odyssey books. (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey two, 2061: Odyssey three, 3001: The Final Odyssey).

January 2018 - Where’s the Hal Video ?? Hope we get to watch it soon. Such a good series, great job.

It's been years since I saw 2001, but what I mostly recall is thinking some parts were way too drawn out. Especially towards the end when it felt like 20 minutes of "look at these -amazing- horribly outdated color effects". I remember walking away twice during that part, only to come back and realize "yep, that nauseating mess is still going on". Which unfortunately left me feeling quite hostile towards the whole end of the movie, because it was preceded by a dull, nauseating, mess that I felt went on for far too long. But these videos do a good job of reminding me what I liked about the movie.

Just finished a weekly session of D&D and there's a brand new Matt Colville video?! Is it CHRISTMAS??!

I gotta say I'm loving this series. When I first watched 2001 as a kid I found the monolith kinda scary and I think that's affected all my subsequent viewings of the film. I thought that the defining trait of humanity that the monolith sort of grants or enhances is violence, but I'm liking the curiosity/intellignece theory a lot more. Can't wait to go back and watch the film again after this series is done!

You just inspired me to watch this again.

Not to cross the streams, but I would love to run a Monolith campaign in D&D. A world with young civilization. Maybe one city, maybe just a scattering of towns and rice kingdoms without a concept of nation or empire. Outside the wooden motte-and-bailey walls of the towns, the cold and indifferent world swallows up the unprepared. Iron and bronze are the true emperors. One day, you and your closest friends are out hunting, or foraging, or defending one of the brave souls that cross the miles of open expanse to conduct trade. You make camp for the night. In the morning, you see only a slab of black, featureless stone. After a flurry of hushed dares and disputes of seniority, you are shoved forward. You reach out a hand to touch the stone. When you turn back, your hand is on fire.

Tks for the explanation Sir.

thanks for doing this love that film but some things just never click

i like your optimism

I've never seen 2001 but I watched a documentary on film and they do mention it a lot. I find the movie fascinating.

This was not the monolith I was looking for, but hey, I liked your Dune games so sure.

Jesus Christ, Dead Space is just eldritch horror Space Odyssey I can't believe how long this took me to realize

The cadence with which you speak has a similar ferocity to Harlan Ellison, that's a compliment by the by.

This video got me thinking about who we are and where we came from and who is out there and how do we all exist. Lol

Wow finally someone who is able to explain the purpose of the monoliths. Great. Never going to watch 2001 the same way again

Please do more videos!!

I've watched the movie and read Clarke's novel. Both are worth each other and they are pretty inetersting beasts of their own. They take time. A lot of time to develop and show you, what's up. But in the end they really worth each other and I've enjoyed both of them!

The Mandalorian show uses a very high tech version of front projection similar to act 1 but its a full 360 projection using hardware to alter the screens based off where the camera and actors are in the space in real time. Neat stuff.

the book/script does a good job of showing how the tool went from hunt to defence to offensive weapon. This is the cheetah, and the movie cuts the scene where they defend themself from the cheetah in between hunting and waging war.

I know this is an old video but I'd still love to share my thoughts. I really like your ideas about nature and that the monolith rewarding Moonwatcher's curiosity, I had never thought of it that way! Super interesting video. You've already linked the monolith’s shape to a screen, so it is certainly a piece of technology. Rather than an alien device used to give humans intelligence though, I see the monolith as the CONCEPT of technology, a physical representation of it, and therefore of change/progression/evolution. In this way it is "man-made", not created by aliens. The monolith guided humanity's intelligence for sure, but instead of some having to guess some alien's intentions (why would they care to aid in humanity's evolution?), technology (as a concept, not a living being with motives) has been the guide and the catalyst for our evolution. It would explain how the monolith can just materialize anywhere. I think it still fits (and gives evidence for?) your theory of rewarding curiosity and the monolith lacking the capacity for good and evil, don't you think? Does that make sense?

I never had a problem understanding the beginning of this film, I thought it was pretty straight forward. I just never understood the ending with the white room and Dave transitioning between different stages of his life and suddenly I guess becoming a space baby. I figure the monolith upraised him again but there's a lot of symbolism that went over my head in the white room that I assume was the force behind the monolith communicating ideas to Dave.

@ClumzorZ

7 жыл бұрын

I can see that. I'll have to re-watch it again with that mindset.

I saw in a video from a little bit ago a map from one of your games. I came to the most recent to ask you what you use to make/draw your maps. It looked like a computer application?

I think Kubrick had a premonition and saw all humanity worshipping this small monolith called smart phone

I also saw below that someone saw the monolith as passive, a watcher. This is definitely true of the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly monolith. That piercing noice it emits when "powered up" by the Sun is a massive data stream

The monolith is the wide screen used when the movie was first released, if you watch the entire film there is an opening scene with the same disjointed voices as when the ape men aproach the monolith as well as the scene on the moon.

As an aside, I think the sudden cut to the Monolith when Moonwatcher was among the bones was less literal. It didn't need to actually be activating. It already did what it was supposed to do, when the monkeys touched it. The cut to it was, rather, a means of symbolically connecting Moonwatcher's sudden "Eureka!" moment with the Monolith. To call back to that first contact, and show that it was having a distinct hand in what was about to happen.

Please come out with the HAL video!

Could you comment on Mel Brooks' take on the "Dawn of Man" from History of the World Pt.1?

you kinda forgot about H.G. Wells not that he's super relevant to this story he's just another kinda cerebral sci-fi author who preceded the 1950s

@babastanandfam

6 жыл бұрын

There are some other exceptions, but Matt's generally right about the overall trend. Wells started of sci-fi really, really, really well, but it (mostly) fell into (mostly) deserved ill-repute until the 2nd half of the 20th century.

POV: Your here trying to figure out what the monolith is after watching that video on tiktok

I see you showing off starcraft board game back there.. 😭

The shots of the monolith lining up with various celestial bodies...I think that it shows us that the device is powered by, or is in perfect harmony with, the mechanics of the universe. The same thing that holds planets in precise orbits is related to it and its creators. When the monolith acts, it's coming into alignment with whatever that power is.

I didn't think it was that obscure. It's kind of obvious what it is and what it does. Though, you articulated it very well. The more interesting thing about it, as it is with all such things, is who put it there, and why?

You should read Edgar Morin’s book “The Cinema, or The Imaginary Man”; Very interesting mentions comes about the monolith, the white room death if Bowman scene, and the star baby.

@poodlefilmstrailer

6 жыл бұрын

Particularly that monolith, as you’ve pointed out, is size of a movie frame

The fact that all the monitors in the movie, have the same size ratio as the Monolith, mirroring that this thing is a medium for knowledge.

Perhaps the jaguar just symbolizes that there is nothing inherently evil about killing. There was killing before the monolith, there will be killing after. They killed for food, now they kill for water. It is survival and preservation just like the jaguar. It is not good, nor evil, it is however necessary.

Hi man! I really loved this opinion (and also 2001) so 7 months ago I made the subtitles in spanish for it. So spanish speakers could enjoy your opinion. But I think you haven't approved them. There's something wrong?, maybe you could give me some feedback. :)

Ah, a man of culture!

Consensus is it is an alien device with an overtly geometric design. Later in the film HAL is our imitation of the Monolith. When Dave conquers the tool HAL the actual Monolith rewards him by bringing him to the actual owners who at that point appear as hyper dimensional diamonds. Question is did HAL turn on the crew or was it the Monolith using HAL to test Dave?

One thing that I think that is also expressed in this sequence is the idea of the first thought. The Monolith allows Moon Watcher to be the first monkey ever to discover the use of the Tool. There is always some one in history that has a brand new though and when this happens it becomes shared though all humanity to the point that 2 million years later we are still using the same thoughts that have been around for eons. I don't want to jump ahead but when the Monolith shows back up later it is about to start the next era of humanity and grant us a new thought that no one has thought before. And then the movie becomes this surreal experience after this as the people are experiencing new thoughts. Just another way of looking at it but its art so pretty much anything you read into it is right. Interest to see what other people think the monolith is.

They should’ve made one tribe distinct I had no idea there were to tribes. The movie really needed that establishing shot. Thanks for pointing this out. On the monolith in later works it’s declared to be “full of stars” this implies it’s an agent of creation itself and more akin to an angel than an alien device, just a thought.

@truthteller5521

5 жыл бұрын

DorjeDriftwood Kubrick did create distinctions, closely watch. One tribe is hairier than the other, there are other differences as well.

I've always thought of the Monolith not so much as an active force (even though it can be) but as a passive one. A watcher of Man's History, appearing when a fundamental and profound paradigm shift is to occur. It is not THE cause of our evolution, but rather observing it

@shawnoneil2046

5 жыл бұрын

Henry Zakay It's funny that i found that you wrote this, because when i saw the movie, that's how i perceived the Monolith as well in the movie.

@elrathJohnson

Жыл бұрын

I came here to say something similar; the book explicitly disagrees, but I think it's a valid read of the movie. I prefer that interpretation because it puts these grand leaps in evolution in humanity's hands.

but matthew, u didnt talk about the monolith in middle and ending of the film. why its there? why its in that room at the end of the film? i watched this movie over 10 times. it still amaze me. thanks man.

H.G. Wells wrote speculative science fiction, and that was in the 1890s and early 1900s. Man of Year Million was a great example of this

So, HAL is up next. I hope you'll do a fourth video on the psychodelic lightshow and the last scene, because I would be really interested in your analysis of those.

@2010zagadka

7 жыл бұрын

Agamemnon No spoilers here, but the ending is actually fairly straightforward, once you understand the first act.

@TheAgamemnon911

7 жыл бұрын

Philip Grove Thats why I am so interested in Matts analysis. I feel like there is something else hidden in the ending, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

@2010zagadka

7 жыл бұрын

Agamemnon I don't think there is anything hidden, but it will be interesting to hear his analysis anyway, maybe he knows something that I have missed.

This one wasn't quite as interesting as your analysis of the conversation with the Russian scientists. Mostly because, in the book, the first act makes it super obvious what is happening, so everyone who has read the book already knows all of this (I've read the book, but have not seen the movie yet). In the previous video, you pointed out a lot of things that were even obscured in the book. What I did find interesting was that you called the monolith an "uplifting device." Are you by chance referencing the works of David Brin?

@mcolville

7 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure Brin invented the idea of an "uplift device" though he may have invented the term? Not sure on the provenance of the term there.

@OronisTheWanderer

6 жыл бұрын

I think it is done as a psychedelic sequence for the same reason psychedelics themselves are seen as uplifting experiences: this is the expansion of the mind of Dave far, far beyond anything he'd previously known. This was Dave evolving into something more right before our eyes. And he enters a space, some dimension, something, where time itself no longer works as Dave understood it. As humans understand it. Here, time exists all at once, not in a linear fashion. I believe Kubrick filmed that psychedelic sequence to prep the mind of the viewer. To make them question not only this sequence but everything in the movie up to that point. As Matt points out, it's all about the experience of watching the film. And that sequence certainly does seem to make people think. A lot. Then, at the end, the starchild is there to advance humanity even further still. Perhaps to uplift them fully, now that they've evolved to space travel, and been more brave than afraid to once again touch, interact with, in this case enter the monolith. They passed some sort of major test, and are about to become something more. No indication whether that will be good or ill for mankind. Only that it will be a massive change of some sort.

If you were old enough to play SimEarth, that game supported the same hypothesis. You could use the monolith game feature to make one of the animals in your simulation sentient.