What is Kubrick's film A Space Odyssey about? The age-old mystery in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey"

About the film "2001: A Space Odyssey"

© Mariner

E. Melikyan

01/29/2003 | Visitors: 36192

That's what he said great poet many centuries ago. But these words have not lost their relevance to this day - what shines for us through the veil of Nothingness? What awaits us after the fall of the Veil - a fatal end or another beginning? No one can give an answer, and we know for certain only one thing - that all of us, sooner or later, will find ourselves there, behind the cover of Nothingness...

However, how are the words of the great poet and medieval scientist Omar Khayyam related to the main topic of our article - the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"? There is no doubt that Arthur C. Clarke's novella, on which the film's script is based, is a work of science fiction. However, in the film, all the main ideas and images of the work unexpectedly acquire a deep symbolic and philosophical connotation. Even the word "Odyssey", usually used to mean "The Great Journey", in the film refers not so much to the heroes of the film, but to all of humanity. This is a great journey from a semi-conscious existence in the guise of an ape to the awakening of consciousness and intelligence, and in the finale - the revelation of a high spiritual potential in each of us.

The introduction to the film features a solemn passage from Richard Strauss's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, accompanied by an unusually effective and beautifully presented planetary configuration - the Sun, Moon and Earth lined up in one line. (for the inhabitants of the Earth, this event manifests itself as an eclipse of one of the luminaries, in in this case- Sun).

The eclipse generally plays a critical role in the film itself, marking dramatic changes in the plot. Perhaps this is a hint that cosmic rhythms are much more closely related to ours earthly life, than we imagine. On the other hand, the three celestial bodies may refer to the three stages of human evolution symbolically passed through in the film. In the first part of the film, we see the prehistoric Earth, inhabited by our distant ancestors - apes. This is the initial stage of evolution. Living creatures are still driven by aggression and hunger, and on the screen they are shown constantly fighting and devouring food. This is a clear manifestation of primary instincts and aggression, which in ancient India were associated with the action of kundalini energy. By the way, we find several symbols related to kundalini in another creation of the director - Clockwork Orange - this is a snake, the favorite of the main character of the film (in ancient India, kundalini was often depicted in the form of a coiled snake), as well as plaster male genitalia, which Alex, the main the hero kills his second victim - an old woman.

However, let's return to prehistoric Earth - suddenly, in the miserable and hopeless existence of monkeys, something appears that makes you forget about hunger and struggle for a short time. This thing is a rectangular black monolith, the key mystery of the film. For several minutes we see the monkeys scurrying helplessly around a black stone, filled with amazement and awe, and in vain attempts to understand the nature of this mysterious black object that suddenly burst into their lives. Some time after the appearance of the monolith, an event occurred that radically influenced not only the life of the monkey tribe, but the entire course of history as a whole - our distant primate ancestors invented a tool (and weapons), thereby gaining clear superiority over their less intelligent brothers. This gave them the opportunity to resist the environment and become meat eaters, thus avoiding starvation.

Soon the film makes a very graceful transition from the prehistoric past into the distant future - the peak of the development of technocratic civilization. The weapon invented by the monkeys is now extremely sophisticated and improved, we even see the first columns of people on the moon..

In the second part of the film, the action moves from the Earth to the Moon, which is the second celestial body in the eclipse that was played out several times in the film. The second monolith is discovered on the Moon, and we suddenly become witnesses to the fact that people who have reached previously incredible heights in the development of science and technology have not advanced one step in understanding the nature of the mysterious black monolith. They are as confused and helpless in front of him as monkeys. Here for the first time the thought comes about comparing the black monolith with the most important mystery that inevitably and ominously arises in the life of every person - the mystery of Death and the meaning of existence. The monolith is black precisely because black is the color of destruction and mourning, and on the other hand, the color of mystery. Black color conceals something unrevealed. However, at the end of the film, when the hero discovers the third monolith near the orbit of Jupiter, it appears purple, not black! Purple, as well as blue, is often contrasted with red to create psychological contrast (see previous article - “New films, old fairy tales”). Red, the lowest frequency of the visible color spectrum, is associated with inferior aggression and struggle, while blue is associated with humility and spirituality.

Thus, we are led to the idea that the ominous and incomprehensible black monolith is fraught with prospects spiritual growth and transformation. We are convinced of this in the third part of the film, where the action from the Moon is transferred to interstellar space in order to reach its destination - Jupiter. We now see space through the eyes of astronauts. Before this, it was presented in the film as beautiful, full of harmony and rhythm, which is very expressively conveyed by the waltz “Beautiful Blue Danube”. Now it is cold and boundless, and fills the astronauts with a feeling of loneliness and the endless distance and pettiness of earthly life.

Some of the crew are in a state of hibernation - their bodies are frozen and resting in embryo-like cocoons. In the future, we get the feeling that both awake cosmonauts are also in a similar state - detached and emotionless.

When one of the astronauts dies at the hands of a supercomputer, we see him freely floating, with bent arms and legs, and in a helmet that looks more like the head of an insect or animal than a person, in the vast and infinitely distant expanses of Space, and here again an association arises with the embryonic stage of development. Thus, we are gradually, willy-nilly, preparing for the beautiful and solemn ending of the film - the birth of the Star Child. But first, the embryos undergo a kind of survival test, and most of of them (the entire crew with the exception of one astronaut, Dave Bowman) dies, just as this actually happens in Nature.

Dave Bowman successfully passes the survival test: in one of the film’s frames we see him twisted and suffocating in a cramped red chamber (an involuntary association arises with the state of fetal hypoxia). In fact, the theme of conception, as a prerequisite for the emergence of something new and beautiful, is present in the film starting from the second part, when the action moves to near-earth space. In the beautiful, harmonious and rhythmic Space, two satellites - American and Russian - are approaching each other. Russian near-Earth space station 10 times larger than the American satellite, round in shape and moves very slowly, inertly rotating around the Earth. The small, pointed and fast-moving American shuttle approaches her. Both devices begin to rotate in time with the stars, as if waltzing with them and simultaneously synchronizing the rotation with each other. Only after this do they merge to become another visual and beautiful confirmation that life on Earth is inextricably and indestructibly linked with the Cosmos and its rhythms. We begin to literally feel the cosmic quality human existence. On the other hand, the image can be interpreted as the final merger and union of two opposing powers (at the time when the film was filmed, the confrontation between two strong countries - the USA and Soviet Union- attracted the attention of the whole world). As a result, the hero, having gone through a series of deadly tests, flies to the star gate in the orbit of Jupiter.

In a surprising way, the creation of cinema of the 20th century echoes the poem of the great Dante - “The Divine Comedy”. After all, Dante’s poem begins with a plunge into hell, into a raging cauldron of the most terrible passions and vices. Stanley Kubrick makes us experience the same thing by showing the prehistoric Earth so realistically. In fact, this period of history is also part of our soul - the unconscious, animal part, in which primary instincts and aggression rage. Let us remember that Dante’s descent into hell begins with the vision of several animals, also symbolizing vices.

The intermediate stage - purgatory - is located in near-earth space. It is significant that Kubrick at this stage has many things in common with monkeys - for example, they always appear in the frame devouring food. There is also struggle and confrontation, but in a more refined and civilized form. One cannot help but get the impression that people are still driven by the same original motives - hunger, fear, struggle for territory. Next we are transported into interstellar space, and like Dante, we reach the boundaries of the solar system. Initially, according to the script, it was planned to show the orbit of Saturn, but the then technical capabilities did not allow us to recreate the rings of Saturn realistically enough. As a result, the action had to be moved to Jupiter. Near the orbit of Saturn, the poet sees an endless staircase to heaven, and the modern astronaut sees the Star Gate. Thus, the greatest space odyssey of all mankind is approaching its finale. For the third time, the familiar planetary configuration is played out - this time Jupiter and its satellites line up on the same line, marking another dramatic breakthrough in human evolution. Purple in starlight this time a black monolith appears, which in the film is the factor that prompted man to complete the great Odyssey. U Italian poet this driving force was his beloved Beatrice, and in the film it is the eternal Mystery, a black monolith.

Finally, in the finale, the hero rushes through the stargate. Along the way, he experiences a series of revelations, as if the secrets of existence are revealed to him in images and visions. There is also an association with the birth process described by the patients of the American psychologist Stanislav Goff, as well as the experience of birth and death, which ancient shamans often resorted to. It is noteworthy that just before the moment of birth, as S. Groff describes in his books, a person, as a rule, experiences his death. The same thing happens to the astronaut - quickly, as if in a compressed version, and silently he experiences the stages of his life - youth, maturity, old age, and finally - death.

Just before death, the Black Monolith appears, Once again confirming the connection of the monolith symbol with the eternal mystery of life and death. But the solution comes immediately after the death of the hero, when a shining Star Child appears in the frame, capable of traveling through space without any technical devices. Having received initiation and having learned the great Mystery of humanity, the reborn hero returns to Earth, accompanied by the solemn chords of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I also remember the solemn ending of Dante’s poem, in which the hero returns to Earth in the same way (awakens from sleep):

It is interesting that at the end of the film the teachings of alchemists about the transformation of matter are also recalled - after all, as it turned out, they spoke in an allegorical form about the transformation of the human soul. The first stage is Nigredo (from the Latin Niger - black). There is a cognition of the shadow, one’s negative and rejected qualities. The person is in a semi-conscious state. The next stage is Albedo (from the Latin albus - white). Symbolically associated with the Moon. The process of washing away the blackness begins, but the person has not yet fully awakened. Finally, at the third stage - Rubedo, a person finally awakens and recognizes the true possibilities. The Rubedo stage is symbolically associated with the Sun, and thus the eclipse of the three celestial bodies, shown several times in the film, can also be reduced to an alchemical allegory.

An analogy with Indian myths also involuntarily comes to mind, where the evolution of man is presented in allegorical form - according to Hindu beliefs, Vishnu first incarnates in the form of animals, then as a man, and will subsequently come as a superman and Savior.

Naturally, one can also cite great amount analogies and explanations of the images and symbols of the film. But to fully understand it, it is best, bypassing words, to perceive and absorb the work with the soul, for it speaks eternal and universal language rhythms, colors and vibrations. Only in this way, penetrating into our soul with the help of eternal symbols and signs, can art reveal to us the beauty, harmony and unity of the Universe and our existence.

A cult American-British science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, which had a huge influence on the formation and development of modern film science fiction. The film is an adaptation of stories by an English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

The plot of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

The plot of the film "" takes place in the future. In the orbit of Jupiter, the military discovers an ancient monolith artifact - a mysterious extraterrestrial object of perfect shape, absolutely black. Thanks to this “monolith”, once at the dawn of mankind, Australopithecus learned to use fire and created the first tools. Later, a second monolith was found on the Moon. A team of scientists consisting of research group Discovery One flies towards Jupiter, unaware that it will collide with a mysterious extraterrestrial object. Computer with artificial intelligence, who controls the ship - HAL 9000 - receives clear instructions from the military not to mention the true purpose of the expedition. Ship pilots Dave Bowman(Kier Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) are sure that they are flying to explore the rings of Saturn. HAL 9000 then suffers a programming glitch and kills one of the pilots. The surviving Bowman deactivates the computer and discovers the monolith. While trying to explore the object, he makes an incredible discovery...

Interesting facts about the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

At one time the painting " 2001: A Space Odyssey"made a real revolution in cinema and opened new horizons in the production of science fiction films. During the filming of the film, the director worked closely with NASA specialists. NASA scientists later named one of the Mars probes, which was launched on April 7, 2001, after the film.

The film is based on the stories of the English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

The director once admitted: “I wanted to make a good, beautiful science-fiction film.”

There were legends surrounding the filming of the film. For example, that the director participated in the so-called “Moon Conspiracy” and was involved in filming the American landing on the Moon, which actually took place in Nevada.

Particular attention should be paid to the musical accompaniment: in almost all of his films the director uses classical music ( Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss). In his opinion, it fits most organically into the world described by the author. The opening shots of the film are accompanied by an introduction symphonic poem"Thus Spake Zarathustra", the author of which is the great German composer Richard Strauss. In addition, many scenes in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey are accompanied by fragments of works by the Hungarian avant-garde composer György Ligeti. The composer later sued Stanley Kubrick for illegal use and modification of the music.

In 1984, director Peter Hyams directed a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's film entitled " 2010: year of contact».

The film's budget was $12 million, and the box office in the United States was almost $57 million.

To imitate the lunar surface, it was necessary to wash and repaint several tons of sand.

The footage was 200 times longer than the length of the film that was released.

Construction of the Discovery One spacecraft cost $750 thousand.

The first word in the film is spoken only 25 minutes into the film. Before this, stunningly beautiful pictures of the Universe and the surrounding outer space are shown.

The film received the " Oscar"for the best visual special effects and many prizes (including the award " Best movie" and "Best Director") at many prestigious world film festivals.

In 2011, in a lawsuit between Samsung and Apple, representatives of Samsung stated that the prototype of the iPad can be seen in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In 2018, to mark the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a new restored 70mm version was released. The restoration took place under the direction of the director

1. How it all ended in the books

The reason for the creation of the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” was the story by Arthur C. Clarke “The Sentinel” about how in 1996 people find a pyramid-shaped artifact on the Moon, which is surrounded by an invisible shield that emits a radio signal: as soon as this shield is turned off, it turns on alarm - an object signals that it has been found. Stanley Kubrick suggested that the science fiction writer turn this plot into a screenplay full-length film. But Clark not only wrote the script, but also a novel based on it, which, however, appeared on bookstores after the premiere of the film. The novel was the first part of a tetralogy called "Monolith" (after the black alien monolith that made a man out of an ape), and it differs from the film. So, for example, Kubrick spaceship Discovery flies to the orbit of Jupiter, and in the book - to the moon of Saturn. If at the end of the film, astronaut Dave Bowman, reborn as the Star Child, simply looks at the Earth, then in the book he detonates a nuclear weapon located in Earth orbit, but Kubrick thought that this would be a self-quote from Dr. Strangelove.

Surprisingly, however, something else: Clark decided to make his second book “2010: Odyssey Two”, filmed by Peter Hyams, a continuation of Kubrick’s film, and not own novel. In its plot, the Soviet-American spaceship Alexei Leonov flies to Jupiter to find out what happened to Discovery, and at the same time find out the secret of the monolith. The third and fourth novels of the tetralogy (“2061: Odyssey Three” and “3001: The Last Odyssey”) have not been filmed and are interesting because they shed light on what happened after Jupiter turned into a small star and life appeared on its satellite Europa , and also answers the question of who the Originals are - the creators of the monolith, who got rid of their bodily shells and turned their consciousness into pure energy.

2. How everything was in the original script

The original script for The Odyssey was called Beyond the Stars, and it was different from the final version. For example, it featured a voice-over narrator who explained what was happening on the screen. Four million years ago, Australopithecines found not a monolith, but a “crystal cube” that contributed to the transformation of monkeys from vegetarians to predators. The Earth of the future suffered from overpopulation and the widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons. This version did not yet have the HAL 9000 computer, but the space expedition was still equipped after the discovery of another cube on the Moon. In the finale, astronaut Bowman ended up in a hotel room furnished like in the old TV series. The phone was ringing, there were aliens on the line, who then had a humanoid appearance. Their main difference from people was that they seemed to be made of metal, had no sexual characteristics, and their heads looked like insects: two large compound eyes and a curled proboscis instead of a nose.

Subsequently, the script was reworked and received its canonical title “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The changes affected the fact that at the very beginning the voice-over explained in detail the theory of human evolution. One of the bravest australopithecines acquired the name Moonwatcher (that’s his name in Clark’s book) and became the first ape to take a step towards becoming a man: the key in this whole situation was the desire to kill. Nuclear weapons were placed in Earth's orbit, HEL appeared, and the aliens became "mechanical entities" who learned to store information in the very structure of space and sealed their knowledge in frozen light lattices. But this was not enough for Kubrick. To completely confuse the audience, he eventually decided to abandon the massive layer voiceover, shrouding the stories in a cloud of mystery. Therefore many important details, which were in the script, escaped the attention of the public.

3. The film had a prologue with interviews

Kubrick was going to make a black-and-white introduction to the film - and of a distinctly academic nature. Assistant director Roger Karez filmed interviews in which twenty scientists (among them the Soviet biologist Alexander Oparin) and one rabbi talked about space flight, artificial intelligence and the presence of life on other planets. But this material never made it into the final version - mainly due to the volumetric footage. Later there was a prologue.

4. A stuntman almost died on set

9. 360-degree view of the hotel room from the end of the film

In Washington in National Museum Aeronautics and astronautics this spring, you could visit the infernal hotel room where astronaut Dave Bowman ended up in the finale of A Space Odyssey. The setting of this scene was carefully recreated to full scale. You can judge your exposure with this 360-degree video.

10. Forgotten soundtrack

500 hours of material were shot for the film, from which Kubrick then edited into a two and a half hour film (the film was originally longer, but the director cut it by 19 minutes after critics attacked it). Moreover, in almost two-thirds of the film there are no dialogues, the heroes are in danger for about thirty minutes, and the picture itself is divided into four parts - which is not accidental, thus the director likens the film to a symphony, which usually also consists of four parts.

During editing, Kubrick was so used to classical music, used for temporary scoring (the eclectic selection included passages from “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, “The Blue Danube” by Johann Strauss, “Gayane” by Aram Khachaturian, etc.), that he decided to abandon the original soundtrack commissioned from composer Alex Norta. At the same time, North himself found out about this only at the preliminary screening. But the composer was not at a loss: he subsequently used some themes from the Odyssey for other films. The full soundtrack for the film was released only in 2007 - it was released on CD.

And this is how the rare edition of the “Space Odyssey” soundtrack sounds with its signature vinyl crackle

11. Super Panavision

The new trailer clearly demonstrates how viewers saw the film 50 years ago and how this film has been restored now

The "all-encompassing" 2.20:1 aspect ratio format that Kubrick used when filming The Odyssey. It was largely thanks to him that viewers (especially young people and hippies) came in droves to see the film - after all, what can we hide, “The Odyssey” in 1968 was largely perceived as an “attraction movie.” Film scholar Mario Falsetto believes that the original 70mm wide format should have made audiences feel as if they were watching a movie for the first time. And Max Kosloff wrote in Film Comment: “In Kubrick’s panoramas and crane shots, the movement of the camera follows the curve of the screen. The viewer, no matter where he sits - on the top or bottom row, finds himself almost physically involved in this rotation, as if watching from a balcony overlooking the solar system." And Annette Michaelson in Artforum notes that in the film, “the very immensity of the Super Panavision screen slows down the storytelling. And all this encourages viewers to “rediscover the space and dimensions of their body as a theater of consciousness.”

12. “Space Odyssey” in the USSR

The Odyssey is outdated not so much on a technological level, but on a socio-political level. Most space travel (with the exception of a small group of Russian women scientists) is made by white men, and the Cold War continues. Subject cold war was continued in the sequel “2010: Year of Contact” - and in the film, unlike Clark’s novel, there is an escalation of the conflict between the USA and the USSR.

In general, Kubrick’s relationship with Soviet viewers did not work out tragically. The pedantic Kubrick hoped to show “A Space Odyssey” at the 6th Moscow Film Festival exactly on the day the Americans landed on the moon, but the management of the MIFF decided to postpone the show, after which Kubrick became terribly angry. The film was shown later, the jury even awarded the film a prize for the best special effects, but Kubrick was so offended that he forever banned the showing of his films in the Soviet Union. Later, he forbade showing his films in dubbing in Russia.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of the film " 2001: A Space Odyssey" Even then work Kubrick caused enormous controversy not only in film studies circles, but also in scientific, philosophical, religious, and - in the broadest sense - cultural. The film raised such topics and posed such questions to the viewer that researchers have been struggling to decipher them for half a century.

On the theme of symbolism " Odyssey» thousands written scientific works and reviews, and YouTube is simply inundated with videos explaining the meaning of the film, whose total views amount to millions. But how much closer do they bring us to understanding a film whose influence and appeal have not faded decades later?

To be honest, there was a great temptation to excuse myself with a standard article about the filming - fortunately, there is something to tell about the technical side " Odyssey” amazes even today - but I simply could not do this with a film that is perhaps the most important science-fiction statement in the entire history of cinema. Therefore, I set out to find something special; something that would shed light on the meaning and message " Odyssey».

And my search was rewarded!

It turns out that in September 1968, almost six months after the film was released, Cockpit gave a rather detailed interview to the magazine Playboy. In it, the director not only answered questions regarding the metaphysical meaning of his film, but also spoke very frankly about God, immortality, nuclear holocaust, extraterrestrial civilizations, technology and the future of humanity.

Without allowing myself to interpret in any way what was said, to somehow weave it into my retelling in my own words, I decided to simply translate this interview and give you the opportunity to become a third participant in the conversation.

I am sure that what you read will not leave you indifferent.

Cover Playboy magazine from Kubrick's interview

Playboy: « Odyssey” surrounds much controversy surrounding the meaning of the metaphysical symbols that abound in the film. Black monoliths; the connection of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun at each stage of the intervention of these monoliths in the fate of humanity; a stunning final whirlpool-kaleidoscope of time and space, which absorbed the surviving astronaut and created the basis for his rebirth into a “star child”, drifting towards the Earth in a translucent shell. Some critics even called “ Odyssey» “ first Nietzschean film”, the main theme of which is Nietzsche’s concept of the evolution of people from ape to man and further to superman. What is the metaphysical message? Odyssey»?

Kubrick: The message of the film is not exposed in verbal form. « Odyssey“is primarily a non-verbal experience. Of the nearly one hundred and fifty minutes of the film, only forty contain dialogue. I sought to create a visual experience whose emotional and philosophical content would evade verbalized classification and penetrate directly into the subconscious. By McLuhan (approx. - Herbert Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher), V " Odyssey“The medium itself is the message. I wanted the film to be as subjective an experience as possible, touching a deep level of the viewer's consciousness, just like music does. After all, to “explain” a symphony Beethoven- means simply castrating her and creating an artificial barrier between understanding and perception. You can make whatever assumptions you want about the philosophical or allegorical meaning of the film - and isn’t this evidence that the film captured the viewer on a deep level - but I didn’t want to voice some kind of verbal “ road map" By " Odyssey”, which would impose a certain route on the viewer and a feeling of fear that he will miss something. I think success" Odyssey"is that it covered wide circles of the population who had not previously thought about the fate of humanity, its role in the Universe and relations with higher forms of life. But even if you are quite erudite, some of the things inherent in " Odyssey» ideas presented in the form of abstractions will seem lifeless and will immediately be assigned to some suitable intellectual categories. However, when experienced through a visual or emotional context, they can become intimately intertwined with someone's deepest fibers.

Kubrick: No! For the reasons I just stated. How much today we would appreciate " Gioconda", write Leonardo at the bottom of the canvas: “ This lady only smiles a little because her teeth are rotten", or "Oh neither hides a secret from his lover" This would turn off the viewer's perception and chain him to a “reality” different from his own. I don't want this to happen to " Odyssey».

Playboy: Arthur Clarke this is what he said about the film. “ If anyone understood it after the first viewing, we failed." Why should a viewer watch a film again to understand its message?

Kubrick: I do not agree with this statement and I think that Arthur just joking. The very nature of visual experience " Odyssey"is to give the viewer an instant, intuitive reaction that does not - and should not require - additional development. In general, I want to say that in every good movie There are components that would increase audience interest and understanding after a second viewing. The speed at which the film's events move sometimes prevents every detail or nuance from having its full impact on the first viewing. The very idea that a film should only be seen once stems from our traditional concept film as a momentary entertainment rather than a work of art. We don’t think that some beautiful musical composition you only need to listen once, or only see a good picture once; even good book no one reads only once. Until very recently, films were free of the “art” category, and I’m glad that this is starting to change.

Playboy: Speaking about what it was - if you allow, we will return to the philosophical interpretation " Odyssey“What can you say about the opinion of that part of the critics who called the film deeply religious?

Kubrick: I will say that the concept of God lies at the very heart." Odyssey”, but this is not the traditional anthropomorphic image of God. I don't believe in any of the monotheistic religions on Earth, but I believe that it is possible to build an intriguing scientific definition God. Just imagine that in our galaxy alone there are about 100 billion stars, and each star is the light that gives life. And in the visible part of the universe alone there are about 100 billion galaxies. Give the not very hot and not very cold planet a stable orbit; give it a few billion years chemical reactions, arising from the interaction of solar energy and chemical elements the planet itself, and eventually life will arise there in one form or another. It is quite reasonable to assume that there are countless planets on which biological life arose, some of which evolved into intelligent life. There are probably billions of planets in the universe where intelligent life is at a lower level than ours. But other billions are at a level that takes thousands of millions of years of evolution to reach us. Just imagine: if in just a few thousand years a person made simply gigantic technological steps - in just a few seconds in the chronology of the universe - what evolutionary development could more ancient life forms have achieved? They could advance from biological species - fragile containers for intelligence - to immortal mechanical beings, and then, after countless eternities, emerge from the “chrysalis” of matter and become beings of pure energy and spirit. Their potential would be limitless and their intelligence incomprehensible to humans.

Playboy: If such creatures exist, why should they be interested in us?

Kubrick: And they shouldn't. But we are interested in microbes, right? The motives of these creatures would be as inaccessible to us as their minds.

Playboy: IN " Odyssey“such ethereal beings seem to manipulate our destiny and control our evolution. And it remains unclear whether this is done for good or evil. Or both. Or neither. Do you really think it is possible that for such creatures we are just a toy?

Kubrick: I don’t think anything like that, how can I? Just speculating about their possible existence is quite overwhelming in itself, let alone trying to decipher their motives. An important point is that all the standard attributes that are assigned to God in our history can be assigned to the same extent to biological entities that, billions of years ago, were at the same stage of development as modern humanity, and turned into something so as distant from us as we are from the primeval swamp in which we arose.

Playboy: You mentioned the possible existence of billions of planets on which life is much more developed than ours, but has not yet transitioned to a non- or superbiological form. What effect do you see from the contact of earthlings with such a god-like and technologically superior race?

Kubrick: There are many opinions on this matter among philosophers and scientists. Some believe that encountering a technologically superior civilization - even if their technology is comprehensible to us - will produce a culture shock effect, shaking us out of our complacent self-absorption and shattering the delusion that we are the center of the universe. This position was summed up Carl Jung(note - founder of analytical psychology), describing contact with advanced extraterrestrial life: “ The reins will be torn from our hands and we, as a medicine man once told me, will find ourselves devoid of dreams. All our intellectual and spiritual aspirations will be so outdated that we will simply be paralyzed" Personally, I do not share this position, but it is widespread and cannot be unceremoniously rejected.

For example in 1960 Brookings Institution (approx. - one of the oldest think tanks in the USA) prepared for NASA report which stated that even indirect contact - i.e. Alien artifacts that may well be found as a result of our exploration activities on the Moon, Mars or Venus, or through radio contact with an interstellar civilization - can cause a serious psychological shift. The study included the following warning: " Anthropology contains many examples of societies, once confident in their place in the universe, that disintegrated after contact with previously unknown societies that held different ideas and different life path; others managed to survive the experience, but had to pay a high price and change their values ​​and behavior».

It was concluded that contact with intelligent life could occur at any moment, and since... the consequences of such a discovery “in currently unpredictable,” it would be desirable for the government to continue to study the psychological and intellectual effects of encountering extraterrestrial life. I don't know what action was taken following the report, but I assume such research is currently underway. Of course, the possible negative effect on some people cannot be denied, but personally I would look at such contact with great enthusiasm and genuine interest. Instead of destroying our society, contact would enrich it immeasurably.

Another positive point is the assumption that every intelligent life, at some stage of its technological development, must discover nuclear energy. This is an obvious watershed for any civilization: will it find a way to use it not for destruction, but for peaceful purposes; or it will destroy itself. I would suggest: if a civilization has existed for 1,000 years after the discovery of nuclear energy, then it has figured out a way to get along with the bomb. This can give us a very encouraging signal, as well as specific recommendations on how we can survive. In any case, since culture shock inevitable, I believe that human attention is very short-lived; After a week or two of excessive excitement in the newspapers and on television, public interest will subside and the UN - or any other body that we will then have - will enter into negotiations with the aliens.

Playboy: You claim that the aliens will be peaceful. Why?

Kubrick: Why should a highly developed race wish us harm? If an intelligent ant at my feet suddenly wrote in the sand, “ I'm reasonable. let's talk"I doubt I'd want to smear it with my heel. But even if they are not superintelligent, but more intelligent than us, I would be more inclined towards benevolence or at least impartiality. Since it is unlikely that we will be visited by beings from our own solar system, any society capable of traveling through light years, will have an extremely high degree of control over matter and energy. Therefore, what possible motives do they have for hatred? Steal our gold, our oil or coal? It is difficult to imagine any nefarious intentions that would justify a long and difficult journey from another star.

Playboy: You have been accused of demonstrating in your films a strong hostility towards the industrialized democratic West and a particular antagonism towards automation. Your critics claim that this was especially noticeable in " Odyssey", Where main villain- computer HAL-9000- was in a sense the only human being. Don't you think that people are becoming like robots, and robots are becoming like us? Do you see a possible fight between them?

Kubrick: Firstly, I am not at all hostile to cars, quite the contrary. But I have no doubt that we are entering an age of mechanarchy and that ours are already difficult relationships things will become even more difficult with machines as machines become more and more intelligent. It is possible that we will have to share the planet with machines whose intelligence and capabilities will far exceed our own. But our relationships - if a person sets everything up correctly - can have a disproportionately enriching effect on society.

Looking into the distant future, I believe it is not at all impossible that a semi-synthetic robot-computer subculture will one day decide that it no longer needs people. You've probably heard the story about the supercomputer of the future: for several months, scientists thought about the first question until they asked this: “ Is there a God?" For a moment the computer buzzed, the lights flickered, and a card popped up with the answer: “ This is him" But this problem is far away and I don’t wake up in the middle of the night worried about it. I'm convinced that our toasters and televisions are completely domesticated, but I'm not so sure about the telephone networks: sometimes I think there is some kind of evil life form there.

Playboy: If there is no purpose in life, is life worth living?

Kubrick: Yes, for those of us who are planning to somehow come to terms with mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces people to create their own meaning. Children begin life with an untainted sense of wonder, the ability to experience absolute joy from something as simple as the freshness of a petal. Growing up, they learn about death, and this affects their consciousness and subtly corrodes their joy of life, their idealism and assumption of immortality. As a child grows up, he sees death and pain all around him, and begins to lose faith in human kindness. But if he is strong enough - and lucky - he can emerge from this twilight of the soul and regenerate the vital impulse. At the same time, both because of and in spite of his knowledge of the meaninglessness of life, he can come up with new meaning of its purpose. He won't repeat it again pure feeling miracle he was born with, but he can create something much more sustainable and long lasting. The scariest fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent. But if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life limited by death, our existence as a species can have true meaning and completeness. No matter how great the darkness, we must shine our own light.