Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory

by Leonard F. Wheat

Overview

Acclaimed in an international critics poll as one of the ten best films ever made, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey has nonetheless baffled critics and filmgoers alike. Its reputation rests largely on its awesome special effects, yet the plot has been considered unfathomable. Critical consensus has been that Kubrick himself probably didn't know the answers.

Leonard Wheat's Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory reveals that Kubrick did know the answers. Far from being what it seems to be—a chilling story about space travel—2001 is actually an allegory, hidden by symbols. It is, in fact, a triple allegory, something unprecedented in film or literature. Three allegories—an Odysseus (Homer) allegory, a man-machine symbiosis (Arthur Clarke) allegory, and a Zarathustra (Nietzsche) allegory—are simultaneously concealed and revealed by well over 200 highly imaginative and sometimes devilishly clever symbols. Wheat "decodes" each allegory in rich detail, revealing the symbolism in numerous characters, sequences, and scenes. In bringing Kubrick's secrets to light, Wheat builds a powerful case for his assertion that 2001 is the "grandest motion picture ever filmed."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461660231
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/21/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Leonard F. Wheat was an economist with the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce before retiring in 1997. He is the author or (in one case) co-author of four previous books, including one philosophical study and three economic studies. He is also author of two book-length government studies and several journal articles and is an associate editor of the Journal of Regional Science.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Where the Answers Lie
Chapter 3 Allegory and Kubrick's Allegorical Symbols
Chapter 4 A Preview of Coming Attractions
Part 5 The Surface Story
Chapter 6 The Basic Narrative
Chapter 7 Fuzzy Areas of the Narrative
Part 8 The Odysseus Allegory
Chapter 9 Dave Bowman's Name
Chapter 10 The African Monolith
Chapter 11 The Judgment of Paris
Chapter 12 Heywood R. Floyd's Name
Chapter 13 Heywood Floyd as Paris
Chapter 14 Heywood Floyd as Menelaus
Chapter 15 The Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy
Chapter 16 The City of Ismarus and Lotus Land
Chapter 17 The Cyclops Monster
Chapter 18 The Laestrygonian Rock Attack
Chapter 19 The Sirens
Chapter 20 The Surf, Charybdis, and Scylla
Chapter 21 Hyperion and Zeus
Chapter 22 Seven Years with Calypso
Chapter 23 Phaeacian Hospitality
Chapter 24 Pallas Athene
Chapter 25 Penelope, Her Suitors, and the Great Bow
Chapter 26 Slaying the Suitors
Chapter 27 Reunion with Penelope
Part 28 The Man-Machine Symbiosis Allegory
Chapter 29 Overview of the Allegory
Chapter 30 The Dawn of Man
Chapter 31 The Evolution of Humanoid Machines
Chapter 32 Hal-Discovery as a Genuine Humanoid
Chapter 33 The Death of Homo Machinus
Chapter 34 The Evolution of Homo Futurus
Chapter 35 What About Freud and Jung?
Part 36 The Zarathustra Allegory: Background and Cast
Chapter 37 Nietzsche's Characters and Themes
Chapter 38 Interpretive Progress
Chapter 39 The Monolith's as Human Attributes
Chapter 40 Frank Poole as the Rope Dancer
Chapter 41 Heywood Floyd as the Young Zarathustra
Chapter 42 Dave Bowman as the Older Zarathustra and Overman
Chapter 43 Hal-Discovery as God
Part 44 The Zarathustra Allegory: The Action
Chapter 45 The Death of God
Chapter 46 The Immediate Aftermath
Chapter 47 Man into Overman
Chapter 48 Eternal Recurrence
Chapter 49 Appendix A: Fallacies in Zarathustra's Eternal Recurrence Argument
Chapter 50 Appendix B: List of the Zarathustra's Allegory's 160 Symbols
Part 51 Evaluation
Chapter 52 2001's Critical Stature in the Absence of Allegory
Chapter 53 The Quality of the Allegory and Symbolism
Chapter 54 One Man's Opinion

Editorial Reviews

...his conclusions...ought to be pondered by everyone with a serious interest in the film...Indeed, part of the fun of reading his book is deciding whether, detail by detail, one agrees or disagrees with Wheat's specific reading...Wheat's readings of the Nietzschean allegory are perhaps even more compelling...a valuable contribution to our understanding of the best science fiction film ever.

Science Fiction Studies

All of Wheat's correlations are well worth pondering. His writing is immediately accessible; he even directly addresses the reader, inviting forethought and additional speculation.

Extrapolation

...his conclusions...ought to be pondered by everyone with a serious interest in the film...Indeed, part of the fun of reading his book is deciding whether, detail by detail, one agrees or disagrees with Wheat's specific reading...Wheat's readings of the Nietzschean allegory are perhaps even more compelling...a valuable contribution to our understanding of the best science fiction film ever.--Science Fiction Studies

All of Wheat's correlations are well worth pondering. His writing is immediately accessible; he even directly addresses the reader, inviting forethought and additional speculation.--Extrapolation

From the Publisher