Chase explains 2001 to Confused Matthew because somebody really needs to - part 5 of 9

This is part 5 of my epic 9 part response / rebuttal to Confused Matthew's "review" of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I decided to explain 2001 and just how truly "confused" Confused Matthew really is because somebody needs to. IF you are a fan of 2001 and on the fence or not a fan at all of Mr. Confused then this may be for you but be advised, it's long and i may not make too much sense if you haven't seen 2001 or Confused Matthew's review of it.

Watch Full Playlist here - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A92A639CBA3CBD66

part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WvrQ6h_GWE
part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Su8vPlZHJw
part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PSsmkzGJPE
part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbgTAMNbqNE
part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEYZxvyzzo
part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cutpLn2_DN4
part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GsMidV6MzA
part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xs4DprRR6k
part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF_xfD9i7PI

Here is a link to Matthew's review of 2001 (heads up if you like the movie, it's hard to get through) - http://www.confusedmatthew.com/2001%3A-A-Space-Odyssey.php

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• chase melendez
• 2001
• space odyssey
• confused matthew
• movie review
• part 5
• video response

[twooffour]

7:50 Everyone likes a psychedelic weird-out sequence. FUCK YOU, Matthew.

8:06 Ok, "monstrous"... whatever.

8:20 Who does?

8:57 It is, because this can all be a hallucination - the Monolith affects the mind, remember?

[twooffour]

4:49 Good!

5:00 It's more concrete than that: HAL thinks that David can't handle the vacuum, but David's too badass.

Obviously, HAL made a mistake.

Why did he do that mistake, doesn't he know about the physical capabilites of a man to sustain vacuum for a few seconds? Not so "flawless" after all, or maybe misinformed.

5:30 Because that's the STYLE part.

5:40 Great, film history, not the movie.

6:00 Moviemaking technology.

6:10 All atmosphere.

7:10 I could think of other dichotomies, too.

[twooffour]

4:35 Or it just implies the Monolith hovering around.

The intermission with the "Monolith music" starts after HAL is shown to read the astronauts' lips, and it's pretty clear that whatever additional "awareness" HAL might've "gained" in the process, it was already there when he read their lips, and already there when HAL offered his "suspicions" about the unclear nature of the mission.

The dudes were already creeped out by HAL when they got into that shuttle... before the Intermission starts.

[twooffour]

Then, the Monolith apparently does nothing to the astronauts on Clavius, and it sends out the radio signal all of a sudden.

That means it's not just a constant emitter of intelligence, it does so only specifically (possibly).

It aimed at the apes. It aimed at David. Did it really aim at the ship's computer?

See, that's what INTERPRETATION is about - the movie gives you barebones, you're left to put them into a sensible, interesting structure.

But the movie doesn't tell you any of that.

[twooffour]

That's a cool interpretation.

Or what if the Monolith feeds AGGRESSION, too? The apes finding a way to kill (did they kill anyone before?) - HAL going bonkers.

Or maybe the Monolith doesn't give intelligence, or consciousness? Maybe it's like an immersive movie screen (you know, it looks like one) that shows people stuff?

So the ape saw someone using a bone as a stick (an image of the Monolith flashed in its mental eye, too), just as the protagonist "sees" all that weird psychedelic stuff?

[twooffour]

Some self-preservation program written into HAL that functioned in an unpredicted way; "fear" could've been included as one of the emotions this computer was supposed to simulate.

Whatever.

Hey, anyone here still valuding "ambiguity"? Nvm that, because Chase fucking KNOWS that Hal gained consciousness.

4:13 Not because it wasn't in the movie?

4:27 Again, no one said the Monolith gave consciousness, all it gave was a tiny dose of additional intelligence.

[twooffour]

3:55 Still can be an imitation - some of the modern day AI robots can be quite convincing.

3:58 That's part of the deal whenever AI is concerned, but how is it specifically raised by the film?

4:09 Interpretation. Who said he wasn't conscious from the beginning? What if consciousness simply emerges from the proper "wiring" of the brain, or software? Then he and the other HALs have been conscious all the time.

Or... they're not conscious, and this was just a convincing illusion.

[twooffour]

Chase is being disingenuous here.

The HAL segment is the only chapter in the film that's dense in plot, character and dialogue, and SHARING A TROPE with slasher movies doesn't change that, nor does it magically disconnect a film critic from comprehending it just because they have no clue about movies with torture, demons and supernatural super-psychopaths.

3:15 I'm thrilled...

3:44 Actually, both ways of putting the question are valid. CM's one was just spelled out in the film ;)

[twooffour]

(the Hannibal Lecter movies are often called "thrillers", and they mostly are), or rather than corporate assassins covering up a conspiracy; and, of course, monsters, ghosts and demons), you can really see that horror can very easily be nothing but a more intense thriller.

HAL doesn't cross into horror category just because he shares a trope with Miachael Myers - but I suppose you could call it a "transitionary form" (a horror thriller) if you want.

The point is...

[twooffour]

1:30 THRILLER.

When you look at the range a "thriller" movie can wander on, from something like "Witness" (assassins chasing a witness, Indiana Jones protects him) to something like 24 (cold-blooded murderers betraying the main character for some kind of "ideals"; horrible tragedies, torture, and sadistic choices), and then the horror genre (from sadistic choices like in Saw to pure torture like in Hostel; a psychopath killing people rather than sitting behind bars for half of the movie (