On this site will be posted analyses of popular media productions. These analyses will have to do with determining the underlying meanings of various movies, songs, and certain novels. Methods used to analyze a given production will include exploration of the creators' use of symbolism, allegory, metaphor, etc., and deciphering any arcane or obscure references that it may contain.
CATEGORY: MOVIES; WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Blade Runner' page; "Blade Runner poster" by John Alvin,[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in the year 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants — visually indistinguishable from adult humans — are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. The plot focuses on Rick Deckard (Ford), a police special operative known as a "blade runner", who reluctantly agrees to take on an assignment to hunt down some replicants who have left an off-world colony, and appeared in Los Angeles.[b]
The relationship of Blade Runner to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey
There are visual and other similarities between Blade Runner and Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as described below.
Visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey in Blade Runner, include the view of one of Leon's eyes that we see on a video screen (above left screencap), while he's being interviewed by Holden - this is reminiscent of one of the views of one of astronaut David Bowman's eyes that the 2001 audience sees (above right), while Bowman is in the stargate. The two small white spots in Leon's eye are allusions to the small bright spot near the pupil of Bowman's eye, which is a result of the brain injury Bowman suffers when he hits his bare head on the Discovery One spaceship airlock wall (see screencaps below), after he is 'ejected' into the airlock from his EVA pod.
Above left: When David Bowman is blown out of his EVA pod into the Discovery One emergency airlock, his body travels at a high rate of speed to the other side of the airlock. Above right: Bowman, who is not wearing a space helmet in this scene, then hits his head on an unpadded portion of the airlock wall. As explained in the Space Odyssey analysis, this results in Bowman suffering a brain injury.
A fundamental correspondence between Blade Runner and A Space Odyssey is this: Some of the events the audience of A Space Odyssey sees taking place, after astronaut David Bowman hits his head on the Discovery One spaceship airlock wall (such as those that take place in the 'hotel room' shown at left), comprise parts of a dream Bowman experiences before he dies from his brain injury. Similarly, some of the events the Blade Runner audience sees transpiring on the high-rise roof near the movie's ending, and the events that take place after this, comprise a dream sequence Deckard experiences just before he dies, after falling off the roof (see below).
Above left: Deckard hangs onto the rooftop ledge with just one hand. It is just after this that he falls to the ground below (though we are not actually shown Deckard falling - we are instead shown Deckard's dream of being saved from falling by Roy). Above right: Roy appears to save Deckard from falling. However, as just indicated, this is only part of a dream Deckard has begun to experience - in reality, Roy did not save him.
Above left: One hint that part of Blade Runner consists of a dream is when Leon says to Deckard, "wake up - time to die!" Above right: Another such hint is that Roy is seen holding a dove near the movie's ending. Even a replicant wouldn't be so quick as to be able, in reality, to catch a bird in his hand.
Blade Runner's hidden plot
Top left: These flying police cars in the movie, which are called spinners, suggest that one or more persons in the police department are themselves 'spinners', in the sense that they distort certain information. Top right: Bryant, Deckard's former police supervisor, is giving Deckard a 'spun' version of events early in the movie, when he tells Deckard that the four replicants he (supposedly) wants tracked down and killed, had committed mutiny on another planet and then escaped to Earth. The hint we're initially given that Deckard is being subjected to distorted information, is that if one listens carefully and compares the conversation Holden is shown having with Leon early in the movie, to the recorded version of this conversation that is later played for Deckard in Bryant's office, small differences in what is being said are noticeable. Above left: In the recorded version of Holden and Leon's conversation, being played in Bryant's office, we see Leon's face on a screen (shown), and Holden, who is conducting a Voight-Kampff test on Leon to try and determine whether or not he's a replicant, sounds as if he's saying to Leon, "So you look down, you see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you." Above right: In the actual conversation between Holden and Leon shown earlier in the movie, Holden (shown) can be heard wording his statement as, "You look down, you see a tortoise, Leon. It's crawling toward you." The implication of this is that the recorded version of the conversation has been altered from the original. The playing of the altered tape in Bryant's office, during his and Deckard's session together, is a hint from the Blade Runner filmmakers to the movie's audience, that some of the information being given to Deckard by Bryant himself, is false.[c]
Another matter on which Deckard's receiving false information from Bryant, is that he's being told Zhora (top left) is a replicant who was trained to be part of a murder squad, and Pris (top right) is a "basic pleasure model". Later in the movie, it becomes evident that things are not exactly as Bryant described, in particular, when Deckard finds Zhora working at an entertainment venue (above left), and then later, when Pris violently attacks Deckard (above right).
Top left: Sebastian has made the mistake of allowing Pris to enter his apartment, gaining Roy entrance to it. Top right: Pris pretends to comfort Sebastian, shortly before he is killed. Above left: Roy later goes to Tyrell's residence, and kills Tyrell. Above right: Still later, at one point while searching Sebastian's residence, Deckard isn't sure whether he's looking at a mannequin, a replicant, or one of Sebastian's other creations - until it turns out to be the replicant, Pris, who physically attacks him (as indicated above).
The basic hidden plot in Blade Runner is that the blade runners themselves are replicants (they are a more advanced model than the Nexus-6 replicants), and the four Nexus-6's (Zhora, Pris, Roy, and Leon) did not escape from an off-world colony; instead, it is actually the case that these four were specifically sent to Earth, to kill Deckard, Holden, and possibly other blade runners. Deckard was told that Pris was a pleasure model so that he'd approach her less carefully, than he would if he thought she was a trained killer; then, she'd be in a better position to attack him. (Deckard approached Pris somewhat tentatively only because upon seeing her, he wasn't sure whether or not it was a live person he was looking at. He didn't fully recognize her from the image he'd seen in Bryant's office.) By misinforming Deckard on the full nature of the two female Nexus-6's, Bryant was trying to set Deckard up to get killed.
The reason the authorities are using replicants to do away with the blade runners, is because the public, not to mention other blade runners, would get suspicious if one or more blade runners were found out to have been killed by human beings. The authorities have to make things appear that the blade runners are being killed in the line of duty.
Leon shoots Holden (left) after the conversation between the two men has gotten to the point, where it is evident that Leon suspects that Holden knows, that he is a replicant. If Leon had killed Holden right at the beginning of the conversation, or before it began, it would be obvious that he was sent as an assassin. Leon knows the conversation with Holden is being taped, and he has to make things appear such that he has a good reason to shoot Holden. As indicated above, Holden and the other blade runners are themselves replicants.
The single best piece of evidence, as far as what we see happen in Blade Runner, that Deckard is, in fact, a replicant, is something which occurs near the end of the movie: Deckard, starting with just three fingers of one (injured) hand placed on a protrusion from a high-rise ledge (above left), hoists himself up onto the ledge (above right). This suggests that Deckard has a certain level of 'super-human' strength; although based on his actions throughout most of the film, he doesn't appear to be super-human to the extent that the Nexus 6's are. The fact that Deckard lives long enough to experience his dream sequence, after falling off the rooftop and hitting the ground below, is further indication that he is not human; for a human being would have died on impact with the ground, as the building Deckard falls from is quite tall. It must be the case that Deckard and Holden are replicants of a series of which Rachael was only an experiment. The blade runners are more advanced than the 6's in that they are more like human beings. Also, they don't have limited life spans - this is why it is necessary for them to specifically be destroyed.
CATEGORY: MOVIES; WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Alien (film)' page; "Alien movie poster",[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]
Welcome to the analysis of Alien. Buttons at the bottom of each post enable navigation through the parts of the analysis.
Alien is a 1979 science-fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay from a story he wrote with Ronald Shusett, drawing influence from previous works of science fiction and horror.[b]
There are visual similarities, as well as similarities of theme, between Alien and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as described below.
Near the end of Alien, with Ripley aboard the shuttle (above left), we see a view through the shuttle's window of the spaceship Nostromo exploding (above right). As the shuttle moves away from the exploding ship, part of the blast and light from the explosion travels outward and overtakes the shuttle, resulting in the pattern of yellow light shown at left being visible from the shuttle.
The above pattern of yellow light from Alien, is meant to be reminiscent of the portion of the Space Odyssey 'stargate' shown at left. In A Space Odyssey, the stargate includes a streaming series of varied colors and shapes that astronaut David Bowman, the film's protagonist, sees as he moves rapidly through space from the area of the planet Jupiter, toward Earth, aboard his EVA pod.
The bright white light coming from the thrusters of Ripley's shuttle (pictured at left), is patterned after these two bright white images (below left and right) that David Bowman sees, after having passed through the streaming portion of the stargate.
Top left: Dallas squats in one of the Nostromo's narrow passages while in search of the alien creature. Top right: Lambert holds a position sensing device which displays Dallas's physical location on a screen.
Above left: The dot approaching from the left (leaving a 'trail' behind) on the viewing screen of Lamberts's position sensing device, indicates the physical location of the alien creature in relation to that of Dallas (whose location is indicated by the right-hand dot), and shows that the alien is getting closer to Dallas. The grid, dots, and dashes on the screen give it an appearance reminiscent of the play area screens of some of the video arcade games of the period (late 1970's/early 80's). Above right: The play area screen of the 1980's video arcade game, PacMan. [Image afrom the Wikipedia 'PacMan' page, licensed under fair use via Wikipedia; edited for clarity.] Note its rough similarity to the image on the Nostromo crew memeber's screen, in that it consists of lines and dots arranged in a grid-like pattern. Basically, what Ridley Scott is doing here is inserting humor into a serious situation (the situation with Dallas), by drawing an association between this situation, and scenarios in video arcade games. Scott is effectively making light of the situation in his film. This corresponds to Kubrick's occasional insertion of humor into, and thus making light of, serious situations in his own films (see below).
From A Space Odyssey: For a brief moment while David Bowman is disconnecting the Discovery One spaceship mission computer, HAL, not long after HAL has killed the other four astronauts on the spaceship, the top of Bowman's green space helmet looks somewhat similar to a top view (i.e., a view from above) of the head of Kermit the Frog. This is an example of Kubrick inserting humor into a serious situation (the disconnection of HAL is one of the most crucial events of A Space Odyssey. See the analysis of the film on this blog for a description of its plot, underlying themes, etc.).
a. Poster for Alien: The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, 20th Century Fox, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist.
b. Wikipedia, 'Alien (film)'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film).
Jungian psychology (also known as analytic psychology or analytical psychology) is a school of psychology incorporating the ideas of Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1971). Jungian psychology emphasizes the primary importance of the individual psyche and the personal quest for wholeness.[a] In Jungian psychology, the collective unconscious is a form of the unconscious (that part of the mind containing memories and impulses of which the individual is not aware) common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain. It is distinct from the personal unconscious, which arises from the experience of the individual. According to Jung, the collective unconscious contains archetypes, or universal primordial images and ideas.[b] In this final post on Alien, we will discuss the representation in the film of two of Ripley's Jungian archetypes, her shadow and (the dark side of) her Self.
In Jungian psychology, the shadow is an unconscious complex defined as the repressed, suppressed, or disowned qualities of the conscious self.[c] Among the Nostromo crew, Lambert is the 'personification' of Ripley's shadow, as suggested by her weak, instinctual nature (see screencaps below).
As the chest-burster begins to erupt from Kane's chest (above left), Lambert displays a primitive, child-like emotional reaction upon being spattered with blood (above right).
Above left and right: Lambert goes into a state of complete hysteria when she is directly confronted by the alien creature.
Lambert is effectively the personification of that part of Ripley that is weak and instinctual, and that can result in hysterical behavior; that is, for Lambert herself, these qualities are dominant. Within Ripley, however, they remain repressed, and/or are actively suppressed by her, allowing her to behave in in an efficient and effective manner throughout most of the film. Certain events bring about 'panicky' behavior from Ripley, such as when Ash attempts to choke her by ramming a rolled-up magazine into her mouth (see below), but she is able to control herself and keep from lapsing into complete hysteria during such events.
Note Ripley's panicked facial expression as Ash tries to choke her to death with a rolled-up magazine.
The Self archetype in Jungian psychology signifies the unification of the conscious and the unconscious in a person; it represents the person's psyche as a whole. In Greek mythology, Persephone (also known as Kore or Cora) was the wife of Hades, king of the underworld (i.e., of Hell). In his "The Psychological Aspects of the Kore", Jung connects the Kore with the Self, saying, "The "Kore" has her psychological counterpart in those archetypes which I have called the self or supraordinate personality on the one hand, and the anima on the other.
"The figure of the Kore that interests us here belongs to the type of supraordinate personality. ...
"Sometimes the Kore and mother-figures slither down altogether to the animal kingdom, the favourite representatives [including] the cat or the snake or the bear, or else some black monster of the underworld like the crocodile, or other salamander-like, saurian creatures. ..."[d] (emphasis in original).
For Jungian psychologist Mary-Louise von Franz, "[T]he dark side of the Self is the most dangerous thing of all, precisely because the Self is the greatest power in the psyche."[e]
The alien has the appearance of a saurian (i.e., reptilian) creature, and it is extremely powerful and evil; it represents the 'personification' of the dark side of Ripley’s Self.
a. Wikipedia, 'Analytical psychology'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_psychology.
b. 'collective unconscious'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2016. URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/collective-unconscious.
c. Wikipedia, 'Analytical psychology'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_psychology.
d. Jung, C.G. "The Psychological Aspects of the Kore" in The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 9, part 1. Princeton University Press, 1969. pp. 182, 184.
e. M-L von Franz, "The Process of Individuation" in Carl Jung ed., Man and His Symbols . London: Aldus Books, 1964. p. 234.
The alien is an extraterrestrial species that is the primary antagonist of the film under analysis here. The aliens are predatory creatures. They violently implant their offspring inside living hosts before erupting from their chests. Their design evokes both male and female sexual images.
Having established a link between Alien and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in the previous post, we could theorize that the predatory creature in the Alien movie is, at least in part, a representation of the feminine alien from A Space Odyssey which, as described in the analysis of Kubrick's movie on this blog, represents a kind of feminine evil. However, as indicated above, Ridley Scott’s creature embodies a dual sexual imagery - the creature itself incorporates both male and female characteristics. The alien monsters actually represent a combination of the evil feminine and the evil masculine: they represent a 'merging' of feminine evil with the 'Satanic' forces discussed in the 2001 analysis, i.e., with 'evil Jewishness'. In sum, we could think of the alien as representing the evil hermaphroditic Jews discussed in the 2001 analysis. In Scott's movie, the alien creature brings out the worst in the crew members of Nostromo; this symbolizes the fact that in real life, evil hermaphroditic Jews have brought out the worst in all of us. This worst in us is now destroying us as a society.[a]
The life cycle of the aliens incorporates several distinct phases: they begin their lives as an egg, which hatches a creature that attaches itself to a 'host' (i.e., a human being) by latching onto its face. This creature then 'impregnates' the host with an embryo which, after a relatively brief period of gestation, erupts from the host's chest. These two parts of the alien life cycle symbolize how the evil hermaphroditic Jews are able to 'get inside of us' (i.e., inside our psyches) in order to spread their evil.
Above left: A 'facehugger'. Above right: A 'chestburster'. Note that the shape of the portion of its body shown here, suggests phallic imagery, while its teeth makes its mouth reminiscent of a vagina dentata.
The creature that erupts from the host's chest then matures to an adult phase, shedding its skin.
The fact that the physiological form of the alien creature changes, in part symbolizes how the evil hermaphroditic Jews operate like 'shape-shifters', so that it is not easy to get a grasp on them; this makes it hard to identify exactly who they are. Also, the manifestations of their evil change somewhat over time, such that we tend not to recognize their evil for what it is, and are thus unable to get to the source of it.
While Ripley is making some adjustments at one of the space shuttle's control panels near the end of the film, the alien's head (indicated by the arrow) is right in front of her, but she doesn't recognize it for what it is, because she is so close to it that from her perspective, it blends in with the surrounding pipes that are part of the shuttle itself. This symbolizes how we are unable to see the true source of the current evil in our society (the evil of the hermaphroditic Jews), even though this evil is effectively manifested right in front of us, in part because we are 'too close' to it to recognize it for what it is. It also symbolizes how the cohorts of the evil Jews, such as certain high-ranking Freemasons and Mormons, 'blend in' with their surroundings (i.e., within greater society), such that we fail to identify them as being evil.
a. Contained in part 68 of the analysis of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey on this blog, is a discussion of Kubrick's belief (as symbolized in his movie) that the hermaphroditic characteristics, as well as the evil itself, of these specific (real-life) Jews, are due to their suffering from a medical condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Of course, this doesn't mean that the creature in Alien itself suffers from CAH. The creature's hermaphroditic characteristics are a representation of those of the aforementioned Jews.
Above left: Heywood Floyd and the lunar lander captain converse. Floyd's food tray, which had been sitting in his lap, begins to float upward when Floyd lets it go. It seems we are to believe that this happens because the lunar lander environment is, theoretically, at zero-gravity. However, note that the captain is leaning on the seats as if his upper body weight is being supported by them. Also note that Floyd's seatbelt is loosened, indicating that he doesn't need to wear it to be held down. Above right: Just before Bowman and Poole enter an EVA pod to discuss HAL's recent behavior, we're shown this view of the AE-35 unit with its covering removed (the red and black object lying on the counter-top), that Bowman earlier removed from the communications antenna mechanism. Since the pod bay is normally at zero-gravity, the unit, which is unsupported here, should have begun floating upward. The fact that it has not means that somehow, a gravitational (i.e., 'inertial') force is acting upon it to hold it down.
The plot of Arthur C. Clarke's sequel to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the novel2010: Odyssey Two,[a] reveals the reason why the aliens need diamonds: The diamonds are to be used so as to help achieve nuclear fusion, converting the planet Jupiter into a star (i.e., to effectively make it a sun). In Clarke's novel, the planet Jupiter is discovered to have a core consisting of diamond. The monolith (containing diamonds), once placed on Jupiter, begins to 'reproduce' itself at a rapidly accelerating rate, eventually resulting in millions of monoliths covering the entire planet; at this point, Jupiter becomes dense and massive enough to collapse upon itself, due to the high density and weight of the diamonds in the monoliths in combination with the planet's diamond core, triggering thermonuclear fusion. The alien race 'stole' enough diamonds from Earth to 'seed' a process whereby the crystals could be 'reproduced' via successive duplications of the monolith on Jupiter. The rays from the star Jupiter has become will thaw out one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, and allow life to evolve there. The civilization to be established on Europa would then correspond to a utopia, a kind of 'paradise', that would have resulted if, in 2001, HAL had defeated Bowman (and had not killed the three hibernating astronauts). Ultimately, the utopia on Europa is being used to represent that which will result here on our own planet, if evil hermaphroditic Jews, certain high-ranking Freemasons, and other parties are allowed to succeed: the establishment by them of a utopia in the United States, in southern Indiana, which only the evil parties are to inhabit, leaving the rest of us to occupy the remainder of Earth, in far-from-optimal conditions.
Final observations
1) The reason 'normal' gravity seems to be in effect in Discovery One's pod bay, while Bowman and Poole are testing the supposedly faulty AE-35 unit, must be because, in accordance with the hint from The Silence of the Lambs discussed in part 44 of this analysis, Discovery One changes attitude and direction by simultaneously banking and accelerating, while Bowman and Poole are in the pod bay testing the supposedly faulty unit, and the resultant 'inertia force' creates the equivalent of gravity while the two men are working on the unit. Bowman and Poole don't notice anything unusual, however, because the alien is at this point influencing their minds. HAL must have changed the ship's direction in order to re-position it so that the hibernating astronauts would be able to implement the planned action to be conducted on Jupiter (i.e., the movement of the monolith, containing diamonds, to the planet).
The AE-35 unit is the piece of equipment that keeps the communications antenna pointed toward Earth. The alien caused Bowman to 'forget' to install the new unit he brought with him when he went out to the antenna to remove the old one. (As mentioned earlier, we're never actually shown Bowman putting in the new unit; Poole was watching Bowman from the ship during this time period, but the alien was influencing his mind so that he wouldn't notice Bowman not putting the new unit in.)
Above left: Poole sits inside Discovery One, while he watches Bowman outside the ship replacing the (supposedly) faulty AE-35 unit. Above right: The view of Bowman that Poole can see is on the screen inside the tan square.
Left: An enlarged view of Bowman at the antenna. Above: Bowman removing the supposedly faulty unit. The alien influences his mind so that he 'forgets' to install the new unit he brought with him. Also, the alien influences Poole's mind so that Poole, while watching Bowman, doesn't notice that Bowman doesn't install the new unit. When Bowman returns to Discovery One, he brings the old unit with him, but the new unit is left sitting on the edge of the antenna; the point is that the situation becomes one in which no AE-35 unit is installed.
Since no AE-35 unit was installed when HAL changed the ship's direction, communication with Earth was lost. Although it appeared that Bowman and Poole communicated with mission control after testing the unit in the pod bay, the reality is that this 'communication' with Earth was pre-recorded prior to the actual mission. The evidence that this is the case is shown in the four screencaps with captions below.
Above left: Before removing the supposedly faulty AE-35 unit, Bowman and Poole are in contact with mission control from Discovery One. Note the man on the screen (indicated by the arrow) speaking from mission control. Above right: An enlarged view of the man on the screen from the screencap at left. Note that he is wearing a light bluish-grey shirt.
Above left: After testing the supposedly faulty unit (i.e., after the ship has changed direction and communication with Earth has been lost), Bowman and Poole appear to again be talking to mission control from Discovery One. Above right: An enlarged view of the man on the screen from the screencap at left. This appears to be the same man shown earlier above (note the hair), but he's wearing a different-colored shirt. Also note that the time displayed on this screen ('20 ...') is earlier than the time shown in the other screencap above ('21 ...'), which is the opposite of what we'd expect. The point is that this second man is, in fact, not the same person as the man who was wearing blue. In actuality, this second 'communication' from Earth was pre-recorded on video-tape, and then the tape was pre-installed on the ship, and it has been designed for HAL to play as a 'response' when the two astronauts attempt to contact Earth, to ask what action they should take next regarding the AE-35 unit. Bowman and Poole know nothing about the tape, and they believe that they are actually speaking to mission control during both conversations. Since the second conversation is not to be part of the mission broadcast, it need only be designed to fool Bowman and Poole themselves. Of course, all of this implies that at least some of the people in mission control are deceiving the two men, which makes sense in light of the fact that Heywood Floyd, in his pre-recorded message played near the end of the movie, is not truthful when he says that the purpose of the monolith is unknown.
The Discovery One communications antenna structure.
2) Recall the 'physiological' description of Discovery One given in part 22 of this analysis. If we go further with the description (i.e., of the ship's structure being similar in 'physique' to a human being's body), and take the communications antenna assembly (shown above - the large round antenna in combination with the two smaller ones, one on either side), as representing the ship's genitals, then the symbolism of the antenna structure being normally pointed toward Earth, has to do with chordee. A chordee is a medical condition in which the head of a man's penis curves downward or upward, at the junction of the head and shaft of the penis. If we take the penis with this condition as curved downward, then the head would be pointed toward the ground, i.e., toward Earth. A chordee may be caused by an underlying condition, such as a disorder of sex development or an intersex condition.[b] Intersex, in biology, refers to an organism having physical characteristics intermediate between a true male and a true female of its species.[c] Note that Discovery One's 'phallus' (the large, center communications antenna) is genitally ambiguous, in that it is rounded, instead of elongated like a normal penis. Also, its 'testes' (the two small antennas) appear abnormally small when compared to the phallus. The point of all of the foregoing is that Kubrick is depicting the ship as a person with ambiguous genitalia.
In a National Institutes of Health study, the most common cause of ambiguous genitalia in newborn patients was congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-OH deficiency.[d]
According to the National Adrenal Diseases Foundation,[e] "Non-classical CAH is among the most common genetic disorders, with Ashkenazi Jews having the highest prevalence. In the general population depending on the ethnic breakdown of a given community, 1-5% may be affected with non-classical CAH [the milder form of CAH]. Non-classical CAH does not progress to classical CAH [the more severe form of CAH] in affected individuals." (material inside square brackets in original).
Non-classical CAH is a mild variant of one of the common causes of female pseudohermaphroditism.[f] Pseudohermaphroditism is a condition in which the individual has a single chromosomal and gonadal sex but combines features of both sexes in the external genitalia, causing doubt as to the true sex.[g]
Today Ashkenazim constitute more than 80 percent of all the Jews in the world, vastly outnumbering Sephardic Jews.[h]
With the physical structure of the Discovery One spaceship symbolizing an Ashkenai Jewish person having congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Kubrick must be saying that abnormalities having to do with genital (and thus gender) ambiguity, play some part in the evilness of some Jews. In fact, the specific Jews Kubrick had in mind are the evil hermaphroditic Jews mentioned above, who wish to form a 'utopia'.
3) In the Dawn of Man segment of the movie, the leader of the tribe of ape-men that regains control of the water hole by using bones as weapons, represents the biblical figure Nimrod; and the second battle between the two tribes of ape-men represents the battle between Nimrod and Abraham, and thus symbolizes the final battle between monotheism and paganism, with paganism winning. As an aside, note that the triumphant tribe's leader, and the members of his tribe, walk in a more upright posture while they are carrying their new bone-weapons, than they do in their normal quadrupedal gait. This suggests that Kubrick believed that the reason man evolved into an upright-walking creature was so that he could carry weapons.
Above left: The tribe's leader walking on all fours, prior to his discovery of how to use weapons. Above right: The tribe's leader standing on two legs while holding his new weapon.
4) Jung's theory of psychological types no doubt has relevance to the movie. For example, Bowman's type is introverted thinking.
Above left and right: The EVA pod, under HAL's control and with mechanical arms extended is, metaphorically speaking, like a puppeteer operating a marionette, in that it is 'pulling Frank's strings' so that his limbs jerk about as he drifts off into space.
5) The 'jerking' motions of Frank Poole's body, once he's been knocked off into space by the EVA pod (under HAL's control; see the screencaps above), indicate that he is, symbolically, being manipulated like a marionette (i.e., a puppet operated from above by strings). Note that the viewing window of the pod can be taken to represent HAL's eye, or in other words, HAL himself, who in turn represents the evil elite hermaphroditic Jews (who Kubrick believed control much of the popular and news media), and evil high-ranking Freemasons; also note that the pod has two mechanical arms, which could be taken symbolically to be 'pulling Frank's (invisible) strings' as he floats off into the distance. Since Poole here represents the general public (recall the 'gene pool' name symbolism mentioned earlier in the analysis), then Kubrick is saying that the members of the general public are being manipulated by the evil hermaphroditic Jews (who, as stated, control much of the popular and news media) and evil high-ranking Freemasons.
From The Silence of the Lambs: FBI trainee Clarice Starling deciphers an anagram that cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter has given her, as a (supposed) clue to help the FBI apprehend a certain serial killer (Jame Gumb). This shot in the movie is a clue about something in 2001, in specific, Heywood Floyd's name being an anagram for 'Defy Holy Wood' (as was discussed earlier), and as described below, there is also another anagram of Floyd's name that has significance for our analysis.
6) If we expand out the spelling of Heywood Floyd's name, as was done with 'TMA-1' earlier (to get TMA-One and thus 'no meat'), we get 'Doctor Heywood R. Floyd'. An anagram of this is 'O, doth wooly fodder cry' (wooly can be spelled with either one 'L' or two, both are valid). Here, 'wooly fodder' is a reference to lambs (i.e., sheep) who will be led to their slaughter, and 'cry' refers to the noise these lambs will make when they are led there. The word 'wooly' is being used to mean 'confused' or 'muddle-headed'. The word "silence" in the Lecter movie's name is a clue that the lambs being referred to by the anagram of Floyd's name are currently silent; for these lambs represent the members of the general public who, in their state of confusion and muddle-headedness, do not know that they are about to be led to their virtual slaughter by the evil parties mentioned above.
7) There is an important societal/cultural context within which what was said back in part 41 of this analysis, about the manipulation of Bowman's psyche, must be viewed. The manipulation of Bowman's psyche by the alien (which has usurped the place of mediator between Bowman's unconscious and conscious mind), via taking advantage of Bowman's shadow-contaminated intellect, symbolizes that which evil elite hermaphroditic Jews, evil feminists, and other parties (e.g., certain high-ranking Freemasons, as noted above), working together, have done to us as a society: These parties have tapped into our individual psyches (specifically, our unconscious minds) in order to manipulate us. They have effectively contaminated our conscious and unconscious minds, then used the same means to get control over use, as that used by the alien to get control over Bowman (as just described).
Above left and right: The stewardess walking toward Heywood Floyd's seat on the Pan-Am space plane, takes steps as if she is just learning how to walk (see video here). This is a metaphor for the idea that some women are childlike.
8) In light of what was said earlier in the analysis about part of the movie taking place 'in' the unconscious, about Floyd dreaming during at least part of his trip to the moon, and etc., it must be the case that some of what we see in the movie depicts a dream Bowman experiences, after hitting his head on the airlock wall and then disconnecting HAL: The sequence of events that we see beginning with the monolith floating near Jupiter, and ending with the giant fetus near Earth, consists partly of a dream Bowman experiences just before he dies from his head injury.
9) Referring to the above screencaps and images, the red and yellow coloring of the spacesuit and air pack that Bowman is wearing in the early parts of the 'hotel room' sequence (far left), are a reference to William Blake's Great Red Dragon Paintings, in specific, to the two paintings shown above. The red painting is The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, and the yellow one is The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun. [Images from the Wikipedia 'The Great Red Dragon Paintings' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] Since the biblical great red dragon (from the book of Revelation) can be taken to represent Satan, the indication is that even though HAL, who is now assimilated within Bowman, was only a 'pupil' of Satan, it is the case that all along, part of his plan was to usurp the power of Satan himself. This is in accordance with the hint about A Space Odyssey in The Silence of the Lambs, mentioned in part 29 of this analysis: Jame Gumb, the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, effectively tries to usurp Satan's place. His attempting to do so is indicated by the fact that he tries to cheat Hannibal Lecter, who himself represents a personification of Satan, out of rulership over an 'evil kingdom' that is to be established. (This kingdom represents the same thing as the utopia that is being represented in A Space Odyssey as described above, i.e., the real-life 'paradise' to be established in southern Indiana).
10) See below.
Above left and right: As suggested in part 33 of the analysis, Bowman experiences a bad (drug) trip while passing through the stargate. This is an indication that he has been using psychoactive drugs during the Jupiter mission.
11) Note that many of the more influential and well-known feminists are/were Jewish:[i] Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Andrea Dworkin, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Susan Faludi, Naomi Wolf, Susan Sontag, Bella Abzug, Gloria Allred, Ruth Westheimer, Cathy Young, Susan Brownmiller, etc. (see here).
12) See below.
The audience of Manhunter is briefly shown this view of serial killer Francis Dollarhyde's right hand raised in a 'semi-pointing' gesture, when he first shows himself to the evil journalist, Freddy Lounds. As described immediately below, this particular view is a hint about something in A Space Odyssey.
When Bowman raises his right hand toward the monolith at the end of 2001 (shown at left), he is not only pointing toward it, thus indicating that he's reached a kind of enlightenment regarding it (he has come to know its true meaning), but he is also giving a Nazi salute to the monolith. This represents him giving a Nazi salute not only to ideological feminism (since the monolith was planted by an alien race representing radical feminists), but it is also a Nazi salute to those forces in the popular and news media that are evil (in accordance with the hint from Manhunter just described), which includes the evil elite Jews who control this portion of the media. Therefore, this final act of Bowman is the indication that when he is reborn as the 'starchild', the next step in Man's evolution, he has become a fascist entity who associates being enlightened with 'worshiping' both ideological feminism and evil Jewishness.
Above left: This view of the monolith from its base, with the sun and crescent moon above it, has the appearance of the bottom and middle portions of a pyramid, with the sun in place of the top of the structure, and the crescent moon higher up in the sky. What is being suggested here is the idea of 'common man' being at the bottom of some 'pyramidal' (i.e., hierarchical) structure, such as a power structure. Above right: The reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States (1776).[j] The eye above the pyramid in the Great Seal, which is known as the Eye of Providence, is today a common motif in Freemasonry. The point is that the sun above the monolith represents the high-ranking Freemasons who, in the evil parties' 'new world', are to be at the top of the aforementioned power structure, and the crescent moon represents the evil elite hermaphroditic Jews, up above controlling all.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame." --F. Nietzsche
a. Clarke's novel, 2010: Odyssey Two, continues the events of Kubrick's movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, not those of the Clarke novel of the same name.
b. Wikipedia, 'Chordee'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordee.
c. 'intersex'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/science/intersex.
d. Zdravković D, Milenković T, Sedlecki K, Guć-Sćekić M, Rajić V, Banićević M. Causes of ambiguous external genitalia in neonates. [Abstract] Srp Arh Celok Lek. 2001 Mar-Apr; 129(3-4): 57-60.
e. National Adrenal Diseases Foundation Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) page.
f. Kukreti, P., Kandpal, M., Jiloha, R.C. Mistaken gender identity in non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia. [Article] Indian J Psychiatry. 2014 Apr-Jun; 56(2): 182–184.
g. 'pseudohermaphroditism'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/science/pseudohermaphroditism.
h. 'Ashkenazi'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Sep. 2015.
URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashkenazi.
i. Some of the persons on this list are deceased.
j. Image from the Wikipedia 'Great Seal of the United States' page; Great Seal of the United States (reverse) by Ipankonin (this vector image was created with Inkscape), licensed under GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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Saint Augustine's Confessions andCity of God from Wikisource (except where otherwise noted); portions from Wikisource used on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica from the 'Logos Virtual Library' website (except where otherwise noted), compiled and edited by Darren L. Slider; believed to be in public domain.
[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Blade Runner' page; "Blade Runner poster" by John Alvin,[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]
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