Above left: At one point during the stargate sequence, Bowman sees seven diamond-shaped objects. Each object constitutes a regular octahedron (an object consisting of eight equal, symmetrically-placed faces). The regular octahedron is one of the five Platonic solids, which feature prominently in the philosophy of Plato for whom they are named. Plato wrote about them in the dialogue Timaeus circa 360 B.C., in which he associated each of the four classical elements (earth, air, water, and fire) with a regular solid. The octahedron was associated with air.[a] As indicated in the previous post, the red coloring 'flowing' under the objects represents the river Styx. In Greek mythology, the Styx formed the boundary between Earth and the underworld. As stated, Bowman sees seven octahedra. The number seven is used in certain places in the bible, especially in the book of Revelation. Also, in Greek mythology, there are seven guards of the underworld; recall that we said Bowman is moving through the circles of Hell when he moves through the stargate. There are seven lights in the Jewish Temple Menorah, and there are seven classical planets as well. Note that if we combine the menorah symbolism with the 'guards of the underworld' symbolism, then Kubrick is depicting evil Jews as the guardians of Hell. Above right: Initially, only five of the seven bipyramids are in view (this shot is from just prior in the stargate sequence to the one at left). In this shot, each object now has its top and bottom portions overlapped with each other.
Above left: When viewed from the side, each of the seven octahedra shown in the left-hand screencap at the top of this post (the screencap showing seven diamonds), appears as shown here (two equal triangles attached at their bases). Above center: If we overlap the two triangles to obtain each the five objects shown in the right-hand screencap at the top of the post, by moving the top triangle down and the bottom one up, we obtain a hexagram. The Jewish Star of David is itself a hexagram; this indicates that the seven diamond-shaped objects do, in fact, represent the seven lights of the Jewish Temple Menorah. The Dictionary of Symbols contains an entry for Star of David which explains the symbolism of the Star's center region (outlined in bold in the figure): "[I]n Hermetic tradition, the Star of David...encompasses the seven basic metals, that is the totality of metal, as well as the seven planets which epitomize the totality of the Heavens. The centre...is occupied by gold (Sun); the upper point by silver (Moon) and the lower by lead (Saturn). On the right, the upper point is copper (Venus); the lower, mercury (Mercury), while on the left the upper point is iron (Mars) and the lower tin (Jupiter)."[b] Also, note that the interior border of our hexagram (again, outlined in bold) forms a regular hexagon. There are several hexagonal-shaped objects in the movie, such as the three rear thrusters on Discovery One (pictured above far right; note the slight elongation in the vertical direction of each hexagon). The hexagons in the movie can be taken to represent the sun, since their basic shape matches the central interior geometric region of the Star of David, which, as noted above, is symbolically "occupied by gold (sun)." As we will see later in the analysis, the disproportionate extension in the vertical direction of many of the movie's hexagonal shapes, represents an emphasis on the unconscious mind over the conscious, and therefore, an emphasis on the feminine over the masculine.
Above left: Discovery One is physically shaped somewhat like a human body (click image to enlarge), with the spherical section at the front of the ship being the head, and the long row of segments connecting the sphere with the rear of the ship, appearing similar to a spinal column with its vertebrae. Above right: Within the context of Discovery One representing a human body, the three pairs of round rocket nozzles at the rear represent three pairs of excretory orifices. When we combine this with the idea of the inner part of a Star of David being a hexagon, and with the fact that the Discovery One rocket orifices are inside hexagons, then Kubrick must be saying that 'evil Jews are dumping shit into the universe' or that they are 'powered by shit', or something of that nature.
Above: We can take the above physiological description of Discovery One even further, when we observe that the small, round EVA pods, returning to Discovery One's spherical 'head' via the three circular openings to the pod bay, each of which symbolizes a 'mouth' to go with one of the three pairs of excretory orifices at the rear of the ship, represent feces (i.e., 'turds'), entering the 'mouth' of the ship, with each returning pod landing on the 'tongue' protruding from the round 'mouth' prior to being brought inside the ship. Kubrick is saying that the aforementioned evil Jews eat shit, or else he's telling them to eat shit.
a. Wikipedia, 'Platonic solid'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid.
b. Dictionary of Symbols. Ed. Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, Trans. John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin Group, 1996. pp. 930-931.
