Analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Part II

The film begins with the sunrise of a new day of the planet called Earth.  The music in the background is the now famous piece "Thus Spake Zarasthustra."  It is a rather unique planet, unlike any other in the galaxy.  Strange, hairy creatures are roaming the plains living out their existences.  We see, in the beginning of the film, that these creatures, man-apes as they are called in the novel, live in harmony with most of the creatures in the plain wilderness.  We begin to realize that these man-apes are actually vegetarians, and they have never hunted anything in their lives.  When they are at the water hole, they are greeted with hostile screams from a rival man-ape tribe.  The most interesting thing about this scene I noticed is there is no violence between the two rival factions.  A lot of screaming and gesturing, but no one comes forward and hits another.  The hero man-ape and his tribe are denied access to the water hole, and forced to fend for themselves from the dangers, such as cheetahs.  They sit in the cave, cramped together.  The leader wonders if they will even survive the night, much less the next day.1

The next morning, the leader of the man-apes awakens to see something strange.  We only see his hissing and growling at the camera.  Soon he wakes the others up, and they react with alarm at the strange thing, which we have not seen yet.  When we finally see the interloper, it is not another man-ape, nor even a wild animal.  It is a black, perfect monolith standing on one end, large, impassive.  The man-apes gather around, screaming at it.  Eventually the leader is brave enough to touch it, and he realizes that it is completely, perfectly nonhostile.  The tribe gather around it in awe, almost worshipping it.  Here, it seems, is where the very first idea of a "god" becomes prevalent in the life of men.  The cold, black monolith is the "perfect being," whereas the man-apes are marvelling at what they found.  This "concept of God" will make itself known very soon in the following scene.2