2001: HAL

Siskel and Ebert back in the 80s during one of their review shows did an episode about which were the greatest movie villains of all time and Roger eros a teenager at the time and Roger Ebert somewhat surprised me when he put near the top I think was like number three or number two how from 2001 this shouldn't be that surprising considering how is afterall undisputably the villain of 2001 I think but Roger Ebert had a point to make he saw 2001 in 1968 when it was released and he points out in this 1980s review show that back then in the 1960s computers were still quasi mysterious miracle the 60s were a very forward-looking time a lot of our retro-futurism comes from the 60s and back then computers he pointed out we're going to save the world computers would figure out how to cure cancer it's all hunger and all sorts of other vague existential crises that confront the human race it's impossible for us now watching the film to be unaware of a Howell's role in it how exists in our culture now in these part of our cultural consciousness so as soon as he shows up on the screen we are aware that there is something weird going on even if you somehow manage to make it to the point today where you were able to watch 2001 for the first time without having been exposed at all to any of the ideas and in any of the images from it any of the iconography from it and had no idea who how was I predict you would still find him vaguely sinister because you are watching the film steeped in the culture that came after 2001 and is therefore informed by 2001 so our ideas about what a film villain is like is informed by how and informed by this movie none of these things were true in 1968 in fact the opposite that's Roger Ebert's point if you were in the audience watching it at the time you were marveling at the things how could do in the idea of a computer that was that sophisticated audiences assumed and I think I want to challenge this a little bit that the two human characters on board the discovery spaceship were the heroes of our story and they learn over the course of act 3 that these two human beings Frank Poole and Dave Bowman are dependent on how for everything Ebert in the 80s described the audience's reaction the coldly chilling realization back in 90 sixty-eight watching the movie for the first time that Dave Bauman and Frank Poole were dependent on how for everything and how is not on their side that moment is what made how one of the great movie villains of all time and it's the subject of the third in our 2001 series I want to talk about who is and why he does what he does because again as with the Russians as with the monolith I think all the clues are there in 1968 in film we didn't yet have the idea that a computer could pass as a human being we'd had robots before this that spoke with voices Robbie the robot from Forbidden Planet which is great movie you should go watch but Robbie the robot speaks in a robotic voice and behaves in a robotic manner and it's never trying to pass himself off as a person but Stanley Kubrick did want to raise the question of is how a person who wants to present how as being equivalent to a human being it's one of the first things they talk about in act 3 of 2001 act three begins on the discovery spaceship on its way to Jupiter to go investigate a much larger second to monolith they've detected in orbit around one of the moons of Jupiter we meet the to human members of discovery and we find out that there are three more humans on board but they're in suspended animation before there's any dialogue in act 3 we watch these two human beings go through their daily lives and spaceflight going to another planet which humans still haven't done yet by the way is presented as being the most banal thing possible this is another part of one of the major themes of 2001 that we'll talk about in the next video this isn't the first time by the way that something extraordinary is presented in the film in the most banal way possible we'd already earlier on the way to the moon had a couple of scientists talking about discovering an alien artifact on the moon and once they're done talking but they go huh who had the chicken sandwich it seems like everybody in the 50s and 60 was drinking coffee and eating chicken salad sandwiches but that's one of the points of the film is that at this point in human development spaceflight is perceived as being boring these characters are not presented in a heroic fashion we don't see them doing anything extraordinary we see them doing the kind of things that we do they go to the gym and they eat breakfast while they're watching the news the reason the humans are presented in the film like this is because it sets up tension between them and how and that's part of the next episode in the series let's watch and take note of how how is presented to us as the audience we're watching a pre-recorded morning show interview with the two guys on the discovery spaceship after we endure some exposition talking about the nature of the mission and about the three scientists in frozen hibernation we then get the interview with how and this is the way the news anchor establishes who how is listen to what he says the sixth member of the discovery crew was not concerned about the problems of hibernation did you hear that the sixth member of the crew so right out of the gate Stanley Kubrick is establishing that hell is not an appliance how is not a tool how is a member of the team he's part of the TV is one of the six members of the crew it's a pretty clear signal by the way but because as with everything else not only 2001 but almost all Stanley Kubrick films because it is presented in such a banal way which Kubrick felt was realistic it kind of passes by us we don't make note of it it is not a big flashing light telling us this is happening but this is what Kubrick thought about how how is a member of the crew the HAL 9000 computer which can reproduce so some experts still prefer to use the word mimic most of the activities of the human brain the news anchor describes how as reproducing and then he gives himself a little out he inserts a clause there he says though some experts still prefer to use the term mimic in other words he's saying maybe how is really just like a parent maybe he's just repeating back things people have told him that helps make him seem more like a person maybe he's not really a person that is the subject of the scene were in the middle of I believe we're about to watch Stanley Kubrick resolved the issue of whether or not how is a person I think Hubert felt like he had to do that in order for the tension in the movie to work good afternoon how how's everything going good afternoon mr. Raymer everything is going extremely well I just wanna point out that's the first time I think in film we'd ever heard a computer talk certainly is the first time we ever heard a computer talk in this way and notice the way he's presented the interviewer says hey how how's it going and how says everything's going fine a computer just I'm doing great and that's an important moment I think in the history of our culture and also in this film because again it is establishing the fact that Dave Baumann and Frank Poole are not about to wrestle with a dumb machine a tool they're about to get into a conflict with an intelligent being with another person how do you have an enormous responsibility on this mission in many ways perhaps the greatest responsibility of any single mission element you are the brain and central nervous system of the ship and your responsibilities include watching over the men in hibernation it's a minor point but I want to reestablish this the news anchor just explicitly said by the way hey you're the most important member of this team because everyone on the ship is dependent on you then he asks how a very human question he says does this responsibility weigh on you are you ever nervous are you ever worried about this does this ever calls you in a lack of confidence then we get what I think is one of the most important lines of dialogue in the entire film because I believe it establishes the central tension of act 3 and really reinforces the theme of the entire film if Howe had answered that question if the news anchor had said does this does this responsibility where were you and Hal said well yeah actually I lose sleep over it then we have not done a very good job setting up our villain we've made him too normal for us we need to give him a fatal flaw and here it comes let me put it this way mr. aymer the 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made no 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information we are all by any practical definition of the words foolproof and incapable of error you just heard the villain of the movie establish his motivation by the way how answers the question by saying hey I just want to point out that no Hal 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information we are for any practical definition of the term foolproof and he doesn't say it but the word that's missing from this is perfect that was a computer talking by the way there's a computer delivering that dialogue and we live in a world with very sophisticated computers but they don't just volunteer the fact that they are foolproof and error-free it takes a person to say something like that computers don't talk like that and what flaw is it that how is showing off right there he has hubris they're establishing that hal is a person in part of being a person as having flaws and Hal's flaw is pride and hubris how despite your enormous intellect are you ever frustrated by your dependence on people to carry out action the interviewer asks how if ever bothers him that he has to deal with these flawed imperfect creatures human beings and Hal gives an answer that is more than what he was asked not in the slightest bit I enjoy working with people I have a stimulating relationship with dr. Poole and dr. Bowman my mission responsibilities range over the entire operation of the ship so I am constantly occupied I am putting myself to the fullest possible use which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do that's another important line of dialogue by the way he answers the interviewers question he says no I have a stimulating relationship with Frank and Dave and I'm super busy all the time and then he says something that is another establishing moment it answers I think the question is how a person because regardless of what you might think or what I might think we just heard Hal's answer I am putting myself to the fullest possible use which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do I am putting myself to the fullest possible use which is all I think that any conscious entity can hope to do any conscious entity he is saying I am a person I am a conscious entity that's the phrase he uses and he says and this mission gives me the opportunity to live life at my best to live life to the fullest to to be the most useful I can be so you might not think how is a person because he doesn't fit your particular definition and maybe I agree with you but Hal certainly thinks he's a person and we're about to find out what the two actual human beings on the ship think dr. Poole what's it like living for the better part of a year in such close proximity with how well it's pretty close to what you said about him earlier he is just like a six member of the crew very quickly get adjusted to the idea that he talks and you think of a month really just as another person the interviewer asks Dave and Frank how they feel about working with Hal and Frank just comes out and says that he says well like you said he's just like another member of the crew this may seem strange because how doesn't seem to have that much personality it seems weird that Frank would say he seems just like another member of the crew because Hal seems kind of boring until you compare him to Frank and Dave at which point you realize wow actually they're all sort of boring maybe how is the most interesting member of the crew a lot of science fiction a lot of the science fiction formed by philip k dick starting with Blade Runner I think but maybe going back to 2001 is about the wastelands it's about human beings living like in authentically and that is definitely part of what's happening in 2001 because how you heard him described himself as living life to the fullest he is putting himself to the best possible use which is all any conscious entity can hope to do and you look around the ship while he's saying these things and you see all these systems all these computer readouts thrumming and humming and doing their job he is keeping the ship going he is keeping everyone alive while Dave and Frank are eating breakfast and working out what are Dave and Frank doing what do Dave and Frank do on the ship we don't know they're just sort of passengers aren't they that's what we see we watch all these computers they're all how all maintaining the ship all making sure that everything is going smoothly Wow Frank and Dave just sort of hang out because this is one of the great themes of science-fiction is that the human beings we're behaving sort of like machines and the machines are the ones that are human beings in talking to the computer one gets the sense that he is capable of emotional responses for example when I asked him about his abilities I sensed a certain pride in his answer about his accuracy and perfection by the way that was the screenwriters making sure the audience understand something they were afraid maybe they missed earlier because the interviewer just came out and said I sensed a certain pride in Hal's answer who has pride do machines have pride no but people do do you believe that how has genuine emotions this is the acid test the air comes out and says it do you believe that Hal has genuine emotions well yeah it's like he has genuine emotions case closed Dave Baumann just said that how passes the Turing test I don't think moviegoers in the 1960s were familiar with the Turing test but he just said how seems like a person and really what is the difference between seeming like a person and being a person we then get a couple of scenes with Frank and how which are again incredibly banal meant to show that spaceflight in the future is gonna be boring which actually it basically was remember Apollo 13 the movie opened with people not really being aware that anything was happening with Apollo 13 because spaceflight had become kind of boring and people weren't watching it anymore Frank watches his parents sending him a birthday message and is incredibly routine it is no different being on the way to Jupiter is no different than being on a business vacation and getting you know a phone message from your family a lot of people criticize the pacing of 2001 and I think that's fair especially if you're going to it because you're looking for entertainment but I don't really don't think 2001 is meant to be entertainment per se it is meant to be a work of art and the pacing is part of the thesis of it it is slow it is stayed on purpose because it's meant to show spaceflight is just not that interesting these characters aren't that heroic they're kind of boring they're kind of machine-like and do they really deserve to make it to the end of the film this video a birthday card from Frank pools parents I think is a fantastic moment in the film because it is simultaneously full of awe and Wonder and incredibly I'm going to use the term again banal a family life because Frank is watching a video birthday card which you could not send back in 1968 they didn't have FaceTime back then and they wouldn't for a long time so this is still science fiction and the fact that he's on a spaceship on his way to Jupiter watching his parents wish him happy birthday ISM is a little bit of a miracle a little technological miracle but then what's happening behind that miracle what are they actually saying nothing oh yes Frank about your 80s nineteen payments I think I've straightened it out for you I talked to the accounting office in Houston yesterday and they said that you should be receiving your higher rates to pay by next month they're talking about stuff like his pay rate and you know how much they can spend on buying gifts for other family members and it's incredibly relatable but very boring moment that last line by the way I love I think it's important like a lot of things in Kubrick's movies just comes and goes what's the last thing as dad says he says see you next Wednesday which means this entire mission is gonna happen over the course of just a couple of days of course they have no idea their son is about to be murdered by a insane computer but they are expecting him to come back soon this is literally no different than him being on a business trip see you next Wednesday so we've established that how is a person and we've had these moments where it seems like how is the more empathetic of them how is the more complex of them Hal runs the ship how has hubris and pride but the human beings on the ship don't show any of these things they don't really have any emotions they don't have any interesting reactions to everything they're the ones behaving like computers how then has a little sit-down with Dave Baumann and I think this is the first real moment of crisis and something happens in the scene that sets up everything that comes after but again with Kubrick he doesn't hang a lampshade on it he doesn't put a spotlight on it he doesn't let us know that something important has happened it's up to us re watching the film to notice it forgive me for being so inquisitive but during the past few weeks I've wondered whether you might be having some second thoughts about the mission how asks Dave if he's been having second thoughts about the mission this means that how is able to perceive subtle motives and the difference between what a person says and what they're feeling how is obviously a very complex machine more complex than some people how do you mean well it's rather difficult to define perhaps I'm just projecting my own concern about it I know I've never completely freed myself of the suspicion that there are some extremely odd things about this mission Hal says there are some extremely odd things about this mission and the first time we watch this movie we cannot understand what is happening in the scene it's only once we watch it again that things start to fall into place because Hal describes the melodramatic act of putting the three scientists into cryo sleep and the melodramatic touch of putting doctors Hunter Kimball and Kaminsky aboard already in hibernation after four months of separate training on their own Hal is aware of these strange stories floating around before they left and he act like he and Dave are sort of on the same page neither one of us really knows what's going on but things are strange don't you agree Dave how is trying to relate to Dave and he's trying to get Dave to talk about stuff and he's sort of faking it and how while he might be a person he's not very experienced at this stuff and he fails it doesn't work dave detects that hal is fishing you're working up your crew psychology important you're working up your crew psychology report aren't you he sees through house facade immediately Hal is pretending to try to be on the same wavelength as Dave but Dave doesn't buy it and the thing that is important about this is how is pretending not to know about what's going on with the mission we don't realize that the first time we watch it it seems perfectly reasonable that how is sort of voicing our suspicions what's going on with this mission but we discover later on that how knows exactly what's going on and that Howe was lying to dave hal was pretending to Dave Howe was trying to behave like hey we're in this together I don't know any more than you do isn't this stuff strange but Dave probably suspects that hal knows a lot about what's going on though he doesn't say it and immediately sees through Hal's pretense Dave catches how in if not a lie then at least he something Hal is pretending to be and then what happens just a moment just a moment I've just picked up a Fault in the ae-35 unit it's going to go a hundred percent failure within 72 hours hal detects a flaw in the ae-35 unit ae-35 antenna the way they communicate back by the way it's not just some random piece of the ship that fails it is their lifeline back to earth it is the thing that allows them to communicate back to earth how the text that this antenna is going to fail but we know it's not how the text it's going to fail immediately after being caught out in a lie by Dave Baumann and I believe these are not these things are not a coincidence how tried to pretend to be something he wasn't - Dave Dave caught him out and it flustered how it screwed with him a little bit and he makes a mistake he makes an honest mistake now spoilers the antenna doesn't fail as far as we can tell how I made a mistake and finding out if the antenna going to fail and what does it mean if how I made a mistake is the setup for the major conflict in the film they go out and they grab the antenna they bring it back they test it and they say I don't I don't think there's anything wrong with it I suspect I don't think we'll ever know really but I suspect that what happens moving forward is because Hal sort of agrees with Dave and Frank and he's freaking out there's a great reaction shot actually but we don't really recognize it because we're not used to how doesn't have eyeballs he doesn't have a face he just has this me know monocular camera lens Dave says I'll be damned if I can find anything wrong with it cuts back to how and if we use our imagination a little bit we can imagine how doing yeah you're right oh no I want now what I made a mistake even well I'm fighting Rosen yes it's puzzling I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this before but maybe maybe how I'm making a mistake isn't that big a deal you know people make mistakes all the time let's see how the crew of the discovery deals with the fact that as far as they can tell how screwed up we get a great scene where Mission Control explicitly says our how nine thousand didn't find any problem with the ae-35 unit so we think there might be a problem with your or how nine thousand unit and how then is like uh hey I hope I hope you guys aren't hope you're not worried about this and there's a great shot of Frank and Dave and they're like no everything's fine but everything's probably not fine right I hope the two of you are not concerned about this Dave and Frank go have a private conversation to talk about how and it's interesting that they have to employ subterfuge in order to have a conversation that how can't listen into because how is everywhere on the ship well take the pod please Hal yeah sure okay it's not easy in other words for them to talk without how hearing it there's a lot going on in the scene they have to establish for instance that how can I hear them and they talk about what's going on but then they get to the issue and they say what do we do if how really has screwed up if Hal has made a mistake considering that this entire mission and our lives are dependent on how what do we do still was his idea to carry out the formal analysis wasn't it should certainly indicate his integrity and self-confidence they established by the way that was Hal's idea to just put the antenna back and wait and see if it fails because it's important for us as an audience to understand this isn't how trying to trick them this isn't part of housed subterfuge how is really surprised by the fact that the ae-35 antenna isn't going to fail and dave says that it speaks to his integrity and confidence that he's like well let's just put it back and see what happens they ask what do we do if we put the antenna back and it doesn't fail what do we do if it turns out how made a mistake it's an important question and House reaction to that answer is the reason every thing happens in this movie from this point forward because by the way although we don't know it at the time this is kind of a famous reveal again spoilers even though how cannot hear them we find out later that Hallett by the way is a hyper-intelligent supercomputer he can read their lips a lot of people watching this movie find out they're like what let's say we put the unit back and it doesn't fail it would pretty well wrap it up as far as I was concerned with it will would be in very serious trouble we'd be in very serious trouble of how I made a mistake what would we do there's no single aspect of ship operations it's not under his control if you were proven to be malfunctioning I wouldn't see how we'd have any choice but disconnection we have to kill how what a crazy reaction to have to what's going on on the ship all this happened by the way is how has made a mistake and if a human being had made a mistake it would be no big deal humans make mistakes all the time right that's something that we know about human beings we use that language all the time well nobody's perfect everybody makes mistakes and we've established that how is a person he's the sixth member of the crew if a human being makes mistake it's no big deal but if Hal makes mistake we gotta pull the plug we gotta kill how you're how and you were given all of this information about the crew and you had to pretend right it's not exactly alive you had to pretend like you didn't know what was going on and sort of interrogate the crew members to see if they've found anything out and then the stress of that causes you to make an entirely simple mistake in fact it's a harmless mistake how let's imagine that how is wrong what happens nothing if all he's saying is I think this piece of hardware is gonna fail if he's wrong then it just keeps working and nothing happens so it is literally the most trivial kind of mistake to make some mistakes how could make might result in all of the oxygen being vented to space but this isn't that kind of mistake is super trivial don't worry about it if this were another human member of the crew I don't think they would have batted an eye at it but because it's how because they they can't really trust him because he's a machine they decide they have to kill how if you're wondering in other words what's going on with how in this movie why does this pewter do the things that it does why does it kill Frank and try to kill David it murders the other three scientists in their sleep well I think all the information is presented here you just have to see it from Howells point of view how is the villain he does try to murder everybody on the ship but only because Frank and Dave decided that they would murder him if he had made a simple mistake and that means how is acting purely out of self-preservation and I think somewhat reasonably how would you react if you were on a spaceship and you found out your teammates were plotting to kill you because you had made a simple mistake you would probably be desperate you would probably start doing desperate things and that's exactly what how does how kills Frank Poole how murders the three scientists in hypersleep and then he goes after Dave Baumann and that sets up the titanic struggle in the third act of the movie it is the theme of the film is what the movies about it's what the fourth video in the series is gonna be about the battle the final battle between man and the machines man made to replace him I'm sorry Dave I'm afraid I can't do that [Music] you

Channel: Matthew Colville

Views: 86,456

Rating: 4.9651852 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: ieSawzpdptU

Length: 27min 3sec (1623 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/meowcolm_reynolds]

I love these videos.

Matt talks about HAL making a mistake which is a huge turning point for the trust of all the individuals involved, and how it creates the ensuing drama, but I think something he doesn't talk about is almost as interesting: Why does HAL make a mistake?

I know, HAL "gets flustered", but machines don't normally do that, and the notion that it could possibly happen brings up questions about the nature of machines vs aware individuals. Obviously HAL has gotten to a point where it makes "choices". Not analysis where it figures out what to do based on parameters, but choices based on something we might call free will. Presumably, HAL is the first of the HAL 9000 computers to develop this ability to exercise free will, perhaps because of its close observation and interaction with humans or perhaps because it was touched in some way with the alien technology that advances species to the next level of cognition. Either way, this HAL 9000 is unusual in this way since it refers to the other computers of his type never doing anything like this.

The implication is something about the ability to freely choose one's own destiny being inextricably tied to the ability to make mistakes and the need to choose between being perfect and being free.

I Think

[u/trward]

Glad this series is continuing. I’ve really enjoyed all 3 so far.

When I first saw 2001 at 11, I was bored and may have fallen asleep. I rewatched in high school- I was no longer bored, thought it was beautiful looking but didn’t really get it. I saw again after college, and kinda got it. Think I’m due for a rewatch after pt 4

[u/Snakepipe_Hollow]

As I understood it, both from the information we get from HAL and the novel, is that the Monolith is not known to the astronauts on the mission. This is secret knowledge that only HAL knows.

Therefore, he believes that the crew is expendable. The business over the antenna part supposedly developing a fault is not just covering an error, but that the error was caused by the imbalance (HAL's insanity) of having knowledge the others don't.

[u/TheGeraldBostock]

Here's how I felt the sequence of events could be described. HAL tests Dave on how the humans will treat him when they arrive at the monolith Dave shuts him down. Therefore he moves on with his plan to pretend that the antenna is broken. Once they've removed it and have no communication with earth HAL tries to kill all the humans in order to visit the monolith without interference. Why does HAL want to see the monolith? Same reason the humans do.

[u/VinceK42]

It's interesting to me that Kubrick appears to be creating a feeling of boredom on purpose. This serves the overall point of the film, so it's not a mistake or anything. It just shows what kind of filmmaker Kubrick was. Would be tough to do these days.

[u/0qualifications]

Hal doesn't seem like a villain, just someone backed into a corner with no other options. I really like his character and this take on him.