HAL. Human and Lovable. That's what HAL should stand for. In Stanely
Kubrick's films, the only character that is even close to being human is HAL, the computer
in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The characters within the Kubrick world are cold and
distant, "Victim of the Modern Age," the writer in A Clockwork Orange
says. The tiny microcosm of society that this filmmaker presents to us is merely a
reflection of his own jaded perception of reality.
In the beginning sequence of 2001 we see a sect of primates and their surroundings.
We see them eat, sleep, fight. The natural reaction to this piece is to directly correlate
it to modern civilization. Are we not motivated by the same forces? The primate in all of
us is displayed in all of his films in some way or another.
Violence as a primal urge. A Clockwork Orange is the Kubrick
film that comes to mind with this statement. Alex and his "droogs" are the
primate that is inside each and everyone of us. The new semi-federalized society of the
not-to-distant-future has spawned a culture of "ultra-violence". Instead of kids
going out to play in schoolyard, they ravage innocent victims.
Violence=Entertainment.
To see the entertainment value, one merely has to look at our pop-culture
today. We feed fighting to children on Saturday Morning cartoons, with military toys for
play. We perhaps wouldn't be interested in watching Kubrick's films if it wasn't for the
obligatory violence. Stanely's violence changes with the mores of the civilization. One of
the first films he made was Paths of Glory, where the fighting was the vehicle for the
concept of war as inhuman to soldiers. Compare that to the latest feature, Full Metal
Jacket where the warfare was that of excitement to the characters. Stanely counters this
love of violence by showing us the programming of the soldiers to feed off this hate in
the beginning "act" of the film. His message hasn't changed, just his
presentation.
Are we not now programmed to feed off hate? Look at the
"programming" of television. Rapists are now the prime-time stars. Mass-Murder
trading cards on sale at stationary stores. We are also being trained to obey authority.
The popular daily show, "Cops" gives us evidence of that. The police officers go
after predominantly black criminals and use appropriate amount of "force" in
retaining the law-breakers.
The drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket (Lee Ermy) actually praises
criminals such as Lee Harvey Oswald as "What one motivated marine and his rifle can
do." Joker relishes in the thought of killing, stating, "A day without blood is
a day without sunshine." He and his fellow soldiers keep saying how they "gotta
get in the shit," meaning warfare.
Kubrick showing us as primates is a bleak view, however this point is
complemented by a strong subtext of the hope of humanity. The end of Full Metal Jacket
is a song of the GI's childhood, the Mickey Mouse Mouseketeer song. A certain sign of
innocence is shown in this last striking image. Soldiers with their guns cocked walking
through a wasteland of fire and rubble never looked so young. In Dr. Strangelove,
atomic explosions are contrasted with the song, "We'll Meet Again" not only for
ironic and comic reasons, but in the faith that we will be reborn and start anew. This
concept is extended to 2001 with the Star Child looking with piercing honesty at
the audience and the world. In Spartacus, a mass field of corpses is followed up
with touching stubbornness of the slaves to save the life of its' brother slave and
leader, Spartacus.
Contrast this urge to destroy with 2001 and a new variable enters.
The HAL 9000 computer is polite, charming, calm. He is considerate and personable. He is
also a non-human. "More human than human," states astronaut Bowman in a
television broadcast. When HAL kills, he does so in a terribly non-violent way. He simply
lets his victims go. He turns off the machines that are keeping alive three scientists in
a cryogenic chamber. He pulls the hose of Frank Poole's oxygen. He isolates Bowman in the
coldness of space. Nothing like the ravages we see in the other films; Redmond Barry being
blown to pieces by an angry stepson in Barry Lyndon, hacking people to death in The
Shining, a sniper shooting defenseless soldiers slowly in Full Metal Jacket.
Landmines and atomic explosions are much more horrific than HAL's methodology.
HAL is also much more personable than any of the characters. Humbert, the
lead character in Lolita, is a self-righteous bore. He spends half of the movie
pursuing "Lo" in one way or another, then when he does capture her, he drives
her away with his own personality. Who wants somebody who is so... blah? He is selfish, a
deviant, pompous, reclusive, unsociable, uptight, etc. Lol's mother is predictable,
melodramatic, confused, emotionally repressed, and tyrannical. Quilty is odd, deviant,
phony, plastic, domineering. Lolita herself is immature and selfish.
The people who commit the robbery in The Killing are
two-dimensional. The soldiers in Full Metal are robotic. Killer's Kiss
characters are going through the motions. Barry Lyndon's cast is blase. Dr.
Strangelove's bunch are akin to comic book characters, motivated only by action. The
slaves in Spartacus have no human emotion, even in glimpses, throughout the movie.
The characters within 2001 are themselves anti-human. Case and
Point: Heywood Floyd. Within the little dialogue spoken in the film, Heywood has the
second most amount of lines. Yet his "speak" is riddled with exposition. His
conversation with his own daughter is anything but heartfelt. His "I love you"
has a false sense to it.
When Mr. Floyd is with his associates, he doesn't even let down his guard.
He is more computerized that we would think HAL is. He meets with his friends on a space
station and sits down for a chat. The only other male present starts a conversation about
a colony on the moon. He is concerned for he has relatives there. He relates a story in
which his transporter ship was in emergency status and is denied permission to land. The
phones have been severed for over a week at the colony. Heywood, in a non-emotional voice,
only states, "I'm sorry, but I am not a liberty to discuss this." As he is
pressed more on the point, he replies the same way. The antagonist of this situation
politely apologizes in his own way, the plasticity of the four apparent in their
mannerisms. They all chitter and chatter and say their goodbyes like a child who blindly
salutes the flag when prompted. They are completely oblivious.
In the briefing room, Heywood again is on a face value level. He
non-commitaly discusses the findings of his fellow colleagues and discusses none of the
implications. When he and his fellow workers go down to the monolith, the huddle around
each other and take a picture, like crazed tourists. Like Ray Davies sings on the album, The
Village Green Preservation Society, "People take pictures of each other/just to
prove that they really existed."
Frank Poole is another "human machine". He is quite plain. No
mannerisms or any colorization of his actions. He is anything but personable. Review the
scene when he watches his parents on the television. He is isolated in space, no change of
scenery or climate and he has absolutely no emotion viewing his parents... on his
birthday! At least HAL wishes him all his best on this special day, and sounds much more
convincing than his parents who babble on their transmission. They bring glimpses of life
that he is missing on earth as he merely maintains the ship. How terribly insensitive of
his parents. Parents should be aware of the deep sense of depravation their son must be
feeling, especially on his birthday, yet they jabber away without a care of isolation he
is subjected to being thousands upon thousands of miles away with no turning back, on a
mission that is top secret. Can they not feel the longing he has to be planted on the firm
ground once again?
Just as insensitive are the righteous of the scientists and politicians
that trample inside the sadistic Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Without a sense of
morality, Alex commits crime. The scientists are without morality; they wish only to try
on a subject what they have been experimenting, to enforce morality on a human.
"Morality comes from within... if a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man, "
Chaplin Charlie states in the movie. He questions the motives of the scientists, against
it for theological reasons. We can almost feel whose side Kubrick is on. A clue is in 2001
when the ape kills the attacking ape. They are both frightened by the killing and
attracted to it. There is a sense through the sounds of the apes that they have committed
a wrong, a sin.
"A sin!," Alex cries during the showing of a Nazi holocaust
film. Alex is not oblivious to right or wrong, he simply chooses not to follow the
morality that we all adhere to. Similarly, Col. Jack T. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove
changes his sense of morality. In his world of right and wrong, it is far better to rid
the world of communism by blowing them up with atomic weaponry than to settle it out. It
is easier to send orders to kill thousands of peasants who are uprising for the Roman
senate in Spartacus than to settle the differences.
Crazed motives gives way to crazed people within the Kubrick society. Jack
T. Ripper loses his sanity being within the confines of a military structure. Jack
Torrence loses his sanity to "cabin fever" in the Shining. Private Pyle goes mad
after he is dehumanized by the Drill Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. Redmond Barry even
loses his grip when he forsakes love for money. The commander of Operation Anthill becomes
obsessive and domineering in his thirst for revenge.
It is incorrect to believe that there are no running motifs in the body of work by Stanely
Kubrick. Humanity is grappled in all his films, from Killer's Kiss to Full Metal.
His theme is how people cope. From analysis we can interpret in these cinematic adventures
that people just shut off. Become cold and isolated. Alienated. Alone in their own world
of problems. Everybody has a story, a drama for all to learn from. Humbert has a dilemma
of major consequences, Joker lives in a world of shit, Jack has to deal with the pressures
of confinement and writer's block, Redmond has to forsake love for the comforts of money,
the government has to decide whether or not to let a madman's apocalyptic plan take effect
or reverse the situation, a fighter gets tangled up in a web of danger for a woman he
loves... HAL stands at the pinnacle.
HAL's dilemma is whether or not mankind is ready for the power of the monolith. He wonders
in his computer psyche if humans can grasp the meaning of other life forms. Can they
really understand, or will the black rectangle become another Stonehenge, with people
standing around taking pictures of each other? He is also torn with counter-programming by
the likes of Heywood Floyd (much more apparent in 2010) ensuring the safety of the
mission. He had to do what he was told. Orders by his makers. What could he do? Can we
betray our parents and their wishes? They created us, they made us who we are.
HAL is honest, warm, friendly, polite. His "death" is more
touching than any in the Kubrick collection. He is mortal, just like humans. He gets
confused and hurt, along with everybody else in the repertoire. Betrayal by Poole and
Bowman is more striking when the viewer realizes that HAL knew their motives all along.
This is perhaps why he seems so sinister, that he let them carry it out. He seems menacing
when he counters their betrayal with killing. HAL's conflict was not over control, but
over the mission. He had no choice. That's why he is human. He is as confused as the rest
of humanity. Who can blame him?