This movie continues to reveal new layers of mystery as time goes on, whereas most of its imitators recede into obscurity. One question we need to ask is why such a princely sum was spent on its making when its commercial prospects were by no means clear.
First, let's be absolutely, positively certain about this- 2001: A Space Odyssey is explicitly about extraterrestrial interference in the evolution of mankind, from "The Dawn of Man" to today. In this light, it needs to reiterated that Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke repeatedly referred to the film as a religious statement. Astounding. What religion is this? Not an Earth-based one, according to Kubrick.
In that light, what we must acknowledge is that this ancient extraterrestrial artifact- a monolith, no less- is linked to the Sun either literally or symbolically every time it appears onscreen. So we have a film, meant as a religious parable, conjoining extraterrestrial involvement in the technical development of the human race and what Kubrick himself called "mystical alignments of the Sun" and the other planetary bodies.
The Monolith first appears among the ape-men at sunrise.
The Monolith is then shot from below as a truncated pyramid with the ‘all-seeing eye’ of the Sun at it’s peak. Atop the Sun is a crescent Moon.
When the Monolith transmits the piercing signal in the pit at Clavius, the earlier pyramidical motif identifying it with the sun is repeated, only this time the crescent is of the Earth.
The Monolith reflects the sunlight while orbiting Jupiter.
The Monolith orbiting Europa is then shown in conjunction with the Sun and Jupiter.
A vertical alignment of Jupiter and its satellites forming a cross is shown just before Dave enters the Stargate, with the monolith appearing as the horizontal beam against it.
This is the last we see of the Monolith, just before the Star Child - an obvious Horus stand-in encased in a solar globe - merges with it.
The White Room also has another hidden layer of meaning. It’s manner of decor is known as ‘Louis XVI style.’
Louis XVI of France was known as ‘Louis the Last,’ and his is queen was the infamous Marie Antoinette (who would be portrayed by Kirsten Dunst of Eternal Sunshine fame).
When the guillotine (invented by a Freemason named Joseph-Ignace Guillotin) crashed down on poor Louis’ neck, another Freemason jumped to the platform from the crowd, dipped his fingers in Louis’ blood, sprinkled it over the onlookers and shouted out “Jacques Demolay, thou art avenged.”
Remember also that piece used in the Stargate sequence is Gyorgy Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" and the process used for the color effects was a form of Solarization.
Remember too that the film's poster art was created by NASA artist Robert McCall, whose "symbolic paintings" resemble a Freemason's wet dream.
The mind reels. All of this puts Childhood's End in a different perspective altogether.
