Tools of Characterization
Characterization in 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001 is not a character-driven film. Its scope is bigger than the individual, so none of the characters are complex or well-developed. Kubrick's just not all that interested in character in this film. But we'll round up the usual suspects and see how Kubrick tries to paint a picture of the entities that populate his film.
Actions
2001: A Space Odyssey loves to muddy characterization. A trait that at first glance appears to separate one character from another is later found to be shared by all the characters in various forms.
At first, the hominids appear as dumb animals. They graze the savanna looking for food because they lack agriculture and look on helplessly as one of their own is savaged by a leopard because they lack the tools to defend themselves. They fight and kill each other over a water hole that can generously be called a puddle.
But if we look deeper, we can see that their actions are ones shared by the space travelers later in the film. Their willingness to kill comes from their deep-rooted need to survive, just like Bowman's. For that matter, HAL's actions are triggered by a need for self-preservation, too.
Also, they portray curiosity when faced with the mysterious, rather than simply ignoring it. Their fear yet eagerness to touch the monolith are mirrored in the actions of Dr. Floyd later in the film, when he reaches toward the moon monolith. Even on his deathbed, Bowman reaches toward it. HAL's curiosity is programmed into him, but he still engages the crew with questions, trying to ascertain their psychological state.
So the actions displayed by one character—hominid, human, or A.I.—may seem different, but at the core, these actions mirror each other.
Speech and Dialogue
More than half this film is without any dialogue at all. Clearly, Kubrick isn't much interested in using speech to convey character; he's relying on visuals for his effects. The early hominids can't speak, so we initially write them off as non-human despite the fact that they represent the dawn of man. They're the proto-humans, and they have a lot of human characteristics despite not having yet invented gossip and internet shaming.
The characters we recognize as human don't really emote or differentiate themselves via their tone of voice, manner of speaking, dialects, etc. Bowman and Poole's dialogue is presented as very monotone, almost robotic. They're both very controlled and rational. Consider this scene when Bowman is preparing to go out and rescue Poole after his oxygen hose has been cut:
BOWMAN: Prepare G-pod for EVA, HAL. Made radio contact with him yet?
HAL: The radio is still dead.
BOWMAN: Do you have a positive track on him?
HAL: Yes, I have a good track. (2001)
Bowman goes about the rescue in a stoic, matter-of-fact manner. If the only human we could hang out with for hundreds of millions of miles was drifting to his death, we'd be freaking out. All the scientists talk this way, too. Even when announcing the first evidence for extraterrestrial intelligent life, the scientists aren't all that worked up like the ones in Contact or Independence Day, who practically jump out of their skins and shriek with excitement when they detect an ET signal.
This makes it all the more jarring when we see Bowman angrily confronting HAL when HAL refuses to open the pod bay doors to let him back into the ship:
BOWMAN: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
He's angry, but even then, he's extremely controlled. Now compare that to HAL's dialogue during his "death" scene:
HAL: Dave. My mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm…afraid.
Despite his robotic tone, HAL's dialogue is far more recognizable as the "human" voice and the one we can empathize with the most. This characterization plays with our expectations, making it more difficult to answer the question of whether HAL has achieved consciousness or not.
While he's deactivating HAL's higher functions, Bowman appears coldly efficient, but if you listen closely, you can hear his breathing become more rapid. And when a childlike HAL asks if he would like him to sing the song he's learned, Bowman says:
BOWMAN: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
That gets us every time.
HAL describes himself in his BBC interview as a "conscious entity." Maybe, like all interviewees enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, he's presenting himself in the best possible light, or maybe he's reflecting the opinion of his programmers. Regardless, he's got the most interesting and emotional dialogue in the film.
Type of Being
Once again, a first glance suggests that type of being would be an instant indicator of characterization; like if a LOTR character is an orc, that's pretty much all you need to know about him. Likewise with Vulcans or velociraptors.
The early hominids act like animals, so we characterize them as humanity's ancestors but not humans themselves. Likewise, we initially read HAL as a cold machine that lives on calculation rather than human instinct, and we draw the line between him and the human characters.
But 2001 continues to muddy the waters of characterization even here. The hominids evolve overnight into tool-making humans capable of self-preservation. And although HAL's a computer, its pleas for Bowman not to kill it result in the saddest "death" in the film. We feel worse for HAL than we do Poole, who was murdered in cold blood—oops, we mean bloodless circuitry. See what we mean?
The difference between species, then, is less than meets the eye. In the case of the Star Child, we never learn how different he is from the previous incarnations of consciousness. We'll have to wait for the sequel.
But wait—there was a sequel. In 2010, we find that Bowman is now a disembodied being of pure consciousness who was living inside the monolith before making an appearance on his wife's TV screen to say a final goodbye. HAL has been reactivated but is destroyed in an explosion. Before HAL's second death, Bowman makes another appearance to reassure HAL that they'll be together again someday.
Wha?? We need another sequel.