The Monolith: An Interactive Experience on Kickstarter — What is that Big Black Thing?

The Monolith is that big black thing from that trippy movie from long time ago about the future. Many of us who saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” may not remember much about the film itself, but we remember the red talking dot and of course, the big black thing. No one really remembers the story. It’s difficult to remember a movie when you were stratosphere-high watching it. One of the classic stoner movies of the twentieth century…so I’ve heard.

If you weren’t high watching the film, and you actually paid attention, it was one darn good movie. A classic even without weed. And the monolith is that one big black stain in your brain after walking out of the theater. What the heck is that big black thing?

It’s called the Monolith and it was conceived in the books by Arthur C. Clarke from which the movie was adapted. It’s supposed to be some kind of an alien-crafted device to spur low-level species to thrive when they would otherwise go extinct. Okay, so, what exactly is it? Google it and you’ll see a ton of discussions on the Monolith. The movie is over 40 years old and people still talk about it. One of the big non-symbol symbols of film history.

There’s a game about it, or at least one in development (see video below). The Monolith: An Interactive Experience by Baked Steak Games was recently posted on Kickstarter. Just starting out, it’s asking for $6K by October 20, 2015. It’s “an immersive, philosophical, first-person video game experience loosely based on Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’”.  Not too much detail on the game.  It’s definitely in its pre-historic infancy – far from Star Child level. In fact, part of the funds will go toward hiring a programmer. So, nothing really to write about the game other than that it’s on Kickstarter and it’s a really cool idea.

Back to the Monolith.

Looking at it from a literary/dramatic perspective, the Monolith is an inciting device. Its entry into the story changes the status quo. Monkeys are monkeys. Monolith drops from the sky, and the monkeys make tools and take that first step toward humanity. The tools become advanced. By the time another Monolith pings Earth, the tools can take one of these former-monkeys to Jupiter where they encounter the Monolith again. That then results in another transformation. The humans, who are nearly made extinct by their own tool (HAL, aka the big red dot), transcend once again and the dude becomes the Star Child.

Now you know why this was such a great stoner film.

The Monolith is just a big black thing. Many say it’s religion that leads to a state of Nirvana, or heaven, or Valhalla, or whatever. Others have said it is human will, or the essence of humanity, or whatever. To me, it’s just a big black thing. A non-symbol symbol because people seem to want it to be something. Nothing wrong with that. We all look at things and want it to be more, greater than what it really is. That’s how we are and that’s how we’ve evolved. The big black thing is nothing we thought it was, and it’s everything we want it to be.

I do hope Baked Stead Games gets to develop this game. It’s a fantastic idea with many possibilities. Based on the Kickstarter page, it doesn’t seem like they have a clear idea of what this game is or will be, and that’s fine since the Monolith will always be that mysterious big black thing. Too much exposition will destroy it.