The meaning behind the 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith
I posted this originally as "The 2001 monolith explained", but I changed it, because it's not an explanation in the traditional sense and I was afraid that point would distract from the video itself. Don't let the untraditional nature of this video disparage you from taking a good look. This, to me, is the only way to meaningfully convey this meaning of the monolith without flat out saying it. One could say that that would kill the movie in the same way as explaining a joke is to dissecting a frog.
There are of course multiple layers to this movie, this might be a different one than you are used to. Please give it a try.
Anyway, this is inspired by Rob Ager's study of 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can find more of his stuff at collativelearning.com or his youtube channel, which is linked in the description. The video is based on his study, I am only responsible for the edit itself.