Based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, The Shining follows Jack Torrance ( Jack Nicholson ), a writer who has been hired as the winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in. Danny who witnesses this screams from the cupboard he was hiding in, runs towards the maze when Jack starts getting closer. Another tracking shot and Danny encounters the Grady twins again, with a new vision of them lying bloodied on the ground. Danny cleverly retraces back his footsteps and makes a false trail to confuse an already transfixed Jack and audience (the high pitched score literally tears you apart with anxiety and the fact that Kubrick changed the whole story in favor of a more pessimistic theme leaves you wondering about the outcome), who follows the footprints to get nowhere. The costume originates from a vision of the past that keeps merging into our timeline. Its now even more clear why Kubrick chose such a sombre piece of music for the fatherly love scene. Another important detail is that Jack doesnt wear a wedding ring at all in the film, not even when he and his family are driving to the hotel, but Wendy always wears hers. This imagery in itself is enough to unsettle some people. When Jack walks from the reception to the room, the camera travels in a perpendicular fashion highlighting the angle of the room and the apparent absence of a wall behind Ullmans room. There are so many doors in the movie that lead nowhere, like our ideas of the movie that according to Kubrick offer no explanation and hence raises the question : What is the maze? In particular, we see Jack Nicholson and James Mason having a personal chat, while the rest of Masons family meet Kubrick himself. A drunk Jack, in a fit of rage had dislocated Dannys shoulder and this is presented as a possible explanation for Danny to develop a separate personality (Tony). Jack is a recovering alcoholic and relapses at the hotel. Kubrick used a yellow car instead of a red one and used a red snowcar contrary to yellow in the novel. We meet Delbert Grady (not the Grady who killed his family) as he spills a drink on Jacks jacket and then takes him to the washroom to get cleaned up (more like clean him off his conscience). The sequel to The Shining, 2019's Doctor Sleep movie managed to walk a delicate tightrope between adapting King's Shining sequel book and being a follow-up to Kubrick's Shining movie. Even when looked at more literally, The Shining's meaning is still up for debate, as some fans disagree on whether the ghosts in The Shining are even real. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado made a strong impression on King thanks to its long, eerily empty corridors during his stay right before the hotel closed for the winter. Because of that, The Shining book and movie are very different entities, and details that are explained or at least easier to interpret in the novel are either not included or left very ambiguous in the film. Contrary to the novel, Danny is not super intelligent and watches The Roadrunner Show (foreshadowing). When Shelley Duvall witnesses the bear giving oral sex to another man, she is confronting the true horror and cruelty of her husbands actions toward her son, animating in front of her eyes as a disturbing vision. Of course, there are some more convincing (and coherent) than others, but The Shining is, at its core, a story about violence and abuse and how these are often cyclical. Danny on the other hand after the physical trauma goes into a semi-conscious state, Tony taking hold of the reigns and keeps on repeating the word redrum in a very mechanical trance. She has either overlooked or deliberately ignored the abuse that has cause Dannys problems. He tells Kubricks daughter Vivian, You look cute in your red shirt, a soft porn calendar is seen on his bathroom door, he is seen unzipping his pants to pull out a tape recorder and he provocatively unbuttons his shirt to pull out the connecting wires. Mickey and Minnie Mouse stickers are shown on Dannys bedroom door as he brushes his teeth and in the fatherly love scene he wears a Mickey Mouse sweater. The biggest reason for the sideways panning when Ullman shows the hotel is to let the viewers sink in every corridor and direction, before he changes the set design completely, creating an anomaly to disorientate the viewers.Theres also an EXIT sign cleverly put on the left end of the hallway leading to Torrances apartment where the bathroom is, strange foreshadowing. Danny writes REDRUM with a red crayon on the door of the bathroom while Wendys sleeping and starts repeating it to wake her up. On the way he passes by a red VW crushed by a truck, a sweet tongue in cheek dig at the source material. Strangelove, at once scary and comical; the brutal pop future of A Clockwork Orange; the raw intimacy of the exchanges between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut. This is the kind of influence he had on other directors in the industry including legends like Spielberg and Scorsese, who aimed to shoot as precisely as him. We see a disoriented Danny walking towards them and spot bruises on his neck, with Wendy putting the blame on Jack, eventually reminding him of his earlier physical assault on Danny. The young woman had inexplicably transformed into an old lady who walks after the frantic Jack laughing all the while. The abuse part of the story is both physical and psychological: both Wendy and Danny are clearly scared of Jack, even before the hotels influence took control of him, and yet they stayed with him. From the sinister musical scoring to the casts class acts, the film has all the components for a great horror movie. Kubrick replaced the hedge animals in the book with a hedge maze, which like the movie offers endless possibilities but barely any solution. Bullingdon bares a striking resemblance to Danny Torrance. The latter is the one that Jack says he saw in the newspaper (and the one who killed his family in the hotel), and thus the reincarnation of Delbert Grady. First of all theres the obvious homosexual innuendo, but the story titles featured on this particular issue include the following: INTERVIEW: THE SELLING OF (STARSKY & HUTCHS) DAVID SOUL. He also informs Danny about the hotels ability to shine owing to its tragic past from being built on an Indian burial site to the murders, discovered and undiscovered. Contents 1 Biography 2 Notes & Trivia 3 See also 4 External Links 5 Appearances 6 References It seems that commitment to family is a problem for all of these males. At the hedge maze, Danny manages to escape by laying a false trail to mislead Jack. Figurative representations of hell can be found in other horror films, so it wouldnt be a stretch to imagine Kubrick was doing the same thing. The open patch on the bear man's behind in the film simply adds to the sexual emphasis. He also suggests that Kubrick dismissed the notion when King brought it up to him. King famously hated the adaptation in Kubricks film because it was such a far cry from his original story. This is typed inconsistently throughout , with typos and no punctuations highlighting Jacks own ever-growing trance or unstable mental health over the course. the scene really doesnt make sense in the movie and i've never read the book so idk if its explained there? Unlike the film, Hallorann in the book doesnt die and helps Wendy and Danny escape. At The Overlook Hotel, there is a picture of two bears above Danny's bed, and there's a prominently featured bear skin rug in the lobby. Breaking the cycle. As well as the incest parallels with the film Lolita, The Shining also carries abuse parallels with another Kubrick film called Barry Lyndon. Now I wont beat around the bush by building up to my interpretation of this theme. But The Shining bear man does have a disturbing and specific implication. Here, Im going by the theory that the Jack in the second half was typed into existence by the real Jack Torrance. About the Jack in the picture, Kubrick confirmed that it wasnt taken at The Overlook and doesnt serve as an evidence of Gradys claim that Jack had always been the caretaker. Wendy Torrance, (played by Shelly Duvall) frantically roams the halls of the Overlook Hotel looking for her son Danny while her husband, Jack Torrence ( played by Jack Nicholson) goes on an axe rampage. Directly above Dannys bed is a framed picture of two bears, one standing and one sitting. In Kubricks version Tony is never shown and communicates with Danny through an involuntary movement of Dannysindex finger, since Kubrick never intended on giving a ghostly theme to the movie. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. But also the sexual abuse is shown in a scene between Jack and his father in the bizarre scene with the man in the bear costume and older gentleman. This idea even served as the basis for a mockumentary film from director Matt Johnson calledOperation Avalanche. The novel and subsequent film differ in significant ways. Introducing aspiring bodypainterCharrar.basPennywise the Dancing Clownfrom Stephen Kings It, the hit book, television adaptation, and film adaptation. The three remain close, and Hallorann comforts Danny over the loss of his father and teaches him to fish. Its eyes are similar in design to the floor dials of the gaping mouth elevator, which weve already identified as symbolic eyes, and the teddys mouth is bright red, which again is similar to the gaping mouth doors of the elevator. At the time, the film made modest profits and was met with lukewarm reviews ("Even the film's most startling images seem overbearing and perhaps even irrelevant," shrugged . Keen-eyed viewers have pointed out before that the issue of Playgirl magazine Jack Torrance is reading in one scene has an article titled "Incest: Why Parents Sleep With Their Children" featured on the cover. This makes sense when going back to his conversation with Grady in the bathroom, where the butler tells Jack that he has always been the caretaker. It also fits with the role of both Grady characters mentioned in the film: the past caretaker and the ghost. Copyright 2023 Metaflix Media LLC. This scene has been interpreted many ways, and one of the most popular explanations is that it represents the hotel absorbing Jacks soul. In the kitchen, Halloran takes Wendy and Danny through a twisting-turning path and then opens the freezer room, shot cuts, and we see him opening the door on the wrong side contradicting the previous shot. The Shining Is About Sexual Abuse. Because the movie's Overlook Hotel was built on an Indian burial ground, the blood coming out from the elevator has been interpreted as that of the Indians buried there. Based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, The Shining follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who takes a job as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. The interaction between Tony and Danny takes place with the camera focused on a mirror in the bathroom and the shot composition is similar to the bear man shot later on in the movie. In the psychiatrist scene Danny lays on the bed with his jeans removed and his hands curiously covering his groin area, just as Jack did in the fatherly love scene. The meaning and topics addressed in the novel are very different than those in The Shining movie Stephen King hates so much, given Kubricks many changes to the story in order to fit his vision. We are no more shown the mirror, questioning the accuracy of the depiction, while he makes Danny sit on his lap and this is when Jack abuses him (the bathroom door is open and theres no toilet paper). The core ofThe Shiningmoon landing theory posits that not only was the 1969 moon landing a hoax, but that Kubrick was the one who constructed the fake footage. One final detail hinting at Jack's guilt as an abuser of his family is his rotten glance to Danny's bedroom (and the camera) after argueing with Wendy about Danny's injuries. Its a new day, and Jack shows an increasing sense of depersonalization in a chilling conversation if you notice the details. Jack, Ullman, Bill Watson, Lloyd the bartender not one wedding ring, and Gradys hands are gloved so we cant see whether he is wearing a ring or not. For more information, please see our Most recently, Pennywise was portrayed byBill Skarsgardin Demons, ghosts, and serial killers all make for frightening movie subjects. A shift from dog to bear costume doesnt have any significant effect on the aesthetic scariness of the scene so there must have been some sort of logic at work in Kubricks decision. 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Lets take a look from the beginning. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). At the beginning of the movie, Wendy mentions that Jack once injured Danny's arm, and it's later implied that Danny's imaginary friend, Tony, is . For example, during the scene where Danny is speaking to his psychiatrist, he is laying on stuffed bears. The shot passes by within 13 seconds and is never referenced again which raises many unanswered questions. There are lots of parallels going on here. Who are these people? Its Tuesday, and frankly speaking shits about to go down. The complete lack of wires running to the TV, pointed out by of my correspondents, may also be related to the concept of a fractal film. The Shining bear is no different, and, if Rob Ager's theory is correct, could explain a much darker nature to the relationship between Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) and his father, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson). Here are some of the most obvious clues supporting this theory. Some readers will probably disapprove or take offence at what Im about to say regardless of how I explain it, so Ill just say it outright. Well, a 102 minutes long documentary titled Room 237 was made focusing only on explaining the events that take place in the movie incorporating multiple perspectives, and yet I think it couldnt come to a totally justified conclusion. And both of them have sexual relations with a minor within their own family unit. In this post, well break down the six biggest theories on The Shining, including our own theory that its actually a Christmas movie! Look carefully at this teddy pillow. Observe the thick scrapbook with newspaper cutouts beside the typewriter which is only shown for a scene unlike the novel where Jack continuously uses the scrapbook describing the tragedies that took place at The Overlook, a catalyst for his descent into madness. , Hallorann in the novel, Danny manages to escape by laying a false trail to mislead.... 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