Tonally, I didnt know if the film would survive that kind of speed bump," Flanagan admitted. Further evidence includes the cases of Tang in the Overlooks pantry and the otherwise innocuous change from Room 217 in the novel to Room 237 in the film. In addition to the sexual innuendos of the doctors conversation, theres one further scene in the film that adds to the mystery in question, occurring when Hotel managers Stuart Ullman and Bill Watson approach Jack on the closing day of the Overlook. There seems to be many hints in the film that Wendy is aware of her sons abuse and is covering up and denying the issue. Guillermo del Toro said hi to her once. INCEST: Why parents sleep with their children. I dont go for number interpretations generally, but here Ill make an exception. The elevator blood scene first appears as a vision to Danny, and materializes near the end of the film when Wendy is looking for him. Vitali became a close career-long collaborator of Kubricks and on the set of The Shining he was assigned to work closely with the young actor Danny Lloyd (there are several parallels in The Shining between actors first names and the first names of characters two Jacks, two Dannys and two Lloyds). Here are some of the most obvious clues supporting this theory. 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. Theseus was a king of Athens and one of the legendary heroes of old. In The Shining, Danny and Hallorann are the two characters with shining abilities, which allows them to communicate with each other even when miles apart. 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). The number 42 was shown on Dannys shirt as a parallel with the sexual relationship content of the film Summer of 42, and Danny is wearing it in the early summer scenes of the film. 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. Of course the caption relating to incest is the one thats relevant to this chapter, while the Starsky & Hutch caption may be a reference to Jack giving his soul for a drink and the affair caption could be related to Jacks encounter with the woman in room 237. Now I wont beat around the bush by building up to my interpretation of this theme. He was creating a parallel between Jack Torrance and the main character of Kubricks earlier film Lolita. Instead of being inside, the young boy is out in the hedge maze being pursued by his father. The Shining is Stephen King's third published novel and the one that established his name in the horror genre. Believers in this theory also suggest that the tidal wave of blood in the famous elevator scene represents the collective spilled blood of Native Americans. What makes The Shining so special? Ager suggests that Danny's experience in Room 237 was his way of externalizing his abuse and that it was his father who assaulted him instead. 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. Scene cut and we see Wendy running after hearing Jack screaming and finds him sweating out of trepidation due to a nightmare which involved him hacking his son and wife into pieces. With scenes that show an elevator gushing out blood or creepy twins that greet you at the end of a hallway, its not hard to see that the visuals of the film are enough to keep anyone on the edge of their seat. This is one of the more popular and widely circulated The Shining theories, but its also one of the sillier interpretations. 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 Lolita, Mason played Humbert Humbert, a man who has a sexual relationship with his underage stepdaughter. 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). Kubrick replaced the hedge animals in the book with a hedge maze, which like the movie offers endless possibilities but barely any solution. While he may be one of the weirdest Overlook Hotel ghosts in the movie, Mike Flanagan decided to keep all the ghosts that would've stuck with Danny the most, and that wasn't the bear man. The hallucination ends when an hysteric Wendy comes running in and informs Jack about a woman in Room 237 who tried to strangle Danny. Is this implying that Jack forced his son to perform felatio in the fatherly love scene? Jack had been researching the incidents that took place in the hotel quite possibly for his story and uses this information to conjure up a plot. Wendy defends herself with a knife and slashes Jacks arm, causing him to retreat. Now comes the most shocking question. He doesnt want to spend any time with her, he refuses to take her for a walk after breakfast, he bars her from entering the Colorado Lounge where he hangs out and he stays up all night while she's in bed and sleeps alone in the day. Without wasting more time, lets revisit The Shining by quoting Kubrick. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). King famously hated the adaptation in Kubricks film because it was such a far cry from his original story. Perhaps the most analyzed part of The Shining is the ending; the final shot in the Stephen King movie adaptation is a 1921 photograph showing Jack with other guests in the hotels ballroom. All of this corresponds to Wendy's horrified reaction to seeing The Shining bear man in the hallway, which Ager suggests may or may not imply that she has realized, at that moment, what's been happening to Danny in The Shining movie. Played with quiet confidence and wounded reservation by "Charm City Kings" star Winston, Kevin starts "We Have a Ghost . As for all the weird stuff Wendy stumbles across while running through the hotel, like the guy in the bear suit blowing the party guest and the lift full of blood, it's like Halloran said earlier in the film: "A lot of things happened in this hotel over the years, and not all of them were good". More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. ), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Well explain each theory, why people believe it, and look at the corroborating evidence. Kevin is a sweet, frustrated kid. After being freed from the kitchen pantry by Gradys ghost, Jack (whose sanity was already shattered by that point) goes after Wendy and Danny, axe in hand. But there are also plenty of ludicrously far-fetched The Shining conspiracy theories that made the cut as well. published July 29, 2020. There are actually several other references in the film to bears. Yes! Contrary to the novel, Danny is not super intelligent and watches The Roadrunner Show (foreshadowing). Jack like a crazy wolf, knocking down anything that comes his way, delivers the iconic line Heres Johnny! after hacking parts of the bathroom door. Wendy distraught over Dannys deteriorating state goes looking for Jack and finds hundreds of pages by his typewriter, all of them clustered with the sentence All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Related: The Shining Movie's Most Significant Difference From Stephen King's Book. Below are the six biggest and most popular theories on The Shining explained. Before he can retaliate, we hear the sounds of an engine running, marking the arrival of Halloran. The hotel makes one last attempt to possess Hallorann but he successfully manages to avoid it. Over the past four decades, The Shining has been picked apart, shot by shot, by hundreds of viewers looking for hidden meanings, ranging from film scholars who adore the work of Kubrick to conspiracy theorists who think that Kubrick was involved in faking the Moon landing. Despite all the changes Stanley Kubrick made to the ending, one of the director's visions remained in place throughout all of it: The Shining picture at the end. In the novel, Jack manages to fight the hotels possession long enough for him to tell Danny to run for his life. Vivian Kubrick explains in the commentary that James Mason was acting in a local theatre, and so Kubrick gave him an invitation. Kubrick failed in adapting Stephen Kings book, but he succeeded in making a film full of metaphors and symbolism that have made way for countless interpretations of its true meaning. Surprisingly, Jack expresses nothing but anticipation towards the role of the caretaker. Its now even more clear why Kubrick chose such a sombre piece of music for the fatherly love scene. The ball itself is featured in another scene with Jack throwing it against a wall in the hotel lobby. Jack takes his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), with him, but little do they know, the Overlook has some dark secrets of its own. Kubrick was responsible for such awkward structuring, mainly because he wanted to instill horror through ambience. Our partial view of the felatio bear, before he leans back from the bed, matches our partial view of Danny brushing his teeth before his first Shining vision. One of the most frequent questions Ive received about The Shining is What does the guy in the bear costume mean? The popular interpretation is that the scene is a throwback to a subplot of Stephen Kings book, in which a party guest in a dog costume has a homosexual relationship with one of the hotels former owners. Hedge animals and objects coming to life, Gradys ghost, generalized and plot favored characterization, the spirit of the Overlook Hotel and playing safe with the gore; stuff like this grows campy over time and Kubrick turned this into an atmospheric psychological horror. Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. We see Jack at a table and the camera zooms in from behind, like an entity of its own very similar to most of the movie where the camera has a quite latching presence. Of all the places in the film that a picture of bears could appear this one is right above Dannys bed and there are no other framed bear pictures in the film. Its understandable: Kubrick asked for freedom to change whatever he wanted, and he wasnt kidding. Additionally, lines of dialogue such as white mans burden further support this association. In this post, well break down the six biggest theories on The Shining, including our own theory that its actually a Christmas movie! He chose each clip for thematic reasons. The aforementioned Room 237 doc covers this theory and the following video digs even deeper into this Native American genocide interpretation. Directly above Dannys bed is a framed picture of two bears, one standing and one sitting. Jack embraced Danny on the bed in the fatherly love scene, from which Danny would have also been able to see his own predicament in a mirror. Danny escapes the maze and reunites with Wendy, and they escape in Hallorans snowcat. The Shining novel and film work best as separate pieces, and each ending has a different meaning. How did these pictures get there if Wendy does all the menial chores. The sound design is top-notch but is literally so powerful at this time, every blow feels like one to your heart. In Doctor Sleep, Adult Danny Torrance is forced to head to the Overlook in order to unleash a greater evil on villain Rose the Hat, but while there encounters the ghost of his father. #theshining #endingexplainedIn the horror classic THE SHINING from Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrick, Jack Torrance and his family become the wint. This theory goes all the way back to classic Greek myths. 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. While it may not work for Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick's ending perfectly fits the film he created. 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. Yet, this isn't Jack, rather, it's Lloyd the bartender, albeit not the same Lloyd Jack himself encountered. Theres an evil side to it. Simply put, this The Shining analysis posits that the film is just as much about the genocide of Native Americans as it is about ghosts haunting the hotel. The dog/sexual abuse interpretation hasnt been confirmed by those involved in the film, so its up to each viewer if they accept it or not. Without Kubrick around to spell out his intentions, the answer is, . With a booming siren in the background conveying the initiation of an emergency, we are in the yellow car and we come to know Danny watched something about cannibalism on T.V, and earlier Jack mentions his wife being a horror addict and shes also seen smoking with quivering fingers. 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. Triggered by Dannys psychic abilities, the hotel releases some dangerous supernatural forces that mess with Jacks sanity and the safety of Wendy and Danny. He even sought to create an alternate adaptation of his novel in the form of a television mini-series in the '90s. Find out which other movies made it onto our list of the best horror soundtracks, up next. Others believe its the blood of all the lives claimed by the forces of the hotel, which might be the most convincing explanation. Famous Guns in Movies Cinemas Most Creative Movie Guns, What is SAG-AFTRA Guild History, Eligibility & Membership. Kubrick was never into the idea of making a typical horror film, and he certainly got what he wanted out of the film, even if Stephen King didn't like it. There is also Jack and Danny's conversation in the apartment suite with Danny on Jack's lap. The layout of the hotel seeming to fluctuate throughout the film is also used as evidence toward this interpretation. Stanley Kubrick's iconic Stephen King adaptation is intentionally dense and even nonsensical at times. Its also possible that the framing of the bear picture is a parallel of the felatio bear being seen within a door frame. Coming back to The Overlook, Jack then starts hacking through the main door of their quarters with an axe, while Wendy and Danny run into the bathroom. 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. Interesting. But, to be perfectly honest, every other piece of evidence in support of this theory is beyond far-fetched and not to be taken seriously. This appearance doesn't clear up the question about why Jack is seen in the 1921 photo at the Overlook, but it does suggest that the theory about his soul being somehow absorbed by the haunted hotel is actually true. The Shining Caretaker Explained. And what is the meaning? 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). The Shining Caretaker Explained, Every Shining Character Who Returns In Doctor Sleep. Danny: "Tony is a little boy that lives in my mouth. She looks at the inscription through the mirror which reveals itself to be MURDER. Why the bear costume? Danny's experience in Room 237 occurs when a ball rolls into the room, and Wendy then comes to his rescue after she hears him screaming punctuated with the claim that a "crazy woman" strangled him. There are many reasons why Stanley Kubricks The Shining is considered one of the most influential horror movies of all time. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? The one on the left would be overlapped by the stretched size of 237, seen in the bathroom scene and the one on the right shows a stairway going downstairs where Room 237 is. Some believe this suggests Lloyd the bartender was never a real person, and instead just a role the Overlook assigns to one of the souls it owns. But that hasnt stopped people all over the world from trying. Stanley Kubrick's iconic Stephen King adaptation is intentionally dense and even nonsensical at times. We see an overly terrified Wendy screaming in agony at the sight, but slashes Jacks hand when he tries to turn the knob open. But believers of this theory point to the word below the skier as proof: Monarch.. Coincidence much? Notice how we are shown a symmetrical window centered shot, this is because the placement of the window is impossible. Parents just don't understand. (Rob Ager's work plagiarized) Collative Learning 214K subscribers Subscribe 4.1K 167K views 5 years ago Watch my new Shining analysis video. 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. contain their own pieces of unique information. , lines of dialogue such as white mans burden further support this association horror... Theory and the one that established his name in the bear costume mean it onto our of. 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