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. 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). However, skeptics would say these could easily be a result of simple continuity errors. These observations could easily be interpreted as evidence that Wendy has also had an incestuous relationship with Danny, but my guess is the older woman relationship refers to the woman in room 237, who we know is simply a dream manifestation of Jack. We see this relationship between Vitali and Danny when shooting the scene of Danny looking for a hiding space. This gives you an inkling of the absurd lengths Kubrick will go to make a tiny subliminal detail that will go unnoticed by almost everyone watching the picture. A hostile Jack threatens her and claims he has responsibilities to look after and will get rid of her if she bothered him. 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). This next theory also suggests that the continuity errors are actually intentional and represent something different entirely. Theres the woman in room 237 obviously, but theres also a woman walking down a flight of stairs in the lobby who he briefly stares at and theres the two women who say goodbye to Ullman outside the Torrance apartment Jack is last to enter the apartment and sneaks a sly peak at them. Although this makes sense, Kubrick himself has said the photo actually suggests Jack being a reincarnation of an earlier official at the hotel. He is unable to put his undivided attention towards detailing while writing the story or thinking about it, since his consciousness pertains to a limit of recollection. Her relationship with Jack seems to be totally lacking in intimacy. 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. Its rumbling overcome by Jacks maddening bellows, who eventually freezes to death. Funnily enough, director Stanley Kubrick had a couple different endings in mind for The Shining, each of them very different. Were in a golden age of TV writing and development. Without wasting more time, lets revisit The Shining by quoting Kubrick. The Overlook is built on the sacred lands of Native Americans . Here's the end of The Shining explained. Theseus was a king of Athens and one of the legendary heroes of old. Those who believe this theory also suggest that it indicates the events that happen to Danny inside of Room 237, which are not shown to the audience. There are lots of parallels going on here. The movie doesn't expressly explain the identity of the man, but in the book, Stephen King provides the answer. When Ullman and Bill Watson approach Jack in the lobby on Closing Day, Jack is reading a January 1978 issue of Playgirl Magazine. Another tracking shot and Danny encounters the Grady twins again, with a new vision of them lying bloodied on the ground. One newspaper article is called Illness as metaphor and was written by Susan Sontag. Coming back around to consciousness, Danny awakes to see that his trousers are around his ankles and he is laying on top of a large stuffed toy bear. I've watched the movie somewhere between 5-10 times over the years and still haven't been able to figure out the meaning of this scene. This imagery is reinforced by the man in the bear outfit performing oral sex on another man at the films climax. Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, Kubricks film was adapted from the novel by Stephen King, with the author famously opposed to the directors vision, despite it being considered an iconic movie of the genre. Here's The Shining bear scene explained. The aforementioned Room 237 doc covers this theory and the following video digs even deeper into this Native American genocide interpretation. The novel and subsequent film differ in significant ways. Set in the towering, fictional Overlook Hotel, located in the Colorado Rockies, the haunting tale follows Jack Torrance (Nicholson), his wife, Wendy (Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) who opt to look after the hotel over the winter. 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. Danny who witnesses this screams from the cupboard he was hiding in, runs towards the maze when Jack starts getting closer. While it may not work for Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick's ending perfectly fits the film he created. Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a textbook example of a storied film. Jack is a recovering alcoholic and relapses at the hotel. The Shining's Room 237 is known for having a female specter, as referenced when Jack encounters a woman in the bath. One of the most chilling details about both the novel and film versions of The Shining is that the Overlook Hotel is based on a real (possibly haunted) location that Stephen King once visited. A visual medium requires visual methods. Also to be noted, this is the first time we see Jack in the burgundy jacket, the color similar to that of the liquid gushing out of the elevator in Dannys vision. In the same interview, the screenwriter says, "The photograph was always in the ending. Theres also a poster of bears right above Dannys bed with the smaller bear on its knees. Here's The Shining bear scene explained. This documentary is an exhaustive cataloguing of allThe Shining fan theories big and small. In Lolita, Mason played Humbert Humbert, a man who has a sexual relationship with his underage stepdaughter. Charles Grady killed his family with an axe, and Jack was on track to replicate that. Since the movie is so extensive, lets discuss about three independently primary talking points : Jack, Overlook Hotel and the Bear Man. We see Halloran contacting the rangers to get in touch with the hotel. Not only that, but Wendy is wearing Jacks blue robe. How did these pictures get there if Wendy does all the menial chores. A previous caretaker Charles Grady had killed his family, including his two daughters and himself after a claustrophobic breakdown. Related: The Shining Movie's Most Significant Difference From Stephen King's Book. The Shining Caretaker Explained, Every Shining Character Who Returns In Doctor Sleep. Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. 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 . 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. Another bear reference is found in Dannys bedroom at the Overlook. The supposed connection is that Monarch is believed to be the codename for one of the CIAs mind control experiments, though this is mere conjecture. From across the hall, they casually look up at her. This is the same mirror in which Wendy hugs Danny before seeing the REDRUM graffiti on the bathroom door. The second obvious factor is that Kubrick has omitted the entire back story associated to the dog costumed man in the book, leaving his audience at a complete loss as to the scenes meaning. Related: The Shining Has An Alternate Ending You Will NEVER See. He decided to adapt Stephen Kings best selling novel, The Shining. That being said, The Shining bear didn't appear in the sequel. This is one of the more compelling The Shining theories and there is a lot of ancillary evidence to support it. Sam Kench is an internationally-awarded screenwriter, independent filmmaker, and film critic. But that isnt exactly true. Danny laying on the bear pillow with his pants removed and hands over his genitals. In the novels story, one of the hotels former owners has a homosexual relationship with a party guest in a dog costume. While some fans felt this missed an opportunity to add some meaning to The Shining bear suit, Flanagan felt trying to give the bear from The Shining a backstory would disrupt the rest of the movie. 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 visual imagery along with the symbolism, sound and production design, character mannerisms or dialogues have their own story to telland every single one of them could take you down through a different path, like a maze except theres no area of convergence. Danny writes REDRUM with a red crayon on the door of the bathroom while Wendys sleeping and starts repeating it to wake her up. Realizing that he is leaving footprints in the snow, Danny carefully maneuvers backwards over his own . In any other film from any other director, you may discard the information as sheer coincidence, but Kubrick was famously cryptic, scattering clues and imagery throughout each and every one of his films leading to a more concealed secret. Along with a painting on the wall of the Overlook that could be interpreted as the head of a bull atop the body of a man, though not in a literal sense. A month passes and we are greeted with the most iconic tracking shot of all time and unlike most of them, it tracks the tricycle of a kid moving around empty corridors with the echoing sound of the wheels rolling against the wooden floor creating a oddly satisfying atmosphere. The easiest one to notice is in the scene of Danny talking to the psychiatrist. The similarities are intentional. That scene towards the end of The Shining where Wendy (Shelley Duvall) is navigating the hallways and sees a man receiving a bj from a person in a creepy bear suit. Theres something inherently wrong with the human personality. This makes the scene even more baffling and the unknown even more frightening. Danny has visions about the hotel right after Jack gets the job and during his time at the hotel, and has a traumatizing experience when drawn into the forbidden room 237. 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. The Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets (with FREE Call Sheet Template), How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet), The Only Shot List Template You Need with Free Download, Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template), A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet, Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates), What is an Antagonist in a Story Definition & Examples, What is Telos: The Ultimate Guide to Understand Telos for Video Marketing, What is an Anecdote Definition, Examples, and Functions, What is a Memoir Definition, Examples in Literature & Film. As for Jack, he does die but not in the snow: a malfunctioning boiler explodes and kills Jack while also destroying the hotel. Parallely, Halloran borrows a snowcat to get to the Overlook in time. . A very expensive split-second because it requires a working second storey to be added to the already incredibly large Lounge set. In the book, the man dressed in a suit is actually Horace Derwent, the mysterious owner of the Overlook Hotel, and the man in the costume (which is a dog in the book) is Roger, a one-time lover of his. The shot of the bathroom door with Danny bending is very similar to the shot of the room with the bear man performing fellatio on an unknown man in a posture similar to Dannys. 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. Well explain each theory, why people believe it, and look at the corroborating evidence. The film is very different from the novel so much so that Stephen King has said he hates The Shining many times. Jack as warned by Grady kills Halloran with a strike to the chest in the lobby. Both the usage of pre-existing music and the original score composed for The Shining are standouts of the genre. Theres barely any ambiguity about the end, since it only exists if we are certain of any one explanation, but there isnt one in this case. As is explained here, there are . THE SHINING who is the man in the bear costume? Roger the Dog Man is a fictional minor character featured in the 1977 horror novel The Shining by author Stephen King. In an interview (via Huffington Post), Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan discussed why he didn't include this particular character, and his reasoning makes sense. . Jack gets annoyed by Wendy coming in while he was working and tries hard not to completely lose it. The dialogue of the scene is full of innuendos about abuse. Is she a lesbian? He chose each clip for thematic reasons. It seems that commitment to family is a problem for all of these males. 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. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings. And another strange aspect is that there are lots of pornographic pictures of women on the billboard in the basement (see HD version of the film). 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. The main headlines of the 1978 issue involve two key sections, reading as follows: Incest: Why parents sleep with their children, and, How to avoid a dead end affair. He goes upto the bar and meets Lloyd who fixes him another drink and says the expense is on the house, indicating the effort of the Overlook to carry Jack down the hill of madness. 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. Buy a book on film making from any part of the world, either Russia or Japan or Sweden, and youll find this name mentioned not once but in every chapter, ranging from minutely monumental details like breaking the 180 degree rule to establishing genres like science fiction and satirical comedy. Last update on 2023-02-28 / Source: Amazon Affiliates. On its own, this again seems more like a tiny error rather than an intentional clue. The Shining is full of allegory and mystery, but none are as wild and potentially insidious as what could be lurking behind that strange man in a bear suit. Others believe its the blood of all the lives claimed by the forces of the hotel, which might be the most convincing explanation. In the HD version, several book and newspaper titles are visible in the psychiatrist scene. 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. Returning to the comparisons between the bear costumed man scene and Danny talking to the psychiatrist, sexuality is subtly referenced in both scenes. Now I wont beat around the bush by building up to my interpretation of this theme. Talking about The Overlook, the epicenter, Ullmans room is very strange. He even sought to create an alternate adaptation of his novel in the form of a television mini-series in the '90s. Related:Are Charles & Delbert Grady The Same Person? A popular theory, and one that has gone very deep into the symbolism of The Shining, says that the film also addresses sexual abuse. A stone labyrinth in the case of the minotaur and a snowy hedge maze in the case of The Shining. Note how the scene opens with a close-up shot of the beige typewriter and slowly zooms out. Stanley Kubrick's iconic Stephen King adaptation is intentionally dense and even nonsensical at times. 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. 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 novel ends with Danny and Wendy spending the summer at a resort in Maine where Hallorann works as head chef. Perhaps explaining The Shining in this manner falls more in line with the book rather than the film despite the conjecture to the contrary. Kubrick decided to direct a comparatively crowd appealing film, maybe as a result of the financially poor performance of Barry Lyndon, which by many revered critics and filmmakers is considered to be his best film. Watch my new Shining analysis video \"Danny's ordeal and the bear costumed man\" here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2GrG7Zk0UMy written Shining analysis articles and videos are at: http://www.collativelearning.com/FILMS%20reviews%20BY%20ROB%20AGER.htmlRob Ager's analysis of The Shining was plagiarized in a video posted on the Screen Prism channel and credited to Jeff Saporito. 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. 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. Stanley Kubrick. But The Shining bear man does have a disturbing and specific implication. This provides a clear association between bears and Danny Torrance. There are many reasons why Stanley Kubricks The Shining is considered one of the most influential horror movies of all time. In this interview, Stephen King supports the notion that the Overlook Hotel could represent hell. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. When Wendy finds Danny after he enters room 237, hes in shock and physically injured, and Wendy immediately blames Jack for it as he has hurt their son before. Netflix. Another shot through the mirrors perspective with Jack waking up and explaining Wendy about a feelingof deja vu in the hotel. The Shining. The Overlooks construction in the early 1900s and the photograph of Jack in the 1920s both pose interesting clues. In this post, well break down the six biggest theories on The Shining, including our own theory that its actually a Christmas movie! Here he is discussing said adaptation. The Shining Explained . Its a new day, and Jack shows an increasing sense of depersonalization in a chilling conversation if you notice the details. 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. 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. Heres another parallel. 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. 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. Why does Tony stay in Dannys mouth? 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