[LaLaLand]

So I re-watched The Shining earlier, one of my favourite horror movies, and decided to see what people's interpretations of the movie were.

I stumbled upon this theory/explanation of the movie plot and I've got to say it makes perfect sense and has creeped me out so much!

[Long winded but give it a read if you're a fan of the movie, alot of stuff I'd never noticed after many, many viewings!)

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comm...somebody_help/



Full explanation below:

Spoiler:

Okay this is going to be long, maybe a little rambling, and full of SPOILERS.

The interpretation of the ending is going to depend a lot on your interpretation of the film.

For me, the film is primarily about the cycle of violence and how people can be trapped in a cycle that spans generations.

We start off with the story of a previous winter caretaker, Grady, killing his two little girls 'about 8 and 10' his wife, and stacking them neatly in a room and killing himself.

Danny encounters two girls while riding his big wheel but they are twins and are shown strewn across the hallway one facing up one facing down.

Later in the film we meet a Grady in the gold ballroom/red bathroom. This Grady is a waiter, not the winter caretaker. He tells a story about 'correcting' his wife and daughters when they attempted to leave the overlook.

Additionally, early on in the film Wendy tells a story of Jack dislocating Danny's arm after drinking with Wendy concluding it by saying ' ... he hasn't had any alcohol in, uh, five months."

Later in the film Jack tells a similar story to Llyod, the ghost bartender. However, Jack says his story happened 5 years ago.

Kubrick sets up a pattern of repeated stories similar to ones we have heard earlier in the film but with certain details off implying that these stories may not be the same. Instead they may be other instances of violence that establish a cycle of abuse across generations.

Also scattered through out the film are references to violent conflict with Native American's, not only the stories of the actual attacks but visuals like Jack throwing a ball against Native American figures in the lounge similar to an axe swing.

There are many suggestions of Danny being sexually abused by Jack. Danny laying on the bear pillow with his pants removed and hands over his genitals. This imagery is reinforced by the man in the bear outfit performing oral sex on another man at the films climax. There is also Jack and Danny's conversation in the apartment suite with Danny on Jack's lap.

These messages of domestic and sexual violence are reinforced subtle visual through the use of appearing and disappearing props and costumes.

When Danny talks to Tony we see a shot of Danny in the bathroom looking in a mirror (another major motif in the film of truth/reality being revealed in mirrors). The camera pushes in past the door to Danny's bedroom. There is a sticker of Dopey, one of the seven dwarfs, on Danny's bedroom door. Later, after Tony show's Danny something in the mirror, the sticker of Dopey is gone implying Danny has learned something important and is now slightly less innocent.

You can also notice that the bear rug in the Colorado Lounge only appears when Jack is also in the room, linking Jack to the bear/sexual abuse symbolism.

When Wendy first appears in the apartment she is dressed almost identically to a figure of Goofy hanging on Danny's wall. Wendy's 'goody' costume implies her denial of Jack's alcoholism, violent tendencies, and possible sexual abuse of Danny.

You will also notice that, generally, characters that are naive, in denial, or childlike tend be to dressed in a red, white, and blue color palette where as more mature, reality based, adult characters tend to be in earth tones. Jack starts off in earth tones and ends up in red and blue flannel and jeans. Wendy starts in red and blue and end up in earthtones. Danny, being a child, stays mostly in reds and blues but the become more muted or adult throughout the film as he confronts what is happening.

And of course there is the on going images of mazes through out the film starting with the yellow VW Bug winding up the mountain road, the hedge maze itself, the maze like interior of the hotel, the maze like carpet on the second floor that appears to trap Danny while playing with his toys, and the long twisting and turning tracking shots of characters running through the hedge maze as well as the hotel.

So what does all of this have to do with the ending?

Jack's body is trapped, frozen in the hedge maze. Jack's mind is trapped in the maze like Overlook hotel.

Where as Wendy and Danny were able to escape the cycle/maze of violence.

If you accept that the film is primarily examining violence (domestic and against racial/demographic groups), the cycle of violence (the repeated, but slightly altered, stories of child abuse and murder), and the difficulty of escaping this cycle (the maze like interior and exterior of the hotel) then the ending is simply a confirmation that, like Grady, Jack has '... always been here.'

Why is Jack's mind/soul represented by a photo on the wall? Because it is possible that nothing we have watched, especially anything that happens in the hotel, and especially especially anything that happens on the second floor is happening in the real world at all but that we are watching the memories/hallucinations/flashbacks of the main characters. That the hotel is actually the interior of one, or all, of the characters minds.

Evidence that the hotel isn't real:

The layout of the hotel is impossible

- The windows in Ullman's office shouldn't exist. There is a hallway and the 'blood' elevator bank directly behind Ullman's office.
- Background characters enter from unseen doors at the end of tour of the Colorado Lounge
- Halloran, Wendy, and Jack enter the freeze from a door on the right side of the hall but exit from a door across the hall along the left hand side.
- We never see how the Gold room or the apartment connect to the lobby/Colorado Lounge.
- The apartment has a line of windows in the living room and bedroom that should not exist. Based on exterior shots and when Wendy drops Danny out of the bathroom window the other windows should all be along an interior, windowless wall.
- The Red bathroom seems like it should be occupying the same space as the Gold ballroom.
- The entrance to the Maze is never the same twice.

Objects do impossible things

- The bear rug in the Colorado lounge appears and disappears, as does the drift wood sculpture.
other chairs and props appear/disappear sometimes within the same scene. Jack's typewriter changes models when he argues with Wendy in the Colorado Lounge. The chair behind Jack appears and disappears in the same scene. This implies that the argument with Wendy might not even be real but simply a hallucenation of what Jack wish's he had said to Wendy but only imagined it.
- The TV in the Colorado Lounge is not plugged in.
- All the furniture under the pictures shown at the end of the film has moved out of the way.

The second floor might not be real

- Wendy never is never actually seen on the second floor (she comes close when attacking Jack with the baseball bat but never makes it)
- There are numerous 'impossible' doors on the second floor.
- When Danny goes to get his fire truck we see him a few scenes later on the second floor with all the toys he had while playing in front of the TV in the Colorado lounge but the firetruck is missing. This implies the scene is actually a flashback/memory of possible sexual abuse of Danny by Jack when Danny goes for the firetruck, sits on Jack's lap, and the returns to the Colorado Lounge with his clothing torn.
- Jack has disturbing vision in the bathroom of beautiful woman revealed to be a rotting body when viewed in the mirror, similar to Danny's vision of something in the bathroom mirror at the beginning of the film.
- When Jack leaves room 327 the hallway lights are out, Jack backs away in darkness, implying he denies the vision in the bathroom, a vision of sexual desire revealed to be something horrific and repulsive (such as molestation)

When ever Danny rides his big wheel there is always exit on the right

- When Danny sees the Twins in the hallway there is an exit on the right side of the hallway
- When Danny first confronts room 237 there is an exit on the right side of the hallway
- When Danny escapes Jack in the maze in the finale he jump through the opening on the right.
Is this foreshadowing or a memory/plan of escape?

Other weird stuff

- Jack is reading a PlayGirl magazine in the hotel lobby
- Whenever Danny stops in the kitchen there are always a set of knives over his head
- What's with all the signs/reminders, almost like thought bubbles, every where?
- A car is scene driving directly at the entire family as they cross from the maze back to the hotel on the initial tour. The car never stops instead we just cut away second before the family would have been struck.
- Jack's 'stare' implies him drifting off into thought/fantasy turning large portions of the film into possible fantasies/hallucinations. We actively see this in the Gold room bar Lloyd scene were he 'stares' just before seeing Lloyd and seems to shake himself from though when Wendy enters screaming. Also, jack 'stares' again when Wendy visits to see how the work is going. Wendy walks up, Jack stares, the typewriter changes, a chair disappears, and the research book next to him flips to another page. After Jack blows up at Wendy the typewriter, chair, and book all return and Wendy acts as if nothing happened implying it all happened in Jack's mind.
- Jack slams the tennis ball on the floor of the lobby near a Mickey Mouse doll laying face down in a similar spot/position as Hallorann after he is killed.
- Jack slams a tennis ball against the Indian figures in the Colorado Lounge similar to his axe swing at the bathroom door.
- The only character we ever actually see working to take care of the hotel is Wendy.

Overall the film is insanely dense, re-watchable, and open to an amazing amount of interpretation depending on what you see as important, symbolic, and real.

What does the ending mean? Ultimately, the genius of The Shining is that the ending can mean almost anything you want it to mean.

[Twosugars]

Interesting... It's been ages since I watched it. I wonder how this theory compares with the book or is it something added by Kubrick?
Btw, if you like stuff dense with meaning, try Twin Peaks, the original series and the stunning third series from last year. Actually, anything by David Lynch.

[LeatherTrumpet]

I read it and i must say i was amazed that Kate McCann was somehow not to blame

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Interesting... It's been ages since I watched it. I wonder how this theory compares with the book or is it something added by Kubrick?
Btw, if you like stuff dense with meaning, try Twin Peaks, the original series and the stunning third series from last year. Actually, anything by David Lynch.

I agree. ALL Lynch's works could keep a team of psychologists 'second-guessing' the sub-text for years.

Brilliant.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I read it and i must say i was amazed that Kate McCann was somehow not to blame

You are a very wise old 'Dog' with a very prized 'Bone'.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Interesting... It's been ages since I watched it. I wonder how this theory compares with the book or is it something added by Kubrick?
Btw, if you like stuff dense with meaning, try Twin Peaks, the original series and the stunning third series from last year. Actually, anything by David Lynch.

Mulholland Drive is his most fascinating film to work out. The film is a dream, sort of like a dark Wizard of Oz, which by the way is one of Lynch's favourite ever films.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Girl i ain’t reading all that

Can you just summarise it for me

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Sullen Girl

Girl i ain’t reading all that

Can you just summarise it for me

Boy just read it.

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by Sullen Girl

Girl i ain’t reading all that

Can you just summarise it for me

Just for you, girlfriend:
Aside from all the mischief he caused in Shining, Jack might have had a prior: fiddling with his 6 year old son.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I read it and i must say i was amazed that Kate McCann was somehow not to blame

LT, just between us... do you fancy Kate a tiny bit, hm? It'd be understandable, she is a fine looking woman. Hm?

[LaLaLand]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Interesting... It's been ages since I watched it. I wonder how this theory compares with the book or is it something added by Kubrick?
Btw, if you like stuff dense with meaning, try Twin Peaks, the original series and the stunning third series from last year. Actually, anything by David Lynch.

I LOVE Twin Peaks, watched all of it. Love Mullholland Drive too by Lynch, Eraserhead is okay also but a bit "too" messed up for me.

Blue Velvet is a classic too!

[LaLaLand]

Originally Posted by Sullen Girl

Girl i ain’t reading all that

Can you just summarise it for me

Basically the hotel is the inside of their minds, Jack is a paedo and half of what happens in the film and second floor of the hotel DOES NOT EXIST.

[RileyH]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Interesting... It's been ages since I watched it. I wonder how this theory compares with the book or is it something added by Kubrick?
Btw, if you like stuff dense with meaning, try Twin Peaks, the original series and the stunning third series from last year. Actually, anything by David Lynch.

Girl bye the 3rd series was rubbish

The original 2

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by RileyH

Girl bye the 3rd series was rubbish

The original 2

It had rave reviews across the board, sis.
The fact you didn't like it doesn't make it bad.

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by Jonnii

I LOVE Twin Peaks, watched all of it. Love Mullholland Drive too by Lynch, Eraserhead is okay also but a bit "too" messed up for me.

Blue Velvet is a classic too!

Don't know if you're familiar with this site, Jonnii
https://25yearslatersite.com/

Their archive of articles/theories/podcasts etc on Twin Peaks and Lynch is huge and very interesting.

[Marsh.]

Tbf the movie has so much imagery and so many references that there's much to support countless explanations and interpretations. But I feel that was the intention.

[Toy Soldier]

Well, substance / alcohol misuse and childhood abuse and trauma are pretty obvious themes of both the film and book, surely? The book IMO (and a made for TV adaptation I've seen) actually handle it far better than the Hollywood movie though. In the movie version the dad is a blatantly "scary", unstable, from nning maniac from the outset and throughout. In the book and the more subtle adaptation - more realistically to real life - depict the inconsistencies in the relationship (sometimes he's a great, loving father... Then, at unpredictable times, an abuser). He's a tormented and conflicted character and also, in the end, he gains some clarity and sacrifices himself for his family (unlike the film where he dies still a "monster" trying to murder them).

If anything, the movie ruins a part of the underlying themes by going for "Hollywood shock horror" in the final act.

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Well, substance / alcohol misuse and childhood abuse and trauma are pretty obvious themes of both the film and book, surely? The book IMO (and a made for TV adaptation I've seen) actually handle it far better than the Hollywood movie though. In the movie version the dad is a blatantly "scary", unstable, from nning maniac from the outset and throughout. In the book and the more subtle adaptation - more realistically to real life - depict the inconsistencies in the relationship (sometimes he's a great, loving father... Then, at unpredictable times, an abuser). He's a tormented and conflicted character and also, in the end, he gains some clarity and sacrifices himself for his family (unlike the film where he dies still a "monster" trying to murder them).

If anything, the movie ruins a part of the underlying themes by going for "Hollywood shock horror" in the final act.

Agree, the ending of the movie really disappointed me having read the book before I saw it.

[RileyH]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

It had rave reviews across the board, sis.
The fact you didn't like it doesn't make it bad.

oh

[Jamie89]

This is fascinating. The Shining is one of my favourite films and I've seen it a few times but I'm not going to pretend I've ever understood exactly what happens All of this makes a lot of sense though. I just googled the thing about Jack reading a Playgirl and apparently that particular issue he was reading featured something about incestual relationships, particularly parents who sleep with their children... it's amazing how meticulous Kubric was in including all these things, such tiny details that you'd never notice unless properly investigating. Even if you spotted that it's a playgirl he was reading you'd never know just from watching the film the relevance of that specific issue.

[James]

100 years since this picture was taken.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

I’m so confused

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Gonna read the OP now

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]