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Comments for an Analysis of The Shining – Closing Day
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23 responses to “Comments for an Analysis of The Shining – Closing Day”
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I have often wondered what Halloran actually saw in room 237 that made him so afraid of it. Did he also sense that the room might be the center of the presence in the hotel, from which all other things came from? I wonder if he saw the same thing as Jack, but was more self-aware and therefore did not succumb to the temptation of the hotel. Also, if Halloran did see something in the room, did he see it during the hotel’s summer (open) season? I wonder if the room had the same ominous feeling then as when the hotel is completely shut down? I think Halloran might well be aware of at least what happened in 1970 when Grady was caretaker and killed his family, and maybe he saw something entirely different than Jack in the room. Room 237 might show different things to different people, while the basic evil presence is unchanged. I think the room (as far as Kubrick was concerned) might have been meant to be a kind of portal of sorts, where the evil energy of anything bad that had happened in the hotel manifested in whatever form would most terrify whomever was shining in the room!
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And then there’s the fact that Room 237 and its symbolism is not isolated to this one film but we have the three women as a version of Dave Bowman’s transitional experiences at the end of “2001”, which were not evil, though confounding. Jack is different from Bowman and so what Kubrick is inviting one to consider and explore is represented differently here than in “2001”.
Kubrick leaves a lot of holes for us to fill in concerning the nature of the hotel “in season” and Hallorran’s relationship to it. He seems to apply some solstice/equinox symbolism with as the nights becoming shorter the hotel gaining in power, or the family’s receptivity to what is there all the while opening up. And the closing day is on Halloween, which has its own lore as a portal.
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Do you think Halloran actually has seen something in room 237 before, or just has an inkling or feeling about what is in there? In other words, do you think Halloran has seen what Jack ultimately sees (the young and old rotting woman) or do you think Halloran only sees that at the same time as Jack? I lean towards thinking he only saw what Jack saw when Jack saw it, since we see Halloran laying on his bed in Miami “shining” this. I think Halloran may have had a bad feeling about the room and might have seen something, without knowing exactly what it was, he might have senses this room was the heart of the evil in the hotel, but didnt actually see the true nature of it until he shined it while he was in Miami, either through Jack or Danny.
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Personally, I think Hallorann knows what is there but the “what” is not made clear to us, not really. And we don’t know who sees what. It’s left unclear for a reason. We’re not dealing with only people here, we’re dealing with the stuff of myth and legend and it has its own sensibility that is sometimes alien to human reason.
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Ok I just had a MAJOR lightbulb moment while thinking about room 237! If you notice, the scary heartbeat does not start until we see Jack enter the room, and what is basically the beating heart of the hotel’s evil is tapped into! This is the moment when the hotel really comes alive, hence the heartbeat we hear for much of the rest of the movie! I do not think the woman in room 237 is Grady’s wife at all, but a manifestation of the hotel’s evil. I believe Kubrick means us to think that whatever is in there can assume any for it chooses to lure in. In jacks’s case, it was the naked blonde that tempts him. I think Halloran senses that Jack like Grady before him has succumbed to the hotel’s evil via room 237, and this is why he is so worried and we hear the heartbeat off and on for much of the rest of the movie! Wow I get chills just thinking about it. Thias was a major lightbulb moment for me when thinking about the heartbeat.
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Yes, the heartbeat begins with Hallorann shining and continues, off and on, for about 25 minutes, ending with Hallorann asking the flight attendant when the plane will arrive in Denver, that scene cross fading into Jack at the typewriter. We’ve a good portion of the movie left to go but it’s heard off and on for so long that it becomes engrained. The heartbeat beginning when it does, it could well be interpreted as signaling the heart of the hotel is Room 237.
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I really think the heartbeat symbolizing the evil, beating heart of the hotel as Jack is tempted by room 237 is accurate. We never heart the heartbeat before, and once the evil presence is awakened, it is present for much of the rest of the movie. Halloran senses this as well, I have no doubt of this. Hence his rush to get back to the hotel. I wonder if Halloran was cook at the hotel when the 1970 Grady murders happened, or if he just knows that room 237 is where the evil in the hotel lives.
On a related point, a HUGE reason this movie is so great and SO scary each time I watch it is the amazing soundtrack. It creates such tension, and creeping terror. The score should have won many awards. It just synched so well with the storyline and Kubrick’s gothic horror narrative. -
Have you ever not watched the movie but instead just listened to the soundtrack all the way through? Indeed, it is chilling. And, yeah, it should have won awards. So should have the movie.
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Regarding the Indian burial ground comment/history – in addition to the horrors of pioneer expansion, it provides a bit of a hackneyed clue to what’s possessing the Overlook. The spirits had to have an origin and gives a hint to both possession and revenge. The burial ground also foreshadows death.
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I think of it as being, rather than a hackneyed clue, more down the line of a nod to the hackneyed. Not to say that there isn’t, as has been stated by some, an underlying theme to the film concerning pioneer expansion and genocide. Kubrick’s other films also heavily reference western imperialism and its brutality camouflaged by culture and bent history. But I get no sense from the film of Indian spirits possessing the Overlook and exacting revenge. The spirits that “possess” the Overlook are instead aligned with the greed and hubris that drove the expansion. To my eye, Wendy is the one Kubrick aligns with anything American Indian, linking the two via her clothing (the yellow jacket) and some other elements. The ghost of Grady, exacting obeyance from Jack, insistent on Wendy and Danny being killed, isn’t even American, he’s British.
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The blue-and-white flag with the yellow orb and red “C” is the flag of the U.S. state of Colorado.
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This is really interesting, I will have to read the other posts. But I think the maze and studio exterior are the back of the hotel. Resort hotels frequently look nearly as grand from the rear.
Also, not only does the Colorado flag tie back in the red white and blue, but it is turned up – a figure robed in white with a shining yellow face and a red halo.
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Jesse, you may well be right. When I first saw the film years ago, I wondered if perhaps we were supposed to believe the hedge maze was around back. But because of the insanity of the interior, nothing fitting together, and the location of the garage in the front and the Snowcat observed in the front near the garage in the opening sequence, I decided that, due the garage and the Snowcat being in front and highly visible in the opening sequence, Kubrick intended viewers to accept the garage as establishing where the front of the hotel was. When Dick approaches the lodge in the Snowcat he does so from the right, and you can see the light of the tower in the distance (the real hotel in Oregon, where that was filmed). This again establishes the garage as being on the right, Dick pulling in before the studio set from the right.
But again, it’s all guess work and you may be right. It’s an impossible place all the way around.
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Some of the christ connections I deem significant:
Actor playing Bill Watson had also played Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973).
The stylized T on the poster may be interpreted as a cross, or more specifically a Egyptian ankh without an upper loop. This connection ties into the overall picture if you consider the proposition Rob Ager has made in his Kubrick’s gold story video.
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/x1g26a.jpg[/IMG]
And the general use of T-shape to replace a cross in some instances of Christian artwork, such as
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/ra6ihf.jpg[/IMG]
or
http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_paolo/index_en.html
select virtual tourI also wonder if the “300 people capacity of the golden room” Ullman mentions refers to the 300 committee.
As for the Carson city film playing on the TV, some people on the internet going so far as to watch both films side by side… I think the point in referencing that western is a lot more simple. First of all it’s about gold being stolen (go watch Ager’s Gold room vids, if you haven’t still), then there is a railroad construction being mixed into the script (presumably to secure gold shipments) as if railroads in the US were being constructed to prevent gold from being stolen and not as a massive catalyst for white expansion. Lastly, there is a cutely naive scene of a banker pushing the barrow, helping the workers save the protagonist in time, one of the characters remarks something in the way of not expecting him to be doing that sort of job… So, a cute little piece of propaganda, banks paying for the railroad system and bankers ready to work side-by-side with the ordinary folks in fulfilling Manifest destiny. -
The genius of Kubrick was that most things he did served a purpose, however subtle….The soundtrack was a perfect example…It served, along with the giant maze of the hotel, to disorient us and confuse us, thereby keeping us on edge…It was brilliant..I would argue no other filmmaker made such brilliant use of a soundtrack correlated with plot besides Kubrick other than maybe Charlie Chaplin…
As far as the scene were Halloran talks with Danny, Danny already senses that something is wrong in the hotel, and probably reads Halloran’s mind about room 237 being at the root of it all..Halloran tells Danny there’s “nothing” in room 237, but also quickly urges him to stay out of there! Well, I think Halloran knows perfectly well or has a strong feeling about what is in room 237, and he knows it isn’t good…We never hear how long Halloran has worked at the Overlook, so we can’t be sure, but I’d say Kubrick means to imply that Halloran has been there long enough to know that the room gives off dreadful feelings and perhaps images…Halloran knows Danny has a very strong power, which could be dangerous if the hotel got ahold of it, and so is worried that Danny stay out of that room..Remember the unique scary music that played in Boulder as Danny was in the bathroom talking to Tony? That same music only played again when Danny was lured into room 237 and again when Jack entered the room later..Also, when Danny rides his scooter on the second floor past room 237 and tries to open the door, he has a brief vision of the two girls, which seem to be warning him to stay out….At least that’s the impression I got…The two girls, warning of what’s behind the two doors of 237…I’m not sure if Halloran knew full well what happened at the hotel during the winter of 1970, when the other caretaker murdered his family, but I’m sure he sensed that the Torrances were in danger at the hotel, particularly with Danny’s “shining” ability coupled with the presence lurking in room 237….Halloran is meant to be a benevolant presence, in the midst of the confusing, overwhelmingly frightening presence that is the Overlook Hotel…
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Concerning the Monarch poster: the image gives the impression that the man is holding a projector, would it be a filmmaker? Above the word Monarch we can read SKI (Stanley Kubrick 1)?
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The idea of a projector light perhaps being referenced in the Monarch poster is an interesting one to make, especially in respect of the projectors in “Clockwork Orange”.
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I’m very pleased to enjoy your Shining analysis. I’m an old admirer of Kubrick’s movies. Recently, I’ve seen “Room 237” and then I read “mstrmnd” analysis and now yours.
If you don’t mind I’d like to comment you on some details while I just start studying your analysis. I’m at the Closing Day chapter and I see Stuart and Bill coming to meet Jack. In the movie, the initial conversation between both is weird: who says the fellinian “8:30†(just when they pass alongside the Mastroianni armchair)? it really seems like a sound insertion, like the “sha†sound, isn’t it? The voice is diferent from those of both -maybe it’s Kubrick’s, or Nicholson’s? I zoomed over them and I can see that it is really Bill who says “What time does the plane leave?â€, then the mistery voice says “8:30†and Stuart follows on.
Another accuracy thing: Bill really do salute Jack at 20:06, only he does it at the same time that Jack does (to remark he is probably his doppelganger?).
Please make free use of this comments on your analysis if they make any sense to you; your analysis and website are wonderful. Excuse my poor english.
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Thanks for pointing out that Bill does say “Hi” to Jack. I need to fix that.
You remark in your below comment that you had looked at the plane conversation and determined it was probably not unusual. If there is anything on usual regarding that conversation I would suggest it’s the distinctly unmusical whistle of a few notes we hear at the time, which I’d not paid any attention to until checking out the scene again. Whatever meaning it might have I don’t know.
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On a further revision of the scene I comented before (Stuart and Bill coming to meet Jack) I must admit I’m not really sure of my first impression and maybe there’s nothing strange in it, perhaps it is the way it is sound-edited what has confused me. Please don’t take that part of the comment into account.
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DICK: It would be a pleasure. Right this way, Mrs. Torrance (and right as he says this and flips the bird to Wendy!)
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Ah, Scrappy, he doesn’t. That’s his index finger.
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you’re right !
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