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Comments for an Analysis of The Shining – Wednesday – Part 2
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11 responses to “Comments for an Analysis of The Shining – Wednesday – Part 2”
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Yes, she is the older women because in the book she appears with a young boy in the parties (we can see a young boy seated near of her).
She died when she take a lot of pills in her room, she discovered that the young boy did not love her really. He only wanted her money. -
I really love all of your Shining analyses. Very thought provoking and insightful. This has long been one of my favorite all-time movies, one of the rare ones that I never get tired of. I always find something new each time I watch, which is the genius of Kubrick. No doubt in my mind that the movie is actually much better than the book. I have always been confused about the room 237 sequence. Is the young woman Grady’s murdered wife? Just as Delbert and Charles might be different people but the same entities, might the young woman in room 237 be Charles Grady’s 1970s murdered wife, and also the same entity as the young woman of the 1920s with the white flapper headband seen in the Gold Room who collides with the waiter Delbert Grady? I personally think many people try and analyze the meaning of the room 237 sequence much too literally. Here is my take on it: I believe room 237 might be the central beating heart of the malevolent presence in the hotel, causing visual (and in Jack and possibly Danny’s case) physical manifestations. Once Jack has been fooled and the old hag chases him from the room, we see the cutaway of a similar old hag rising from the tub. I think this might show that once the evil has been tapped into and succeeded in reeling another in, it is resurrected (hence the woman rising from the tub) and its appetite must be quenched somehow. One of the women in room 237 may indeed be a physical representation of Grady’s wife, or another woman altogether, but the room itself is the center of the hotel’s evil presence, which transcends any particular dead individual. This is just my opinion, after having watched the movie many times and thought it over. One more thought on this topic…in the Interview sequence Ullman mentions how Charles Grady had killed his wife and girls and stacked them neatly in one of the rooms of the West Wing..Maybe it was room 237 (recall Danny’s brief vision of the Grady girls when he first tries to open the room) but I think more likely the Grady girls were actually killed in the staff wing (where Danny saw the vision of their bodies) and room 237 was simply the evil heart of the presence in the hotel when Charles was caretaker in 1970 just as it is when Jack is caretaker in 1980. Would love to hear what you think of my points, and thanks again for such a wonderful detailed analysis of this film!
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This was a perfect analysis I have ever seen for the film “the shining”. What do you think about the black man maybe he is representing the goodness. I have some doubts especially because of the nude black women pictures.
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Thanks Can. Kubrick leaves some characters in the film ambiguous, as to their motivations and “core” if you will. That said, Halloran (the black man) in the film seems to be a basically friendly presence, particularly to Danny, explaining the gift they both share and warning him about room 237. I think the film works so well because Kubrick doesnt bombard us with ghosts and goblins, and slashers around every corner in the hotel. The genius of the film is its subtlety. We feel the atmosphere of the hotel, we know it is a bad place, without having to see all that has happened there. We get a taste here and there, such as Danny’s vision of the Grady girls’ bodies, and of course room 237. But there is a creeping, building feeling of dread and apprehension that does not abate for the entire film, even after watching it multiple times. The film focuses on human descent into madness, inadequacy, hatred, resentment, all played out by the Torrances on the canvas of the Overlook Hotel during the winter. I think another reason the film works so well is that there is very little fuddy-duddy warm and fuzziness. If there were scenes like this, the film would not have worked. Kubrick makes us believe that the Torrances are a tortured family, from Jack’s major issues, to his and Wendy’s seemingly strained marriage, to the bizarre interactions between Danny and Jack. There are scenes of love between Wendy and Danny of course, but even these are tempered. Now back to your question about Halloran, the cook, who befriends Danny and later returns to the hotel when he senses something very wrong. I think Halloran might be meant to be a positive counterweight to the overwhelming malevolent presence of the hotel, and the dark human tragedy playing out there as Jack goes insane and tries to kill his family. We arent told how long Halloran has worked at the Overlook, but he clearly has been there long enough to know about the hotel’s presence and potential for bad. I don’t think you can read too much into the nude women in Halloran’s hotel room in the scene before he “shines” as Jack is simultaneously entering room 237. I think this might just be Kubrick’s way of showing that Halloran has a naughty side, but that he isn’t squeaky clean, basically making him more relatable and “hip” to the audience. The scene at the airport when Halloran calls his friend Larry asking for a snowcat shows him saying why its so important he get to the hotel. He says the people taking care of the place are complete “assholes” and that “Ullman phoned him and wanted him to go up and see if they needed to be replaced”. I think this is simply Halloran making a quick, plausible excuse to as not to arise suspicion about what he suspects might be happening at the hotel. If in fact Halloran “shines” what we the viewers see as Jack goes into room 237, and basically embraces the evil of the hotel, then Halloran will indeed be very worried about what might transpire, especially if he is aware of what happened when Charles Grady went berserk in 1970 when HE was caretaker at the hotel and killed his family. Halloran just wants to get to the hotel as quick as he can, either to check on his suspicions, or maybe on the off-chance that he is mistaken and the family is actually okay..But I don’t for a moment believe Ullman actually phoned Halloran to go to the hotel. I think Halloran did this all on his own, based on his premonitions and “shining” of room 237. Remember in the bathroom scene, when Delbert Grady (the 1920s waiter) is talking to Jack, he tells Jack that Danny is “attempting to bring an outside party into this situation” he is referring to Halloran. I think that is the hotel worrying about any outsiders interfering with what they hope will be a repeat of the 1970 tragedy at the Overlook. These are my interpretations!
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Ron, I do think the audience is intended to perceive Hallorran in a positive manner. I’ve a post in draft mode that I’ve not near finished in which I was addressing what I perceive is some ambiguity concerning Hallorran with his being slain in the circle, because symbolically he does take on certain aspects of the minotaur. I’ve wondered why that is and recently got in a book on Kubrick which states in one of the early versions of Kubrick’s storyline, Hallorran was supposed to arrive and be taken over by the evil entities of the hotel, and Wendy kills him, and then kills her husband. It seems to me that Kubrick retained a touch of ambiguity concerning Hallorran, at least on the symbolic level, and, Can, this may be one thing you’ve picked up on. As for the posters, my own idea on them is it’s a cultural thing of the time (there were such posters then) but not only this–where they get interesting is in certain repetitive thematic elements design wise that carry from one scene to another, if not overtly. “Clockwork Orange” also has such a poster in the entry to the milk bar, and I’ve got yet another post in draft mode on that where I’ve been trying to put my thoughts together on it.
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What do you think represents the heartbeat we hear only after Jack has entered room 237? Perhaps it could mean as Ron suggested, that the heart of the presence that lives in the hotel resides in room 237? And once Jack has embraced it fully as it were, it is fully awakened, thus the presence of the heartbeat through much of the rest of the film…Remember we never hear thew heartbeat before Jack enters room 237 and in a sense takes possession of him, the earthly conduit…The reason we do not hear it after Danny enters room 237 is because Danny (by way of Tony) does not allow the presence to possess him, as Jack does..So once Jack embraces the evil in the hotel, the presence there is fully awakened, which is what Halloran senses….This is why Halloran is so urgently trying to get back to the Overlook, because he either saw or sensed that the evil in the hotel was taking over by way of Jack..
Also, what do you make of Halloran telling Larry over the phone once he arrives in Denver that Ullman phoned him and the family are “unreliable assholes” which is why he tells Larry Durkin (of Durkin’s garage) that he must get to the hotel?? My sense is that Halloran is simply telling Larry a reasonable story so as to expedite his getting the snowcat, because Halloran probably thinks Larry might think he’s crazy if he told him he thought that the hotel is trying to do something very bad to the Torrances…So in other words, Halloran is just making up an excuse to get the snowcat as quick as possible so he can get to the hotel fast and avert whatever danger he fears might be underway…
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I think if you look carefully at the scene where Jack enters room 237 we can gain some insights into what we are seeing, and from who’s vantage point…Note that the after the young woman turns into the old hag, and cackles, chasing Jack from the room, we see scenes of Danny interspersed with Jack’s being chased from the room…Look closely, each time we see Danny’s trembling, drooling face (he is obviously in a trance, recalling his own experience in the room) we also see the old hag rise from the tub..So I think what Danny saw was slightly different than what Jack saw..I think Danny saw the old woman in her true form rising out of the tub, and then she strangled him or did whatever to him…Jack of course saw the young woman (which is probably the evil in the hotel enticing him) and then she turns into the old hag, mocking him..
So Jack sees the rotten old woman which signifies the hotel’s rotten, old core, corrupting him utterly and completely….But Danny, when he had entered room 237 earlier, saw the rotten old woman for what she really was, awakened by his “shining” ability. So in the scene, the shots of the woman rising from the tub seemingly simultaneous to the old woman chasing Jack from the room was what Danny saw, and through his father, is re-living…Halloran of course picks up on this and knows the hotel’s evil has been truly awakened and is anxious to return to Colorado…
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I think the previous posters are correct about the heartbeat being that of the hotel. And I definately think the young and old women Jack sees in room 237 are NOT as some people think, Grady’s wife or an actual guest, or even Susan Robertson, but merely a manifestation of the hotel’s rotten core. When Jack first sees the hotel, he is totally captivated by it and even senses deja vu, but he is basically smitten by it though I don’t think he even knows why. The same is when he sees the young woman in the bath in room 237, he is seduced by her, and drawn to her embrace. The young woman is nothing more than a trick by the hotel, a facade, like the hotel itself. Only when Jack embraces the young woman (ie the presence of the hotel), does he see it/her for what it truly is, a rotten old hag masquerading. When we see the scene, each cut to Danny salivating in his bed shows an old hag rising from the bath, this seems to be what Danny might have seen when he was in room 237 based on the the way the scene is cut. So maybe Danny was seduced by the young woman via the tennis ball in the hall into the room, and then saw the ugly old hag in the tub. But after Jack, who the hotel thinks is its best chance to carry out it’s evil intentions, embraces the presence in 237, we hear the heartbeat on the soundtrack for much of the rest of the film.
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One other thing that always strikes me (and it was not mentioned in the article) is that in the scene starting at 1:31:40 Wendy is not reflected in the mirror!
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I think she’s not reflected in the mirror simply due the camera angle.
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put on your headphones and crank up the volume after dick H. hangs up with the forest ranger and at approx.1:35:43 you hear what sounds like a cassette tape being rewound ! backmasking? yet another subliminal seduction? what a mystery !
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