I just finished watching Room 237, a documentary developed around various theories of film critics and academics. I must say I enjoyed it tremendously – but not because of the content. There were five or six film experts discussing their individual analyses of the film and pointing out various messages and symbolism. I honestly don’t have the intelligence or the creativity to see all of these symbols while watching films – including this one. Whenever I had to write a paper for high school or college about symbolism in books or movies, I struggled. I relied on the old standbys – light and dark, good and evil. In my high school, which was an all-boys Catholic school, you could get a lot of mileage out of the symbolism of Christ figures in literature (e.g., think Simon in the Lord of the Flies – amazing how I still remember that).
These film experts were way out of my league. They were describing how the film version of the Shining represented genocide (of the American Indians, of the Jews by Hitler), the history of humankind, minotaur symbolism (I didn’t quite get this), and my personal favorite – how Kubrick was informing the world that he worked for NASA and faked the pictures of the moon landing in the summer of 1969.
Evidently, Stanley Kubrick was a very particular film maker. Anything in a particular shot had a meaning. Nothing is there by accident. So, I guess it is possible to comb over every frame of the movie and find various examples to fit a particular symbolism or theme. I don’t know. As I’ve said, this stuff is way beyond me, so I will leave it to the experts. I can say that the film was enjoyable as these narrators were pointing out all of this symbolism.
The most enjoyable portions, however, were the spooky shots that I never noticed before. For instance, when Danny and Wendy were watching Summer of ’42 on the TV in the lobby, there is no electric cord. When Jack goes into the manager’s office for his interview at the beginning of the film, there is a window behind the manager’s head. So? Well, from the preceding shot, you can see that this window is impossible. The structure of the hotel would have made that office internal to the building – so no window with a view. Finally, some guy had the idea to play the movie backwards and superimpose the backwards film over the film as it played the correct way. I mean, who would think of doing this? Nonetheless, some guy did. And, the outcome was pretty interesting… I’ll let you see it for yourself.
So, in preparation for Doctor Sleep (which I fear I may not be able to read until Christmas time given my schedule – sigh), watching this movie was a bit of a warm up. An interesting diversion with the Kubrick version, prepping me for the King sequel.
These film experts were way out of my league. They were describing how the film version of the Shining represented genocide (of the American Indians, of the Jews by Hitler), the history of humankind, minotaur symbolism (I didn’t quite get this), and my personal favorite – how Kubrick was informing the world that he worked for NASA and faked the pictures of the moon landing in the summer of 1969.
Evidently, Stanley Kubrick was a very particular film maker. Anything in a particular shot had a meaning. Nothing is there by accident. So, I guess it is possible to comb over every frame of the movie and find various examples to fit a particular symbolism or theme. I don’t know. As I’ve said, this stuff is way beyond me, so I will leave it to the experts. I can say that the film was enjoyable as these narrators were pointing out all of this symbolism.
The most enjoyable portions, however, were the spooky shots that I never noticed before. For instance, when Danny and Wendy were watching Summer of ’42 on the TV in the lobby, there is no electric cord. When Jack goes into the manager’s office for his interview at the beginning of the film, there is a window behind the manager’s head. So? Well, from the preceding shot, you can see that this window is impossible. The structure of the hotel would have made that office internal to the building – so no window with a view. Finally, some guy had the idea to play the movie backwards and superimpose the backwards film over the film as it played the correct way. I mean, who would think of doing this? Nonetheless, some guy did. And, the outcome was pretty interesting… I’ll let you see it for yourself.
So, in preparation for Doctor Sleep (which I fear I may not be able to read until Christmas time given my schedule – sigh), watching this movie was a bit of a warm up. An interesting diversion with the Kubrick version, prepping me for the King sequel.
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