These "Shining" theorists believes the film has hidden themes dealing with everything from genocide to government cover-ups. The new film "Room 237" explores some of these alternative readings of the Shining.
The Shining is also explicitly about America's general inability to admit to the gravity of the genocide of the Indians - or, more exactly, its ability to "overlook" that genocide. Not only is the site called the Overlook Hotel with its Overlook Maze, but one of the key scenes takes place at the July 4th Ball.
The Shining Theory: The Woman In Room 237 Represents Abuse
As what happens to Danny inside room 237 isn't shown, it has been theorized that Danny was abused by Jack in that room, and he made up the attack of the “crazy lady” as a result of the trauma and as a way to cope with it.
—42. And midway through the film, Wendy and Danny watch The Summer of '42 on a television set which, by the way, isn't even plugged into the wall! Cocks says all of this half-hidden numerology is meant to evoke the year 1942, the same year the Nazis launched their campaign for the Final Solution.
The Film is a Metaphor for Native American Genocide
Perhaps one of the oldest theories about The Shining comes from a 1987 article by reporter Bill Blakemore. In it, Blakemore claims that the film serves as a metaphor for the killing of Native Americans.
THE SHINING (1980) Breakdown & Analysis! Hidden Details & Easter Eggs You Missed!
Why did Jack go crazy in The Shining?
In this isolation every day becomes the same for Jack as his writer's block becomes quotidian. The combination of isolation, monotony, creative frustration, and supernatural forces extract Jack's insanity. As the insanity sinks in he strays from his male roles as provider and attempts to murder his wife and son.
Moreover, the most dominant types of schizophrenia that Jack Torrance experienced is paranoid schizophrenia since he showed so many hallucinations, emotional, and serious expression in the movie.
The twins also represent Danny's anticipation of his Mother being murdered. They have jet black hair like Wendy and they wear blue dresses. Wendy wears a blue dress at the start of the film with red stockings and sleeves, which gives her the symbolic appearance of an axe murdered twin.
The number 42 is on Danny's sweatshirt (2); Wendy Torrance swings the bat 42 times at her husband; 1942 was the year of the Final Solution, and 42 has been used as shorthand to refer to the Holocaust. The film has abundant eagle imagery, symbolizing state power.
Fans of The Shining book and film will recall The Woman as the ghost in the bathtub who tried to strangle young Danny Torrance. In Stanley Kubrick's film and Stephen King's novel, The Woman is thought to be Lorraine Massey, a guest of the Overlook hotel who killed herself.
Although unaware of the hotel's power over her husband, Wendy grows increasingly distrustful of Jack. After a corpse tries to strangle Danny in the infamous room 217 and Wendy and Jack see the resulting bruise on their son's neck, Wendy accuses Jack of abusing Danny.
Danny even manages to anticipate what is about to happen by writing “redrum” on the bathroom door because this is where the murder will take place. The separation of Danny's alter ego voices into manifestations of Tony and Jack, through the presence / absence of his wagging finger, fits very well throughout the film.
The ending of The Shining, particularly the photo of Jack in the 1921 ballroom, suggests that Jack is a reincarnation of a former hotel employee, although this explanation is not explicitly stated in the film.
Perhaps the most challenging part of The Shining's ending to explain is the final shot: a 1921 photograph showing Jack with other guests in the hotel's ballroom. This scene has been interpreted many ways, and one of the most popular explanations is that it represents the hotel “absorbing” Jack's soul.
"Here's Johnny" is actually a reference to Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. He was welcomed by the announcer with these words. It sounded so crazy and so good, that Kubrick decided to leave it as it was.
Perhaps the mirrors were added by Kubrick to show how Jack was becoming one with the hotel, as a mirror of his inner demons, or maybe they were a way to show Jack's affinity with the ghosts and further accentuate how distant he was with his family – ultimately, it's up to every viewer to choose the interpretation that ...
Lia Beldam is best known for playing the super sexy babe in the bathtub in room 237 -- whose flesh rots off while in Jack's arms -- in the Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece "The Shining." Guess what she looks like now!
The Overlook has exploited Jack's other weaknesses—his rage, his frustration, his ambition—but in failing to recognize and curb this weakness, it reveals a similar self-destructive bent. The boiler becomes a symbol for the ways such self-destructive tendencies can emerge and succeed in destroying those who ignore them.
In the book The Shining it's made clear to the readers that the Overlook Hotel wants to possess Danny Torrance so it can use his powerful telepathic power (his 'shine'). It does this by possessing his vulnerable father, Jack Torrance and using him as a puppet to hopefully kill Danny.
The Shining was a fictional tale, but the setting was inspired by the true hauntings within Colorado's Stanley Hotel. Stephen King's The Shining book was the basis for Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece film.
It is morning, and Jack is dead, frozen in the maze, trapped in the Overlook Hotel forever. The final shot of The Shining is the real kicker as the camera zooms in on a photo hanging in the Overlook Hotel. The photo shows the 4th of July ball in 1921, and who do we see smack dab in the center? Jack Torrance.
Jack becomes obsessed enough with the hotel's sordid past that he wants to write a book about it. He makes a long-distance call to the hotel's manager, Stuart Ullmann, and antagonizes him with this knowledge. Eventually, he goes mad thanks to the influence of the hotel's ghosts and attempts to kill Wendy and Danny.
In The Shining (1980), the skeletons Wendy sees are those of certain people and extras seen alive in the ballroom scene. In the center is Grady, hair grown some after death, with the same drinks he spilt on Jack. They do. It's only removed from European editions.
