The acting from Grady in the bathroom scene is phenomenal. I love how he manages to shift the tone from a humble servant to becoming some kind of tyrant pulling the strings, so effortlessly and naturally too. Amazing acting
@MagesseT1 Yes, he was part of the cycle of violence. Delbert (hence the British actor) was likely a previous cycle from Charles from 1970. Delbert likely had something to do with the Native American aspect of the setting.
According to the actor who played Danny, Jack Nickelson was very nice and supportive to him all throughout filming. Apparently he even still gets a Christmas card from Nickleson every year.
He seems like a relatively regular guy in many ways. The fact he hacked away at acting for years without getting anywhere (Bob Townes speaks about his friend being told at the unemployment office to 'get areal job'!) gave him a sense of perspective you could argue. His success was hard won and he has never forgotten that.
Hasn’t jack been involved in awful things with Polanski… and was with his buddy on a boat when a woman died onboard. He’s from old Hollywood where everything was swept under the rug.
Fun fact: the child actor who played Danny later said he had no idea The Shining was a horror film as a kid, and without all the film atmosphere added later, the whole thing seemed fun, not ominous (riding the big wheel, making funny faces and voices, etc).
I’ve somehow fallen down a rabbit hole of videos dealing with theories to The Shining and it’s amazing at the level of detail and editing that people put into these videos. It doesn’t matter if you agree with them or not, you have to admire the work they put into these videos!
There's a really great one called Room 237 that explores a bunch of interpretations of what Kubrick was actually trying to say when he made The Shining.
@@ralphthomasbarbour847 or take care of our citizens.. and somehow get anything at all done ever besides make it easier for the rich to get richer and richer while the rest of America works 70 hours a week so they don't have to choose between food and electricity.
Literally stood up applauded when danny turned to Jack and said “it’s you, it’s me, it’s the hotel! Don’t you get it? We’re the shinning!” Fantastic ending to the film
I feel Lloyd refuses Jack's payment twice, not because of a promise of violence, but because Jack's already paid with his soul. He literally say: "I'd give my god damn soul just for a glass of beer." Suddenly, there's Lloyd in a hellish red jacket telling Jack he doesn't have to pay in cash. See, Jack's already just paid with his soul. He's already cashed it in. Money's no good at the bar. Jack drinks for free, like in the deal.
True. I didn’t get why Jack says “White Man’s Burden” during that conversation. They are talking about Wendy and Danny at the time. That phrase refers to the racist thought of Manifest Destiny.. could it be that we tied it to that with the help of him being cool by use of the N word in the next scene or is it a literal reference of him Manifesting his Destiny? Also it was the thought of the Donner Family using Native Americans to guide them to gold on what use to be their lands. They were also the 1st to be eaten and rumor has it that they were selected and not because they died first. Leaving this here for someone with more knowledge of the film to address lol
@@davidlean1060 true! Since my post I read an interview with Kubrick in which he states that it’s reincarnation and that he’s always been in that picture at the end. In my opinion he’s in a never ending loop and each incarnation is doomed to repeat.
I know Stephen King didn't like this film and I do love his stories, but this film is an absolute masterpiece. A different story from King's but amazing in its own right.
King just had a deep affection for his characters especially Jack seeing how this was the book he used as his own allegory for his alcoholism so it's probably just very personal to him you can tell he didn't like that Stanley was an atheist either even if he didn't say it
15:08 While your analysis on the song 'Midnight, the Stars and You' could very well be correct, the song that plays during the scene with Torrance and Grady in the red bathroom is actually 'It's All Forgotten Now' which, the way I interpret it, signifies how the hotel consumes people and makes them forget who they really are. We can see this though the character of Grady, who was the caretaker in 1970, now personified as a 1920s butler who goes by the name of "Delbert Grady" not Charles Grady as mentioned by the hotel's manager at the beginning of the film. The character of Grady serves as an almost direct foreshadow of Torrance's fate as we see by the end of the film that Jack too is consumed by the hotel and appears as a gentlemen of the 1920s, forgetting who he was in life, now forever doomed to be whatever the hotel wants him to be.
Perfect. backs up my theory that this is not a hotel but a institution carrying out mind control experiments on the family. We now know that MK ULTRA used drugs like LSD and different techniques to experiment on unsuspecting patients in various institutions across the US and Canada to try to wipe their memory and install new memories. To me the biggest hint is Jungs The Red Book on Ullmans desk at the time of the interview. Why would a hotel manager have a psychologists book on his desk? Only if he is not a hotel manager, but a psychologist or psychiatrist running an institution. And this institution is running mind control experiments to wipe out memory. There are no ghosts, just hallucinations Jack doesn't get a drink of alcohol - he swallows LSD
@@TheEliasNoel You start out with good-points in the video.. But your conclusions are always 'Off' - Missing the mark of what's being presented to the viewers. Nice-try though.
The Shining is constantly flashing between different time periods, as evidenced by shuffling and at times absence of pictures on the walls as well as furniture. Dick Hallorann explained at the beginning that many terrible things that happened in the hotel and they left behind a trace of themselves, that not everyone can notice, but people who shine can see, we assume he’s talking to Danny… Dick Halloran was talking to you and me! Some people see the Shining as a movie about a man who goes crazy and tries to murder his family in a hotel, but those who “shine” can see the terrible things that happened at the Overlook hotel IN THE PAST!!
Two things I noticed about the shining that I feel people never really analyze: -Wendy seems immune to the hotel's ploys (until the conclusion) -why the ghosts only show up when no one's around. the hauntings don't happen when the hotel is full, only in the off season.
To answer your second question, I think it’s because evil works best when you’re alone and vulnerable, which is a key theme in It, (strength in numbers).
The Wendy theory is spot on... from the end (well from when she knocks out jack and “locks him in the dry storage locker”) Wendy is having a full on psychological breakdown... it’s not Jack who is crazy it’s Wendy.
@@hollyrodriguez3259 I’m aware of King’s patterns but this is why King (to this day) doesn’t like Kubrick’s film ... and I think it’s because he took creative license with the material to make it more of a psychological horror than a full of Supernatural Horror like King intended.
When the Torrence family was on their way to the Overlook Hotel, Wendy brings up the Donner party, which Jack explains to Danny that they were pioneers heading west in covered wagon times. The funny thing about that is they were part of the gold rush. That just struck me as odd when you were talking about the gold room and the symbolism therein around the 11:00 minute mark. I wonder if there's a connection there?
Late reply: But the Donner party were the Mormons coming to settle west in search of religious freedom to practice polygamy(in part). Later in Mormon history, a group of Mormons slaughtered Native Americans to gain territorial dominance. So perhaps it seems, there is a connection to violence as the theory states.
The Gold Rush had not yet begun when the Donner Party got Stranded in the Sierra Nevada. The Donner Party got Stranded in the winter of 1846-1847. The Gold Rush, didn’t start rumors of the discovery of gold at John Sutter’s Mill in 1848 began to spread in 1849. (This is why the San Francisco NFL team is called they ‘49ers). So the Donner pre-dates the gold rush.
@@ralphthomasbarbour847 The "Gold Rush" hadn't begun yet, meaning, the majority of people hadn't yet heard of the fabulous wealth that could be claimed in California, but murmurs of what was to come had started making the rounds. From what I understand they traveled west by invitation to stake their own claim on "free land" waiting out west, hoping for a better, more prosperous life in California. So, you're correct. They weren't part of *the* gold rush, though they did travel west for a chance at prosperity, and a better life.
I've been watching many of these analysis videos on the Shining, and they're all interesting BUT everyone forgets that Jack ALSO HAS SHINING ABILITIES, and is a target of the hotel's manipulation. He is in touch with the Hotel's past evil.
I'm much more interested in people talk about The Shining than I am the movie itself so this theory is half-baked at best, but it seems the hotel is sort of an evil magnet that draws the wicked toward it. Maybe everyone in the picture in the end with Jack got into that picture in the same way he did.
Jack does not shine nor did he have the ability to tell the hotel was evil, he never forseen his future, unlike Danny who had visions of the hotel before they left town. Danny also had visions of his father murdering him. Just because Jack seen the ghost it doesn't mean he shined. Jack had no foresight.
It is categorically untrue that Jack does not shine. This is proven in the follow up novel "Dr. Sleep" when Jack's granddaughter (and Dan's niece) Abra displays even MORE shine than Dan. The common thread is JACK. Abra's mother Lucy is the product of an affair her mother had with Jack before they went to the Overlook (making her Dan's paternal half sister). Again, the common thread is JACK.
Great review. Did anyone notice how Jack has the EXACT facial expression and posture right after taking his first drink as he did when his body was frozen at the end of the movie? Does anyone know what that is about?
Yes, it is the as above as below symbol of the baphomet. I think this movie has more occult symbolism that we haven’t uncovered yet. I really like that he made the connection with Adam and Eve. It’s almost as if the overlook did the same thing that Satan did to Adam and Eve. I think Kubrick was trying to make a point of the inevitable fate of human nature succumbing to evil. Just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning. And Jack succumbs to this evil in the end because it’s his destiny. That’s why Grady makes a point to tell him that he’s always been the caretaker. It’s the evil personified in human nature that I believe he is referring to. Anyway that’s my 2 cents lol Although I do not agree with this idea at all. But I believe this is the core message of the Shinning. Hence the Native American plot going on, and the whole father murdering the family as well. It has to do with human nature succumbing to an inevitable evil which is represented by Satan.
@@ruthtrevino7755 That is an interesting take. You might also know that it appears Kubrick focused alot with incorporating fairy tales along with Biblical references: For example, Jack even refers to himself as the "big bad wolf" that is blowing down the door of the 3 little pigs. I am thinking that when Jack drank his first sip of liquor it was similar to Adam and Eve being tricked into biting the apple. Also in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, the princess gets pricked by a spindle provided by the witch disguised as an old woman. Princess falls into a deep sleep. I think the philosophical debate is this: Are humans AWOKEN by the tricks of the Devil or put to sleep (ie. UNDER A SPELL). Does the devil make us evil or just show humans that we are inherently evil?
@@wrestledeep Oh Man! Yes I totally see that now! I definitely have to rewatch the movie now to get some new insight! That’s what’s so great about this movie. There is so much to it that you can just rewatch it and every time it’s a new experience.
@@ruthtrevino7755 OP is talking about the corpse in the maze , not the photo. Maybe it's because Jack, his soul, was dead as soon as he took that drink.
The overlook is basically powered by blood splatter. When violence happens and a death occurs it is like a white towel soaking up blood. The gold room represents greed. Jack wants money, he wants recognition for his writing, he wants to be famous so jack is familiar with themes of greed. The entire hotel represent different sins. The overly stocked Kitchen represent gluttony. The VIP rooms that are overly comfortable represents Sloth. This hotel lives off the Sins of those who stay there. Jack has also been reincarnated. Jack serves the hotel. Jack goes into the world and has a son. But returns with his son and daughter to hand them over to the hotel. However when Jack fails he must remain in the hotel until his wife and son die. Upon their death the hotel can claim their souls. Once claimed Jack returns into the world to collect more souls. As the number of souls increase the hotels power increases.
Decent theory. Better than the ones in which it's all in Jack's mind. Those theories take of all of the power, (and thus all of the horror) out of the hotel. Making it a personal evil and therefore limited in it's horror. The music, the mood, the composition and the color tones all cry out for something far grander. An omnipotent evil that has always been there. That's the movie I saw.
Good call. And the Gold Room is certainly no speakeasy, perhaps indicating that The House (as Lloyd refers to it) encourages, facilitates, and maybe even revels in the indulgence of forbidden pleasures. Thanks for adding a little more context to the scene, I'd never made the connection that Prohibition was the law of the land at the time.
Very enjoyable video. I was hoping you would delve deeper into the bathroom scene with Jack and Grady. By that I mean the way Jack is standing. I find his posture in that scene unsettling, and I wouldn't mind hearing your take on that.
Jack starts out with a confident posture, when he thinks he has the upper hand on the entity, as Grady starts lecturing him Jack's posture becomes more uncertain or submissive, and Grady's becomes more assertive.
What a thought-provoking analysis. I’ve seen plenty of similar videos on The Shining, but this the first that brought in the use of colors and really went into the Native American themes that are much more prevalent in the novel. Well done.
There are a lot of YT's about the shining - this is the best. The deep dive and almost undercover analysis that RBtF does is astounding and breathtaking. I can't state strongly enough how much you should watch this vid. Amazing work!
@@TheEliasNoel you should have added that the shining hotel was built on native American burial ground. I know that's obvious but just an extra thing to back up that point about imperialism. Around the time you mentioned the red cans of native Americans. just an extra bit to back up your point to viewers. Sure you knew about it but think it would have added just A tiby bit. I think so anyway. Seriously brilliant analysis and also talking about camera shots which ager doesn't do as much Edit- also the fact that it was Kubrick that added that to the story. It wasn't in Kings book
@@TheEliasNoel I believe that's one of Agers stronger videos. His stuff on native American genocide is good. Some of his stuff is reaching but it's mostly good. When you started talking about gold I assumed you'd just say what he said about kubricks gold but you came up with your own interesting take on it. His other strong video is the spatial anomalies in the hotel and the weird layout. May be reaching but that ones his strongest I think Anyway good work. Deserves more views. Have a nice day
Another explanation why props are missing or placed is because the movie IS us THE AUDIENCE viewing the novel jack is writting based on the story Ullman told him. His movie begans where he gets the idea (staring at the maze). There are points when the novel and reality take turns on screen. Another variation of this theory is that danny and wendy legit go crazy there because of isolation of wendy and danny shinning. Jack is aware of shinning powers from reading on the subject so he adds it to dannys character inspired by danny having toni imaginary friend. Jack changed carles to Grady in his novel to protect the privacy of the guy.
One of THE best bits of analysis on this film I’ve watched. There are so many levels to the presentation of this film that go beyond the straightforward story which can be enjoyed in and of itself for those who are uninterested in the analysis. Thanks for the work you put into this! ❤
If you read his writings you'll see that this analysis isn't what Kubric intended. It's what the reviewer reads into it...and that's what Kubric intended: to expose the soul of the interpreter.
Kubric didn’t intend a lot of this explanation. His interview is here on TH-cam, search for it as posting links is considered bad form. In simplest terms he wanted each viewer to interpret it for themself. Quoted from FarOutMagazine in the UK: _As Stanley Kubrick explains, “It’s supposed to suggest a kind of evil reincarnation cycle, where he [Jack] is part of the hotel’s history, just as in the men’s room, he’s talking to the former caretaker [Grady], the ghost of the former caretaker, who says to him, ‘you are the caretaker; you’ve always been the caretaker, I should know I’ve always been here._ _Continuing, the filmmaker adds, “One is merely suggesting some kind of endless cycle of this evil reincarnation”. Somewhat reserved about revealing the explanation, Kubrick also notes, “it’s the sort of thing that I think is better left unexplained,” before later adding, “I think the best thing is when an audience looks at a film and wonders whether something that they have seen is an accident or if the director or writer meant them to know it, I think subtlety and allowing the audience to discover for themselves what it is the most important thing”._ _Suggesting toward an innate evil that resides in the walls of the hotel itself rather than in Jack Torrance’s tormented mind, Stanley Kubrick’s vision provides a fascinating insight into Stephen King’s story that continues to inspire and terrify._
Great video! I found your insights and analysis really intriguing. I’ve noticed another thing, unrelated to the actual hotel and you or someone else may have pointed it out already but here goes... At around 7:20 Jack Torrance was saying he had “two twenties and two tens” in his wallet. I think that this too is intentional. 2x20 + 2x10 = 60 and when you break down 60 as a product of its primes you get 2x2x3x5 which can kind of lead to the infamous 237 if you put the 2 and 3 next to each other, then add the remaining 5 and 2 together for 7. So together you get 237 Yes it’s a bit of a shoehorned way of getting there and I’m probably reading into it too much but I thought it was interesting.
The 180 rule applies when shooting football games (or other games on rectangular fields). You can't "cross the line." If you do, it will look to viewers that the ball is suddenly going in the opposite direction down the field. It's a disorienting effect. You don't necessarily notice it, but it subconsciously bugs you. Kubrick also does this when the Marines are marching at the end of Full Metal Jacket.
Just when I thought I couldn’t hear any different theories about this movie, I found this post. Very interesting stuff. I wonder about some of these theories in that, did Kubrick ever go on record about WHY he did certain things here or, is some of the imagery simply just a ‘happy accident’? If he DID put all of this HIDDEN stuff in the movie, he must’ve known that 99% of people would never notice or discover it. As it stands, it’s an effective movie from the story, the acting, music and set pieces. About the music, I’ve not heard anyone delve into this, but because things about native Americans are brought up in dialog and imagery throughout the film, I wonder if the music was purposely constructed to have that ritual, ‘Indian’ cadence that it seems to have, or again, maybe I’m looking too close and seeing things that aren’t really there.
@@TheEliasNoel I’m glad I’m not the only one that noticed this about the main theme. If I’d never seen the shining, my instinct would tell me this is from something preceding a battle with Geronimo or Chief Cornstalk. MAYBE even the crying Indian walking through polluted America commercials of the 70’s. Whole thing is a fascinating film and amazed it was a dud on release. I was 8 when it came out. Didn’t see until years later, but I remember the tv spot and old color tvs not as good as modern tvs, plus a child’s mind made the scene where Danny is being chased through that maze? To ME, and I don’t remember how I knew this, but I thought he was being chased through the Paris Catacombs. The snow on the hedges made them look like skulls to me. I must have nightmares about that scene first a couple of years.
I've watched your documentary, and it's really compelling viewing. I watched Rob Ager's too, and whilst different, offered other compelling meanings. Different approaches, but same dedication to the layered themes throughout the film.
Thanks for the video, it's really well done! I like your emphasis on the theme of the contract, to me it evokes the Faustian pact and the nature of the power dynamics at play within the hotel. There's so much to this film, so many intricacies and so much depth from which to draw interpretation, inspiration, and possible explanation. One thing I'd never noticed till seeing your video today is the way Jack's facial expression from when he is dead and frozen in the maze is mirrored/foreshadowed by the face he makes after taking his first drink. You can see it in this video from 9:38 to 9:42, his eyes are rolled very far back into his head and his top lip is curled upwards, brandishing his upper teeth. He makes a similar expression several times during the conversation with Grady in the bathroom. Though it's a little less exactly like the times after the drink and after his death, during the conversation Jack moves back and forth between looking at Grady straight on with a complex expression that, to me, shows a mixture of bewilderment and incredulousness and fear, to looking at Grady with his head angled downward so that his eyes are rolling up into his head and his maniacal grin displays his teeth. Like was mentioned in this video, as soon as Jack has taken that first drink he looks like someone who's just been given a truth serum; to me his expression is that of someone in a trance state who has been hypnotized. I think we're saying the same thing, that he has the look of someone not in control of their faculties, someone at the mercy of a power not their own. It's interesting that he has that look after taking a drink when the alcohol is taking over (he makes a toast to falling off the wagon, telling us that he is an alcoholic whose life before getting sober was dominated by drinking and that he is enthusiastic about once again relinquishing his willpower and submitting to the influence of the bottle) and it's during this same scene that Lloyd makes Jack (and the audience) aware that Jack is indebted to The House i.e. The House has power over Jack. Next, during the bathroom scene, we have the broken 180° rule and power exchange between Jack and Mr. Grady wherein Jack is reminded of his commitment to duty, and now it is an abstraction that is exerting power over Jack and compelling him to abandon his familial commitments to the health and safety of his wife and child. Finally, we see the expression on Jack's face as he is sitting in the hedge maze, frozen and dead; this time it is the crazed fervor to murder Danny which drove him to exhaustion and death by exposure after losing his way (literally and figuratively) in the maze. I might be way off base and maybe there's no significance to my observations, I don't know. Thanks again for the video, I look forward to seeing more of your analyses and interpretations! [Edited because I had the timestamp wrong]
Ngl I love the gold room songs, especially Midnight, The Stars, And You… I find them super soothing and I listen to them quite frequently… I hope I’m not weird for doing this…
This is amazing, it’s everything I always thought about this movie, but I could never find the words. Normally I would say this a bit far fetched, but considering it’s Stanley Kubrick, it’s not far fetched enough. Excellent video though. Please make more
Just realized too during the tonal shift of the bathroom scene, “It’s All Forgotten” by Al Bowlly plays in the background. It was the perfect choice after rewatching and assessing the music. It’s a love song, but more geared in this scene towards Jack and the hotel (or the evil inside it specifically) are in love. And that becomes his reality. Grady reminds Jack of what he’s forgotten as in the lyrics, the trouble and pain of “the white man’s burden”. Almost ironic in a sense yet it fits so well towards the shift in characters of Grady and Jack.
Kubrick's film is NOT a "translation" of King's novel, which I teach in my Gothic and horror literature course. The two works actually have little in common. But haunted spaces are important in many of King's works. Derry itself is a prime example. The pet cemetery in Pet Sematary is another. For that matter, it has been an aspect of horror since the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.
Great video! I think Kubrick's intent is that the hotel represents the U.S. in that it is really run by the wealthy elite and the overlooked atrocities throughout history. The blood covered hotel walls, blackmails, etc. represent the history that allows all those in gold room to live their lavish life for eternity. -Jack represents all manipulated men doing the dirty work/cover ups for the elites (the house) and his reward is a place at a table in the gold room with the others. Men like Jack are interchangeable to the elite and have been doing their bidding throughout centuries, which is why he 'has always been the caretaker'. Jack is actually just one of many throughout time, but representative of all. -Danny represents Kubrick and others who have seen the truth, but dont have the power to directly confront/stop it. Rather, Danny communicates with others who 'shine' to reveal the evil actions of the hotel in silence, just like Kubrick is trying to secretly reveal the atrocities of the elite that run the country/world by reavling their truths to the audience. -Hallorann knows portions of the truth, but is dismissive of Danny's fears because he doesn't want the truth to be real or harm to come to others who discover it. He represents peoples who have been persecuted by the elite and seen their atrocities for generations, but feel helpless against it. -Wendy represents the everyday citizen who doesn't even see the hidden truth at first and keeps working hard with hopeful intentions. She even supports Jack through his bad actions, oblivious to his evil capabilities until enough is revealed to her. She only wants a happy life and turns a blind eye to the truth for most of the film just like all of us in real life. She is the everyday person who unknowingly supports the greedy corporations, etc. while just trying to live her life in peace. Before Wendy and Danny run into the maze for the first time Wendy says, whoever loses has to clean America. -The maze represents the entertainment industry (movies, sports, etc) that distract the common citizen in and make them oblivious to the truths of the elite. This is clear when Jack overlooks the model maze while Wendy and Danny play in the real version. Jack watches them and belives they are oblivious to the truth while he plots. At the end Kubrick uses the maze to trap Jack and stop the hotel's plan, just the same way he uses the movie to reveal truths of the real world. He is using the elites own trick against them. -Unfortunately, the hotel survives in Kubrick's version. Kubrick may be telling us that even with his big reveal, he knows that the hotel/powerful elite of the U.S. will just go on converting more men to do their bidding and the elite will continue their eternally party in the gold room. The native american atrocities and imperialism are pretty obvious. Kubrick may have had some of his own beliefs about modern coverups. I think the scene with Jack reading the Playgirl may be a reference to J Edgar Hoover. Hoover was runored to be gay and lived with his mom late in life (the parents sleeping with their childeren article). All work and no play makes Jack a dull (dead) boy could reference the JFK assassination. JFK not playing by the rules lead to his assassination. Other sexual scenes in the film may parallel the fetishes of the elite and the fact that they can all blackmail each other so it just goes on. The moon landing theory is possible, but it may just be Kubrick's own skepticism rather than a confession.
If one watches the sequel, "Doctor Sleep", notice the filmmakers attention to detail. When Ewan McGregor as Danny goes back to the Overlook and during the bar scene, every single bottle of liquor are the exact same brands and in their exact original places as in "The Shining" (1980)...
I think this movie works on multiple levels. The mastery shown by Kubrick reminds me of a quip by James Joyce when questioned about much of the dialog in Ulysses being "trivial." "Yes," he agrees, "sometimes trivial, and other times quadrivial." The native American atrocity theme is definitely there, and it fits quite together quite nicely, and the repetition of "White man's burden" is both expounding on that theme as well as the guilt that drives him to alcohol. Jack embodies all the sins of the white man, and he must drink to deal with the guilt. I've recently come across "the Wendy theory," which contends with the many inconsistencies in the sets with the theory that Wendy is hallucinating much of the action of the movie and her memory is imperfect. The author of this theory does a great job of arguing that these inconsistencies are deliberate (carpet was changed, fixtures removed, and objects repositioned), but that there is a method to the madness. This theory makes the movie work on an entirely different level: the level of the entirely non-supernatural. That is, there is now an explanation for what is happening from the viewpoint of objective, normal reality, and the amazing revelation is that Wendy is going through a hallucinatory paranoid psychotic break and actually murders Jack with a baseball bat. Wendy is the bad guy! It's really no wonder why Stephen King didn't like The Shining. Kubrick's movie outshines the book in almost every way. The Shining (book) is a good piece of pulp fiction, a suspenseful summer read. Nothing more. The Shining (movie) is a masterpiece of American cinema. There are enough riddles in it to keep eyes looking at it line-by-line and frame-by-frame for years to come.
Nah, just people not being able to settle on which of these nonsense fanfictions they like best. The movie is not about 600 different subliminal plots that require decades of analysis to understand. These relentless easter egg hunts for lame theories that are never supported by any evidence whatsoever really cheapen the work, to be frank.
@@1959Berre Johnny's reflection may be present, but not Mr. Grady's. The camera angle makes it hard to see their reflections, but since Mr. Grady is dead, it makes sense he doesn't have one. Especially, if he's planning to possess Johnny.
I have explored the plethora of interpretations of “The Shining” and felt most of them were very creative and trying to be original . I came up with my own conclusion which is basically the same as yours so it was refreshing to watch your video essay. My only difference is that many indigenous tribes, especially in the pacific, feel that everything, has life. In particular buildings have their own spirit. It’s why Catholics have house blessings. The Overlook has its own spirit which is manifested in Grady. Also, the Overlook is like many anomalous places on earth like the vortex in Sedona Arizona. Kubrick was a mad genius.
A Shining analysis vid that I watched before this one, I wrote, "What a load of cobblers!" in the comments. This one, on the other hand, has to be the best one I've seen! Bravo, man! The only thing I think you missed out on mentioning, which would have contextualized and legitimized your take even more is that together with the genocide, The Overlook was also built on a native American burial ground.
@@TheEliasNoel it ac not be argued the ghosts are part of Jack's psyche. This has been debunked by the sequel movie... And the fact Wendy sees the ghosts
I really enjoyed your analysis of The Shining, you have some very interesting theories, some which I have heard on other videos and some which are new to me. I particularly like the concept you present about the 180 degree rule between Jack and Grady as per Kubrick's camera angles, the switch that takes place between them. Kubrick was pure genius.
Your point at 11:58 is a very good one, and let me piggy-back on that. The 1920s was also falsely opulent because of the relief everyone felt after having lived through the violence of the First World War.
In my theory the sentient demonic entity of the Overlook Hotel that possessed the hotel's building, the Manager/The Caretaker was a demon that traveled into our world through a "Thinny " a supernatural portal described in the Dark Tower series in which living beings and supernatural entities can travel into other dimensions. The Overlook Hotel was built on a Thinny in my theory and in Kubrick's loose adaption also built on an Indian burial ground, feeding the demon more. The Management demon harnessed the Thinny and merged as one with the hotel's building itself. Former owner and human management Horace Derwent, who was a corrupt billionaire playboy, accountant and entrepreneur with mob ties that allowed gangland hits to occur in the hotel, adding to all the supernatural energy manifested by the hotel and its demonic spirit. Derwent as a ghost was the Management's second in command of the imprisoned human spirits of dead former guests and staff that stayed, worked or died there, demons and poltergeists that haunted the Overlook. In the book and miniseries Jack Torrance redeemed himself in the end before the Hotel took control again and killed the real Jack with the Roque mallet. The Manager and its souls needed Danny's power to break free of the grounds of the Overlook Hotel and spread their power, using Danny's Shining ability, far beyond the Overlook Hotel into the world to absorb more souls, cause more death and destruction and become Godlike.
Its weird how the actor for Lloyd is the same one in Blade Runner two years later and Ridley Scott specifically called Kubrick to ask for footage from The Shinings flying helicopter scene for the last scene in Blade Runner in the cinematic cut. Pretty sure there’s something there
You found some new interesting viewpoints indeed, respect to you! By the way, the ghost girls not only know Danny’s name but also that he does not have any friends of his age...
Why does nobody have any problems with the Overlook during the non-winter months? The hotel is filled with guests and nobody taps into the shining except when only three people are alone there during the winter.
I don’t know why but ever since I was a kid and I am 49 now the shining always had such a pull on me to watch I guess just like you said. I remember watching it with my dad as a kid and I’m not sure if I even made it to the end lol anyways I watched a video here on YT about liminal spaces I think is how it’s pronounced but that explained a lot of the way this movie made me feel. Then there is the music, like the scene when they are driving up and Danny asks about the Donner party there is this ominous, creepy, lonely feeling behind that score that plays throughout the scene. There are so many things about this movie, I even went and read the book which isn’t normal for me but I actually liked Kubrick’s vision more than I did kings. The TV series doesn’t hold a candle to the movie. I have my daughter asking me to watch the shining with me because she knows I’m a fan of the film and we also visited the overlook hotel where King stayed and used as his inspiration for the movie. She’s almost 14 now so I’m sure we could handle it now. I completely agree that this is hardly the scariest movie ever but the story is great and the tension builds from the start until the end. Great video!
I’m a new subscriber! I really enjoyed this video, I noticed that you haven’t uploaded very much on your channel, I hope you upload more because I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say! 🎥🙌🏻
Thank you for your subscription! I have more coming. Hoping to get videos out biweekly! Check out my newest shining video and I have a Space odyssey analysis coming next!
So MANY people are confused about the ending. All I can say is that in the photograph "Jack" is in at the Ball with his friends surounding him? He is in Hell or in a hellish place. His arms are positioned as if to say, "As above- so below".
What also creates an unnerving atmosphere is the use of straight lines and geometric patterns, which do not (or rarely) occur in nature; they are a product of the mind. Jack is a writer; he lives ‘the life of the mind” (reference that scene in Barton Fink - “I’ll show you the life of the mind!) The snow represents mental/emotional isolation, the labyrinth the twists and turns and traps of the mind, a place which Danny is able to navigate and where Jack perishes. The hotel can also be an extension of Jack’s mind; everything is an extension of himself, as if they are characters he has written. Once these “characters” (subconscious manifestations of repressed inner impulses) take on a life of their own, he turns on his family - the family becomes characters he cannot control and must be dealt with; his repressed feelings at being the ‘caretaker’ of a wife and a child, 2 more burdens, overtakes his conscious mind. When the subconscious overtakes someone and they are no longer capable of rational thought and control, they are considered insane. It really is a fascinating, complex movie where multiple interpretations can apply.
Haloran says the hotel had a lot of bad thing happen in its past. I think the Hotel allowed the rich to do whatever evil they desired ( like the bear costume fillatio). Recall that there were several months in winter when no one could come or go that a lot of secrets could be hidden in those months of being snowed-in. {Remember years later he would do Eyes wide shut. And there are clues to these kind of parties at the end of Lolita when he confronts the man that stole her from him.} The blood pouring from the elevator is an important key sign. It is similar to the door opening and the water gushing out in a scene in Residential Evil the first movie. Similar to a scene in Ghost Busters when the containment was deactivated. I think room 237 was a rich woman afraid of aging and bathed in virgins blood like Lady Bathory. All the people in the photo at the end are its victims and the perpetrators.
This. The theme of modern fatherhood is blatant but of all the theories I've seen attached to this movie the only one that doesn't seem like major stretching is the theory that Wendy is mentally ill.
Excellent analysis! I really enjoyed this video. I think of Kubrick's movie and the story written by King as wholly different. Kubrick, in my opinion, took the framework of King's book to tell the story he wanted to tell of violence, imperialism and evil. To me, this doesn't lessen the movie, it just makes a different story. I am a huge fan of Stephen King's novels and know he has renounced this film, but I think that does a disservice to it. Thank you for sharing your insights, I'm immediately going to watch your analysis of Silent Hill 2!
Thank you! And I hope you enjoy the silent hill 2 videos. It’s one of my favorite works of horror and I get into both story and cinematography in my two videos!
After I read the book it haunted me for a long time . Stephen king had the way of describing situations there that could make it terrifying. The movie was great too. Very eerie especially when Danny saw the twins in the hall .
19:14 Is it even the same "Grady"? He introduces himself as Delbert Grady, and the scene is the 1920s, as you said. However, the "Grady" that Jack would know about, as explained by Mr. Ullman in the beginning of the movie, was a Charles Grady who murdered his family in 1970. Is Jack confused? Are the two Grady's one and the same?
This was an entertaining dive, but I feel just your opinions. Doctor Sleep should not have been compared as well, since whether King acknowledges The Shining as canon is a mystery. Kubrick did his own thing and his version is so much more complex and twisted (visually) with many, many more layers than the book had. In Kubrick's Shining, avoiding the underlying unsaid abuse Jack gives his family, the hotel uses ghosts to twist Jacks mind to do what it wants: collecting souls. The house is alive. Jack has always been the caretaker because time and space is different here. It's a physics theory. What happened has always happened, and will continue to happen. Just with new faces. The shining was, is and always will be one of the most mind bending things to have been created.
I liked the video but I think the way you speak in the beginning is too passionate and too acted. It feels as if everything you say is forced to feel extremely significant which is a bit distracting. The three-quarter perspective of your face emulates an interview. But because this is a video essay it feels uncomfortably like self-staging.
You did a great job explaining. I agree about evil. It is far more gripping when left hidden. Alien was an excellent movie for this reason. Hardly were we able to see much of the creature and that made it terrifying. We are afraid of the dark because we cannot see what is coming.
One thing that always weirds me out about the second ballroom scene is that the woman on the right at 14:00 that causes Grady to bump into Jack has a bloody handprint on her ass.
I'm going to point out some things about this movie . Charles Grady is mentioned but he is refered to as Delbert Grady now it's possible Delbert could be his middle name which means that his full name would be Charles Delbert Grady . a hedge maze is around then it's not anywhere in sight . there are doors which lead to nowhere at all . Tony says Mrs Torrance then one moment and then later on refers to her as mom like Danny is back . river of blood a dead body or more could be flooting within it . somehow Jack Torrance got of that walk in but we don't see how . I enjoy this video and look forward to more so please continue them .
This video is so amazingly enlightening. I can tell you are schooled in cinema and literary analysis. Thank you for taking one of my favorite films to a new level of creepy and disturbing entertainment!
This is THE BEST analysis I’ve seen on this movie. Most of the others use very weak evidence and make HUGE assumptions when developing their theories. This is the only one where there is some kind of logic or theme that actually connects some of the weird moments in the shining. Also very little of the other vid even mention the Western Expantion/pioneer imagery that is all over the movie. I hope you do more vids because there is so much more in the film that expands on this idea.
Really excellent analyses. These were the parts of the movie that are imprinted in my memory. These scenes gives the true meaning. I did not read the book, so I don’t know King put the same tension in his writing. Its an American story, about deep racism that still exists till this day. And not only America for that matter. Its a true evil in our society. Impressive review of this classic movie.
I’ve noticed through watching this awesome film repeatedly that the family bathroom in the beginning is the same color scheme as the bathroom in room 237, anyone else noticed this?
First, where the hell are you getting this from? Your logic is literally "Yellow room. Yellow is gold. Gold rush. Genocide." Also, you're giving all the credit to Kubrick, when most of the dialogue you highlighted is verbatim from Stephen King's novel. I mean seriously, what was this? "Jack go into ballroom twice, Kubrick is sending us a secret message!" Even though all that's exactly lifted straight from the novel.
This is a literary criticism. It doesn’t matter if the dialogue is from kings novel, it’s about how Kubrick distilled the themes of the book visually to create a meaning. He wrote the script. The room is gold because it’s called literally called “the gold room” not because it’s yellow. As director Kubrick has a choice on how he shows things and to what degree they play in the film. Kubrick shows Jack walking to the ballroom in the exact same shot twice. As a director I can tell you that we avoid repetitive shots because it makes a movie boring. He could have just as easily cut to Jack entering the room or already being in the room the second time. This was a choice. I’m not looking for secret messages I’m looking for implied meaning. If you’ve never done literary criticism then I suggest looking into it so you aren’t befuddled.
@@TheEliasNoel yes it matters - sorry to be argumentative, but in the video you're literally saying: oh, Jack talks about White Man's Burden, and Grady uses a slur, and somehow instantly make the leap to Kubrick talking about Imperialism from that, even though all those words are King's, not Kubrick's. You literally latch onto the most completely random stuff - the white man's burden line is clearly just throw away banter in the book, and the slur Grady uses is just a slur. You randomly focus on kitchen utensiles and say: ah, yeas, he's clearly referencing a Greek myth, and random cans in the background and say, ah, that can only mean genocide. You're like those people who are like "wow, Danny has a rocket on his sweater - moon landing conspiracy!" I'm sorry to be a complete ass, but seriously, seemed like most of the video was just you making leaps.
@@nl3064 Once again you clearly have a misunderstanding as to what a director does. Reoccurring color, visual motifs, and composition are all tools a director uses to both illustrate story but more importantly convey visual meaning. Kubrick did not care the least about kings book especially with how he disregarded much of his material from the film. If you thinking I’m reaching you will find many other TH-cam videos from much more learned channels that break down the color motifs, composition and and visual meaning in this film. If you thinking I’m reaching with the Native American thing well here’s an article (one of many) that got to it before me. But hey maybe we’re just making it all up with no basis. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1987/07/12/kubricks-shining-secret/a7e3433d-e92e-4171-b46f-77817f1743f0/
@@TheEliasNoel I read the article. It was just as baffling as your video. Some random guy just made up a bunch of stuff, and people have been parroting and piling up on top of it since then.
Interesting take. I like how you put this all together. I really enjoyed it. IM now a subscriber. Thank you. It got the gears moving inside my head.Now, a few thoughts of my own- As interesting as your video is, they are just theories. (Compelling to be sure). In the documentary: 237, the genocide of the American Indian is discussed, although, I must admit, your version is more thorough and sheds more light on the subject. However, in the documentary, another theory arises- the film is also an admission of a moon landing hoax. There is compelling evidence, though there is evidence that is not so compelling or believable. I am curious that Kubrik would point a finger at American imperialism as the monster hiding beneath the bed. England, (Kubrick's homeland), is also guilty of slavery, hostile take over, and genocide, all in the name of Imperialism. In fact, Europe and many other nations are guilty of similar atrocities. In the film, if this is in fact the underlining theme, or one of them, I think it is an unfair and biased position to take- that the white man is the evil soul operating the Overlook, or a presence so strong, so full of evil, it becomes this manifestation of the Overlook. If true, it must be reasoned there are Overlooks all over the world, because these atrocities have been committed over the ages and all over the world., and to single out America for the sake of making a commercial horror film to produce a profit, (and let's be fair here, at the end of the day, artistic integrity aside, money is the driving force for every film). makes Stanley, as a filmmaker, irresponsible IMO. Let me shine some perspective: in the case of slavery, there is a history no one discusses- African kings sold their own people into slavery. It is also a historical fact there were wealthy black men who owned and bred slaves, in America. And let's not pretend that the American people, and their governing body, as bloody as all thier hands were, America was the first to end slavery, and give those slaves opportunities and equal rights under the Constitution. In other words, they attempted to right the evils they were responsible for. The Overlook, however, would never stop to ponder its own actions and choices. It is an incomprehensible evil that has no problem devouring the souls of children, and enslaving the souls of men, women, and children. The Overlook would never set out to make amends for the evils it does. So, if the Overlook is a manifestation of the evils and sins of men, the white man cannot be solely responsible. Many governments, organizations, and tribes have committed genocides, and is not exclusive to the white man. Many Indian tribes committed genocide among themselves, killing for land, killing for power, killing for resources, killing for supremacy. Not even the American Indian is innocent. The Overlook is a summation of all of us, for we all have blood on our hands, and the Overlook exists to remind us that evil is in everyone, and if we don't watch ourselves, and remain vigilant, taking personal responsibility for ourselves to recognize evil, we fall into its trap, and our souls devoured. The Shining is number eight in my all-time favorite films, for similar reasons you've expressed, not necessarily, scary, but genuinely haunting, intriguing, and full of different, fascinating perspectives.
Thank you for your subscription. Some things to point out. Kubrick was an American born in the Bronx (my hometown!) not British. And America was not the first country to abolish slavery, Britain did so almost 100 years prior. I’m not arguing that white people are to blame or that the overlook is a white spirit. I am saying that the evil at the overlook is the result of imperialism and exploitation. Kubrick uses the 1920s and to a more subtle degree the age of imperialism as indicators of the source of the evil. It can be argued that all the evil at the overlook comes from the fact that Indians were both killed on that land and that it was holy land (see pet semetary for an example). Also Kubrick had no interest in the financial success of his movies rather he was focused on certain reoccurring themes. For all those who have said I have been bias, if you look at Kubrick’s other movies he consistently addresses themes of anti war, male violence, and patriarchal power. This is not sjw as many on this thread have claimed, it’s a critique that is in his work. To fully understand Kubrick’s argument Watch Dr. Strangelove, Paths of Glory, Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket and see how he depicts the institution of government and male power.
I feel that Halloran isn't afraid of Room 237 and that it means nothing to him. What he does recognize is Danny's pre-cognition to the room. Danny specifically asks about the room because he has a sense that something bad will happen to him in there if he enters the room. It's not because there's actually a horrific monster in there, nor is it that Halloran feels that evil has always been in the room.... but instead he recognizes that a fellow Shiner is worried about something that has yet to happen. He tells Danny to stay out only because when someone who shines asks: "Is there a monster over that hill?" It means: "If you go over the hill, you can feel that something bad will happen to you." Halloran warns Danny about the room only because Danny brought it, already worried about it.... meaning that Danny is shining a future event that has yet to happen to him.
I got a different impression from that conversation. Keep in mind that Hallorann knows that Danny has the shining. This to me would preclude Hallorann from lying to Danny. Danny would sense the lie. This also means Danny picked up Hallorann's fear/dread regarding that room. Remember than Hallorann had just finished talking about things happening in that hotel, it makes sense to me that talking about it probably made him think of room 237 and Danny immediately picked up on it. I suspect that Hallorann's worst experience in that hotel has to do with that room. Maybe it didn't even happen to him, maybe something happened to a co-worker who also had the shining and Hallorann found out about it. Either way, my impression is that as chef he wouldn't have much reason to be up near that room, which is why he can still work in the hotel even though he fears what's in that room. Hallorann tells Danny "Think real hard" about what Tony told him and that's when Danny starts asking Hallorann if he's scared of the hotel. I think what happened is Danny thought real hard but instead of remembering what Tony said he somehow connected with Hallorann's thoughts and that's how Danny caught on to room 237 being an issue.
@@cocharles563 Nope. Kubrickverse and Spielbergverse aren't congruent...except that one time. Poltergeist very much had a feel of Close Encounters, it wasn't ominous. It was gross sometimes and used scare tactics, but to me it is the safest of horror movies. I put it in the same universe as E.T. before The Shining. Amityville Horror seems more related. These are opinions, but I've never thought opinions couldn't be wrong. 😉
The acting from Grady in the bathroom scene is phenomenal. I love how he manages to shift the tone from a humble servant to becoming some kind of tyrant pulling the strings, so effortlessly and naturally too. Amazing acting
Ullmann told Jack in the interview that Grady's first name was "Charles," not "Delbert"...
Yes, absolutely chilling…
Yes
@MagesseT1 Yes, he was part of the cycle of violence. Delbert (hence the British actor) was likely a previous cycle from Charles from 1970. Delbert likely had something to do with the Native American aspect of the setting.
Even more impressive when you see him as Alex’s father in A Clockwork Orange
According to the actor who played Danny, Jack Nickelson was very nice and supportive to him all throughout filming. Apparently he even still gets a Christmas card from Nickleson every year.
He seems like a relatively regular guy in many ways. The fact he hacked away at acting for years without getting anywhere (Bob Townes speaks about his friend being told at the unemployment office to 'get areal job'!) gave him a sense of perspective you could argue. His success was hard won and he has never forgotten that.
I’ve heard that from a lot of horror movies! It’s nice to see horror movies having such sweet behind the scenes
I hope this is true
Hasn’t jack been involved in awful things with Polanski… and was with his buddy on a boat when a woman died onboard. He’s from old Hollywood where everything was swept under the rug.
I believe you’re thinking of Natalie Wood and the person on the boat with them was Christopher Walken. When was Jack on a boat with a woman who died?
Fun fact: the child actor who played Danny later said he had no idea The Shining was a horror film as a kid, and without all the film atmosphere added later, the whole thing seemed fun, not ominous (riding the big wheel, making funny faces and voices, etc).
Well that's sweet to know the film crew did their best to make sure the kid on set wasn't aware of what horrifying movie they were acting in.
He can't have been on set when Kubrick was torturing Shelly Duvall.
Seems weird he wouldn't know. He holds a knife next to his mom saying redrum in a weird voice and having to look scared throughout the whole movie.
He became a college professor and threatened to fail anyone of his students who even mentioned it
@@stevepalpatine2828they usually don't bring kids on to sets except for the scenes that they are in.
I’ve somehow fallen down a rabbit hole of videos dealing with theories to The Shining and it’s amazing at the level of detail and editing that people put into these videos. It doesn’t matter if you agree with them or not, you have to admire the work they put into these videos!
I like being deep inside this profound cinematic hole...
I feel the same! Just purchased a DVD from a local shop for $12 last night. Love reading all of the scene titles and scrolling the old school menu :)
There's a really great one called Room 237 that explores a bunch of interpretations of what Kubrick was actually trying to say when he made The Shining.
Imagine if we put this much work into things that matter. If we did, we'd probably be able to compete with China.
@@ralphthomasbarbour847 or take care of our citizens.. and somehow get anything at all done ever besides make it easier for the rich to get richer and richer while the rest of America works 70 hours a week so they don't have to choose between food and electricity.
i literally applauded u when u said "that was the evil that was 'Overlooked'"
That joke has been around since the first guy wrote the first article saying that the movie had a secret meaning.
Then Horatio put his sunglasses on and 'Baba O' Riley' started blaring.
Literally stood up applauded when danny turned to Jack and said “it’s you, it’s me, it’s the hotel! Don’t you get it? We’re the shinning!” Fantastic ending to the film
Indeed!
i bet you clap when you see fireworks
I feel Lloyd refuses Jack's payment twice, not because of a promise of violence, but because Jack's already paid with his soul. He literally say: "I'd give my god damn soul just for a glass of beer." Suddenly, there's Lloyd in a hellish red jacket telling Jack he doesn't have to pay in cash. See, Jack's already just paid with his soul. He's already cashed it in. Money's no good at the bar. Jack drinks for free, like in the deal.
True. I didn’t get why Jack says “White Man’s Burden” during that conversation. They are talking about Wendy and Danny at the time. That phrase refers to the racist thought of Manifest Destiny.. could it be that we tied it to that with the help of him being cool by use of the N word in the next scene or is it a literal reference of him Manifesting his Destiny? Also it was the thought of the Donner Family using Native Americans to guide them to gold on what use to be their lands. They were also the 1st to be eaten and rumor has it that they were selected and not because they died first. Leaving this here for someone with more knowledge of the film to address lol
There is no Lloyd anyway. Whenever jack sees one of his apparitions, he is always facing a mirror. Each and every 'ghost' he sees is his reflection.
@@davidlean1060 true! Since my post I read an interview with Kubrick in which he states that it’s reincarnation and that he’s always been in that picture at the end. In my opinion he’s in a never ending loop and each incarnation is doomed to repeat.
@@ateam404 Ah, but that is not true. Jack was in a loop, but Danny stops the cycle. That's why we see Jack frozen in the middle of a maze at the end.
@@davidlean1060 Because he died outside of the hotel?
I know Stephen King didn't like this film and I do love his stories, but this film is an absolute masterpiece. A different story from King's but amazing in its own right.
It is a strange duck: a poor adaptation of a novel that is a brilliant film in its own right.
King eats my hair but doesnt understand that either
King just had a deep affection for his characters especially Jack seeing how this was the book he used as his own allegory for his alcoholism so it's probably just very personal to him you can tell he didn't like that Stanley was an atheist either even if he didn't say it
15:08 While your analysis on the song 'Midnight, the Stars and You' could very well be correct, the song that plays during the scene with Torrance and Grady in the red bathroom is actually 'It's All Forgotten Now' which, the way I interpret it, signifies how the hotel consumes people and makes them forget who they really are.
We can see this though the character of Grady, who was the caretaker in 1970, now personified as a 1920s butler who goes by the name of "Delbert Grady" not Charles Grady as mentioned by the hotel's manager at the beginning of the film. The character of Grady serves as an almost direct foreshadow of Torrance's fate as we see by the end of the film that Jack too is consumed by the hotel and appears as a gentlemen of the 1920s, forgetting who he was in life, now forever doomed to be whatever the hotel wants him to be.
Spot on
Perfect. backs up my theory that this is not a hotel but a institution carrying out mind control experiments on the family. We now know that MK ULTRA used drugs like LSD and different techniques to experiment on unsuspecting patients in various institutions across the US and Canada to try to wipe their memory and install new memories. To me the biggest hint is Jungs The Red Book on Ullmans desk at the time of the interview. Why would a hotel manager have a psychologists book on his desk? Only if he is not a hotel manager, but a psychologist or psychiatrist running an institution. And this institution is running mind control experiments to wipe out memory. There are no ghosts, just hallucinations Jack doesn't get a drink of alcohol - he swallows LSD
Another theory is that this is an older Grady. The job may have stayed in the family, along with the violence.
@@TheEliasNoel You start out with good-points in the video.. But your conclusions are always 'Off' - Missing the mark of what's being presented to the viewers. Nice-try though.
@@TheEliasNoel Also it wasnt a ''Genocide.''
The Shining is constantly flashing between different time periods, as evidenced by shuffling and at times absence of pictures on the walls as well as furniture.
Dick Hallorann explained at the beginning that many terrible things that happened in the hotel and they left behind a trace of themselves, that not everyone can notice, but people who shine can see, we assume he’s talking to Danny…
Dick Halloran was talking to you and me! Some people see the Shining as a movie about a man who goes crazy and tries to murder his family in a hotel, but those who “shine” can see the terrible things that happened at the Overlook hotel IN THE PAST!!
Two things I noticed about the shining that I feel people never really analyze:
-Wendy seems immune to the hotel's ploys (until the conclusion)
-why the ghosts only show up when no one's around. the hauntings don't happen when the hotel is full, only in the off season.
To answer your second question, I think it’s because evil works best when you’re alone and vulnerable, which is a key theme in It, (strength in numbers).
The Wendy theory is spot on... from the end (well from when she knocks out jack and “locks him in the dry storage locker”) Wendy is having a full on psychological breakdown... it’s not Jack who is crazy it’s Wendy.
@@hollyrodriguez3259 I’m aware of King’s patterns but this is why King (to this day) doesn’t like Kubrick’s film ... and I think it’s because he took creative license with the material to make it more of a psychological horror than a full of Supernatural Horror like King intended.
@@hollyrodriguez3259 It's not Stephen Kings universe, it's Stanley Kubricks. Might be why he hated the movie?
She only sees what's around them when she has been sufficiently abused to develop the shining.
When the Torrence family was on their way to the Overlook Hotel, Wendy brings up the Donner party, which Jack explains to Danny that they were pioneers heading west in covered wagon times. The funny thing about that is they were part of the gold rush. That just struck me as odd when you were talking about the gold room and the symbolism therein around the 11:00 minute mark. I wonder if there's a connection there?
Late reply: But the Donner party were the Mormons coming to settle west in search of religious freedom to practice polygamy(in part). Later in Mormon history, a group of Mormons slaughtered Native Americans to gain territorial dominance. So perhaps it seems, there is a connection to violence as the theory states.
The Gold Rush had not yet begun when the Donner Party got Stranded in the Sierra Nevada. The Donner Party got Stranded in the winter of 1846-1847. The Gold Rush, didn’t start rumors of the discovery of gold at John Sutter’s Mill in 1848 began to spread in 1849. (This is why the San Francisco NFL team is called they ‘49ers). So the Donner pre-dates the gold rush.
@@ralphthomasbarbour847 The "Gold Rush" hadn't begun yet, meaning, the majority of people hadn't yet heard of the fabulous wealth that could be claimed in California, but murmurs of what was to come had started making the rounds. From what I understand they traveled west by invitation to stake their own claim on "free land" waiting out west, hoping for a better, more prosperous life in California. So, you're correct. They weren't part of *the* gold rush, though they did travel west for a chance at prosperity, and a better life.
This might be a reach but is the ceiling of the gold room curved to mimic the inside of a covered wagon?
The Donner Party wasn’t part of the Gold Rush…
I've been watching many of these analysis videos on the Shining, and they're all interesting BUT everyone forgets that Jack ALSO HAS SHINING ABILITIES, and is a target of the hotel's manipulation. He is in touch with the Hotel's past evil.
I'm much more interested in people talk about The Shining than I am the movie itself so this theory is half-baked at best, but it seems the hotel is sort of an evil magnet that draws the wicked toward it. Maybe everyone in the picture in the end with Jack got into that picture in the same way he did.
Jack doesn’t shine.
Jack does not shine nor did he have the ability to tell the hotel was evil, he never forseen his future, unlike Danny who had visions of the hotel before they left town. Danny also had visions of his father murdering him. Just because Jack seen the ghost it doesn't mean he shined. Jack had no foresight.
It is categorically untrue that Jack does not shine. This is proven in the follow up novel "Dr. Sleep" when Jack's granddaughter (and Dan's niece) Abra displays even MORE shine than Dan. The common thread is JACK. Abra's mother Lucy is the product of an affair her mother had with Jack before they went to the Overlook (making her Dan's paternal half sister). Again, the common thread is JACK.
I was thinking the same thing.
Great review. Did anyone notice how Jack has the EXACT facial expression and posture right after taking his first drink as he did when his body was frozen at the end of the movie? Does anyone know what that is about?
Yes, it is the as above as below symbol of the baphomet. I think this movie has more occult symbolism that we haven’t uncovered yet. I really like that he made the connection with Adam and Eve. It’s almost as if the overlook did the same thing that Satan did to Adam and Eve.
I think Kubrick was trying to make a point of the inevitable fate of human nature succumbing to evil. Just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning. And Jack succumbs to this evil in the end because it’s his destiny. That’s why Grady makes a point to tell him that he’s always been the caretaker. It’s the evil personified in human nature that I believe he is referring to.
Anyway that’s my 2 cents lol
Although I do not agree with this idea at all. But I believe this is the core message of the Shinning. Hence the Native American plot going on, and the whole father murdering the family as well. It has to do with human nature succumbing to an inevitable evil which is represented by Satan.
@@ruthtrevino7755 That is an interesting take. You might also know that it appears Kubrick focused alot with incorporating fairy tales along with Biblical references: For example, Jack even refers to himself as the "big bad wolf" that is blowing down the door of the 3 little pigs. I am thinking that when Jack drank his first sip of liquor it was similar to Adam and Eve being tricked into biting the apple. Also in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, the princess gets pricked by a spindle provided by the witch disguised as an old woman. Princess falls into a deep sleep. I think the philosophical debate is this: Are humans AWOKEN by the tricks of the Devil or put to sleep (ie. UNDER A SPELL). Does the devil make us evil or just show humans that we are inherently evil?
@@wrestledeep Oh Man! Yes I totally see that now! I definitely have to rewatch the movie now to get some new insight! That’s what’s so great about this movie. There is so much to it that you can just rewatch it and every time it’s a new experience.
@@ruthtrevino7755 OP is talking about the corpse in the maze , not the photo. Maybe it's because Jack, his soul, was dead as soon as he took that drink.
The overlook is basically powered by blood splatter.
When violence happens and a death occurs
it is like a white towel soaking up blood.
The gold room represents greed.
Jack wants money, he wants recognition for his writing, he wants to be famous
so jack is familiar with themes of greed.
The entire hotel represent different sins.
The overly stocked Kitchen represent gluttony.
The VIP rooms that are overly comfortable represents Sloth.
This hotel lives off the Sins of those who stay there.
Jack has also been reincarnated.
Jack serves the hotel.
Jack goes into the world and has a son.
But returns with his son and daughter to hand them over to the hotel.
However when Jack fails he must remain in the hotel until
his wife and son die. Upon their death the hotel can claim
their souls. Once claimed Jack returns into the world
to collect more souls. As the number of souls
increase the hotels power increases.
The Overlook represents America, the hotel is built on Native American land.
Decent theory. Better than the ones in which it's all in Jack's mind. Those theories take of all of the power, (and thus all of the horror) out of the hotel. Making it a personal evil and therefore limited in it's horror. The music, the mood, the composition and the color tones all cry out for something far grander. An omnipotent evil that has always been there. That's the movie I saw.
Funny how there was Prohibition from 1920 to 1933.
Good call. And the Gold Room is certainly no speakeasy, perhaps indicating that The House (as Lloyd refers to it) encourages, facilitates, and maybe even revels in the indulgence of forbidden pleasures. Thanks for adding a little more context to the scene, I'd never made the connection that Prohibition was the law of the land at the time.
I lived in a house that had a hidden room for drinking.
Very enjoyable video. I was hoping you would delve deeper into the bathroom scene with Jack and Grady. By that I mean the way Jack is standing. I find his posture in that scene unsettling, and I wouldn't mind hearing your take on that.
Jack starts out with a confident posture, when he thinks he has the upper hand on the entity, as Grady starts lecturing him Jack's posture becomes more uncertain or submissive, and Grady's becomes more assertive.
What a thought-provoking analysis. I’ve seen plenty of similar videos on The Shining, but this the first that brought in the use of colors and really went into the Native American themes that are much more prevalent in the novel. Well done.
Thank you more coming soon!
There are a lot of YT's about the shining - this is the best. The deep dive and almost undercover analysis that RBtF does is astounding and breathtaking. I can't state strongly enough how much you should watch this vid. Amazing work!
Damn this analysis is probably even better than Rob agers
That’s a compliment thank you!
@@TheEliasNoel you should have added that the shining hotel was built on native American burial ground. I know that's obvious but just an extra thing to back up that point about imperialism. Around the time you mentioned the red cans of native Americans. just an extra bit to back up your point to viewers. Sure you knew about it but think it would have added just A tiby bit. I think so anyway.
Seriously brilliant analysis and also talking about camera shots which ager doesn't do as much
Edit- also the fact that it was Kubrick that added that to the story. It wasn't in Kings book
Martha Stubbs great points!
@@TheEliasNoel I believe that's one of Agers stronger videos. His stuff on native American genocide is good. Some of his stuff is reaching but it's mostly good.
When you started talking about gold I assumed you'd just say what he said about kubricks gold but you came up with your own interesting take on it.
His other strong video is the spatial anomalies in the hotel and the weird layout. May be reaching but that ones his strongest I think
Anyway good work. Deserves more views. Have a nice day
Martha Stubbs thank you again! I’m familiar with Ager’s arguments but I try to make my videos offer something new.
The way someone analyses and interprets The Shining is a direct representation of their own psyche.
This is one of the best Shining analogy and explanation I have seen. Very well done.
Another explanation why props are missing or placed is because the movie IS us THE AUDIENCE viewing the novel jack is writting based on the story Ullman told him. His movie begans where he gets the idea (staring at the maze). There are points when the novel and reality take turns on screen. Another variation of this theory is that danny and wendy legit go crazy there because of isolation of wendy and danny shinning. Jack is aware of shinning powers from reading on the subject so he adds it to dannys character inspired by danny having toni imaginary friend. Jack changed carles to Grady in his novel to protect the privacy of the guy.
One of THE best bits of analysis on this film I’ve watched. There are so many levels to the presentation of this film that go beyond the straightforward story which can be enjoyed in and of itself for those who are uninterested in the analysis. Thanks for the work you put into this! ❤
If you read his writings you'll see that this analysis isn't what Kubric intended. It's what the reviewer reads into it...and that's what Kubric intended: to expose the soul of the interpreter.
Thank you John😊
Source?
When did Kubrick say that?
Kubric didn’t intend a lot of this explanation. His interview is here on TH-cam, search for it as posting links is considered bad form. In simplest terms he wanted each viewer to interpret it for themself. Quoted from FarOutMagazine in the UK:
_As Stanley Kubrick explains, “It’s supposed to suggest a kind of evil reincarnation cycle, where he [Jack] is part of the hotel’s history, just as in the men’s room, he’s talking to the former caretaker [Grady], the ghost of the former caretaker, who says to him, ‘you are the caretaker; you’ve always been the caretaker, I should know I’ve always been here._
_Continuing, the filmmaker adds, “One is merely suggesting some kind of endless cycle of this evil reincarnation”. Somewhat reserved about revealing the explanation, Kubrick also notes, “it’s the sort of thing that I think is better left unexplained,” before later adding, “I think the best thing is when an audience looks at a film and wonders whether something that they have seen is an accident or if the director or writer meant them to know it, I think subtlety and allowing the audience to discover for themselves what it is the most important thing”._
_Suggesting toward an innate evil that resides in the walls of the hotel itself rather than in Jack Torrance’s tormented mind, Stanley Kubrick’s vision provides a fascinating insight into Stephen King’s story that continues to inspire and terrify._
Great video! I found your insights and analysis really intriguing.
I’ve noticed another thing, unrelated to the actual hotel and you or someone else may have pointed it out already but here goes... At around 7:20 Jack Torrance was saying he had “two twenties and two tens” in his wallet. I think that this too is intentional. 2x20 + 2x10 = 60 and when you break down 60 as a product of its primes you get 2x2x3x5 which can kind of lead to the infamous 237 if you put the 2 and 3 next to each other, then add the remaining 5 and 2 together for 7. So together you get 237
Yes it’s a bit of a shoehorned way of getting there and I’m probably reading into it too much but I thought it was interesting.
Yes we would prefer to "Overlook." You have hit on the meaning of the movie.
The 180 rule applies when shooting football games (or other games on rectangular fields). You can't "cross the line." If you do, it will look to viewers that the ball is suddenly going in the opposite direction down the field. It's a disorienting effect. You don't necessarily notice it, but it subconsciously bugs you. Kubrick also does this when the Marines are marching at the end of Full Metal Jacket.
Art deco is full of gold design , rich colors and shine
... as long as this evil is OVERLOOKED! That hit me in the face, I didn't think of that meaning before!
Just when I thought I couldn’t hear any different theories about this movie, I found this post. Very interesting stuff.
I wonder about some of these theories in that, did Kubrick ever go on record about WHY he did certain things here or, is some of the imagery simply just a ‘happy accident’? If he DID put all of this HIDDEN stuff in the movie, he must’ve known that 99% of people would never notice or discover it. As it stands, it’s an effective movie from the story, the acting, music and set pieces.
About the music, I’ve not heard anyone delve into this, but because things about native Americans are brought up in dialog and imagery throughout the film, I wonder if the music was purposely constructed to have that ritual, ‘Indian’ cadence that it seems to have, or again, maybe I’m looking too close and seeing things that aren’t really there.
No you’re exactly right.
@@TheEliasNoel I’m glad I’m not the only one that noticed this about the main theme. If I’d never seen the shining, my instinct would tell me this is from something preceding a battle with Geronimo or Chief Cornstalk. MAYBE even the crying Indian walking through polluted America commercials of the 70’s.
Whole thing is a fascinating film and amazed it was a dud on release.
I was 8 when it came out. Didn’t see until years later, but I remember the tv spot and old color tvs not as good as modern tvs, plus a child’s mind made the scene where Danny is being chased through that maze? To ME, and I don’t remember how I knew this, but I thought he was being chased through the Paris Catacombs. The snow on the hedges made them look like skulls to me. I must have nightmares about that scene first a couple of years.
I've watched your documentary, and it's really compelling viewing. I watched Rob Ager's too, and whilst different, offered other compelling meanings. Different approaches, but same dedication to the layered themes throughout the film.
Thanks for the video, it's really well done! I like your emphasis on the theme of the contract, to me it evokes the Faustian pact and the nature of the power dynamics at play within the hotel.
There's so much to this film, so many intricacies and so much depth from which to draw interpretation, inspiration, and possible explanation.
One thing I'd never noticed till seeing your video today is the way Jack's facial expression from when he is dead and frozen in the maze is mirrored/foreshadowed by the face he makes after taking his first drink. You can see it in this video from 9:38 to 9:42, his eyes are rolled very far back into his head and his top lip is curled upwards, brandishing his upper teeth. He makes a similar expression several times during the conversation with Grady in the bathroom. Though it's a little less exactly like the times after the drink and after his death, during the conversation Jack moves back and forth between looking at Grady straight on with a complex expression that, to me, shows a mixture of bewilderment and incredulousness and fear, to looking at Grady with his head angled downward so that his eyes are rolling up into his head and his maniacal grin displays his teeth. Like was mentioned in this video, as soon as Jack has taken that first drink he looks like someone who's just been given a truth serum; to me his expression is that of someone in a trance state who has been hypnotized. I think we're saying the same thing, that he has the look of someone not in control of their faculties, someone at the mercy of a power not their own.
It's interesting that he has that look after taking a drink when the alcohol is taking over (he makes a toast to falling off the wagon, telling us that he is an alcoholic whose life before getting sober was dominated by drinking and that he is enthusiastic about once again relinquishing his willpower and submitting to the influence of the bottle) and it's during this same scene that Lloyd makes Jack (and the audience) aware that Jack is indebted to The House i.e. The House has power over Jack. Next, during the bathroom scene, we have the broken 180° rule and power exchange between Jack and Mr. Grady wherein Jack is reminded of his commitment to duty, and now it is an abstraction that is exerting power over Jack and compelling him to abandon his familial commitments to the health and safety of his wife and child. Finally, we see the expression on Jack's face as he is sitting in the hedge maze, frozen and dead; this time it is the crazed fervor to murder Danny which drove him to exhaustion and death by exposure after losing his way (literally and figuratively) in the maze.
I might be way off base and maybe there's no significance to my observations, I don't know. Thanks again for the video, I look forward to seeing more of your analyses and interpretations!
[Edited because I had the timestamp wrong]
Ngl I love the gold room songs, especially Midnight, The Stars, And You… I find them super soothing and I listen to them quite frequently… I hope I’m not weird for doing this…
I’ve listened/watched many breakdowns of the Shining. This is easily one of the best
Jack didn't have to pay for his drinks because he paid with his soul as he said at the bar when he got the 1st drink.
That appears to be "Hitchcock Green". Hitch used it with grey; it was supposed to work psychologically in some sordid way.
I can’t get over how accurate you are with your hypothesis
The thing Abra says is really from the original book. Danny says to the hotel, in Jack's body "my daddy forgot to dump the boiler"
This is amazing, it’s everything I always thought about this movie, but I could never find the words. Normally I would say this a bit far fetched, but considering it’s Stanley Kubrick, it’s not far fetched enough. Excellent video though. Please make more
Just realized too during the tonal shift of the bathroom scene, “It’s All Forgotten” by Al Bowlly plays in the background. It was the perfect choice after rewatching and assessing the music. It’s a love song, but more geared in this scene towards Jack and the hotel (or the evil inside it specifically) are in love. And that becomes his reality. Grady reminds Jack of what he’s forgotten as in the lyrics, the trouble and pain of “the white man’s burden”. Almost ironic in a sense yet it fits so well towards the shift in characters of Grady and Jack.
Kubrick's film is NOT a "translation" of King's novel, which I teach in my Gothic and horror literature course. The two works actually have little in common. But haunted spaces are important in many of King's works. Derry itself is a prime example. The pet cemetery in Pet Sematary is another. For that matter, it has been an aspect of horror since the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.
5:31 gold is also a symbol of death, hence it comes from deep below, where dead go into
Great video!
I think Kubrick's intent is that the hotel represents the U.S. in that it is really run by the wealthy elite and the overlooked atrocities throughout history. The blood covered hotel walls, blackmails, etc. represent the history that allows all those in gold room to live their lavish life for eternity.
-Jack represents all manipulated men doing the dirty work/cover ups for the elites (the house) and his reward is a place at a table in the gold room with the others. Men like Jack are interchangeable to the elite and have been doing their bidding throughout centuries, which is why he 'has always been the caretaker'. Jack is actually just one of many throughout time, but representative of all.
-Danny represents Kubrick and others who have seen the truth, but dont have the power to directly confront/stop it. Rather, Danny communicates with others who 'shine' to reveal the evil actions of the hotel in silence, just like Kubrick is trying to secretly reveal the atrocities of the elite that run the country/world by reavling their truths to the audience.
-Hallorann knows portions of the truth, but is dismissive of Danny's fears because he doesn't want the truth to be real or harm to come to others who discover it. He represents peoples who have been persecuted by the elite and seen their atrocities for generations, but feel helpless against it.
-Wendy represents the everyday citizen who doesn't even see the hidden truth at first and keeps working hard with hopeful intentions. She even supports Jack through his bad actions, oblivious to his evil capabilities until enough is revealed to her. She only wants a happy life and turns a blind eye to the truth for most of the film just like all of us in real life. She is the everyday person who unknowingly supports the greedy corporations, etc. while just trying to live her life in peace. Before Wendy and Danny run into the maze for the first time Wendy says, whoever loses has to clean America.
-The maze represents the entertainment industry (movies, sports, etc) that distract the common citizen in and make them oblivious to the truths of the elite. This is clear when Jack overlooks the model maze while Wendy and Danny play in the real version. Jack watches them and belives they are oblivious to the truth while he plots. At the end Kubrick uses the maze to trap Jack and stop the hotel's plan, just the same way he uses the movie to reveal truths of the real world. He is using the elites own trick against them.
-Unfortunately, the hotel survives in Kubrick's version. Kubrick may be telling us that even with his big reveal, he knows that the hotel/powerful elite of the U.S. will just go on converting more men to do their bidding and the elite will continue their eternally party in the gold room.
The native american atrocities and imperialism are pretty obvious. Kubrick may have had some of his own beliefs about modern coverups. I think the scene with Jack reading the Playgirl may be a reference to J Edgar Hoover. Hoover was runored to be gay and lived with his mom late in life (the parents sleeping with their childeren article). All work and no play makes Jack a dull (dead) boy could reference the JFK assassination. JFK not playing by the rules lead to his assassination. Other sexual scenes in the film may parallel the fetishes of the elite and the fact that they can all blackmail each other so it just goes on.
The moon landing theory is possible, but it may just be Kubrick's own skepticism rather than a confession.
We can also talk about the fact that Grady's name changed
If one watches the sequel, "Doctor Sleep", notice the filmmakers attention to detail. When Ewan McGregor as Danny goes back to the Overlook and during the bar scene, every single bottle of liquor are the exact same brands and in their exact original places as in "The Shining" (1980)...
Oh that last line gave me shivers.
I think this movie works on multiple levels. The mastery shown by Kubrick reminds me of a quip by James Joyce when questioned about much of the dialog in Ulysses being "trivial."
"Yes," he agrees, "sometimes trivial, and other times quadrivial."
The native American atrocity theme is definitely there, and it fits quite together quite nicely, and the repetition of "White man's burden" is both expounding on that theme as well as the guilt that drives him to alcohol. Jack embodies all the sins of the white man, and he must drink to deal with the guilt.
I've recently come across "the Wendy theory," which contends with the many inconsistencies in the sets with the theory that Wendy is hallucinating much of the action of the movie and her memory is imperfect.
The author of this theory does a great job of arguing that these inconsistencies are deliberate (carpet was changed, fixtures removed, and objects repositioned), but that there is a method to the madness.
This theory makes the movie work on an entirely different level: the level of the entirely non-supernatural. That is, there is now an explanation for what is happening from the viewpoint of objective, normal reality, and the amazing revelation is that Wendy is going through a hallucinatory paranoid psychotic break and actually murders Jack with a baseball bat. Wendy is the bad guy!
It's really no wonder why Stephen King didn't like The Shining. Kubrick's movie outshines the book in almost every way. The Shining (book) is a good piece of pulp fiction, a suspenseful summer read. Nothing more.
The Shining (movie) is a masterpiece of American cinema. There are enough riddles in it to keep eyes looking at it line-by-line and frame-by-frame for years to come.
Nah, just people not being able to settle on which of these nonsense fanfictions they like best. The movie is not about 600 different subliminal plots that require decades of analysis to understand.
These relentless easter egg hunts for lame theories that are never supported by any evidence whatsoever really cheapen the work, to be frank.
Mr. Grady doesn't have his reflection showing.
Great point! I was going to address this but was running out of time!
Oh yes he does. 14:09 -14:20. We can see him in the mirrors when he enters the bathroom.
@@1959Berre Johnny's reflection may be present, but not Mr. Grady's. The camera angle makes it hard to see their reflections, but since Mr. Grady is dead, it makes sense he doesn't have one. Especially, if he's planning to possess Johnny.
Jack and lloyd wear the same color in the bar. I do still like the idea of two Jacks - the writer and the character in his new book.
I have watched a ton of these videos. This one was the best and it also made the most sense.
I have explored the plethora of interpretations of “The Shining” and felt most of them were very creative and trying to be original . I came up with my own conclusion which is basically the same as yours so it was refreshing to watch your video essay. My only difference is that many indigenous tribes, especially in the pacific, feel that everything, has life. In particular buildings have their own spirit. It’s why Catholics have house blessings. The Overlook has its own spirit which is manifested in Grady. Also, the Overlook is like many anomalous places on earth like the vortex in Sedona Arizona. Kubrick was a mad genius.
''imperialism...misogyny..patriarchy..''
I think that's just the soy talking.
A Shining analysis vid that I watched before this one, I wrote, "What a load of cobblers!" in the comments.
This one, on the other hand, has to be the best one I've seen! Bravo, man!
The only thing I think you missed out on mentioning, which would have contextualized and legitimized your take even more is that together with the genocide, The Overlook was also built on a native American burial ground.
Didn’t agree with almost all of the analysis. But, I respect and find it interesting. Good video.
Any specifics you disagree with? I’m interested.
@@TheEliasNoel it ac not be argued the ghosts are part of Jack's psyche. This has been debunked by the sequel movie... And the fact Wendy sees the ghosts
@@Dd-fb2tj The sequel movie was not made by Kubrick nor does it have a connection to the story Kubrick told
I really enjoyed your analysis of The Shining, you have some very interesting theories, some which I have heard on other videos and some which are new to me.
I particularly like the concept you present about the 180 degree rule between Jack and Grady as per Kubrick's camera angles, the switch that takes place between them.
Kubrick was pure genius.
Your point at 11:58 is a very good one, and let me piggy-back on that. The 1920s was also falsely opulent because of the relief everyone felt after having lived through the violence of the First World War.
Good point!
..and eventually the Roaring Twenties led to the Great Depression.
In my theory the sentient demonic entity of the Overlook Hotel that possessed the hotel's building, the Manager/The Caretaker was a demon that traveled into our world through a "Thinny " a supernatural portal described in the Dark Tower series in which living beings and supernatural entities can travel into other dimensions. The Overlook Hotel was built on a Thinny in my theory and in Kubrick's loose adaption also built on an Indian burial ground, feeding the demon more. The Management demon harnessed the Thinny and merged as one with the hotel's building itself. Former owner and human management Horace Derwent, who was a corrupt billionaire playboy, accountant and entrepreneur with mob ties that allowed gangland hits to occur in the hotel, adding to all the supernatural energy manifested by the hotel and its demonic spirit. Derwent as a ghost was the Management's second in command of the imprisoned human spirits of dead former guests and staff that stayed, worked or died there, demons and poltergeists that haunted the Overlook. In the book and miniseries Jack Torrance redeemed himself in the end before the Hotel took control again and killed the real Jack with the Roque mallet. The Manager and its souls needed Danny's power to break free of the grounds of the Overlook Hotel and spread their power, using Danny's Shining ability, far beyond the Overlook Hotel into the world to absorb more souls, cause more death and destruction and become Godlike.
The roaring 20’s , art deco, decadence, opulence, after the First World War, before the Second World War….
Its weird how the actor for Lloyd is the same one in Blade Runner two years later and Ridley Scott specifically called Kubrick to ask for footage from The Shinings flying helicopter scene for the last scene in Blade Runner in the cinematic cut. Pretty sure there’s something there
Alcohol is also called Spirits.
How’s I miss this?!
@@TheEliasNoel Can't catch everything. Have you watched "The Wendy Theory?" He might be on to something.
Kudos - from the bathroom scene alone - best analysis of the story I've seen on youtube
You are so right about The Shining being haunting instead of frightening
You found some new interesting viewpoints indeed, respect to you! By the way, the ghost girls not only know Danny’s name but also that he does not have any friends of his age...
Why does nobody have any problems with the Overlook during the non-winter months? The hotel is filled with guests and nobody taps into the shining except when only three people are alone there during the winter.
Gold, red, green. I agree with the interpretation of the first two, but feel that green is a specific evil; jealousy/envy.
I don’t know why but ever since I was a kid and I am 49 now the shining always had such a pull on me to watch I guess just like you said. I remember watching it with my dad as a kid and I’m not sure if I even made it to the end lol anyways I watched a video here on YT about liminal spaces I think is how it’s pronounced but that explained a lot of the way this movie made me feel. Then there is the music, like the scene when they are driving up and Danny asks about the Donner party there is this ominous, creepy, lonely feeling behind that score that plays throughout the scene. There are so many things about this movie, I even went and read the book which isn’t normal for me but I actually liked Kubrick’s vision more than I did kings. The TV series doesn’t hold a candle to the movie. I have my daughter asking me to watch the shining with me because she knows I’m a fan of the film and we also visited the overlook hotel where King stayed and used as his inspiration for the movie. She’s almost 14 now so I’m sure we could handle it now. I completely agree that this is hardly the scariest movie ever but the story is great and the tension builds from the start until the end. Great video!
I’m a new subscriber! I really enjoyed this video, I noticed that you haven’t uploaded very much on your channel, I hope you upload more because I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say! 🎥🙌🏻
Thank you for your subscription! I have more coming. Hoping to get videos out biweekly! Check out my newest shining video and I have a Space odyssey analysis coming next!
Awesome overview and ideals of definitely one of my top 3 favorite films of all time!! Keep up the great work man!!
So MANY people are confused about the ending. All I can say is that in the photograph "Jack" is in at the Ball with his friends surounding him? He is in Hell or in a hellish place. His arms are positioned as if to say, "As above- so below".
What is this camera angle you're using about? That was jarring to the point I'm not going to watch anymore past 2 min.
What makes it creepy is the feeling of not knowing whether you're projecting the hauntings as real or seeing things from the past present or future.
Doctor Sleep confirmed that the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel were real all along.
What also creates an unnerving atmosphere is the use of straight lines and geometric patterns, which do not (or rarely) occur in nature; they are a product of the mind. Jack is a writer; he lives ‘the life of the mind” (reference that scene in Barton Fink - “I’ll show you the life of the mind!) The snow represents mental/emotional isolation, the labyrinth the twists and turns and traps of the mind, a place which Danny is able to navigate and where Jack perishes. The hotel can also be an extension of Jack’s mind; everything is an extension of himself, as if they are characters he has written. Once these “characters” (subconscious manifestations of repressed inner impulses) take on a life of their own, he turns on his family - the family becomes characters he cannot control and must be dealt with; his repressed feelings at being the ‘caretaker’ of a wife and a child, 2 more burdens, overtakes his conscious mind. When the subconscious overtakes someone and they are no longer capable of rational thought and control, they are considered insane. It really is a fascinating, complex movie where multiple interpretations can apply.
Haloran says the hotel had a lot of bad thing happen in its past. I think the Hotel allowed the rich to do whatever evil they desired ( like the bear costume fillatio). Recall that there were several months in winter when no one could come or go that a lot of secrets could be hidden in those months of being snowed-in. {Remember years later he would do Eyes wide shut. And there are clues to these kind of parties at the end of Lolita when he confronts the man that stole her from him.} The blood pouring from the elevator is an important key sign. It is similar to the door opening and the water gushing out in a scene in Residential Evil the first movie. Similar to a scene in Ghost Busters when the containment was deactivated. I think room 237 was a rich woman afraid of aging and bathed in virgins blood like Lady Bathory. All the people in the photo at the end are its victims and the perpetrators.
No it’s about a father and son trying to cope with a Wife/Mother who is dealing with deep psychological issues. “The Wendy Theory” is pretty spot on
This. The theme of modern fatherhood is blatant but of all the theories I've seen attached to this movie the only one that doesn't seem like major stretching is the theory that Wendy is mentally ill.
The Wendy Theory is complete nonsense. Get out more.
Excellent analysis! I really enjoyed this video. I think of Kubrick's movie and the story written by King as wholly different. Kubrick, in my opinion, took the framework of King's book to tell the story he wanted to tell of violence, imperialism and evil. To me, this doesn't lessen the movie, it just makes a different story. I am a huge fan of Stephen King's novels and know he has renounced this film, but I think that does a disservice to it. Thank you for sharing your insights, I'm immediately going to watch your analysis of Silent Hill 2!
Thank you! And I hope you enjoy the silent hill 2 videos. It’s one of my favorite works of horror and I get into both story and cinematography in my two videos!
This is late, and I'm sure you've heard this already, but the song playing during the Grady scene is actually "It's All Forgotten Now" by Al Bowlly.
I think Kubrick deliberately left ambiguity in the film so people could debate what it meant. He didn’t always know himself lol
I think this is a good point
Yes Jack looking into the camera is Jack seeing the ghosts looking at him. The camera itself ARE the ghosts through a lot of the film
After I read the book it haunted me for a long time . Stephen king had the way of describing situations there that could make it terrifying.
The movie was great too. Very eerie especially when Danny saw the twins in the hall .
19:14 Is it even the same "Grady"? He introduces himself as Delbert Grady, and the scene is the 1920s, as you said. However, the "Grady" that Jack would know about, as explained by Mr. Ullman in the beginning of the movie, was a Charles Grady who murdered his family in 1970. Is Jack confused? Are the two Grady's one and the same?
Fantastic video! The more I learn about this film, the more it fascinates me. Thank you for the content and the awesome editing.
This was an entertaining dive, but I feel just your opinions. Doctor Sleep should not have been compared as well, since whether King acknowledges The Shining as canon is a mystery. Kubrick did his own thing and his version is so much more complex and twisted (visually) with many, many more layers than the book had.
In Kubrick's Shining, avoiding the underlying unsaid abuse Jack gives his family, the hotel uses ghosts to twist Jacks mind to do what it wants: collecting souls. The house is alive.
Jack has always been the caretaker because time and space is different here. It's a physics theory. What happened has always happened, and will continue to happen. Just with new faces.
The shining was, is and always will be one of the most mind bending things to have been created.
This one one of the clearest most accurate explanations of The Shining I’ve ever seen! Well done!!
I liked the video but I think the way you speak in the beginning is too passionate and too acted. It feels as if everything you say is forced to feel extremely significant which is a bit distracting. The three-quarter perspective of your face emulates an interview. But because this is a video essay it feels uncomfortably like self-staging.
Didn’t even have a script for the this entire video but appreciate the feedback.
You did a great job explaining. I agree about evil. It is far more gripping when left hidden. Alien was an excellent movie for this reason. Hardly were we able to see much of the creature and that made it terrifying. We are afraid of the dark because we cannot see what is coming.
One thing that always weirds me out about the second ballroom scene is that the woman on the right at 14:00 that causes Grady to bump into Jack has a bloody handprint on her ass.
But the twin girls address Danny by name, that’s not the same thing as a trace that’s left behind, it suggests a conscious identity.
Well, as is explained in the video, that is the hotel talking through ghosts, not the ghosts themselves
I'm going to point out some things about this movie .
Charles Grady is mentioned but he is refered to as Delbert Grady now it's possible Delbert could be his middle name which means that his full name would be Charles Delbert Grady .
a hedge maze is around then it's not anywhere in sight . there are doors which lead to nowhere at all .
Tony says Mrs Torrance then one moment and then later on refers to her as mom like Danny is back .
river of blood a dead body or more could be flooting within it .
somehow Jack Torrance got of that walk in but we don't see how .
I enjoy this video and look forward to more so please continue them .
This video is so amazingly enlightening. I can tell you are schooled in cinema and literary analysis. Thank you for taking one of my favorite films to a new level of creepy and disturbing entertainment!
Thank you for the great comment!
This is THE BEST analysis I’ve seen on this movie. Most of the others use very weak evidence and make HUGE assumptions when developing their theories. This is the only one where there is some kind of logic or theme that actually connects some of the weird moments in the shining. Also very little of the other vid even mention the Western Expantion/pioneer imagery that is all over the movie. I hope you do more vids because there is so much more in the film that expands on this idea.
Really excellent analyses. These were the parts of the movie that are imprinted in my memory. These scenes gives the true meaning. I did not read the book, so I don’t know King put the same tension in his writing. Its an American story, about deep racism that still exists till this day. And not only America for that matter. Its a true evil in our society.
Impressive review of this classic movie.
I’ve noticed through watching this awesome film repeatedly that the family bathroom in the beginning is the same color scheme as the bathroom in room 237, anyone else noticed this?
i love this video so much. your voice is calming as well!
First, where the hell are you getting this from? Your logic is literally "Yellow room. Yellow is gold. Gold rush. Genocide." Also, you're giving all the credit to Kubrick, when most of the dialogue you highlighted is verbatim from Stephen King's novel. I mean seriously, what was this? "Jack go into ballroom twice, Kubrick is sending us a secret message!" Even though all that's exactly lifted straight from the novel.
This is a literary criticism. It doesn’t matter if the dialogue is from kings novel, it’s about how Kubrick distilled the themes of the book visually to create a meaning. He wrote the script. The room is gold because it’s called literally called “the gold room” not because it’s yellow. As director Kubrick has a choice on how he shows things and to what degree they play in the film. Kubrick shows Jack walking to the ballroom in the exact same shot twice. As a director I can tell you that we avoid repetitive shots because it makes a movie boring. He could have just as easily cut to Jack entering the room or already being in the room the second time. This was a choice. I’m not looking for secret messages I’m looking for implied meaning. If you’ve never done literary criticism then I suggest looking into it so you aren’t befuddled.
@@TheEliasNoel yes it matters - sorry to be argumentative, but in the video you're literally saying: oh, Jack talks about White Man's Burden, and Grady uses a slur, and somehow instantly make the leap to Kubrick talking about Imperialism from that, even though all those words are King's, not Kubrick's. You literally latch onto the most completely random stuff - the white man's burden line is clearly just throw away banter in the book, and the slur Grady uses is just a slur. You randomly focus on kitchen utensiles and say: ah, yeas, he's clearly referencing a Greek myth, and random cans in the background and say, ah, that can only mean genocide. You're like those people who are like "wow, Danny has a rocket on his sweater - moon landing conspiracy!" I'm sorry to be a complete ass, but seriously, seemed like most of the video was just you making leaps.
@@nl3064 Once again you clearly have a misunderstanding as to what a director does. Reoccurring color, visual motifs, and composition are all tools a director uses to both illustrate story but more importantly convey visual meaning. Kubrick did not care the least about kings book especially with how he disregarded much of his material from the film. If you thinking I’m reaching you will find many other TH-cam videos from much more learned channels that break down the color motifs, composition and and visual meaning in this film. If you thinking I’m reaching with the Native American thing well here’s an article (one of many) that got to it before me. But hey maybe we’re just making it all up with no basis. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1987/07/12/kubricks-shining-secret/a7e3433d-e92e-4171-b46f-77817f1743f0/
@@TheEliasNoel I read the article. It was just as baffling as your video. Some random guy just made up a bunch of stuff, and people have been parroting and piling up on top of it since then.
Interesting take. I like how you put this all together. I really enjoyed it. IM now a subscriber. Thank you. It got the gears moving inside my head.Now, a few thoughts of my own- As interesting as your video is, they are just theories. (Compelling to be sure). In the documentary: 237, the genocide of the American Indian is discussed, although, I must admit, your version is more thorough and sheds more light on the subject. However, in the documentary, another theory arises- the film is also an admission of a moon landing hoax. There is compelling evidence, though there is evidence that is not so compelling or believable. I am curious that Kubrik would point a finger at American imperialism as the monster hiding beneath the bed. England, (Kubrick's homeland), is also guilty of slavery, hostile take over, and genocide, all in the name of Imperialism. In fact, Europe and many other nations are guilty of similar atrocities. In the film, if this is in fact the underlining theme, or one of them, I think it is an unfair and biased position to take- that the white man is the evil soul operating the Overlook, or a presence so strong, so full of evil, it becomes this manifestation of the Overlook. If true, it must be reasoned there are Overlooks all over the world, because these atrocities have been committed over the ages and all over the world., and to single out America for the sake of making a commercial horror film to produce a profit, (and let's be fair here, at the end of the day, artistic integrity aside, money is the driving force for every film). makes Stanley, as a filmmaker, irresponsible IMO. Let me shine some perspective: in the case of slavery, there is a history no one discusses- African kings sold their own people into slavery. It is also a historical fact there were wealthy black men who owned and bred slaves, in America. And let's not pretend that the American people, and their governing body, as bloody as all thier hands were, America was the first to end slavery, and give those slaves opportunities and equal rights under the Constitution. In other words, they attempted to right the evils they were responsible for. The Overlook, however, would never stop to ponder its own actions and choices. It is an incomprehensible evil that has no problem devouring the souls of children, and enslaving the souls of men, women, and children. The Overlook would never set out to make amends for the evils it does. So, if the Overlook is a manifestation of the evils and sins of men, the white man cannot be solely responsible. Many governments, organizations, and tribes have committed genocides, and is not exclusive to the white man. Many Indian tribes committed genocide among themselves, killing for land, killing for power, killing for resources, killing for supremacy. Not even the American Indian is innocent. The Overlook is a summation of all of us, for we all have blood on our hands, and the Overlook exists to remind us that evil is in everyone, and if we don't watch ourselves, and remain vigilant, taking personal responsibility for ourselves to recognize evil, we fall into its trap, and our souls devoured. The Shining is number eight in my all-time favorite films, for similar reasons you've expressed, not necessarily, scary, but genuinely haunting, intriguing, and full of different, fascinating perspectives.
Thank you for your subscription. Some things to point out. Kubrick was an American born in the Bronx (my hometown!) not British. And America was not the first country to abolish slavery, Britain did so almost 100 years prior. I’m not arguing that white people are to blame or that the overlook is a white spirit. I am saying that the evil at the overlook is the result of imperialism and exploitation. Kubrick uses the 1920s and to a more subtle degree the age of imperialism as indicators of the source of the evil. It can be argued that all the evil at the overlook comes from the fact that Indians were both killed on that land and that it was holy land (see pet semetary for an example). Also Kubrick had no interest in the financial success of his movies rather he was focused on certain reoccurring themes. For all those who have said I have been bias, if you look at Kubrick’s other movies he consistently addresses themes of anti war, male violence, and patriarchal power. This is not sjw as many on this thread have claimed, it’s a critique that is in his work. To fully understand Kubrick’s argument Watch Dr. Strangelove, Paths of Glory, Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket and see how he depicts the institution of government and male power.
This is very good , some good new theories you speak about here , it doesnt stop giving this film , great vid
The Shining has a certain kind of heaviness to it.
I feel that Halloran isn't afraid of Room 237 and that it means nothing to him. What he does recognize is Danny's pre-cognition to the room. Danny specifically asks about the room because he has a sense that something bad will happen to him in there if he enters the room. It's not because there's actually a horrific monster in there, nor is it that Halloran feels that evil has always been in the room.... but instead he recognizes that a fellow Shiner is worried about something that has yet to happen. He tells Danny to stay out only because when someone who shines asks: "Is there a monster over that hill?" It means: "If you go over the hill, you can feel that something bad will happen to you." Halloran warns Danny about the room only because Danny brought it, already worried about it.... meaning that Danny is shining a future event that has yet to happen to him.
I got a different impression from that conversation. Keep in mind that Hallorann knows that Danny has the shining. This to me would preclude Hallorann from lying to Danny. Danny would sense the lie. This also means Danny picked up Hallorann's fear/dread regarding that room. Remember than Hallorann had just finished talking about things happening in that hotel, it makes sense to me that talking about it probably made him think of room 237 and Danny immediately picked up on it. I suspect that Hallorann's worst experience in that hotel has to do with that room. Maybe it didn't even happen to him, maybe something happened to a co-worker who also had the shining and Hallorann found out about it. Either way, my impression is that as chef he wouldn't have much reason to be up near that room, which is why he can still work in the hotel even though he fears what's in that room. Hallorann tells Danny "Think real hard" about what Tony told him and that's when Danny starts asking Hallorann if he's scared of the hotel. I think what happened is Danny thought real hard but instead of remembering what Tony said he somehow connected with Hallorann's thoughts and that's how Danny caught on to room 237 being an issue.
I feel that the movie Poltergeist is in the same universe as Shining as many of the hotel and the house reactions to the living seem similar.
@@cocharles563
Nope.
Kubrickverse and Spielbergverse aren't congruent...except that one time.
Poltergeist very much had a feel of Close Encounters, it wasn't ominous. It was gross sometimes and used scare tactics, but to me it is the safest of horror movies. I put it in the same universe as E.T. before The Shining. Amityville Horror seems more related. These are opinions, but I've never thought opinions couldn't be wrong. 😉