Any serious analysis of Kubrick, and many have been done, will lead you to the understanding that absolutely NOTHING in his films is placed there by accident. Nearly everything, every detail, has meaning and many times on multiple levels simultaneously.
That doesn't mean that they those things have the meaning we apply to them, let along meaning at all. One of the funnest and most annoying things about writing something is the absurd amounts of ways people interpret anything.
I never appreciated Kubrick's genius until I read King's book. Kubrick took a pile of mediocre shite from an overblown hack and turned it into a masterpiece. The single most important change is what makes Kubrick's version so chilling: at the end, one really doesn't know for certain whether there was any supernatural involvement or if Jack Torrance went crazy after having teetered on the edge for years. There's no indisputable evidence for either side. King's version is, like every other book he's ever written, quite clear in having all kinds of ghosts, gods, and random spooky whatnots that mainly serve to roll the story along and help King out when he's written himself into a corner, or when he just gets tired of writing. King's work has NO layers; Kubrick's has hundreds. There's no contest between the two.
I like the book, but prefer Kubrick's film. And as a Stephen King fan, I have to admit that he's not exactly a genius. He writes easily digestible horror stories. It might not be fair to say the film shits on the book. The book stands on its own (for those that like it) and the film, to me is a piece of art that takes a really cool idea (the story) and stylizes it into a brilliant mind-fuck. Perhaps it would be more accurate to think of it as "inspired by" the novel rather than "based on" it. I never bothered with the mini-series. To me a visual reproduction of the book seems like a dull idea. Reading a book is special because the mental visuals are your own. Kubrick's version is great because his actual visuals are unsettling and cause one to ask more questions. Both are great in their own way.
I agree I too LOVE the book and read every year just before Halloween or before New Year's Eve. LOL. Kubrick's version is genius - CORRECT. BTW I HAVE 2 AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOS OF Lisa & LOUISE BURNS TOO. I FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER WOULD LIKE TO MEET ONE DAY. Great analysis of Kubrick's hidden meaning of the Shining Twins! :)
On your website, you mention that the twins "suffered injuries directly to their necks" and you note the strange locations of patches of blood-well, while looking up a movie quote, I stumbled onto the Wikipedia page for Jack the Ripper, and I did not know this, but apparently the same year Jack the Ripper struck, cameras first became commercially available, and there are surviving photos of the victims found. Warning: DO NOT LOOK THEM UP. Anyway, the twin closest to the camera is an exact re-creation of one of the victim photos on the page, and it's a detail I wish I did not know.
Jack the Ripper was an invented person to cover for ritual murder. The real perpetrators were part of a masonic Lodge and they killed the prostitutes in a way that is described in a fr33masonic ritual. Interesting that Kubrick killed the twins the same way...
hardly an exact recreation of any of them. neat story but also not really true at all... its similar only in a way that all bodies laying mangled on the floor are similar...
I did a research project in high school about the Ripper killings and I saw some of the photos you alluded to here. Really disturbing stuff, especially when you consider what it took to set up a photo shoot in the late nineteenth century.
Fan of your work. It's in-depth, comprehensive and illuminating. I noticed something that I have yet to see mentioned in anyone's analyses of The Shining. It's in reference to Tony. Near the end of the film, Wendy tries to talk to Danny, but Tony is the only one who seems to respond, saying that Danny has gone away. When Danny winds up running into the hedge maze, Jack takes chase. Jack almost immediately feels the effect of the blistering cold, but Danny seems unaffected. Tony probably wouldn't feel cold, being only a psychic guest who lives in Danny's mouth. I believe that it is Tony that is in total control of Danny throughout this scene, covering up the footprints, doubling back, and generally acting with tactical prowess and not the panic of a terrified 6-year old. Tony was going above and beyond to protect Danny. When leaving the maze, however, Danny stumbles and falls, getting up and it is Danny's voice that calls to his mother. I think Tony relinquished control of Danny when safety was in sight and that's when Danny fell. Like Tony was passing out, and Danny waking up.
When I was a kid someone who had seen the movie told me that Tony was actually Danny when he was older. I'm not sure how Danny would be able to channel a future version of himself, but that's what my friend said it was. It would explain the tactical prowess as you called it, and why he didn't just panic like most 6 year olds would have in the same circumstances.
@@Flipindabird23 I've heard that too. I also heard Danny represented an older, more developed part of his brain. An adult or near-adult part of his psyche that overrode his child's brain and took charge when it needed to protect him.
I remember watching the film as a kid, it's crazy how I am sure that I "felt" many of the things explained in this channel. Something that I have lost while growing up. Human subconscious is a marvelous thing.
1:20 No, they are not Delbert Grady's daughters. They're Charles Grady's daughters. Charles Grady was a previous caretaker of the Overlook, while Delbert was the butler/waiter from the early 1900s. There's an important distinction between the two.
Because the movie is full of twins and mirror images. Charles and Delbert are another pair of twins. They're not siblings but they're still two different names representing one person. Note how Delbert Grady says he has "always" been here, and Jack has "always" been the caretaker. Were Charles Grady and Jack Torrance reincarnations of these earlier men? Impossible to say for sure. I think the more important takeaway is that everything involving the "ghosts" also involves reflection. Every time Jack sees one of the ghosts there is at least one mirror somewhere in his line of vision.
That makes sense. Little girl dress designs don't change all that often so it is hard to say. I dressed that way in 1980. But yeah Delbert is the father of the son. And it sounds like maybe he was "taking over" his son the same way the hotel takes over Jack. Because that is a long time for a family to have jobs for the same hotel. Which weaves both Grady men, their children, three generations. The girls are either his daughters or grand-daughters. It almost doesn't really matter, maybe. but Danny and the girls would be the 3rd generation. The twins in the film are the same age but one is slightly taller than the other. So they could be 8 and 10. In real life the actresses were 12! Such tiny girls! I saw the dresses in person. Sooooo tiny! In pictures next to Danny they look almost the same age. I guess I better read the book because I bet the history is explained in it. I have seen identical siblings that look like twins but are not.
I have a set of identical twin girls in my life so I can say with experience that, holding hands, speaking in unison, wearing the same clothes and, standing symmetrically,are total normal twin behavior. Nice job though I love your videos!
Yeah my two twin daughters used to wear anything matching and tried to look exactly like each other in their best dresses and stand at the end of our hallway and say "come play with us Danny, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever" and they were always Grady twins for Halloween
You're claiming these girls are identical, not fraternal twins? How do you explain that one of them is two inches shorter than the other. Did she suffer some sort of birth defect? Has she had some sort of wasting illness that resulted in stunting her growth?
Why so many pissed off comments? It's one guys analysis of a motif. Yeah, some of the stuff seems over analyzed, but it's interesting hearing his thoughts.
in the bathroom scene he says "you chopped your wife and daughter up". he used the singlular which couldnt have been a mistake and plays into your hypothesis as well.
He also gets the man's name wrong, from Charles to Delbert, but the guy doesn't correct him. I think it's a clue that Jack was hallucinating and making the ghost encounters up in his imagination as he went.
These analyses are a bit forced. I do think Kubrick was a true genius filmmaker of the highest order, but I think that many of these details you noticed were arranged compositionally rather than in the literalist way you suggest. Kubrick was first and foremost a photographer, and was certainly aware of thematics and symbology, but he was especially motivated by composition, contrast, color, symmetry and depth of field. He was also a big fan of human history, psychology and technology so these elements have special significance, but are dealt with thematically through dialogue and story rather than visually per se (except in 2001 where the themes are much more literally represented). I guess what I'm trying to say is that the very literalist interpretation of the twins you advance with this video are more likely to be accidental by-product of Kubrick's careful attention to detail and composition and continuity of set design and issues of foreshadowing through tiny clues (like the knives- that was a good catch btw). I sincerely appreciate your efforts and analysis, and some of these observations probably hold some merit, but I think Kubrick worked more unconsciously/by instinct than many would like to believe.
I think 'The Shining' is more understood visually than thru dialog. Matter of fact, all of Kubricks films are. Not that the dialog doesn't matter but its very choppy and almost unnecessary at times. "Pictures in a book." Not to mention all the photos throughout The Overlook. I don't think Rob is reaching at all.
At 7:07 he mentions it might be a double meaning that Danny is asking his mom if she’s in the mirror yet didn’t include a very important detail. If he continued the clip for a few more seconds it fades to a scene with Wendy, and if you pause inbetween the fade she’s directly inside the mirror on the right.
"They have jet-black hair like Wendy..." ...except that their hair isn't black at all, it's light brown. Is it possible that all the inconsistencies in the script and scenes are simply sloppiness and not symbolism at all? Yes. Yes, it is.
I agree. This analysis is way the fuck over the top. Kubrick was a monumental filmmaker, but the guy wasn't trying to turn his films into fucking 5 easter-eggs in each shot. He was making movies that were visually stunning and symbolically rich, but the stuff in this video is insane.
I like your thoughts and insights but you stumble when you're continually looking for meaning..the twins do not have "jet black hair" they have chestnut brown hair. They do not speak in one voice -they speak as two voices in unison , as if they were chanting. Kubrick was not influenced by a visit to his film set--unless he was in the sense that everything and everyone he encountered was fair game; and then I'd agree--rather he was directly influenced by Diane Arbus' famous image of twins --and you know, that's a rabbit hole worth tumbling down: One of Arbus' main influences? Weegee..and who was the still photographer for Strangelove? Weegee!
Speaking of rabbit holes, I think the twin dresses have more to do with "Alice in Wonderland" than with what James Mason's daughter was wearing 1 day when visiting the set.
Excellent comment. Ager is undoubtedly intelligent and an articulate student of film; but also the master of the pseudo-intellectual overreach, and employs smarmy condescension towards those who disagree with his more ridiculous takes.
You can imagine that because they were sisters near the same age that both their spirits have merged in some way to almost create a single being, perhaps done by the Overlook
" The twins" is an illusion by Kubrick to make the mind question itself. They are not identical twins, they merely have the same outfit, hairstyle and facial expression giving at a glance the appearance of symmetry but if you still the image, you can see one girl is taller than the other and although their facial expressions are uniform, their facial characteristics are quite different from each other, if they are twins then they must be fraternal, so I believe they must be the Grady girls. The one on the left is the ten yr. old (evidenced by her height and breast, a premature puberty) and the one on the right is the 8 yr. old, I also believe that these girls are the only ones who warned Danny of the eternal/physical danger within the hotel. Tony never warned Danny, for I believe Tony had designs on Danny just as the hotel had on Jack, although I'm quite sure Tony must have known there was a danger present to beware of.
@@jamesoblivion are they really ghosts also? LOL! Just because the actresses are twins doesn’t mean the characters have to be actual twins. Kubrick was framing these shots using symmetry. So with that in mind, is it that far fetched to think his casting call was directed toward actual twins that could present as 8 and 10? If you look at those girls closely you’d actually see that.
this comment and several other comments denying that the girls are actually twins is a good example of what happens when unintelligent people try their hand at analysis lol
Stay tuned for his 45minute dissertation of how Danny’s backtracking footprints in the snow is actually a meticulous acknowledgement of Kubrick’s involvement with the moon landing!!
They used to different shots for the exact same scene. I mean there's probably a million reasons why they didn't use the same clip, or maybe there isn't, I don't know about film editing. Still I think it's something of note
When Stuart Ullman tells Jack the story of how Grady killed his family he says his name was Charles Grady, but after Jack has a tray of drinks spilled on him and is taken to the bathroom to be cleaned by the waiter, Jack asks the man's name, he tells him he is Grady, Delbert Grady, and Jack mistakes him for the previous caretaker Charles Grady to the point of insisting he was the caretaker before him and telling him how he killed his wife and daughters and then blew his brains out with a shotgun, to which the man politely replies he has no recollection of such events and reminds Jack that he, in fact, has always been the caretaker, and he knows that because he has always been there. To me, this means there were two Grady's, the first one was the waiter who had twin daughters, those are the twin girls whose picture we catch a glimpse of in the basement and he is the man Jack has a conversation with or perhaps his spirit while in the bathroom. The other man was Charles Grady, the previous caretaker who had two daughters ages eight and ten and who we never meet. Both men killed or "corrected" their families and both share the same last name, maybe they are even related, and this is why I believe the hotel and perhaps fate itself had conspired to bring the last Mr. Grady to the Overlook Hotel, so he could replay the gruesome murders of his family and somehow repay a karmic blood debt owed to the house, and if you think of the last image of the movie where the camera zooms in on a picture of the fourth of July ball back in the twenties and we see Jack or a man that looks just like Jack smack dab in the center of it, this might make sense. If the hotel was built on an old Native American burial ground or cemetery, people involved with its construction, like the owner, investors, etc. might have been influenced into committing horrible acts of violence and bloodshed and met violent deaths themselves in the hotel which might be calling for their descendants back to it so they can recreate the violence that bound their predecessors spirits to it so they can feed the hotel with blood, violence, and fresh spirits as a punishment for desecrating sacred land. This is not an uncommon theme in Stephen King's novels. So, that's my theory, karmic doppelgangers, cursed to recreate the vile acts that bound them to the hotel in a previous life in the first place. Mirrors and mirrored images seem to be a recurrent motif in the film, which might hint at my doppelgangers theory and an altered state of reality like a world on the other side of a looking glass, where things and people look the same but are very much not the same.
they’re the grady daughters. it says it in the credits. the credits list their characters as grady daughters. i’m assuming the original man who guessed their ages was just off and they were twins.
I admit that the audio was hard to hear -- perhaps he said, "Two daughters, eight or ten." instead of 'and'. that would account for the apparent discrepancy viewers have of whether the girls are twins or not. ??
Nice analysis. On one level, I think the twins are just a way of the hotel trying to tempt Danny by exploiting his psychological desire for a normal childhood. Not only is Danny suffering from abuse by his father, he's a lonely, only child. A pair of twins want him to come play, as all normal kids do. So on the surface, they are offering him something that he probably wants - a normal childhood in which he can play with other kids his age (something he undoubtedly doesn't do often). I think they also represent Jack, and the duality he represents to Fanny between caring father and abuser. Notice during the scene between Danny and his father, Jack says to him "I wish we could stay here forever and ever." The image is Danny warning himself of the danger Jack represents.
The twins is spot on. They did represent Danny. The hotel was replaying the old murders. Mirrors, obsidian, to be precise were used for conjuring but also as per sleeping beauty it represents our shadow self. I also think there was another story being told through them as well though. The whole movie is multi layered.
I'm a big man with a big gun who doesn't get scared of movies, but the dead actors subtly moving to indicate ghosts is the most terrifying thing to me. Even if the theory is wrong, just god I feel like a kid again, getting scared of sh❤️t. Thank you man
Usually casting directors will cast an actor or actress several years older than the character they're playing. This is because it is easier for an actor of said age to *identify* with the characters' behavioural modus at such an age. It also negates the possibility that an actor will be overstretched to act in such a way if they haven't yet matured enough to be "accomplished" for such a role (in other words, they won't be _too_ old, that it will take their toll on them).
Interesting to note Kubrick was fascinated by carney, circus "freaks" & liked the duality of, I believe were, Siamese twin photos he crossed..I DO believe that was the real intent of him using the twin girls..also in the beginning of the movie when Danny is being examined pant less, there's an interesting thing on the wall to the right.. there is a marionette puppet hanging on the wall dressed EXACTLY like Wendy, EVEN wearing the exact same colors..in fact it almost looks completely made in her likeness down to her & the puppet's clothes..Kubrick NEVER left ANYTHING to chance..if something is filmed by Kubrick IT'S ON PURPOSE.. the man stands in history as one of the most anal retentive director's EVER! Totally have mad respect for the dedication, that's what makes his stuff brilliant!
You're talking about Goofy Figure on the Bookcase. That was Kubrick's way of saying Wendy was the Goofy one. Also notice that after she exits Danny's bedroom, the Sticker of the Dopey Character that was on the Door is now gone. Kubrick might be trying to tell us that Wendy is the one whose the real dope here, not Danny... Or Look, Wendy Dresses Goofy... Personally I believe that Wendy had no idea that the Psych Doctor that made the House-Call was actually sent there by ''The People'' back in Denver. The Same People who are Running the Show at the Overlook Hotel, who also picked Jack Torrance to get the job... The whole Film seems to be pointing at some type of MK-Ultra Experiment, that the cia runs each year, when the Hotel is shut down, and no one is around to see what's going on. The cia has had a large presence in the Denver area for decades now. I'm sure their offices re-located under Denver International Airport around 20 years ago now. I mean, DIA has 53 square miles of area there. A lot of government agencies could be hidden there, including the Intelligence Hub for the entire Western United States...
It's a good analysis and I enjoy the detail. The thing about The Shining and other Kubrick films is that a lot of the visual messages are taken in by us subliminally, then enriched on further viewing. Kubrick may not have been completely conscious of every trick he used to convey his vision either. His works are voyages of discovery for himself as well.
Agreed. The way the rooms don't always line up in reality, furniture being subtly removed during scenes, and the rest of the inconsistencies might not be noticed on the initial viewing. Not consciously at least. But subconsciously the mind is probably noticing these things, to where you eventually start to get a feeling of uncertainty and unease watching the movie. Which makes it genuinely creepier than other horror movies where everything is obvious and on the surface.
Really enjoyed this, no such thing as “overanalysis” as far as I am concerned. Art is meant to be a meditation to the viewer. I appreciate this kind of work. Let’s never think “well that’s sorted then”, let’s always take off another layer and look at the possibilities. That is the joy of having, and actively engaging, an inquiring mind.
The fact that Kubrick utilizes absolutely everything involved with a shot to contribute to his filmmaking/story telling makes his movies feel like a Easter egg hunt.
The Stanleys, who built the hotel, loved kids and had none of their own. In the hotels archives are pictures of the Stanleys with twin girls who stayed at the hotel.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned the Bartok piece played during the Danny tricycle scenes is a symmetrically composed composition in two sections. known as a mirror structure. just another detail .
I think that Kubrick's addition of the twins in the film serve the purpose of being human (ghastly or not) representations of Kubrick's implementation of themes of duplicity, the use of mirrors repeatedly in the film or reflective surfaces, etc. The girls are a flesh-and-blood (again, ghostly or not) emanation, representation, culmination of this theme. The colour of the walls around their apartment being the same shade of blue serves the purpose to always suggest the presence of the girls "forever, and ever" (and create a perhaps subco scious feeling of unease while we watch) - also a mirror reflecting on itself creates infinite images, forever and ever, which reminds me of Jack having "always" been the caretaker, that Grady said that in a room of mirrors, and the b/w photo at the end with Jack.
It’s as if the girls know he would come to the same fate. So by constantly appearing until he chose to turn right in stead of left, it’s like they were preparing him for the same decision that prevented his death at the hands of his father.
The analysis is interesting, but we realize the times the movie was made in. In 1980, we didn't have mass VCRs or TH-cam where people would watch movies over and over to analyze every detail. Like people who went to the The Shining at the theaters came out lamenting the genocide of Native Americans. People wouldn't even be noticing all those little details generally. "Oh gee, why was there Country Time Lemonade in the big pantry? What does that mean?"
These themes weren't meant to be experienced literally by movie goers, or even noticed consciously. Kubrick sprinkled little related details, like repeating numbers, colors and visual themes, throughout the movie because he felt they contributed to the viewers sense of the "uncanny." The intent was to create a mood.
Rob, you wouldn't have had to make this video, had you known, that the scene describing the girls and their ages was filmed prior to the casting of the twins. You would also know, had you done more research on the twin actresses, that, they explained in an interview that the original casting was for two sisters, but not two twins. Yet, their agent submitted a tape of them. Kubrick saw the tape, and didn't care about the continuity from the office dialog, and used them, because he thought twins were more creepy than just two sisters close in age.
Rob, I just want to say thank you for your analyses over the years. They are thorough, interesting, and always enlightening. You have a keen eye for Kubrick's use of mise en scene, and the greater ideas he's trying to express. Your videos are always grounded in reality, never sensational, which is rare for the topic of Kubrick ( especially EWS). Not to mention, they have great production quality themselves. Thank you
I’ve had a Shining website for over 20 years and most of the expanded Shining Soundtracks floating around are ripped from the one I made decades ago...so I’m pretty knowledgeable of the subject. I’ve read and watched your theories on the Shining for many years and, while I agree with a small amount of it, it’s hysterical how you make up theories (that are ridiculous) then a few moments later, you refer to them as it’s fact. If even a tenth of these theories were true, it would have taken a decade for Kubrick to have completed the film.
He chose twins because of the very famous twins photo by Diane Arbus. The photo was very striking and very influential. Diane Arbus was a respected artist and even Kubrick may have been influenced by the cultural impact of her work. Look up the photo and see. It’s really not that complicated. He wanted the image to be creepy, striking, and loaded, like Arbus’s image.
It blows by mind how you critically analyzed this movie. I don’t know how you do it. It’s impressive. The only thing I noticed when I first watched the Shining is the “impossible window”. I didn’t study the movie though. I just watched it.
Thought: Concerning the door nobs of the twin doors, they are gold versus the other single doors that appear to me to be silver..... tied to the gold themes you note in other videos. I enjoy your film analysis work; thanks for all the hard work/research/effort!
I believe it was Kubrick's intention to make the Overlook come alive sorta like the hedge maize did in the book. He didn't have the tech to pull off the central scary scene from the novel. Therefore, he did it with simple camera tricks in a transformational set. It is this subliminal spacial impossibilities that make the movie so creepy/alien.
Red and blue was an extremely popular color combination at the time, look at catalogues from the year this movie was made. you will see a lot of red and blue.
andgalactus1 You could also say that everyone was wearing red and blue at the in the film because of the times. When was this film actually shot and at what date was the wardrobe being selected? Not far from 1976 when America was celebrating its centennial, even though the Shining was filmed in England. I don't see it that way at all. Kubrick was making a Statement about an American Horror Story, Just like Salem's lot is, as well as Poltergeist...which is Speilberg's version of the Shining. Ask yourself was Friday the 13th simply a ripoff version of Psycho inverted. A ripoff of Halloween or was it about the Vietnam war, or Jason in later films a metaphor for Reagan coming to get the Hippies. Was Halloween not About Ronald Reagan? How about the Exorcist, many believe it is a metaphor for Ronald Reagan, even it's filmmakers. Red and Blue in Star Wars is not just hot and cold, heaven or hell...perhaps Republican and Democratic. But ask yourself why green for Luke later on. The answer could be found in Egyptology.
The Shinning was shot in sequence. That would suggest that the Twin scene was already done by the time the girls visited the set, since this is clearly later in the film when Jack is wearing that outfit
A bit overwrought in places, but I have to say the analysis of the blue/red dichotomy was one I'd never considered before. It seems like more than coincidence that Danny and Wendy's wardrobe shares chromatic similarities to the twins', which in turn informs their symbolic connection to one another.
I have to say that i enjoy your analysis of this film and your interpretation of the events. One glaring problem, and this is really more about another video you did. You say that Jack is the one who strangled Danny and that it was nothing supernatural. But, who let Jack out of dry storage? Things *may* be explained as dreams and as being “symbolic of” something to a point until that happens. Once that door gets unlocked by Grady all bets are off it seems. The place is haunted.
One thing I noticed recently watching was the duplicated/close to duplicated dialogue when Jack is talking to Lloyd his first time in the Gold Room. While almost definitely a coincidence, it could tie into the mirrors/twins/dual identities theme(s) that Rob touches on. "Two twenties and two tens in my pocket" "I'll knock 'em back. One by one." "White man's burden, Lloyd. White man's burden." "Things could be better. Things could be a whole lot better." "Words of wisdom, Lloyd. Words of wisdom." "I didn't lay a hand on him. I didn't." "I'd do anything for him. Any f*cking thing." "A few extra foot-pounds of energy, per second, per second."
This is like those 'analyses' of the Bible, and other significant texts, where the analyzer finds evidence of extraterrestrials, prophecies, recipes, ghosts and anything they wanted to find to begin with.
This reminds me of watching The Wizard of Oz along with Dark Side of the Moon. If there were only one or two coincidences between the music and the scenes, the whole thing could be dismissed without any trouble. But as there are a great many striking coincidences, any person who doesn't know better can easily be persuaded that the parallels are not coincidental but intentional.
I wonder why so many people who know nothing about film criticism decide to (1) watch an in-depth, evidence-based analysis of a complex film by a perfectionistic director, and (2) post meta-criticism (uh, criticism of criticism) denigrating the analysis. "Naw, it's just scary" and "You don't know what you're talking about" are opinions, not counter-arguments and not persuasive. Fine to "just be scared" without looking into psychology, artistry, or the esthetic philosophy of the director--then "just be scared." No anti-intellectualism required. Thank you for sharing this carefully and meticulously research, Rob Ager. You must know full well that many will neither understand nor appreciate what you have done. Takes courage to brave the public. Shakespeare's groundlings probably dismissed The Scottish Play as "just scary" and laughed at those who thought about deeper meanings.
@peppermint23 - I agree! Latest news on actress Shelley Duvall (actress who played Wendy) is currently having mental issues. I think playing "Wendy" in the Kubrick movie is taking a toll on her literally somehow ... after all these years. I heard the master Kubrick did 120 takes just for the "Here's Johnny & knife scene." His daughter Vivian Kubrick must feel guilty somehow how her Dad treated Shelley during filming. Never know ... wonder how Jack Nicholson is today and what he would say on the matter? Love The Shining ! Book & both movies!!!
Analysis-wise, there's a lot of symbology, signs, "layers" of ideas, concepts & interpretations in this movie, it's incredible. We may never know if it all came from King &/or Kubrick, but there definetly was some "force", maybe other-worldy, driving this movie. It's hard to believe it was just a movie from 1980, there's definetly "something" there.
Incredibly interesting! The way I interpret it, though, is NOT that Danny is seeing into a possible future, but that "it's happening again." That is... There's a strong association here with writing (and by extension, acting). It's almost as if those who come to the hotel fall into a story that goes a certain way. And with the possession and/or reincarnation element... It's like different people playing the same roles. So it's both past and future, because we're talking about cyclical time.
I always thought it was creepy that the end of that hallway (where the twins were murdered) was a dead-end. no room or stairwell. funny how your mind can think sometimes. even the end lightbulb was dead.
If you analyse the two shots of the twins in the games room, you'll notice that pieces of furniture move slightly between the two. So do the twins. They're not standing in the exact same spot between each shot.
Uh, you're wrong. Kubrick himself admitted that he did a casting call for a pair of irl sisters: the twins, experienced actresses, convinced their mother to take them to the casting because they were sisters. Once Kubrick saw them, he was floored and went batsh&&crazy on the notion of incorporating twins instead of just sisters.
I am reminded of Alice and her reflection from "Through the looking Glass". That would also explain the old fashioned style of the dresses. The counter clockwise path of Danny's trike is symbolic of time going back
And Alice is used a lot for pedophiles... look up Alice day... the only reason I bring this up because of the scene with the bear which I believe represents a boy with a man... sick...
Ager suggested that it was as if the hotel were alive. I read the book many years ago. I recall that the author wrote about the hotel as if it were alive and it wanted Danny because he had "The Shinning" and the hotel wanted this power for itself. The many victims of murder acted as minions of the hotel and they tried to get at Danny by using his father to do it.
In the book, the hotel wants Danny. In the movie, the hotel seems to mostly want Jack. In the book, Jack burns. In the movie, Jack freezes. In the book, the hotel ultimately loses. In the movie, the hotel wins. Two very different stories. The book was more straightforward. Danny had a very powerful psychic ability (Danny almost knocks Halloran unconscious while projecting his "shine" at the guy). The haunted hotel is a big psychic battery accumulated from all the spirits it has absorbed over the years. If it gets Danny, its psychic powers will grow exponentially, so it tries to get Jack to kill Danny for this reason. But the movie is less about Danny's shine, and more about recurring cycles of violence and death, as well as twins and reflections. The book has a beginning and an end. The story in the movie seems like it's always there, always the same. "Forever and ever and ever."
Why is everybody shitposting on the comments, Rob Ager is an excelent analyzer, that creates 1 hour videos for the sake of sharing a good point and argument and not for views, if you want a mediocre analysis, then look for any magazine that they are flooded on those, but don't ask Ager to be that way.
Even if I were to agree that you weren't over analyzing, I'm still not sure of what your point is. Someone needs to make a video analysis of this video analysis to let people know what you're getting at. Thanks for pointing out that there there are blue dresses and mirrors and exit signs. And flowered wallpaper. And also, the twins definitely do not have jet black hair. And furthermore, in one sentence in this comment I used the word "there" twice in a row and there were not 1, but 2 spaces between them.
Steve Johnson same here. The exorcist genuinely frightened me when I first saw it at 16 but the shining didn’t though it remains my favourite horror film. Absolute classic
I saw a documentary with the assistant director of The Shining (among others), and they said Kubrick's inspiration for the twins was the infamous Diane Arbus photo of haunted-looking twin sisters approximately aged 8. (Google "Diane Arbus twin photo" to see).
watching this video noticed in the scene where Danny's in the games room 8:26 and sees the "twins" the chairs seem to be in one position then back and forth if skip to 10:50 and skip back to 8:26 kinda spooked me I LOVE THESE VIDEOS!!!!!!
@trashiel lamp - I did not know that! I will have to watch and check it out. The chair that moves? Indicative of ghosts.... poltergeists? Does it move next to the Grady ghost girls? Thanks. Shine on! :)
I met Lisa and Louis Burns at a horror convention. They were really sweet and talked with me for quite some time. They loved making The Shining.
Did they say "Come play with us" to you?
cool !
And yet they horrified the audience.
Come play with us
hi
I'm guessing "jet black" means "medium brown" in the UK.
Maybe but I'm British and I would not call the hair colour of the twins jet black
but they do have a similar hair colour to Danny
Maybe this guy suffers from color blindness?
No Jet black is jet black . Brown is light, medium or dark .
Rob is from Liverpool. So he's English not Irish.
@@DVDandFilmBloke + Definitely to Danny, but he said "jet black hair" like Wendy has...
Any serious analysis of Kubrick, and many have been done, will lead you to the understanding that absolutely NOTHING in his films is placed there by accident. Nearly everything, every detail, has meaning and many times on multiple levels simultaneously.
Same as BEETHOVEN!
+monsterjazzlicks ah yes, the good old Ludwig Van
Absolutely. I saw so many subliminal messages even the first time I saw it. He's a genius.
That doesn't mean that they those things have the meaning we apply to them, let along meaning at all. One of the funnest and most annoying things about writing something is the absurd amounts of ways people interpret anything.
Christian ? Get off the ritalin !
I love the book but Kubrick is a fucking genius. This movie is so multi-layered.
Personally, the book was too cheesy for me.
do you like the King version then?
I never appreciated Kubrick's genius until I read King's book. Kubrick took a pile of mediocre shite from an overblown hack and turned it into a masterpiece. The single most important change is what makes Kubrick's version so chilling: at the end, one really doesn't know for certain whether there was any supernatural involvement or if Jack Torrance went crazy after having teetered on the edge for years. There's no indisputable evidence for either side. King's version is, like every other book he's ever written, quite clear in having all kinds of ghosts, gods, and random spooky whatnots that mainly serve to roll the story along and help King out when he's written himself into a corner, or when he just gets tired of writing. King's work has NO layers; Kubrick's has hundreds. There's no contest between the two.
I like the book, but prefer Kubrick's film. And as a Stephen King fan, I have to admit that he's not exactly a genius. He writes easily digestible horror stories. It might not be fair to say the film shits on the book. The book stands on its own (for those that like it) and the film, to me is a piece of art that takes a really cool idea (the story) and stylizes it into a brilliant mind-fuck. Perhaps it would be more accurate to think of it as "inspired by" the novel rather than "based on" it. I never bothered with the mini-series. To me a visual reproduction of the book seems like a dull idea. Reading a book is special because the mental visuals are your own. Kubrick's version is great because his actual visuals are unsettling and cause one to ask more questions. Both are great in their own way.
I agree I too LOVE the book and read every year just before Halloween or before New Year's Eve. LOL. Kubrick's version is genius - CORRECT. BTW I HAVE 2 AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOS OF Lisa & LOUISE BURNS TOO. I FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER WOULD LIKE TO MEET ONE DAY. Great analysis of Kubrick's hidden meaning of the Shining Twins! :)
On your website, you mention that the twins "suffered injuries directly to their necks" and you note the strange locations of patches of blood-well, while looking up a movie quote, I stumbled onto the Wikipedia page for Jack the Ripper, and I did not know this, but apparently the same year Jack the Ripper struck, cameras first became commercially available, and there are surviving photos of the victims found. Warning: DO NOT LOOK THEM UP. Anyway, the twin closest to the camera is an exact re-creation of one of the victim photos on the page, and it's a detail I wish I did not know.
Jack the Ripper was an invented person to cover for ritual murder. The real perpetrators were part of a masonic Lodge and they killed the prostitutes in a way that is described in a fr33masonic ritual. Interesting that Kubrick killed the twins the same way...
hardly an exact recreation of any of them. neat story but also not really true at all... its similar only in a way that all bodies laying mangled on the floor are similar...
I did a research project in high school about the Ripper killings and I saw some of the photos you alluded to here. Really disturbing stuff, especially when you consider what it took to set up a photo shoot in the late nineteenth century.
Fan of your work. It's in-depth, comprehensive and illuminating. I noticed something that I have yet to see mentioned in anyone's analyses of The Shining. It's in reference to Tony. Near the end of the film, Wendy tries to talk to Danny, but Tony is the only one who seems to respond, saying that Danny has gone away. When Danny winds up running into the hedge maze, Jack takes chase. Jack almost immediately feels the effect of the blistering cold, but Danny seems unaffected. Tony probably wouldn't feel cold, being only a psychic guest who lives in Danny's mouth. I believe that it is Tony that is in total control of Danny throughout this scene, covering up the footprints, doubling back, and generally acting with tactical prowess and not the panic of a terrified 6-year old. Tony was going above and beyond to protect Danny. When leaving the maze, however, Danny stumbles and falls, getting up and it is Danny's voice that calls to his mother. I think Tony relinquished control of Danny when safety was in sight and that's when Danny fell. Like Tony was passing out, and Danny waking up.
When I was a kid someone who had seen the movie told me that Tony was actually Danny when he was older. I'm not sure how Danny would be able to channel a future version of himself, but that's what my friend said it was. It would explain the tactical prowess as you called it, and why he didn't just panic like most 6 year olds would have in the same circumstances.
Tony is just what Danny named ‘the shining’ or his psychic abilities. It wasn’t actually a singular entity. Just his way of understanding his power
@@spaceclown7650 that’s really not a stretch.
@@Flipindabird23 I've heard that too.
I also heard Danny represented an older, more developed part of his brain. An adult or near-adult part of his psyche that overrode his child's brain and took charge when it needed to protect him.
@@spaceclown7650 in the novel tony is future danny. The movie is a lot different
This guy missed one point. The handle on the walk in refrigerator symbolizes the idea that the characters can't HANDLE the Outlook spirits
HaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!
"Some of the other ghouls and I are a little concerned the project isn't moving forward."
T H E Y
C A N T
H A N D L E
T H E
T R U T H !
LMFAO
Take a good look at that scene again
I remember watching the film as a kid, it's crazy how I am sure that I "felt" many of the things explained in this channel. Something that I have lost while growing up.
Human subconscious is a marvelous thing.
1:20 No, they are not Delbert Grady's daughters. They're Charles Grady's daughters. Charles Grady was a previous caretaker of the Overlook, while Delbert was the butler/waiter from the early 1900s. There's an important distinction between the two.
Right
Who was Delbert corrrrrecting?
@@24hoursadaywithbobr exactly
Because the movie is full of twins and mirror images. Charles and Delbert are another pair of twins. They're not siblings but they're still two different names representing one person. Note how Delbert Grady says he has "always" been here, and Jack has "always" been the caretaker. Were Charles Grady and Jack Torrance reincarnations of these earlier men? Impossible to say for sure. I think the more important takeaway is that everything involving the "ghosts" also involves reflection. Every time Jack sees one of the ghosts there is at least one mirror somewhere in his line of vision.
That makes sense. Little girl dress designs don't change all that often so it is hard to say. I dressed that way in 1980. But yeah Delbert is the father of the son. And it sounds like maybe he was "taking over" his son the same way the hotel takes over Jack. Because that is a long time for a family to have jobs for the same hotel. Which weaves both Grady men, their children, three generations. The girls are either his daughters or grand-daughters. It almost doesn't really matter, maybe. but Danny and the girls would be the 3rd generation. The twins in the film are the same age but one is slightly taller than the other. So they could be 8 and 10. In real life the actresses were 12! Such tiny girls! I saw the dresses in person. Sooooo tiny! In pictures next to Danny they look almost the same age. I guess I better read the book because I bet the history is explained in it. I have seen identical siblings that look like twins but are not.
I have a set of identical twin girls in my life so I can say with experience that, holding hands, speaking in unison, wearing the same clothes and, standing symmetrically,are total normal twin behavior. Nice job though I love your videos!
Really? That sounds cute! 😊
Very creepy
Yeah my two twin daughters used to wear anything matching and tried to look exactly like each other in their best dresses and stand at the end of our hallway and say "come play with us Danny, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever" and they were always Grady twins for Halloween
You're claiming these girls are identical, not fraternal twins? How do you explain that one of them is two inches shorter than the other. Did she suffer some sort of birth defect? Has she had some sort of wasting illness that resulted in stunting her growth?
@@kell_checks_in ...how do you know one of them is shorter?
Why so many pissed off comments? It's one guys analysis of a motif.
Yeah, some of the stuff seems over analyzed, but it's interesting hearing his thoughts.
I agree
ys
cuz he is disinfo for people trying to discover the hidden secret of immortality left by Kubrick
I agree
+Absurdi TV What Rob is exposing is sickening,
Their hair isn't jet black.
Chris Oliver You're right, it's mousy brown. That analogy is a stretch too far.
Richard Weed slightly darker black
Chris Oliver nor is it black at all. It is the same as mine, which, by no stretch of the imagination could be described as "jet black."
It's BROWN! Crikey!
It doesn't matter what color it is, it isn't jet black like Wendy's so the theory falls apart.
Its just two girls visiting the damn set.
They never noticed them until it was already being premiered lol
***** I still find this analysis interesting
***** Watch your french
+David Gray Wow, savage! Unnecessary, kind of like this analysis‼️
Mytube777 The analysis is all right, I find it incredibly interesting. but I think it had nothing to do with these girls visiting a set.
in the bathroom scene he says "you chopped your wife and daughter up". he used the singlular which couldnt have been a mistake and plays into your hypothesis as well.
And then later Jack goes to the bathroom in their hotel room and chops down the door with the axe.
+Who am I? I've always noticed that and wondered about it.
danny is seeing one and tony is seeing the other
Hey, I like that!
He also gets the man's name wrong, from Charles to Delbert, but the guy doesn't correct him. I think it's a clue that Jack was hallucinating and making the ghost encounters up in his imagination as he went.
great assessment of the pivotal moments ...just one disagreement...the twins hair isn't jet black....more brunette
Åá#ß=#fryf
Also the twins talking in unison isn't that unusual. It happens a lot with twins, as anyone who has known twins can tell you.
These analyses are a bit forced. I do think Kubrick was a true genius filmmaker of the highest order, but I think that many of these details you noticed were arranged compositionally rather than in the literalist way you suggest. Kubrick was first and foremost a photographer, and was certainly aware of thematics and symbology, but he was especially motivated by composition, contrast, color, symmetry and depth of field. He was also a big fan of human history, psychology and technology so these elements have special significance, but are dealt with thematically through dialogue and story rather than visually per se (except in 2001 where the themes are much more literally represented).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the very literalist interpretation of the twins you advance with this video are more likely to be accidental by-product of Kubrick's careful attention to detail and composition and continuity of set design and issues of foreshadowing through tiny clues (like the knives- that was a good catch btw). I sincerely appreciate your efforts and analysis, and some of these observations probably hold some merit, but I think Kubrick worked more unconsciously/by instinct than many would like to believe.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one.
Agreed, there is a lot of bullshit in this analysis.
I think 'The Shining' is more understood visually than thru dialog. Matter of fact, all of Kubricks films are. Not that the dialog doesn't matter but its very choppy and almost unnecessary at times. "Pictures in a book." Not to mention all the photos throughout The Overlook. I don't think Rob is reaching at all.
Underrated comment.
At 7:07 he mentions it might be a double meaning that Danny is asking his mom if she’s in the mirror yet didn’t include a very important detail. If he continued the clip for a few more seconds it fades to a scene with Wendy, and if you pause inbetween the fade she’s directly inside the mirror on the right.
"They have jet-black hair like Wendy..." ...except that their hair isn't black at all, it's light brown. Is it possible that all the inconsistencies in the script and scenes are simply sloppiness and not symbolism at all? Yes. Yes, it is.
I agree. This analysis is way the fuck over the top. Kubrick was a monumental filmmaker, but the guy wasn't trying to turn his films into fucking 5 easter-eggs in each shot. He was making movies that were visually stunning and symbolically rich, but the stuff in this video is insane.
OrchestrationOnline r
It's a tin foil hat theory worthy of that garbage room 237 documentary
their hired twins as they can...its not easy to find them sometimes.
Ha ha... I laughed at this inconsistency. Still, I find his interpretations compelling even if he sometimes misses the mark, if not entirely.
I like your thoughts and insights but you stumble when you're continually looking for meaning..the twins do not have "jet black hair" they have chestnut brown hair. They do not speak in one voice -they speak as two voices in unison , as if they were chanting. Kubrick was not influenced by a visit to his film set--unless he was in the sense that everything and everyone he encountered was fair game; and then I'd agree--rather he was directly influenced by Diane Arbus' famous image of twins --and you know, that's a rabbit hole worth tumbling down: One of Arbus' main influences? Weegee..and who was the still photographer for Strangelove? Weegee!
Speaking of rabbit holes, I think the twin dresses have more to do with "Alice in Wonderland" than with what James Mason's daughter was wearing 1 day when visiting the set.
And when viewed from behind while riding his bike, Danny looks like he's wearing a dress?!?
Excellent comment. Ager is undoubtedly intelligent and an articulate student of film; but also the master of the pseudo-intellectual overreach, and employs smarmy condescension towards those who disagree with his more ridiculous takes.
it sounds funny
You can imagine that because they were sisters near the same age that both their spirits have merged in some way to almost create a single being, perhaps done by the Overlook
The most analysed film .
Sometimes over analysed .
But a masterpiece.
I like the theory that Jack actual wrote this horror story while working as a caretaker at the Hotel with his family.
He may of gotten the idea from the murder story at the interview.
It certainly plays with how King wrote portions of the novel at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO.
" The twins" is an illusion by Kubrick to make the mind question itself. They are not identical twins, they merely have the same outfit, hairstyle and facial expression giving at a glance the appearance of symmetry but if you still the image, you can see one girl is taller than the other and although their facial expressions are uniform, their facial characteristics are quite different from each other, if they are twins then they must be fraternal, so I believe they must be the Grady girls. The one on the left is the ten yr. old (evidenced by her height and breast, a premature puberty) and the one on the right is the 8 yr. old, I also believe that these girls are the only ones who warned Danny of the eternal/physical danger within the hotel. Tony never warned Danny, for I believe Tony had designs on Danny just as the hotel had on Jack, although I'm quite sure Tony must have known there was a danger present to beware of.
Well...I mean...except that the young actresses are indeed twins. So....
@@jamesoblivion are they really ghosts also? LOL! Just because the actresses are twins doesn’t mean the characters have to be actual twins. Kubrick was framing these shots using symmetry. So with that in mind, is it that far fetched to think his casting call was directed toward actual twins that could present as 8 and 10? If you look at those girls closely you’d actually see that.
@@jamesoblivion They are NOT twins, actually!
@@vassilissanakszynsky7439 They most certainly are twins. A simple Google search will show that.
this comment and several other comments denying that the girls are actually twins is a good example of what happens when unintelligent people try their hand at analysis lol
The twins share "jet black" hair with Danny's mother? No, they don't.
You forgot to analyze the pattern on the carpet. I’ll wait for the next 20 minute video on this
Stay tuned for his 45minute dissertation of how Danny’s backtracking footprints in the snow is actually a meticulous acknowledgement of Kubrick’s involvement with the moon landing!!
It's finally out
How on earth are the twins supposed to have jet black hair? Was your version of the Shining defective?
+covGuk It looks like different girls to me. The murdered twins look older/taller.
“Their stomachs move. They’re breathing.” No duh. The actresses are still alive and need air.
"...The actresses are still alive...", let's hope so, or Stanley has some explanation to do. Which he can't. ANYMORE. ;-P
yea. But they filmed different shots. and, That alone is unusual.
They used to different shots for the exact same scene. I mean there's probably a million reasons why they didn't use the same clip, or maybe there isn't, I don't know about film editing. Still I think it's something of note
the naked lady in the hag scene doesn't breathe
@Begnsteal why would dead people need air? Let’s be really real now.
When Stuart Ullman tells Jack the story of how Grady killed his family he says his name was Charles Grady, but after Jack has a tray of drinks spilled on him and is taken to the bathroom to be cleaned by the waiter, Jack asks the man's name, he tells him he is Grady, Delbert Grady, and Jack mistakes him for the previous caretaker Charles Grady to the point of insisting he was the caretaker before him and telling him how he killed his wife and daughters and then blew his brains out with a shotgun, to which the man politely replies he has no recollection of such events and reminds Jack that he, in fact, has always been the caretaker, and he knows that because he has always been there. To me, this means there were two Grady's, the first one was the waiter who had twin daughters, those are the twin girls whose picture we catch a glimpse of in the basement and he is the man Jack has a conversation with or perhaps his spirit while in the bathroom. The other man was Charles Grady, the previous caretaker who had two daughters ages eight and ten and who we never meet. Both men killed or "corrected" their families and both share the same last name, maybe they are even related, and this is why I believe the hotel and perhaps fate itself had conspired to bring the last Mr. Grady to the Overlook Hotel, so he could replay the gruesome murders of his family and somehow repay a karmic blood debt owed to the house, and if you think of the last image of the movie where the camera zooms in on a picture of the fourth of July ball back in the twenties and we see Jack or a man that looks just like Jack smack dab in the center of it, this might make sense. If the hotel was built on an old Native American burial ground or cemetery, people involved with its construction, like the owner, investors, etc. might have been influenced into committing horrible acts of violence and bloodshed and met violent deaths themselves in the hotel which might be calling for their descendants back to it so they can recreate the violence that bound their predecessors spirits to it so they can feed the hotel with blood, violence, and fresh spirits as a punishment for desecrating sacred land. This is not an uncommon theme in Stephen King's novels.
So, that's my theory, karmic doppelgangers, cursed to recreate the vile acts that bound them to the hotel in a previous life in the first place. Mirrors and mirrored images seem to be a recurrent motif in the film, which might hint at my doppelgangers theory and an altered state of reality like a world on the other side of a looking glass, where things and people look the same but are very much not the same.
pretty good! beats this Limey lunatic's grasping at straws!
Great theory dream weaverand an original one.five stars.
wow man you should do a video on your written comment...interesting
I like your theory. But I dont want to hang out with you. Simply because I'd never get the opportunity to say one
fuckin' word!!
@@shanehill8971 It's a great idea, indeed. Though I'm not sure how original it was 3 years ago, as I first heard it closer to 20 years ago. 🤔
they’re the grady daughters. it says it in the credits. the credits list their characters as grady daughters. i’m assuming the original man who guessed their ages was just off and they were twins.
I admit that the audio was hard to hear -- perhaps he said, "Two daughters, eight or ten." instead of 'and'. that would account for the apparent discrepancy viewers have of whether the girls are twins or not. ??
@@mavnalysse no this would’ve been a hypercritical thing that Kubrick would’ve been sure to specify
For the record, the twins do not appear in Stephen King's novel at all. They're all Stanley Kubrick.
No, they're mentioned. Just not seen, I believe. Read the book 3-4 times.
44excalibur to subliminally denote the “splitting of personalities “ referring to Hollywood MKUltra
He was inspired by this photo from 1967 by Diane Arbus
www.reddit.com/r/creepy/comments/55fsxj/identical_twins_roselle_nj_1967_this_photo/
What "twins?"
@@kell_checks_in The ghost twins who appear to Danny in the hallway.
when this guys mum told him to reach for the stars he really took it too heart
Nice analysis. On one level, I think the twins are just a way of the hotel trying to tempt Danny by exploiting his psychological desire for a normal childhood. Not only is Danny suffering from abuse by his father, he's a lonely, only child. A pair of twins want him to come play, as all normal kids do. So on the surface, they are offering him something that he probably wants - a normal childhood in which he can play with other kids his age (something he undoubtedly doesn't do often). I think they also represent Jack, and the duality he represents to Fanny between caring father and abuser. Notice during the scene between Danny and his father, Jack says to him "I wish we could stay here forever and ever." The image is Danny warning himself of the danger Jack represents.
The twins is spot on. They did represent Danny. The hotel was replaying the old murders. Mirrors, obsidian, to be precise were used for conjuring but also as per sleeping beauty it represents our shadow self. I also think there was another story being told through them as well though. The whole movie is multi layered.
I'm a big man with a big gun who doesn't get scared of movies, but the dead actors subtly moving to indicate ghosts is the most terrifying thing to me. Even if the theory is wrong, just god I feel like a kid again, getting scared of sh❤️t. Thank you man
I'm bigger and my gun is enormous. Lol smh...
You haven't seen a gun until you've seen MY gun, and im literally gigantic as well
@@OrphanCrippler1 I have a very tiny gun. My wife points and laughs at it.
The older girl strikes me as definitely being older than ten.
Tell it to the judge.
Usually casting directors will cast an actor or actress several years older than the character they're playing.
This is because it is easier for an actor of said age to *identify* with the characters' behavioural modus at such an age.
It also negates the possibility that an actor will be overstretched to act in such a way if they haven't yet matured enough to be "accomplished" for such a role (in other words, they won't be _too_ old, that it will take their toll on them).
Interesting to note Kubrick was fascinated by carney, circus "freaks" & liked the duality of, I believe were, Siamese twin photos he crossed..I DO believe that was the real intent of him using the twin girls..also in the beginning of the movie when Danny is being examined pant less, there's an interesting thing on the wall to the right.. there is a marionette puppet hanging on the wall dressed EXACTLY like Wendy, EVEN wearing the exact same colors..in fact it almost looks completely made in her likeness down to her & the puppet's clothes..Kubrick NEVER left ANYTHING to chance..if something is filmed by Kubrick IT'S ON PURPOSE.. the man stands in history as one of the most anal retentive director's EVER! Totally have mad respect for the dedication, that's what makes his stuff brilliant!
Great catch!!
He was also inspired by Daine Arbus's creepy photo of twins
correct!!!!
You're talking about Goofy Figure on the Bookcase. That was Kubrick's way of saying Wendy was the Goofy one. Also notice that after she exits Danny's bedroom, the Sticker of the Dopey Character that was on the Door is now gone.
Kubrick might be trying to tell us that Wendy is the one whose the real dope here, not Danny...
Or Look, Wendy Dresses Goofy...
Personally I believe that Wendy had no idea that the Psych Doctor that made the House-Call was actually sent there by ''The People'' back in Denver. The Same People who are Running the Show at the Overlook Hotel, who also picked Jack Torrance to get the job...
The whole Film seems to be pointing at some type of MK-Ultra Experiment, that the cia runs each year, when the Hotel is shut down, and no one is around to see what's going on.
The cia has had a large presence in the Denver area for decades now. I'm sure their offices re-located under Denver International Airport around 20 years ago now. I mean, DIA has 53 square miles of area there. A lot of government agencies could be hidden there, including the Intelligence Hub for the entire Western United States...
It's a good analysis and I enjoy the detail. The thing about The Shining and other Kubrick films is that a lot of the visual messages are taken in by us subliminally, then enriched on further viewing. Kubrick may not have been completely conscious of every trick he used to convey his vision either. His works are voyages of discovery for himself as well.
Agreed. The way the rooms don't always line up in reality, furniture being subtly removed during scenes, and the rest of the inconsistencies might not be noticed on the initial viewing. Not consciously at least. But subconsciously the mind is probably noticing these things, to where you eventually start to get a feeling of uncertainty and unease watching the movie. Which makes it genuinely creepier than other horror movies where everything is obvious and on the surface.
Really enjoyed this, no such thing as “overanalysis” as far as I am concerned. Art is meant to be a meditation to the viewer. I appreciate this kind of work. Let’s never think “well that’s sorted then”, let’s always take off another layer and look at the possibilities. That is the joy of having, and actively engaging, an inquiring mind.
Especially with Kubrick films. The guy was so meticulous that almost nothing in a scene was a coincidence.
The fact that Kubrick utilizes absolutely everything involved with a shot to contribute to his filmmaking/story telling makes his movies feel like a Easter egg hunt.
The Stanleys, who built the hotel, loved kids and had none of their own. In the hotels archives are pictures of the Stanleys with twin girls who stayed at the hotel.
The design of the twins was actually inspired by a photo by Diane Arbus
I don't know if anyone has mentioned the Bartok piece played during the Danny tricycle scenes is a symmetrically composed composition in two sections. known as a mirror structure. just another detail .
I really appreciate your work. I love The Shining and I found this very insightful
"Two girls visited the set. HOW CAN THIS BE?!?"
I think that Kubrick's addition of the twins in the film serve the purpose of being human (ghastly or not) representations of Kubrick's implementation of themes of duplicity, the use of mirrors repeatedly in the film or reflective surfaces, etc. The girls are a flesh-and-blood (again, ghostly or not) emanation, representation, culmination of this theme. The colour of the walls around their apartment being the same shade of blue serves the purpose to always suggest the presence of the girls "forever, and ever" (and create a perhaps subco scious feeling of unease while we watch) - also a mirror reflecting on itself creates infinite images, forever and ever, which reminds me of Jack having "always" been the caretaker, that Grady said that in a room of mirrors, and the b/w photo at the end with Jack.
It’s as if the girls know he would come to the same fate. So by constantly appearing until he chose to turn right in stead of left, it’s like they were preparing him for the same decision that prevented his death at the hands of his father.
The analysis is interesting, but we realize the times the movie was made in. In 1980, we didn't have mass VCRs or TH-cam where people would watch movies over and over to analyze every detail. Like people who went to the The Shining at the theaters came out lamenting the genocide of Native Americans. People wouldn't even be noticing all those little details generally. "Oh gee, why was there Country Time Lemonade in the big pantry? What does that mean?"
These themes weren't meant to be experienced literally by movie goers, or even noticed consciously. Kubrick sprinkled little related details, like repeating numbers, colors and visual themes, throughout the movie because he felt they contributed to the viewers sense of the "uncanny." The intent was to create a mood.
Rob, you wouldn't have had to make this video, had you known, that the scene describing the girls and their ages was filmed prior to the casting of the twins. You would also know, had you done more research on the twin actresses, that, they explained in an interview that the original casting was for two sisters, but not two twins. Yet, their agent submitted a tape of them. Kubrick saw the tape, and didn't care about the continuity from the office dialog, and used them, because he thought twins were more creepy than just two sisters close in age.
- Ugh. I actually Watched until he said the Twins had "Jet-Black Hair". I can go no further.
Rob, I just want to say thank you for your analyses over the years. They are thorough, interesting, and always enlightening. You have a keen eye for Kubrick's use of mise en scene, and the greater ideas he's trying to express. Your videos are always grounded in reality, never sensational, which is rare for the topic of Kubrick ( especially EWS). Not to mention, they have great production quality themselves. Thank you
I thought the twins were based on the photograph by Diane Arbus.
Amazing in depth analysis, appreciate your time in making the movie more interesting than it already is.
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I’ve had a Shining website for over 20 years and most of the expanded Shining Soundtracks floating around are ripped from the one I made decades ago...so I’m pretty knowledgeable of the subject. I’ve read and watched your theories on the Shining for many years and, while I agree with a small amount of it, it’s hysterical how you make up theories (that are ridiculous) then a few moments later, you refer to them as it’s fact.
If even a tenth of these theories were true, it would have taken a decade for Kubrick to have completed the film.
The girls visiting the set was a bit of a stretch
Yea like in Jupiter
He chose twins because of the very famous twins photo by Diane Arbus. The photo was very striking and very influential. Diane Arbus was a respected artist and even Kubrick may have been influenced by the cultural impact of her work. Look up the photo and see. It’s really not that complicated. He wanted the image to be creepy, striking, and loaded, like Arbus’s image.
Yeh looks like your correct. Art imitating art.
It blows by mind how you critically analyzed this movie. I don’t know how you do it. It’s impressive. The only thing I noticed when I first watched the Shining is the “impossible window”. I didn’t study the movie though. I just watched it.
Something else I noticed. We never see anyone else's face in the hotel apart from the characters that interact with Jack, Wendy and Danny.
i never realised before just how symmetrical everything in the room with the elevators are when the blood spills out
When Danny said, "Mom, are you in there?" outside Room 237, he was asking if she was IN THE MIRROR AS HIS TWIN?? What the actual fuck? lol
Thought: Concerning the door nobs of the twin doors, they are gold versus the other single doors that appear to me to be silver..... tied to the gold themes you note in other videos. I enjoy your film analysis work; thanks for all the hard work/research/effort!
"The rest of these doors are single doors"......said the narrator, just as Danny passes another twin door. (5:17)
That's the room he's talking about, Danny stops and walks back to that double door room.
I believe it was Kubrick's intention to make the Overlook come alive sorta like the hedge maize did in the book. He didn't have the tech to pull off the central scary scene from the novel. Therefore, he did it with simple camera tricks in a transformational set. It is this subliminal spacial impossibilities that make the movie so creepy/alien.
Red and blue was an extremely popular color combination at the time, look at catalogues from the year this movie was made. you will see a lot of red and blue.
he uses red and blue and purple too in Eyes wide shut to denote scenes of fantasy, reality and the blurring on the lines. He was a master of lighting
andgalactus1 You could also say that everyone was wearing red and blue at the in the film because of the times. When was this film actually shot and at what date was the wardrobe being selected? Not far from 1976 when America was celebrating its centennial, even though the Shining was filmed in England.
I don't see it that way at all.
Kubrick was making a Statement about an American Horror Story, Just like Salem's lot is, as well as Poltergeist...which is Speilberg's version of the Shining. Ask yourself was Friday the 13th simply a ripoff version of Psycho inverted. A ripoff of Halloween or was it about the Vietnam war, or Jason in later films a metaphor for Reagan coming to get the Hippies.
Was Halloween not About Ronald Reagan? How about the Exorcist, many believe it is a metaphor for Ronald Reagan, even it's filmmakers.
Red and Blue in Star Wars is not just hot and cold, heaven or hell...perhaps Republican and Democratic.
But ask yourself why green for Luke later on. The answer could be found in Egyptology.
Red and blue will always be popular dude. They are opposing forces, fire and water.
Freemasons colors
The Shinning was shot in sequence. That would suggest that the Twin scene was already done by the time the girls visited the set, since this is clearly later in the film when Jack is wearing that outfit
According to Kubrick insiders that worked on the film, those two girls spent about a year there, during the filming of the Shining...
A bit overwrought in places, but I have to say the analysis of the blue/red dichotomy was one I'd never considered before. It seems like more than coincidence that Danny and Wendy's wardrobe shares chromatic similarities to the twins', which in turn informs their symbolic connection to one another.
The axe used by jack to smash the door is exactly the one laying beside the bloodied twins,as if it's being offered to use again.How?
I have to say that i enjoy your analysis of this film and your interpretation of the events. One glaring problem, and this is really more about another video you did. You say that Jack is the one who strangled Danny and that it was nothing supernatural. But, who let Jack out of dry storage? Things *may* be explained as dreams and as being “symbolic of” something to a point until that happens. Once that door gets unlocked by Grady all bets are off it seems. The place is haunted.
I'm a big fan of your videos, keep up the great work 😎👌🏽
Not to be mean but you over analyzing
You’re to mean. This guy goes way too far.
One thing I noticed recently watching was the duplicated/close to duplicated dialogue when Jack is talking to Lloyd his first time in the Gold Room. While almost definitely a coincidence, it could tie into the mirrors/twins/dual identities theme(s) that Rob touches on.
"Two twenties and two tens in my pocket"
"I'll knock 'em back. One by one."
"White man's burden, Lloyd. White man's burden."
"Things could be better. Things could be a whole lot better."
"Words of wisdom, Lloyd. Words of wisdom."
"I didn't lay a hand on him. I didn't."
"I'd do anything for him. Any f*cking thing."
"A few extra foot-pounds of energy, per second, per second."
This is like those 'analyses' of the Bible, and other significant texts, where the analyzer finds evidence of extraterrestrials, prophecies, recipes, ghosts and anything they wanted to find to begin with.
Agreed. Still interesting even if it is reaching a lot.
Except the Bible wasn't created by the master of understatement Stanley Kubrick. So it's apples and oranges.
Been watching you for about 10 years now. Always like your stuff.
"Hmmm the blood usually gets off on the second floor." I always thought the twins meant Gemini
Thanks for all of your posts! You’re channel is great. Makes me pay much more attention to movies!
This reminds me of watching The Wizard of Oz along with Dark Side of the Moon. If there were only one or two coincidences between the music and the scenes, the whole thing could be dismissed without any trouble. But as there are a great many striking coincidences, any person who doesn't know better can easily be persuaded that the parallels are not coincidental but intentional.
I wonder why so many people who know nothing about film criticism decide to (1) watch an in-depth, evidence-based analysis of a complex film by a perfectionistic director, and (2) post meta-criticism (uh, criticism of criticism) denigrating the analysis. "Naw, it's just scary" and "You don't know what you're talking about" are opinions, not counter-arguments and not persuasive. Fine to "just be scared" without looking into psychology, artistry, or the esthetic philosophy of the director--then "just be scared." No anti-intellectualism required. Thank you for sharing this carefully and meticulously research, Rob Ager. You must know full well that many will neither understand nor appreciate what you have done. Takes courage to brave the public. Shakespeare's groundlings probably dismissed The Scottish Play as "just scary" and laughed at those who thought about deeper meanings.
@peppermint23 - I agree! Latest news on actress Shelley Duvall (actress who played Wendy) is currently having mental issues. I think playing "Wendy" in the Kubrick movie is taking a toll on her literally somehow ... after all these years. I heard the master Kubrick did 120 takes just for the "Here's Johnny & knife scene." His daughter Vivian Kubrick must feel guilty somehow how her Dad treated Shelley during filming. Never know ... wonder how Jack Nicholson is today and what he would say on the matter? Love The Shining ! Book & both movies!!!
Analysis-wise, there's a lot of symbology, signs, "layers" of ideas, concepts & interpretations in this movie, it's incredible. We may never know if it all came from King &/or Kubrick, but there definetly was some "force", maybe other-worldy, driving this movie. It's hard to believe it was just a movie from 1980, there's definetly "something" there.
But, that's just a theory... a game theory!
Rob Ager. Thanks for the video. Very informative. I'm learning more and more of Kubrick's subtle yet subliminal tones throughout his films.
Your theories reach so damn hard
“BOO. A ghost motif.” God damn lmao
Incredibly interesting! The way I interpret it, though, is NOT that Danny is seeing into a possible future, but that "it's happening again." That is... There's a strong association here with writing (and by extension, acting). It's almost as if those who come to the hotel fall into a story that goes a certain way. And with the possession and/or reincarnation element... It's like different people playing the same roles. So it's both past and future, because we're talking about cyclical time.
I always thought it was creepy that the end of that hallway (where the twins were murdered) was a dead-end. no room or stairwell. funny how your mind can think sometimes. even the end lightbulb was dead.
If you analyse the two shots of the twins in the games room, you'll notice that pieces of furniture move slightly between the two. So do the twins. They're not standing in the exact same spot between each shot.
They don't have black hair at all, what?
my daughter finally watched this, and at the hallway scene she says "umm dad what the hell am I watching?!" lol great movie
The thumbnail made me feel extremely uncomfortable as if their eyes where really watching me
Uh, you're wrong. Kubrick himself admitted that he did a casting call for a pair of irl sisters: the twins, experienced actresses, convinced their mother to take them to the casting because they were sisters. Once Kubrick saw them, he was floored and went batsh&&crazy on the notion of incorporating twins instead of just sisters.
I am reminded of Alice and her reflection from "Through the looking Glass". That would also explain the old fashioned style of the dresses. The counter clockwise path of Danny's trike is symbolic of time going back
And Alice is used a lot for pedophiles... look up Alice day... the only reason I bring this up because of the scene with the bear which I believe represents a boy with a man... sick...
Good Catch
Ager suggested that it was as if the hotel were alive. I read the book many years ago. I recall that the author wrote about the hotel as if it were alive and it wanted Danny because he had "The Shinning" and the hotel wanted this power for itself. The many victims of murder acted as minions of the hotel and they tried to get at Danny by using his father to do it.
In the book, the hotel wants Danny. In the movie, the hotel seems to mostly want Jack. In the book, Jack burns. In the movie, Jack freezes. In the book, the hotel ultimately loses. In the movie, the hotel wins. Two very different stories.
The book was more straightforward. Danny had a very powerful psychic ability (Danny almost knocks Halloran unconscious while projecting his "shine" at the guy). The haunted hotel is a big psychic battery accumulated from all the spirits it has absorbed over the years. If it gets Danny, its psychic powers will grow exponentially, so it tries to get Jack to kill Danny for this reason.
But the movie is less about Danny's shine, and more about recurring cycles of violence and death, as well as twins and reflections. The book has a beginning and an end. The story in the movie seems like it's always there, always the same. "Forever and ever and ever."
What a load of bollox! you ruin any valid points you have by over analysing everything else.
Why is everybody shitposting on the comments, Rob Ager is an excelent analyzer, that creates 1 hour videos for the sake of sharing a good point and argument and not for views, if you want a mediocre analysis, then look for any magazine that they are flooded on those, but don't ask Ager to be that way.
Even if I were to agree that you weren't over analyzing, I'm still not sure of what your point is. Someone needs to make a video analysis of this video analysis to let people know what you're getting at. Thanks for pointing out that there there are blue dresses and mirrors and exit signs. And flowered wallpaper. And also, the twins definitely do not have jet black hair. And furthermore, in one sentence in this comment I used the word "there" twice in a row and there were not 1, but 2 spaces between them.
I'm still trying to figure out how actors get cast in films that are in the middle of shooting without their knowledge?
It’s quite a compliment to
Mr. Kubrick that someone can break down scenes of his movies, like breaking down a math problem.
Very Cool
The Shining and The Exorcist are my favorite all time horror films.
Steve Johnson same
Steve Johnson But excorcist is actually scary. This more of a mystery film...didnt scare me at all
The Exorcist is very dated and the Catholicism in it is not as potent to people in a world where organised religion is becoming more rejected
Steve Johnson same here. The exorcist genuinely frightened me when I first saw it at 16 but the shining didn’t though it remains my favourite horror film. Absolute classic
Leo Sim that movies ass compared to these masterpieces
I saw a documentary with the assistant director of The Shining (among others), and they said Kubrick's inspiration for the twins was the infamous Diane Arbus photo of haunted-looking twin sisters approximately aged 8. (Google "Diane Arbus twin photo" to see).
watching this video noticed in the scene where Danny's in the games room 8:26 and sees the "twins" the chairs seem to be in one position then back and forth if skip to 10:50 and skip back to 8:26 kinda spooked me
I LOVE THESE VIDEOS!!!!!!
@trashiel lamp - I did not know that! I will have to watch and check it out. The chair that moves? Indicative of ghosts.... poltergeists? Does it move next to the Grady ghost girls? Thanks. Shine on! :)
you know i never get tired of hearing these analysis videos interesting opinions
Rob, you do such a great, patient, detailed job. Bravo, sir.
Thank you for doing this, I love videos like this!
No he was definitely holding the door handle not his reflections hand....
Hodor.