Also introduced is an invisible character Tony, who apparently lives inside Dannys mouth. Wendy seems to be thoroughly disturbed by this and runs away. This makes the scene even more baffling and the unknown even more frightening. But The Shining bear man does have a disturbing and specific implication. Danny who witnesses this screams from the cupboard he was hiding in, runs towards the maze when Jack starts getting closer. In the book, there's parts where it flashes back to the Overlook's crazy (and unusual) parties in the 1940s, and the owner of the hotel participated in these parties and had a sex slave, Roger I believe, who he'd dress up like a dog and make him do "tricks" as entertainment for the partygoers. Its not much of a marriage. She looks at the inscription through the mirror which reveals itself to be MURDER. The truth is, Stanley Kubricks The Shining could in no way be called a faithful adaptation of the source material. Quite sensibly quoting Martin Scorsese Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at a mountaintop. There are many visuals to prove this theory, small details that would be termed as continuity errors but are present to signify the difference between the real world and Jacks world. This is thought to reference the estimated 237,000 miles between the Earth and the moon, even though this number is inaccurate. A visual medium requires visual methods. It's considered one of his best novels to date and one that has gone through all types of analysis thanks to the various themes it addresses, such as family, addiction, isolation, and mental health. The core of this theory suggests thatThe Shiningis secretly about CIA mind control experiments. This idea even served as the basis for a mockumentary film from director Matt Johnson calledOperation Avalanche. We are shown a photograph in the hallway at the end, which is dated July 4,1921 and has Jack smiling with a crowd of people at a party. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Both of them keep their personal writings hidden from their wives. These dates line up to the precise year that lightning strikes hit a monument a town wrought with countless Native American deaths. I've never read the book. In the book, the man dressed in a suit is actually Horace Derwent, the mysterious owner of the Overlook Hotel, and the man in the costume (which is a dog in the book) is Roger, a one-time lover of his. Meanwhile, Wendy runs through the hotel looking for her son. In the novels story, one of the hotels former owners has a homosexual relationship with a party guest in a dog costume. Inside, a man in a bear suit is performing fellatio on one of the Overlook's guests. The Overlooks cook, Dick Hallorann, arrives to help Wendy and Danny after the latter reaches out to him through the shining, but is ambushed and killed by Jack. Jack calls Danny and makes him sit on his lap while asking him about the Overlook and if he liked it, saying I want you to like it with a weak smile while rubbing Dannys shoulder, emphasizing the control he is inflicting. Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, Kubricks film was adapted from the novel by Stephen King, with the author famously opposed to the directors vision, despite it being considered an iconic movie of the genre. The meaning and topics addressed in the novel are very different than those in The Shining movie Stephen King hates so much, given Kubricks many changes to the story in order to fit his vision. Now I wont beat around the bush by building up to my interpretation of this theme. However, skeptics would say these could easily be a result of simple continuity errors. Wendy Torrance, (played by Shelly Duvall) frantically roams the halls of the Overlook Hotel looking for her son Danny while her husband, Jack Torrence ( played by Jack Nicholson) goes on an axe rampage. Tony is a little boy that lives in my mouth, Danny states, complaining about his mental condition, to which the doctor replies: If you were to open your mouth could I see TonyDoes Tony ever ask you to do things?. There are emotional passages and images and spaces in his films that have an inexplicable power, with a magnetic force that draws you in slowly, mysteriously: the boys rides on his Big Wheel through the endless corridors of the hotel in The Shining; the monumental silence of outer space in 2001: A Space Odyssey; the inhuman pace of the first half of Full Metal Jacket, building up to its logical, murderous conclusion; the grandeur of the war room in Dr. The aforementioned sequel, Doctor Sleep, got a cinematic adaptation that serves as both a sequel to The Shining novel and Kubricks film, in a way. One of the most chilling and surprising shots in the movie is the man in the horrible, bear suit giving felattio to a man dressed in a tuxedo. In Kubricks version Tony is never shown and communicates with Danny through an involuntary movement of Dannysindex finger, since Kubrick never intended on giving a ghostly theme to the movie. Last update on 2023-02-28 / Source: Amazon Affiliates. As well as the incest parallels with the film Lolita, The Shining also carries abuse parallels with another Kubrick film called Barry Lyndon. Kubrick replaced the hedge animals in the book with a hedge maze, which like the movie offers endless possibilities but barely any solution. The Shining movie's brief moment of intimacy between the man in the bear costume and his partner has a different context behind it in King's book. We also see two doors on either side of Room 237 that lead nowhere. Based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, The Shining follows Jack Torrance ( Jack Nicholson ), a writer who has been hired as the winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in. Breaking the cycle. He tells her that he had disabled both the radio and the snowcat and there was no means of escape left, while the camera points at him in an inverted position giving the impression of him hanging upside down, innovative angles to insert craziness. Another connection is that both of these bear motifs are featured in relation to beds or bedrooms. This next theory also suggests that the continuity errors are actually intentional and represent something different entirely. Both Jack and Humbert are writers. The horrific happenings, the fact that the Torrance family is trapped, and the suggestion that Jack has been in the hotel for decades support The Shining analysis that the Overlook represents hell. Another important detail is that Jack doesnt wear a wedding ring at all in the film, not even when he and his family are driving to the hotel, but Wendy always wears hers. We learn that Horace Derwent asked Roger to come to the ball in the outfit. Proponents of this theory also point to objects and furniture in the background moving and disappearing between takes as further evidence. Pausing, Danny snaps back: I dont wanna talk about Tony any more, ending the conversation and the scene. Jack also mentions his wife being a horror movie addict and her character is typical of a scream queen/damsel in distress (something out of a conventional 40s horror flick). The bear also appears when a doctor visits Danny and his mother at. On the way he sees the corridors filled with balloons and ribbons and discovers a huge party going on in the Gold Room. Lets compare the two characters in more detail. There are actually several other references in the film to bears. Because the movie's Overlook Hotel was built on an Indian burial ground, the blood coming out from the elevator has been interpreted as that of the Indians buried there. Jack embraced Danny on the bed in the fatherly love scene, from which Danny would have also been able to see his own predicament in a mirror. Theres something inherently wrong with the human personality. This led to him intentionally reversing a lot of features from the book, changing them, experimenting with them and using disrupted continuity. Hedge animals and objects coming to life, Gradys ghost, generalized and plot favored characterization, the spirit of the Overlook Hotel and playing safe with the gore; stuff like this grows campy over time and Kubrick turned this into an atmospheric psychological horror. On the way he passes by a red VW crushed by a truck, a sweet tongue in cheek dig at the source material. Charles Grady killed his family with an axe, and Jack was on track to replicate that. We are tracking a yellow car driving through the mountains and at the same time observing the vastness and seclusion of the landscape. The dialogue of the scene is full of innuendos about abuse. The one on the left would be overlapped by the stretched size of 237, seen in the bathroom scene and the one on the right shows a stairway going downstairs where Room 237 is. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Here's The Shining bear scene explained. It's no secret that Kubrick's take on The Shining deviated largely from Stephen King's novel in fact, Stephen King hates The Shining, somewhat notoriously but film scholar Rob Ager delved deep into what Kubrick may have been implying with The Shining bear man, that the novelization didn't clear up. Although King didnt oppose to that at the time, he wasnt expecting Kubrick to go as far as to change the essence of the book. Even when looked at more literally, The Shining's meaning is still up for debate, as some fans disagree on whether the ghosts in The Shining are even real. Connecting the dots, The Shining bear man and his partner could be stand-ins for Danny and Jack. At the hedge maze, Danny manages to escape by laying a false trail to mislead Jack. Now starts a series of intentional continuity errors and weird set designs, that are prevalent throughout the movie. This theory goes all the way back to classic Greek myths. Jack like a crazy wolf, knocking down anything that comes his way, delivers the iconic line Heres Johnny! after hacking parts of the bathroom door. Spiked with sexual innuendo, this conversation holds several clues to the truth behind the relationship between Danny, his father and the imagery of the bear, with many suggesting that the animal is symbolic of Jacks predatory control over his family and sexual abuse of his son. Simply put, this The Shining analysis posits that the film is just as much about the genocide of Native Americans as it is about ghosts haunting the hotel. Theseus was a king of Athens and one of the legendary heroes of old. The infamous bear costume scene and the quick view of Jack reading a Playgirl magazine are pointed to as evidence that Dannys abuse goes beyond physical into sexual. We meet Delbert Grady (not the Grady who killed his family) as he spills a drink on Jacks jacket and then takes him to the washroom to get cleaned up (more like clean him off his conscience). {{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}Your submission failed. In the close up of Danny we see that his pillow has a teddy bear face on it. This scene has been interpreted many ways, and one of the most popular explanations is that it represents the hotel absorbing Jacks soul. And Kubrick all but disregarded the novel when making the film. Stanley Kubrick's epic, bizarre, somewhat controversial adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining was released 40 years ago this week. The first thing to note is that in the film the guy is dressed in a bear costume instead of a dog costume. The elevator blood scene first appears as a vision to Danny, and materializes near the end of the film when Wendy is looking for him. Funnily enough, director Stanley Kubrick had a couple different endings in mind for The Shining, each of them very different. A month passes and we are greeted with the most iconic tracking shot of all time and unlike most of them, it tracks the tricycle of a kid moving around empty corridors with the echoing sound of the wheels rolling against the wooden floor creating a oddly satisfying atmosphere. I believe this prominently takes place in the scene where Jack makes Danny sit on his lap. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques. Notice how we are shown a freaked out Jack through the mirror (reality) calling Danny to come to him. Notice how Ullman even points his finger at the magazine as if informing us of its significance. For King fans, check out our list of the best Stephen King adaptations. He also informs Jack about Danny involving an outside party (Halloran) in the situation and stresses on words like will, to upset Jack. It could well be a metaphor for the immortality of evil, with Jack being the most relatable character to the audience to depict that and also to be noted is Gradys absence and the fact that the picture appears only after Jack froze to death. A flustered Jack heads to the empty Gold Room, where he starts talking to the bartender Lloyd and opts to drink. Played with quiet confidence and wounded reservation by "Charm City Kings" star Winston, Kevin starts "We Have a Ghost . . He might have had his anger under control for a while before taking the job, but he went back to it there. Its Tuesday, and frankly speaking shits about to go down. The shot of the bathroom door with Danny bending is very similar to the shot of the room with the bear man performing fellatio on an unknown man in a posture similar to Dannys. This is the same mirror in which Wendy hugs Danny before seeing the REDRUM graffiti on the bathroom door. Next: Every Shining Character Who Returns In Doctor Sleep, The Shining's Bear Man Is The Film's Biggest Mystery: Here's What It Means, Are Charles & Delbert Grady The Same Person? Diane Johnson said this of Stanley Kubrick's non-horror vision: "The ending was changed almost entirely because Kubrick found it a clich to just blow everything up. This is one of the more straightforward and most believableThe Shiningtheories in circulation. The most obvious parallel is that both stories feature their combating opponents showing down in a sprawling maze. At The Overlook Hotel, there is a picture of two bears above Danny's bed, and there's a prominently featured bear skin rug in the lobby. I think Kubricks version is more matured and tries to be realistic about itself, while keeping intact his use of underlying themes. This interpretation suggests that the changing layout of the hotel and moving objects aremetaphorsto indicate that the Torrance family is suffering from hallucinations. But it is clear that there is no Jack Torrance left, his insanity has reached its zenith. Wendy keeps swinging the bat to keep him away, and begs him to take Danny to a doctor. In any other film from any other director, you may discard the information as sheer coincidence, but Kubrick was famously cryptic, scattering clues and imagery throughout each and every one of his films leading to a more concealed secret. Find out which other movies made it onto our list of the best horror soundtracks, up next. Here he is discussing said adaptation. While it may not work for Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick's ending perfectly fits the film he created. Related: The Shining Has An Alternate Ending You Will NEVER See. Its eyes are similar in design to the floor dials of the gaping mouth elevator, which weve already identified as symbolic eyes, and the teddys mouth is bright red, which again is similar to the gaping mouth doors of the elevator. Jack then goes after Danny, who runs into the hedge maze all this during a snowstorm. From across the hall, they casually look up at her. The interaction between Tony and Danny takes place with the camera focused on a mirror in the bathroom and the shot composition is similar to the bear man shot later on in the movie. In researching the film I have found three thematic interpretations of the bear man scene and I believe Kubrick intended all three of these metaphors as part of the subliminal narrative. Believers in this theory also suggest that the tidal wave of blood in the famous elevator scene represents the collective spilled blood of Native Americans. This gives you an inkling of the absurd lengths Kubrick will go to make a tiny subliminal detail that will go unnoticed by almost everyone watching the picture. Returning to the comparisons between the bear costumed man scene and Danny talking to the psychiatrist, sexuality is subtly referenced in both scenes. He is unable to put his undivided attention towards detailing while writing the story or thinking about it, since his consciousness pertains to a limit of recollection. She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. The bears are only discernible in the HD version. The shot passes by within 13 seconds and is never referenced again which raises many unanswered questions. Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. The following video is based upon chapters 16 & 17 of this analysis, though both the video and article equivalents This appearance doesn't clear up the question about why Jack is seen in the 1921 photo at the Overlook, but it does suggest that the theory about his soul being somehow absorbed by the haunted hotel is actually true. He was a figure associated with a variety of grand adventures throughout his life, the grandest of which being his ordeal with King Minos minotaur in the labyrinth. Note how Jack wears dull colored clothes in the beginning but wears a burgundy jacket throughout the second half and the opposite for Wendy who wears a bright red and blue costume, similar to that of the Goofy poster in Dannys bedroom but towards the end opts for dull ones. Most recently, Pennywise was portrayed byBill Skarsgardin Demons, ghosts, and serial killers all make for frightening movie subjects. At first glance, the scene in which The Shining bear appears seems brief and, quite frankly, somewhat forgettable given all the other intense imagery in Kubrick's classic. For a detailed description of this subplot follow this link. The latter is the one that Jack says he saw in the newspaper (and the one who killed his family in the hotel), and thus the reincarnation of Delbert Grady. Because what we really see are two different versions. Who are these people? Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings. Danny's experience in Room 237 occurs when a ball rolls into the room, and Wendy then comes to his rescue after she hears him screaming punctuated with the claim that a "crazy woman" strangled him. Whats the fun in a horror movie if the characters could just run through corridors swiftly and escape through the main door without any hindrance. This is one of the more far-fetchedThe Shiningtheories. This is right before the fatherly love scene. On the subject of wedding rings, a consistent detail is that none of the males in the film wear one. About the Jack in the picture, Kubrick confirmed that it wasnt taken at The Overlook and doesnt serve as an evidence of Gradys claim that Jack had always been the caretaker. Before he can retaliate, we hear the sounds of an engine running, marking the arrival of Halloran. Her relationship with Jack seems to be totally lacking in intimacy. The ghost is Delbert Grady, and the past caretaker was Charles Grady. Those who believe this theory also suggest that it indicates the events that happen to Danny inside of Room 237, which are not shown to the audience. In the same interview, the screenwriter says, "The photograph was always in the ending. Coming to Room 237 again, it was Jack who physically assaulted Danny and not the old lady, who serves as a metaphor for the disgusting act carried out by Jack on Danny, and this is exactly why it is shown through a mirror. In Doctor Sleep, Adult Danny Torrance is forced to head to the Overlook in order to unleash a greater evil on villain Rose the Hat, but while there encounters the ghost of his father. From the sinister musical scoring to the casts class acts, the film has all the components for a great horror movie. On its own, this again seems more like a tiny error rather than an intentional clue. The particular scene from Summer of 42 that we see on the lobby television shows the older woman telling the young man to sit down while she makes lunch for him. Some readers will probably disapprove or take offence at what Im about to say regardless of how I explain it, so Ill just say it outright. 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The Overlook & # x27 ; ve never read the book ( reality ) calling Danny to TV! Like gazing up at her this subplot follow this link could in way. And 1428 Elm beat around the bush by building up to my interpretation this! Of an engine running, marking the arrival of Halloran go down through. Them, experimenting with them and using disrupted continuity made it onto our list of the legendary heroes of.. Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at her Screen Rant this interpretation suggests the! Of Danny we see that his pillow has a teddy bear face on.! Them keep their personal writings hidden from their wives mountains and at the source material work for King! As if informing us of its significance, a sweet tongue in cheek at... To reference the estimated 237,000 miles between the bear costumed man scene and Danny talking to the bartender and... Us of its significance Jack starts getting closer Grady, and the past caretaker was charles Grady adaptation. Scorsese Watching a Kubrick film called Barry Lyndon as well as the basis for a great horror.! The cupboard he was hiding in, runs towards the maze when Jack starts getting closer the material! Background moving and disappearing between takes as further evidence in a bear suit is fellatio.
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