New The SHiNiNG interpretation

[minute bull]

I'm not sure how true this is, but I believe I read somewhere tons and tons of doors were depicted in the hallways, like an impossible amount which given the spacing couldn't lead to realistic rooms, to add to the labyrinthine subtext of being trapped. Subconsciously the audience feels just as claustrophobic as the tenants.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

I'm not sure how true this is, but I believe I read somewhere tons and tons of doors were depicted in the hallways, like an impossible amount which given the spacing couldn't lead to realistic rooms, to add to the labyrinthine subtext of being trapped. Subconsciously the audience feels just as claustrophobic as the tenants.

It's absolutely true. It's something I don't think I personally would have ever picked up on but once you see it there is no denying the layout of the Overlook is impossible.

 

[Lamentation]

The Shining is about whatever you want.

it can mean whatever you want it to mean TO YOU

but it cannot mean whatever you want it to, to like the people living in reality

 

[Peteyandjia]

It's about 9/11

 

[xenomorph4prez]

It's about 9/11

Kubrick with them Nostradamus skills.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

Here are some thoughts regarding Dick Hallorann being the Virgil to Danny Torrance's Dante in The SHiNiNG.

I believe that Hallorann can be viewed as an analog for Virgil because he acts as a guide and protector to Danny in the Overlook as Virgil did to Dante in the Inferno.

The fact that Danny and Hallorann can communicate via shining links them in a way that is reminiscent of Dante and Virgil. When Hallorann sits at the table with Danny after he gives the tour of the kitchen to the Torrance family he explains to Danny what shining is and tells him that bad things have happened in the Hotel and that he may see some frightening things but they can't hurt him because they are like pictures in a book(that may only be in the novel, I'm not sure). Danny also asks Hallorann about ROOM 237 and Hallorahn warns him not to go in there even though he can't be harmed.

The analog of this in Dante's Inferno could be Dante is granted passage through limbo and the 9 circles of Inferno because his journey is on Divine grounds. Virgil makes sure he is safe from the denizens of hell and ensures his passage into the Circles of Inferno even though he is often met with resistance the guardians of Hell have no choice but to let him pass unharmed.

Also the warning Hollarann gives to Danny about ROOM 237 and the fact that Danny goes into the room any way loosely mirrors the warning at the Entrance of Inferno that we know Dante and Virgil didn't take heed of.

"All ye who enter here abandon all hope"

This warning did not apply to Dante as he was there with Virgil and his business there was on Divine Grounds which means he had Gods permission to be there.

The warning about Room 237 did not apply to Danny because he has the shining ability.

If the Overlook is seen as an analog of Inferno one would think the employees and guests are in Hell. If Hallorann is employed at the Overlook wouldn't that mean he is in Inferno?

Not exactly if we interpret him as an analog for Virgil because Virgil is actually dead in Dante's Inferno. He is an inhabitant of Limbo.

Limbo shares many characteristics with the Asphodel Meadows; thus the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace")[6] they lacked the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. Limbo includes green fields and a castle with seven gates to represent the seven virtues. The castle is the dwelling place of the wisest men of antiquity, including Virgil himself, as well as the Persian polymath Avicenna. In the castle Dante meets the poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan; the Amazon queen Penthesilea; the mathematician Euclid; the scientist Pedanius Dioscorides; the statesman Cicero; the first doctor Hippocrates; the philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Averroes; the historical figures Lucretia, Lucius Junius Brutus, and Julius Caesar in his role as Roman general ("in his armor, falcon-eyed");[7] mythological characters Hector, Electra, Camilla, Latinus, and Orpheus; and many others. Interestingly, he also sees Saladin in Limbo (Canto IV). Dante implies that all virtuous non-Christians find themselves here, although he later encounters two (Cato of Utica and Statius) in Purgatory and two (Trajan and Ripheus) in Heaven.

This image has been used often as a clue that The SHiNiNG has a secondary narrative concerning the Genocide of Native Americans which I believe it does. Can we also use this image to support Hallorann being an analog for Virgil?

Here we have Hallorann in a side profile matching the Chief circled on the calumet can. Calumet means peace pipe and if we assume as many have that the calumet can is a clue to a secondary function of Hallorann's character him being a stand in for Virgil makes perfect sense providing we follow the rules of who inhabits Limbo.

In Limbo reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ.

I think a Peace Pipe smoking Chief would make the cut for Limbo, and I don't mean anything derogatory by the quote above. I would be more than happy to qualify for Limbo.

Limbo doesn't look so bad, actually it looks comfy as hell (Inferno)

and if this is not the look of a soul being activated from a well earned eternal slumber then I don't know what is.

Even though Hallorann is not physically in the Overlook with Danny he is psychically connected with Danny through the shining ability they share. When Danny needs Hallorann he calls and Hallorann makes the journey from Florida (Limbo) to the Overlook (Inferno) and makes his way through snow in a bobcat. Wendy and Danny use this bobcat to escape the Overlook (Inferno) so Hallorann pretty much provided Danny's safe passage out of Inferno the same way Virgil did for Dante.

So why did Kubrick kill off Hallorann in the movie while in the novel he escapes the Hotel with Danny and Wendy? If Hallorann is viewed as an analog for Virgil then he is a spirit himself that resides in Limbo so his purpose was to distract Jack from his assault of Wendy during the "Here's Johnny" scene and provide them a way out with the bobcat he brings. He is dead like the other spirits of the Hotel so an axe in the chest is nothing and he couldn't leave the Hotel (Limbo the first circle of Hell) anyway. He probably woke back up in Florida (limbo) after he got the axe. Through the actions Hallorann takes he fulfills his role of Danny's guardian during his trip through hell.

I feel like this line from Dante's departure from Hell fits equally well with Danny and Wendy's departure of the Overlook in the bobcat through the tunnel of snow.

“To get back up to the shining world from there
My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel,

And Following its path, we took no care
To rest, but climbed: he first, then I-so far,
through a round aperture I saw appear

Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears,
Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”

― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

 

[xenomorph4prez]

it can mean whatever you want it to mean TO YOU

but it cannot mean whatever you want it to, to like the people living in reality

Dude, open your mind:icon_chee

 

[xenomorph4prez]

This is for my boy Lamentation, I'm not sure what the ban was for but I'm sure it was just.

 

[Joe]

you sound like those guys that spent way too much time on true detective and looked at everything that ultimately meant nothing. you probably were one of them?

 

[xenomorph4prez]

you sound like those guys that spent way too much time on true detective and looked at everything that ultimately meant nothing. you probably were one of them?

I was the nuttiest one on there. :icon_lol:

 

[xenomorph4prez]

Whether you buy into the Dante's Inferno interpretation of The SHiNiNG or not I think it's kind of neat that practically every question asked about the differences between book and film was answered inside of the theory.

I'm not saying the theory is airtight but as far as applying it to the differences between book and film it works in a way I'm pleased with.

 

[Schoolboy Q]

That was a good read TS, thanks!

 

[xenomorph4prez]

That was a good read TS, thanks!

Thanks for reading.

 

[johnny5isalive]

What about the theory that everything is explained psychologically? That the true horror was that Jack was sexually abusing Danny.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

What about the theory that everything is explained psychologically? That the true horror was that Jack was sexually abusing Danny.

I think that is definitely a possibility. The Dante's Inferno and even Native American Genocide theories are kind of like background noise if that makes sense. Overall I don't think they effect the viewing of the film at all but if you listen and look for it you can see it. I think The SHiNiNG lends itself to so many interpretations because even though it is a pretty straightforward haunted house flick there is also something ambiguous about it that makes you want to believe there is something going on that you may not be aware of.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

For the record I am more into the story-telling techniques Kubrick uses in The SHiNiNG and find the conspiracy theories involving Nasa to be interesting but far fetched.

This is what I think about the appearance of Apollo 11 on Danny's sweater.

The twins in the movie represent victims. They were murdered by Grady their father but they are also symbolic of the danger Danny is in.

The faked moon landing theory comes from the Apollo 11 sweater and the fact that the twins are seen holding hands like the Gemini Constellation, Gemini was also a NASA mission.

Gemini constellation

twins from the SHiNiNG

Everyone has noticed that The SHiNiNG uses mirrors a lot but some mirrors aren't literal but symbolic.

Here we go.

The twins are victims and Danny is in danger of being a victim himself. His ability to shine relates this to him with the "spirits" of the axe murdered twins.

The twins are a mirror image of Danny because they are Gemini and Danny is wearing an Apollo 11 shirt. Apollo was the son of Zeus and also had a twin sister, Artemis. So we have a pair of Gemini twins and Danny wearing a shirt referencing another pair of twins. In mythology one of the Gemini twins was fathered by Zeus which is a reference to both pairs of twins.

Now this is where things get interesting

The astrological symbol for Gemini

which to me looks an awful lot like the blood spewing elevator.

If that's the case the elevator spewing blood is another way of Danny's shining ability giving him a vision to warn him about impending danger.

That all adds up to a very clever way of telling a story and not so much of a faked moon landing, but that's just like my opinion man.

And a way to simplify that info would be noticing that Jack(murderer) is the only one who see's Grady (murderer) and Wendy and Danny (potential victims) are the only ones to see the Gemini twins (victims)

I just noticed something kind of minor about the above symbolism that I think is kind of interesting.

At first I was a little reluctant to say that the elevator resembles the Gemini symbol due to the missing bar at the bottom of the elevator. While looking at the elevator picture above I noticed the elevators reflection in the shiny floor. If we could see more of the floor in the foreground the reflection of the elevator face would complete the Gemini symbol as the top bar across the top would appear to be the bottom bar in the reflective surface of the floor.

Is this a coincidence or something that Kubrick thought out? Mirrors are rampant in the Overlook and what is a reflection but a kind of mirror.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

I just read this in which Kubrick discusses the openness of interpretation of 2001 A Space Odyssey. To anyone that thinks there are not hidden symbolism and multiple narratives in his films this may change your opinion as it is from the man himself.

Kubrick encouraged people to explore their own interpretations of the film, and refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories. In a 1968 interview with Playboy, Kubrick stated:


You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film

 

[xenomorph4prez]

A poster on another forum where I am also posting some of this stuff provided a picture in response to the Elevator's design being reflected in the floor acting as a mirror that completes the Gemini symbol.

I think this is proof of the layers of symbolism Kubrick hid in The SHiNiNG.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

So today I went to the Baltimore Discovery Science center and saw a word that I knew I had seen before. I was looking at an exhibit in which you look at the terrain of Mars using 3-D glasses. The word Phlegethon was used to name a catenae (a connected or chained series of mountainous formations) on Mars.

Phlegethon is also the name of the River of Blood that flows in the 7th circle of the Inferno. So that is something else that is connected to the twins, Dante's Inferno, and NASA.

The picture of the Gemini constellation I posted earlier has Mars ( the home of the Phlegethon catenae) framed between the Gemini twins. This could be nothing but I thought it was interesting.

Another fun fact is that Mars in mythology fathered a set of twins, Romulus and Remus so there is another twin connection.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

I've been thinking about the previous post and the picture of the Gemini constellation and the fact that Mars is between the twins is interesting. In mythology Mars is the God of War and on the planet Mars there is a chain of Mountains called Phlegethon which is the same name as the River of Boiling Blood found in the 7th Circle of the Inferno.

These things together made me think of this image.

This scene looks pretty tame considering it's the scene of a grizzly axe murder.

I think that's because Kubrick may have not wanted the actual axe murder to distract from what we are actually seeing. I think maybe the real horror of the scene isn't the gore but the fact that the Gemini twins are separated. Other than the blood splatter the twins are still whole, no limbs removed or visible asymmetry. They are still Identical but now are separated.

And in the fore ground we have the axe the murderer used to separate the Gemini twins.

I was thinking in the novel Jack uses a croquet mallet to terrorize his family so why did Kubrick change Jack's weapon to an axe?

The obvious reasons could be an axe is scarier or he didn't include the plot from the book that included the croquet mallet so it made more since to use an axe.

If you read the book you know it was much more violent than the film and most of that violence can be attributed to Jack's croquet mallet. He nearly beats Wendy and Hallorann to death with it. When you replace the mallet with the axe the scenario changes because if Jack hits Wendy with an axe it's game over as it was with Hallorann.

So why would Kubrick change the mallet to an axe and miss out on some more visceral scenes of violence which he never has shied away from before.

If we examine the functionality of the two weapons we get a possible reason for the change. A mallet in essence is a hammer, a blunt tool or weapon. An axe is used to split or divide which is exactly what it did to the Gemini twins.

Could the axe used to split the Gemini twins be symbolic of war and of the horrible things humans do to each other that keep us apart and hold us back from realizing are true potential as a unified species? The fact that the girls are twins could symbolize that we are all one but choose to harm each other over perceived differences and want of natural resources.

The Native American Genocide theory goes hand in hand with this thought.

It's interesting to note that while the Gemini Constellation will be holding hands forever that Mars (War) will always be between them.