So I Just Watched Room 237

Hey Giant Bomb. I consider myself quite the movie buff, and when I heard Patrick mention the documentary "Room 237" in a recent Bombcast I was extremely interested. Stanly Kubrick is without a doubt one of the most (if not the most) incredible filmmakers of all time. As a Kubrick fan, I myself have had very deep analysis' of some of his films, particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Now if you didn't catch the mention in the Bombcast, "Room 237" is a film about various interpretations of the film "The Shining". If you have not seen "The Shining"... What the hell are you doing with your life? No but seriously "Room 237" blew my mind. I had my own interpretations of the messages in the film but man... these people go crazy in depth with their analyses of the film. It's actually incredibly fascinating. Some people actually found all of the continuity issues with the film and contextualize them within their theories of the film. Others actually mapped out the hotel.

Now while yes, it's practically impossible to know Kubricks true intentions with the film, I think there is quite a lot of validity to some of these peoples analysis of the film. As I said Before, I have had my own interpretations of the film and "Room 237" solidifies a lot of my opinions. First and foremost there is absolutely a subtext of racism in the film. That is without a doubt. Also, Kubrick was a "Freudian" so there is a lot of subtext of family relation and the construct of human civility.

You know what... I'm going to stop there. Who cares what I say about a 33 year old movie? If you have any interest in films with so much complexity that it will blow your mind. Watch Kubrick, Lynch, Kurosawa, Nolan. (The list goes on and on)

The reason I wanted to write this is because... well, from the way I remember it... Patrick kind of undersold the documentary by saying something like "It's just as much about over analysis as it is critical analysis". While I do think some of the opinions of people in the film are a little outrageous (Kubrick filming the moon landing), I also think there is a lot of truth to their depictions of the film that really resonated with my own experience with the film "The Shining".

The reason I love this whole idea is because we all know Kubrick was such a nut for detail, but none of us know exactly how far that went, so it's interesting to see people read into stuff they have no idea is intentional or not.

Umm, I assume you mean Kurosawa and Nolan?

A better title for this thread would have been "Room 237: or How I learned to love the Shining."

But to contribute to this thread a little more, but not that much more, I never really cared for the Shining. But I am never one for horror movies, perhaps because I analyze everything about the story, so horror by tension isn't very scary. But I am always up for a good jump scare once in a while.

@probablytuna: Uh yeah... Sorry... I'm dumb.

WHAT'S WITH THE ACCELERATED TIME FRAME! WHAT DID GRADY MEAN WHEN HE SAID THAT JACK NICHOLSON WAS ALWAYS THE CARETAKER! HOW THE FUCK IS JACK NICHOLSON IN THAT PICTURE FROM 1921! WHY DOES JACK NICHOLSON'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN THE SHINING REMIND ME OF MY FATHER!? SCATMAN CROTHERS!!!!!!!!!!

Ryan was the one really taking a dump over Room 237, which is a shame, because different takes on any creative work are always interesting. Even if they are sometimes a little...out there.

Yeah, I did too! I went through Ebert's blog after I heard the tragic news and read his reveiw of it. It's a fascinating little documentary - I've always known about these crazy fan theories regarding the Shining, but it was really entertaining to see them all bunched together this way and given full space with no refutals.

I'm usually not a fan of post-modern anything, but I've always had a soft spot for people who stubbornly see things in a radically different way - they are almost always wrong, of course, but I can't help wanting to get inside their heads and understand why they think like they do.

That's pretty much what "Room 237" is: people like that explaining what they think and giving, perhaps more than they are aware. quite a few hints towards why they do. Of course they are still wrong (as far as regarding Author Intent, at least): the Shining isn't about the killings of native Americans or the Holocaust and it abso-fucking-lutely is not Kubrick apologizing for faking the moon landings. But it's great fun to see how the people who believe it is trying to prove it actually is.

The Shining is an entertaining movie.

I stopped watching it after about 20 minutes. I've always hated bullshit hubristic analysis and this film had an unhealthy amount of that. I find it almost sickening how people make random shit somehow relate to their own lives or their own personal interests.

I don't know guys... even before I saw room 237 I also thought the film was about the white mans slaughtering of native americans. Not just because of the peace pipe can behind Dicks head. I took a film appreciation class, The Shining was one of the movies we had to watch. My teacher really encouraged us to dig deeper into the film.

There are a lot of themes of duality in the film. The mirror motif is extremely promonet. I always thought the movie was about the past and present, young and old, reality and fantasy. Its open to interpretation. Who is Jack and Grady? Are they the same person in an infinite loop of time? What was really going on with the hotel? Was it haunted? Was it all an illusion? Was it cursed by the indian burial ground (the indian burial ground is something predominant in the horror genre and is very much making a statement about the bloodshed america is built on (watch the TV show an american horror story).

Are we doomed to repeat history like Jack and Grady? Or will our children learn from our mistakes like Danny. This is all stuff that I saw myself after watching the movie a couple of times. There have been essays written on the film discussing its themes on family.

Ok so we will never truly know 100% what Kubrick's intent was in making this film but perhaps was his intent. For people to just want to dig deeper and deeper into the film looking for anything that stands out. Why was he so methodical with putting together this film?

I can not except that its just a story about a guy that goes crazy in the woods and tries to kill his family with an ax. There is just to much detail here for it not to be meaningful or significant in some way.

Also, in the movie Room 237 one of the interviewees briefly discussed some of the cartoons in The Shing. I watch The Shining before watching Room 237 and I started to notice that there are a lot of cartoons and references to cartoons in the film. I think its supposed to make us think about what is real and not real.

When watching The Shining I also noticed the apollo sweater. I was watching with my sister and was telling her about the crazy amount of detail in the film and the over analysis of the film. I made the joke that the Apollo sweater meant something even before watching room 237. I do think perhaps this is a symbol of a "blast off" moment. In which reality truly starts to break down.

I personally think that their is an incredible amount of depth to this movie. It is literally like a maze you can get yourself lost in if you try to dig too deep.

I've always enjoyed fans speculations and theories surrounding a piece of fiction. I definitely want to rewatch the movie before seeing the documentary.

@cale said:

Yeah. I hate it when people relate to a piece of art they are viewing/listening to. Those assholes. Why can't people stop using art for its intended purposes?!

DAMN YOU, HUMANS!!!

@jakob187 said:

If they were analyzing in such a way that they weren't distorting every little detail so that it relates to themselves or their personal interests I'd be more receptive. The film started off with a guy doing exactly this type of self-important distorted analysis and it turned me off immediately. It has nothing to do with relating to a piece of art, I just can't stomach bullshit when I see it. Tone has a lot to do with it--if there was even a hint of humility or uncertainty in what these people were proposing I'd probably have kept watching.

For every reasonable theory put forward in this film, there are 3 that are just the kind of thing some stoner would think up. Like the lady who talks about minotaurs.

The most telling thing about this movie is that a guy who calls himself "mastermind" and has a 25 000 word manifesto all about the shining didn't want to be interviewed for it. That should tell you something