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.
Log in to comment