Conspiracy theorists allege that Kubrick peppered his work with visual references to Masonic symbols, like the Eye of Providence. When Danny first uses the shining, it’s in front of a mirror, and obviously, “Redrum” can only be read properly in a mirror. Midway through the film, Wendy and Danny watch The Summer of '42 on TV. Jack Torrance is driven insane by an evil presence at the Overlook Hotel, which compels him to try to kill his innocent wife and child and to repeatedly ax an innocent door. "The cover is like people getting ready for the New Year. A one-stop shop for all things video games. The resulting images are eerie (see above, video NSFW). Fan Theories Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. There's a movie that attempts to uncover a few of them (room 237), but I think the majority of the theories in that movie are quite contrived and I'm not sure I agree with many of them bar the native american genocide subplot. Theorist: Bill Blakemore, television correspondent, author. A group of fans believe that Jack’s employment of the caretaker is all a front and that the Overlook is a giant CIA science experiment that tests mind control and causes all of Jack’s hallucinations. Though it might sound too simple of a theory for such a puzzling movie, looking at the Overlook as hell is the only theory that makes sense of the hotel’s warped layout and Jack’s out of context non-sequiturs. Wendy and Danny watch the film The Summer of ‘42 on TV. Blakemore outlines the importance that Kubrick places on the multiple appearances of large tins of It’s one of the most far fetched theories that exists about The Shining, and if Kubrick thought that deeply about the paper tray on the desk and how far Ullman should lean in, then he really is a genius. There's an article about incest. All this numerology references the year 1942, when the Nazis put their “Final Solution” into place. Some interpret this as the television not showing you what is really happening. There is also one shot where the television is not plugged in but still works. The theory goes Jack Torrance represents a bull-headed man, killed in his own maze like Minotaur. The twins represent NASA’s Gemini space programme. One of the more spectacular theories in the movie: That Kubrick was hired by the American government to fake the Apollo moon landing, and “The Shining” is … He told me he finds it incredibly serendipitous that his documentary is coming out the same year as the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art's Kubrick retrospective, and Stephen King's publication of Doctor Sleep, a Shining sequel with Danny Torrance as a middle-aged man. For a lot of people, his idea was kind of a symbolic theory of The Shining of record. Even the date on the climactic vintage photograph, July 4th, is an ironic reference to the fact that Independence Day doesn’t apply to the country’s indigenous occupants. Both Frozen and The Shining feature a protagonist that harms a family member, and they both then isolate themselves to try and get over their issues. Implying that he possibly never wants to grow up. Recently, The Shining was the subject of the documentary Room 237, which featured obsessive fans spitting out some pretty batshit theories about the movie.Like how it was secretly Kubrick's confession to having faked the moon landing ().Or how it's meant to be watched simultaneously backwards and forwards, with images of both overlaid on each other. There are so many visual references to bulls within the Overlook hotel too. This may represent the guilt that Kubrick had about being seduced by the project. RELATED: 10 Most Iconic Quotes From Horror Movies. When reduced to a bare-bones synopsis, the plot of The Shining is pretty straightforward. At the beginning of the film Danny's been physically abused, but there's a suggestion that he's been sexually abused as well," Ryan says. The Shining is a 1980 British-American psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. The Shining is a lot of things to a lot of people, but at least we can all agree it's a pretty good movie. I covered this topic extensively in my previous analysis, in fact it was the main premise of the review, but due to the greatly extended length of this current analysis, the genocide theme will cease to be my central contention about the film’s meaning. The Shining is a rare film, because, like most Kubrick films, it has dozens of conspiracy theories behind it. The basis for this theory is the significance of numbers. Taking a cue from site MSTRMND's brilliant analysis, which noted that "The Shining is a film meant to be seen both forwards and backwards," Ryan wanted to see what would happen if it was projected simultaneously with one version being played the normal way and the other being superimposed and run backwards from end to beginning. To wit: In the scene where Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) meets Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) in his office and, Weidner says in 237, his hips line-up perfectly with his paper try making it look like an erection. Being easily the most plausible of all the theories about the movie, there are tons of hints about the genocide of the native Americans throughout the whole runtime. When Jack Torrance signs his employment contract, it’s a Faustian pact with the devil – hence his descent into a hell full of blood, ghostly visions and his personal fears. Several of the theorists talk about weird coincidences that they personally experienced while spending countless hours watching and thinking about The Shining. Throughout the movie, Jack stares with his head down and his eyes pointed up, a similar stare to a bull, and he even does it while standing over a miniature of the hedge maze. The second best conspiracy theories are Illuminati ones, even if Dan Brown has ruined them a bit. Another suggests that Jack Torrance is the devil. In fact, during our interview, as we talked about coincidences, Ascher looked over at the clock in his office and realized it was exactly 2:37 p.m. Another suggests that the film represents the myth of the Minotaur. Another suggests that the Illuminati killed Stanley Kubrick because of this film. When the hotel manager gives the Torrance family a tour, he mentions that the Overlook sits atop an Indian burial ground. What is Shine Theory? Stanley Kubrick’s longtime assistant, Leon Vitali, says various theories about hidden meanings in “The Shining,” proposed in the documentary “Room 237,” are just “balderdash.” It is a conscious decision to bring your full self to your friendships, and to not let insecurity or envy ravage them. It also makes some sense out of when Jack says, “When I came up here for my interview, it was as though I had been here before.”. So what I am proposing is that Jack has the shining and the movie is all about the power of choice. Here are some highlights form the new documentary Room 237. Top-notch conspiracy hunter Jay Weidner has many, many theories about the work of Kubrick (and other things) but some of the more eye-popping are his thoughts about how the director used the subliminal messaging of advertisers in his films. His films are famously noted for being dark, twisted, and unsettling, so it’s entirely possible that The Shining is a metaphorical Holocaust film. New Stephen King Theory Connects It To The Shining By Dylan Chaundy @DylanChaundy 10 months ago x Although initial response to the film was mixed, later critical assessment was more favorable and it is now listed among the greatest horror movies, while some have even viewed it as one of the greatest films of all time. The Shining allegedly contains Kubrick’s coded apology. Interpretations, also known as theories or readings are fan based interpretations of the meanings of hidden themes found in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film version of the 1977 Stephen King novel The Shining. Danny wears an Apollo 11 jumper. NEXT: Doctor Sleep: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Shining Sequel, All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. Hence why he took the job as the care taker of the overlook hotel, as he's getting paid to live in a place rent free so he can spend all day playing with no responsibilities. We all know that Danny can speak to certain individuals through his thoughts, namely Larry. https://fantheories.fandom.com/wiki/The_Shining?oldid=12051. "There's some fun jokes, but then there's serious stuff where the hallucinations – the visions – that Danny has, you'll see them over-layed on top of other situations. The figure on a skiing poster in the hotel resembles a Minotaur, as does another poster of a cowboy riding its bull. 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A new documentary, Room 237, explores the theory that messages are hidden in horror film The Shining. "All the symbols in the movie overlap in the superimposition backwards-forwards. Room 237 is a reference to the distance between Earth and the moon: 237,000 miles. Stephen King’s novel didn’t feature a hedge maze but Kubrick added it for the film as a reference to the part-man, part-bull creature who lives at the centre of a labyrinth. Jay Weidner, an author and independent filmmaker, put forward this theory in the documentary, 'Room 237', which was itself an examination of the different interpretations on 'The Shining'. There are a lot of other examples but the theory goes that the Overlook is one giant mirror and that the guests are being tortured by exactly what they bring to the hotel. There are many, many theories about what Stanley Kubrick's flick The Shining really means. There are piles of Tang, the powdered fruit drink used on space flights, visible in the pantry. ". Bill Blakemore has been a reporter for ABC News for about half a century, but perhaps his biggest scoop — at least for Kubrick fans — was his theory that The Shining explored the genocide of Native Americans. I was looking for a theory, a way to explain The Shining to myself. Four Theories on The Shining From the New Documentary Room 237. So what meanings do some people believe its … The Native American Genocide The theory that The Shining is about the Native American Genocide first took hold in an article called “The Family of Man” by Bill Blakemore. The Shining has attracted an almost cult-like collective of fans who long to discover its secrets. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. The first give away that the movie could be about sexual abuse is when Danny mentions his imaginary friend Tony, and his doctor explains that having an imaginary friend is a side effect of trauma. Most compellingly, there’s play on the number 42 throughout the film: 42 cars in the hotel parking lot, 42 on one of Danny's shirts and on the license plate of Halloran's rental car. This can suggest that the whole film was a nightmare. RELATED: Recasting The Shining In 2020 (Every Major Character). The film is full of Native American symbology, from Navajo wall hangings in the ballroom to the pantry’s stockpile of Calumet baking soda – the cans bearing the brand's logo of a Native American in warrior headdress. The Theories The Shining is a rare film, because, like most Kubrick films, it has dozens of conspiracy theories behind it. Also Jack mentions that he just had "the most horrible dream", where he had to murder his family. One theorizes that Jack Torrance has "Peter Pan Syndrome". Like the twin girls are over-layed on top of Wendy," Ryan says. Whether viewers believe that the moon landing is fake or not, they have to suspend disbelief even further to believe/not believe in this. That said, what's the truth behind those conspiracy theories surrounding the film's message? The hotel itself is maze-like, with Jack representing the child-devouring monster. One of the creepiest theories of all is that mad genius Kubrick managed to imbue his film with so much ambiguous Freudian symbolism that it taps into essence of life itself. There are all manner of spatial anomalies in the hotel: doors that don’t lead anywhere, windows with the wrong view and rooms that seem to move around. The murdered twins are over-layed across Jack's face.". This is suggested because of a seemingly out-of-place ski poster is visible in one of the shots of the freaky twin girls. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. In fact, this may be the theory that director Ascher most prescribes to. Early in the film during Jack’s interview, Ullman stands up as Jack walks in to his office to shake his hand. Shine Theory is an investment, over the long term, in helping someone be their best self—and relying on their help in return. The Overlook Hotel represents the CIA and is functioning the same way on Jack Torrance, chipping away at his mind with creepy hallucinations intended to crack him. King even gave Kubrick a screenplay for the adaptation that Kubrick never even bothered to read, which is one crazy development fact about The Shining. Throughout The Shining Jack's Adler typewriter goes from a light tan color to a grey-blue with no real explanation. An entire documentary, Room 237 (2012), directed by Rodney Ascher, is dedicated to theories about The Shining and its hidden messages. There is almost no evidence to support this theory, but there’s no evidence against it either, and it’s interesting to think this is possible as there have always been whispers amongst conspiracy theorists that the CIA have been exercising these experiments for decades. 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