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Secrets of The Shining: Or How Faking the Moon Landings Nearly Cost Stanley Kubrick his Marriage and his Life. By Jay Weidner AND DAVID BOWIE MAJOR
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[quote:Anonymous Coward 860054:MV8xMDM1NDExXzE2Mzg1NTQ2X0ZEQjBFQTY3] Kate Bush - Get Out Of My House vs The Shining http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJyp5HaPj68 "This house knows all I have done." "they come with their weather hanging around them" KATE: The song is called "Get Out of My House," and it's all about the human as a house. The idea is that as more experiences actually get to you, you start learning how to defend yourself from them. The human can be seen as a house where you start putting up shutters at the windows and locking the doors not letting in certain things. I think a lot of people are like this they don't hear what they don't want to hear, don't see what they don't want to see. It is like a house, where the windows are the eyes and the ears, and you don't let people in. That's sad because as they grow older people should open up more. But they do the opposite because, I suppose, they do get bruised and cluttered. Which brings me back to myself; yes, I have had to decide what I will let in and what I'll have to exclude. (1982, Company) KATE: The Shining is the only book I've read that has frightened me. While reading it I swamped[???] around in its snowy imagery and avoided visiting certain floors of the big, cold hotel, empty for the winter. As in Alien, the central characters are isolated, miles (or light years) away from anyone or anything, but there is something in the place with them. They're not sure what, but it isn't very nice. The setting for this song continues the theme the house which is really a human being, has been shut up locked and bolted, to stop any outside forces from entering. (1982, KBC 12) ("Hee-haw! Hee-haw! Hee-haw!") When you left, the door was (slamming!) You paused in the doorway (slamming!) As though a thought stole you away. (slamming!) I watched the world pull you away. (Lock it!) In this first section the only section where the other character is show as leaving as apposed to persuing, so this first section could be describing the actual breakup of the relationship that caused the character to "lock her house." KATE: The person has been hurt and has decided to keep everybody out. (1982, KBC 12) So I run into the hall, (Lock it!) Into the corridor. (Lock it!) There's a door in the house (slamming). I hear the lift descending. (slamming!) I hear it hit the landing, (slamming!) See the hackles on the cat (standing). KATE: ...but the thing has got into the house upstairs. It's descending in the lift, and now it approaches the door of the room that you're hiding in. (1982, KBC 12) With my key I (lock it). With my key I (lock it up). With my key I (lock it). With my key I (lock it up). I am the concierge chez-moi, honey. Won't letcha in for love, nor money. ("Let me in!") My home, my joy. I'm barred and bolted and I (Won't let you in). (Get out of my house!) KATE: They plant a "concierge" at the front door to stop any determined callers from passing... (1982, KBC 12) KATE: The idea with that song is that the house is actually a human being who's been hurt and he's just locking all the doors and not letting anyone in. The person is so determined not to let anyone in that one of his personalities is a concierge who sits in the door, and says "you're not coming in here" like real mamma. (1982, Melody Maker) Concierge is the French title of a live-in building-attendant or manager--an ancient profession in Europe, usually associated with correspondingly ancient old women (though men can also be called "concierges"). "Chez-moi" means "at my house", or "at my place." So the line in implies that the house's spirit (this is really that of the house itself--as Kate once explained--which has developed a kind of human consciousness over the years) is fiercely protecting its solitude from the invading force (the male personality cooing "Let me in!"): "I'm the manager in my own house, honey." Interestingly, Kate describe the "concierge" as "one of his personalities". The "his" may imply that the male/female angle of the song is not as important to Kate as the overall theme. Note that the protagonist is definately described as a woman later in the song. Another interesting thing about the description "one of his personalities" is that it implies that the other "voices" Kate uses in the song may be other "personalities" of the woman. Kate is known to have been influenced early on by the philospher Gurdjieff, who held each man had numerous "personalities", and this song may reflect that influence. KATE: I am absolutely fascinated by the states that people throw and put on. And, you know, I think that that is the most fascinating thing there is to write about really, the way that people just distort things and the things they think and the things they do. And it's really fun for me if I can find an area of the personality that is slightly exaggerated or distorted and, if I feel I can identify with it enough, then try to cast a person as perfectly as I can in terms of that particular character trait, especially if I don't really show those kinds of things myself. Take anger for instance: it's really fun to write from the point of view of someone who's really angry, like in "Get Out of My House" on the last album. Because I very rarely show anger, although obviously I do sometimes feel it. (1985, Musician) No stranger's feet Will enter me. (Get out of my house!) I wash the panes, (Get out of my house!) I clean the stains away. (Get out of my house!) "No stranger's feet" on the level of the metaphor for the house, presumably means the person other walking into the house. On a more literal level, a" foot" is a measurement in poetry, and this could be saying that "your words will not enter me". Others have read "feet" as meaning "sexual organs", as in "you will not have intercourse with me." "Wash the panes" has been read by some to mean crying. This house is as old as I am. (Slamming.) This house knows all I have done. (Slamming.) They come with their weather hanging 'round them, (Slamming.) But can't knock my door down! (Slamming.) With my key I (lock it). With my key I (lock it). This house is full of m-m-my mess. (Slamming.) This house is full of m-m-mistakes. (Slamming.) This house is full of m-m-madness. (Slamming.) This house is full of, full of, full of fight! (Slam it.) With my keeper I (clean up). With my keeper I (clean it all up). With my keeper I (clean up). With my keeper I (clean it all up). It's interesting how "key" has now become "keeper", perhaps implying that the energy that had one protected the protagonist, is now "keeping" her. I am the concierge chez-moi, honey. Won't letcha in for love, nor money. ("It's cold out here!") The voice on "It's cold out here!" sounds like Paddy doing one of his Irish-y voices. My home, my joy. I'm barred and bolted and I (Get out of my house!) (Won't let you in). (Get out of my house!) No stranger's feet (Get out of my house!) Will enter me. (Get out of my house!) I wash the panes. (Get out of my house!) I clean the stains. (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) Won't enter me. (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) Yeah! Won't let you in! (Get out of my house!) (Get out of my house!) "Let me in! KATE: ...and now it approaches the door of the room that you're hiding in. (1982, KBC 12) "Woman let me in! Let me bring in the memories! Woman let me in! Let me bring in the Devil Dreams!" KATE: The track kept changing in the studio. This is something that's never happened before on an album. That one was maybe half the length it is now. The guitarist got this really nice riff going, and I got this idea of two voices a person in the house, trying to get away from this thing, but it's still there. (1982, ZigZag) I will not let you in! Don't you bring back the reveries. I turn into a bird, Carry further than the word is heard. KATE: So in order to get away, they change their form first into a bird trying to fly away from it. (1982, ZigZag) "Woman let me in! I turn into the wind. I blow you a cold kiss, Stronger than the song's hit." KATE: The thing can change as well, so that changes into this wind, and starts blowing all icy. (1982, ZigZag) Possibly the "song hit" is the bird's "song" so this line would be saying "my wind is stronger then your song.", although there is no other evidence that the "bird" sings any song in the song. I will not let you in. I face towards the wind. I change into the Mule. "I change into the Mule." Hee-haw! Hee-haw! Hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw... "Hee-haw! Hee-haw! Hee-haw!" KATE: The idea is to turn around and face it. You've got this image of something turning round and going "Aah!" just to try and scare it away. (1982, ZigZag) KATE: You're cornered, there's no way out, so you turn into a bird and fly away, but the thing changes shape, too. You change, it changes; you can't escape, so you turn around and face it, scare it away. "Hee Haw" "Hee Haw" "Hee Haw" (1982, KBC 12) KATE: I think the mule is that kind of... the stupid confrontation... I mean, there's not really that much to read into it. It was the idea of playing around with changing shape, and the mule imagery was something I liked inordinately. The whole thing of this wild, stupid, mad creature just turning around and going, you know, "Eeyore! Eeyore!" [KATE MAKES CONVINCING EEYORE SOUNDS.] I don't know if you saw Pinocchio, but there's an incredibly heavy scene in there, where one of the little boys turns into a donkey a mule. And it's very heavy stuff. I HAVEN'T SEEN THAT SINCE ABOUT SIX, BUT I THINK I REMEMBER THAT...IT'S A STRONG IMAGE. Well, maybe you should see it again. It's a good film. (1985, Love-Hounds) Although Kate has never specifically mentioned the male in the song also turning into a mule, there appears to be two seperate "mules" at the end, which would indicate that he did so, especially since the second mule has a male "voice", credited to Paul Hardiman. The reason that Kate made the choice of the mule, may be explained by her description of it above as a "stupid" animal . Its actions, in other words, are "thought-less": prompted by the crudest form of emotional stimuli or instincts. Kate has more than once insisted that music (art) is "pure emotion"--especially in the Russell Harty interview. When Harty patronizingly says "We've been to Bronte-land...Where will the arrow of your powerful intellect fall next?" Kate's immediate and strong reply is: "Well, I think the answer to that is that art is emotion . Art is pure emotion..." Her reply has always seemed to IED to represent an implied preference for the value of emotion over the intellect. If so, the choice of the "stupid" mule as the guise in which the heroine of GOoMH finally faces her "problem" makes excellent sense. Also, of course, Kate may have been thinking of the expression "stubborn as a mule", which describes the character she was singing about perfectly. Dha Dhin Dha Dha Dha/Dha Dha Dha Dhin Dha Dha/Dha Dkin Dha Dha [Repeats to fade out] This is credited as "drum talk" to Esmail Sheikh. (Whether or not the above transcription is entirely correct is unclear). This is from East Indian Classical music and is called bol. The process of studying drumming in this form of music involves both learning to speak drumming patterns in bols and learning to play the patterns. Whether or not this symbolizes anything that may have a direct relationship to the theme of Kate's song is unclear. CONCLUSIONS KATE: And that's actually what the whole song is about someone who is running away from something they don't want to face, but wherever they go, the thing will follow them. Basically, you can't run away from things you've got to confront things. And it's using the person as the imagery of a house, where they won't let anyone in, they lock all the doors and windows, and put a guard on the front door. But I think the essence of the song is about someone trying to run away from things they don't like and not being able to escape because you can't. (1985, Love-Hounds) The quote from Kate describes the "point" or "moral" of the song (note how this seems to lead right into Running Up That Hill, the first song on the next album). But does the song have a positive or negative ending? There are several points of view. 1) The "happy" ending. That the man and woman seemed to have found something in common in their muleness and sang to each other. The "drum talk" at the end could represent some kind of morse-code, meaning that they have found another way to communicate now that the primary channels have broken down. However, many people find the whole song, including the ending, to be too jarring to be describing something "happy". 2) The "unhappy" ending. In this interpetation, the characters in this song don't end up communicating. This would be reflected in the song by the extented "mumbling-like" sounds at the end of the song, representing the total breakdown of communications between the two. This would mean that the ending of the song was intended as a kind of negative warning about what could happen when you "lock" yourself up so tightly. 2) The "hopeful" ending. In this interpetation, the ending does indeed contain the "some sort of hope in there" that Kate said (of The Ninth Wave ) she feels should be part of all works of art. In the above quote, Kate was says that the theme of the song was the error people can make of running away from their problems, and that the only way to solve problems is to confront them. She also explains that when the female character in Get Out of My House changes into a mule (whether a stubborn one or a stupid one), she does finally turn and confront the male character (who has changed into a mule as well). This is the quintessential Kate Bush "ending"--sad but hopeful, very much like the ending of The Ninth Wave . In both, the protagonist has come to a new realization of the "right way" to proceed/feel/think, and is therefore able better to resign herself to whatever fate might befall her, whether that fate be "happy" or not. And this, of course, is an essential element of Kate's own avowed philosophy, described by her in numerous interviews. So we do not learn what actually happens when the two mules confront each other in GOoMH ; nor is it important. What is important is that the protagonist has finally been able to confront the force which threatens her--she is no longer running from it. In a similar way the heroine of The Ninth Wave , in the final bars of The Morning Fog , has found reasons for living: whether she will actually survive the physical ordeal or not, she has at least gained a new appreciation of the important aspects of her life (love of family; and faith in the human spirit, so to speak, as represented by her "future self" in Jig of Life ). It's therefore extremely important, IED believes, that both The Dreaming and Hounds of Love , as albums, conclude with the same basic situation. In both, the ultimate "fate" of the protagonist is not resolved, because that is not the artist's concern. Rather, it is the insight that those protagonists gain along the way that matters. OTHER QUOTES It should be noted that the above quotes have been re-arranged in such a way that there meaning may have been somewhat distorted. In other words, the quotes may not actually relate to the lryics they are put next to. Following is the remaining quotes relating to the song. I TELL KATE THAT THE SPACE BETWEEN MY EARS FELT LIKE PALE JELLY AFTER FIRST EXPOSURE TO THIS ONE ON THE WALKMAN. SHE IS PLEASED! Oh, good! It's meant to be a bit scary. It's just the idea of someone being in this place and there's something else there... You don't know what it is. (1982, ZigZag) * I SUPPOSE IN TERMS OF GENERAL IDEAS, KATE, MAYBE WE COULD TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THAT. JUST WHERE YOU PLUCK THESE IDEAS FROM, IS THIS SOMETHING THAT OCCURS TO YOU IN EVERY DAY LIFE OR DO YOU DISCIPLINE YOURSELF TO SIT DOWN AND THINK ABOUT THINGS? They're very often ideas that come out of other people's creations. Films and books are very much big inspirations to me. For instance, there's a track on this album that was... really the whole atmosphere was inspired by The Shining. I read the book and it was such an incredibly strong atmosphere, very creepy, very haunted, and I used it to like set a song using the same atmosphere, but instead of it being a hotel it being like a house, which is also a human being. And just playing with the feelings that I got when I read the book and trying to put that same kind and strangeness into the song. (1982, Dreaming debut) I FIND THE USE OF STRONG SYMBOLISM AND METAPHOR AND ALLUSIONS IN YOUR LYRICS TO BE EXTREMELY INTERESTING. FOR EXAMPLE, IN "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE," THE WOMAN WHO IS SINGING THE SONG HAS BEEN LEFT BY HER LOVER AND FEELS HURT, AND IDENTIFIES HERSELF WITH A HOUSE. THIS IS A BIBLICAL ALLUSION. WHEN SHE SAYS "I WASH THE PANES", IT IS A TRIPLE ENTENDRE, BECAUSE SHE'S SAYING SHE'S WASHING THE WINDOWS OF HER BODY, WHICH ARE THE EYES. THIS MEANS SHE'S CRYING, AND BY DOING SO, SHE'S WASHING THE HURT AND PAIN AWAY. THEN SHE SAYS "NO STRANGER'S FEET WILL ENTER ME" SAYING THAT SHE WON'T LET ANYONE INTO HER HOUSE, WHICH IS SAYING SHE WON'T LET ANYONE INTO HER BODY, WHICH IS ALSO REINFORCED BY THE BIBLICAL USE OF "FEET" AS A EUPHEMISM FOR "PRIVATE PARTS". THE LAYERS OF MEANING HERE, ARE PRETTY INCREDIBLE. THEN A MAN TRIES TO ENTER HER LIFE AGAIN, BUT SHE'S TOO SCARED, AND SHE TRIES TO ESCAPE BY FLYING AWAY, BUT HE TURNS INTO THE WIND. SHE THEN TURNS INTO A MULE, PERHAPS FOR ITS STUBBORN ABILITY TO WITHSTAND THE WIND. AND THEN HE ALSO TURNS INTO A MULE. NOW IT SEEMS THAT THEY HAVE A GROUND FOR COMMUNICATION. BECAUSE MULES ARE NEUTER, AND THEY CAN COMMUNICATE ON A PLATONIC LEVEL RATHER THAN A SEXUAL LEVEL. NOW A FRIEND OF MINE BELIEVES THAT THIS LAST PART IS A FLAW IN THE SONG, BECAUSE MULES ARE NOT REALLY NEUTER AFTER ALL. THEY ARE ONLY STERILE. PERSONALLY, I THINK IT ISN'T A FLAW BECAUSE THE IDEA COMES ACROSS LOUD AND CLEAR TO ME, AND SOMEHOW IT SEEMS THAT "I CHANGE INTO THE AMOEBA: OOZE! OOZE!" JUST WOULDN'T WORK SO WELL. SO THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS INTERPRETATION? AND COULD YOU RESPOND TO MY FRIEND'S SLIGHT CRITICISM? And what was your friend's criticism? HE SAID THAT THE ENDING IS A FLAW BECAUSE MULES ARE NOT REALLY NEUTER, THEY ARE ONLY STERILE. What does he mean? WELL, IT SEEMS TO ME AND TO HIM THAT THE END OF THE SONG IS SORT OF A POSITIVE NOTE BECAUSE THEY'VE FOUND A GROUNDS FOR COMMUNICATION. AND SORT OF ON A PLATONIC LEVEL, BECAUSE MULES MIGHT BE SEEN AS BEING PLATONIC, BECAUSE... Why? OH... WELL... MULES ARE STERILE... UH... A DONKEY AND A HORSE... YOU KNOW... HAVE A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP, AND THEN THEY HAVE MULES, AND MULES DON'T HAVE CHILDREN, BUT THEY REALLY CAN HAVE SEX. THEY JUST CAN'T HAVE CHILDREN, BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE ACTUALLY THINK THAT THEY JUST DON'T HAVE SEX. WHICH ISN'T REALLY TRUE. Right! Well, um... I think you... It's kind of weird the level of interpretation that you are reading into things, because... I mean, a mule in our country all it represents is a stupid animal. They are considered stupid and that's the allusion that was being used in that case. And it's very much a play on a traditional song called The Two Magicians about someone who's trying to escape someone, and they keep changing their form in order to escape them. But the other thing keeps changing its form. And that's actually what the whole song is about someone who is running away from something they don't want to face, but wherever they go, the thing will follow them. Basically, you can't run away from things you've got to confront things. And it's using the person as the imagery of a house, where they won't let anyone in, they lock all the doors and windows, and put a guard on the front door. But I think the essence of the song is about someone trying to run away from things they don't like and not being able to escape because you can't. BUT IF THE SYMBOL OF MULES IS JUST STUPIDITY, AT THE END, THEN IT WOULD SEEM LIKE IT WOULD BE A NEGATIVE ENDING, AND IT JUST SORT OF SEEMS TO ME, MOST OF YOUR SONGS...A LOT OF THEM...END ON UP NOTES. AND IT SORT OF SEEMED LIKE IT WAS A POSITIVE NOTE AT THE END. Yes, I think the mule is that kind of... the stupid confrontation... I mean, there's not really that much to read into it. It was the idea of playing around with changing shape, and the mule imagery was something I liked inordinately. The whole thing of this wild, stupid, mad creature just turning around and going, you know, "Eeyore! Eeyore!" [KATE MAKES CONVINCING EEYORE SOUNDS.] I don't know if you saw Pinocchio, but there's an incredibly heavy scene in there, where one of the little boys turns into a donkey a mule. And it's very heavy stuff. I HAVEN'T SEEN THAT SINCE ABOUT SIX, BUT I THINK I REMEMBER THAT...IT'S A STRONG IMAGE. Well, maybe you should see it again. It's a good film. (1985, Love-Hounds) * DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE KATE BUSH SONG? PADDY: For me. Yes, yes...it's "Get Out Of My House", really, was my favorite track. I think if Alfred Hitchcock ever made hit singles [LAUGHTER FROM AUDIENCE]... And I love it, I love the energy that it deals with. It's fantastic. And Paul Hardiman's vocals on the very beginning of it I think are, to me, one of the most fantastic things thats ever been recorded. I used to go into fits of extascy when we listened to the multi-track tapes of that and those opening "Eoyores"... I love that track. (1985, Kate Bush Con. Paddy and Jay Interview) THE TWA MAGICIANS KATE: "And it's very much a play on a traditional song called The Two Magicians about someone who's trying to escape someone, and they keep changing their form in order to escape them." The Twa (read Two) Magicians is an old English (and Irish and Scottish and just about every country in Europe, too) ballad in which a young maiden is wooed by a young man. In the original the girl threatens to change form (in some versions the boy does all the hypothesizing), from human to animal or vegetable. The boy always responds by promising to takethe form of a compatible or superior animal or vegetable. Kate merely borrowed the general idea. Her specific images of bird-to-wind, the "song's hit," and the mules are all unprecedented, however, at least to judge from the dozen or more versions of the original that IED has come across recently. Musically, there's no connection, either, as far as this listener can tell. Following is a transcription of the lyrics to an old Irish version of The Twa Magicians. Actually, with all the variants all over Europe, its English and Irish versions are not the earliest. The following version is the one that Kate probably learned as a child, since it is the work of A. L. "Burt" Lloyd, one of the fathers of the English and Irish folkmusic revival of our century, and a great favourite of Kate's. IED transcribed as well as he could from the recording of the song by Martin Carthy (the album, which also includes an a cappella rendition of "The Handsome Cabin Boy", is called Martin Carthy with Dave Swarbrick , on Topic, 12 TS 340 -- 1977). The Twa Magicians A lady sits in her own front door As straight as a willow wand, And by there come a lusty smith With a hammer in his hand, and he said Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. "Well may stand you, lady fair All in your robe of red, But come tomorrow at this same time I'll have you in me bed," and he said Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. "Away, away, you coal-blacksmith, Would you do me this wrong? To think to have me maidenhead That I have kept so long! "I'd rather I was dead and cold And my body laid in my grave, Than a husky, dusky coal-blacksmith Me maidenhead should have!" So the lady she held up her hand, And she swore upon her soul, That she'd not be the blacksmith's love For all of a box of gold. But the blacksmith he held up his hand And he swore upon the Mass, Saying "I'll have you in me bed, young girl, For the half of ------------- (unintelligible). Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE So the lady she turned into a dove And she flew up in the air, But he became an old cock-pigeon And they flew pair and pair, crying Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. So the lady she turned into a hare And she ran across the plain, But he became a greyhound dog And he ran her down again, crying Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. So she became a little mare As dark as the night was black, But he became a golden saddle And he clung on to her back, crying Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. So she became a hot griddle And he became a cake, And every move that poor girl made The blacksmith was her make. So she became a full-dress (?) ship And sailed upon the sea, But he became a bold captain And aboard of her went he, crying Bide, lady, bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For the lusty smith will be your love And he will lay your pride. So the lady she went into the bedroom And she changed into a bed, But he became a green coverlet And he gained her maidenhead. And watch ye how (?) he held her soul, And still he bad her bide, And the lusty smith became her love For all her mighty pride. [/quote]
Original Message
Secrets of The Shining:
Or How Faking the Moon Landings Nearly
Cost Stanley Kubrick his Marriage and his Life.
By Jay Weidner
Copyright 2009 Sacred Mysteries Productions
For more information on how Stanley Kubrick faked the Apollo moon landings go here
The Shining is surely Stanley Kubrick's most misunderstood masterpiece.
I use the word 'masterpiece' guardedly because I have never really thought that The Shining was a very good film.
At the time, in 1980 when I first saw it, I didn't like it at all. The way that Kubrick threw out so much of Stephen King's great source material and replaced it with a lot of things that just didn't seem to make any sense, really bothered me.
Hopefully, before I am finished with this essay, the reader will see it is only when Kubrick dramatically alters the script from Stephen King's novel that we can begin to understand what Stanley Kubrick is trying to tell us in his version of The Shining.
It should be understood from the beginning that The Shining is Stanley Kubrick's most personal film (outside of, possibly, Eyes Wide Shut). Before we are done here it will be easy to see that Kubrick was only using Stephen King's novel as a launching pad (excuse the pun) to be able to tell a completely different story under the guise of making a film based on a best-selling novel. He did this for a very important reason - mainly to save his life.
Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.
In fact, let's start at the beginning.
There are two main characters in the film, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) and his son Danny (played by Danny Lloyd).
It is important to understand here that Jack and Danny are two aspects of Stanley Kubrick himself. Jack is the practical, pragmatic guy who wants to be a great artist. And he is, apparently, willing to do anything to accomplish his goal of being an artist (writer). Jack, like Stanley has black hair, he is idiosyncratic and even smokes the same cigarettes as Stanley (Marlboro).
Danny is the other side of the great director. He is the child-like Kubrick. It is Danny who is actually the real artist.
The Danny side of Kubrick side is psychic, youthful and sees things that no one else sees. Danny also has a tendency to tell people things that should be kept quiet.
The first part of the The Shining is probably the longest, most boring, 58 minutes in Kubrick's career.
The opening of the film takes place with us witnessing Stanley's pragmatic side, Jack, cutting a deal with the Manager of the Overlook Hotel.
The deal between Jack and the Manager of the Overlook is that Jack can write (that is - create) all that he wants as long as he "takes care" of The Overlook.
One other important point is that the Manager of The Overlook tells Jack that the previous caretaker went crazy from the stress of the job and killed his wife and two girls.
Jack says he is "intrigued" but takes the deal anyway.
The Manager of the Overlook Hotel is wearing red, white and blue. Jack's wife Wendy (played by Shelly Duval) and his son Danny also wear red, white and blue for almost the entire first hour of the film.
In this symbolic interpretation the Overlook Hotel is AMERICA. It was built, just like the Manager says, on the graves of Indians. Even when walking on the floor of the Overlook Hotel, one finds oneself trampling over various Native American symbols.
The Overlook Hotel itself is America.
Like America, the Overlook Hotel is new and shiny. It is ostentatious, corny and architecturally boring. As the Manager tells Wendy "All of the best people stayed here".
But there is something very deep happening. Kubrick brushed shoulders with the elite of the world. He knows what is going on.
We have to begin to understand Kubrick's story from his use of symbols. As I like to say: if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a symbol is worth a thousand pictures. For it will be through the use of symbol that the real story of The Shining can be revealed.
The Manager of the Overlook, while interviewing Jack, has an American Eagle right behind his head. It is as if "The Eagle" is the power behind the Manager.
Not only is the Eagle the symbol of America but it should be noted that the Lunar Lander of the Apollo 11 mission was called "The Eagle". To the Manager's right on the desk is an American flag.
Symbolically the Manager (played by Barry Nelson) is the face of the government of the United States. Jack has cut this deal with the government to be the "caretaker" of the Hotel.
The Manager tells Jack that his main job is to prevent the Overlook Hotel (America) from appearing like it is decaying. The Manager reiterates that this is Jack's primary responsibility.
On their first day in the Hotel, Danny has a vision of the previous caretaker's daughters, and he sees that they are twins. The previous caretaker's daughters were not twins in the Stephen King novel. This discrepancy between the book and the film will grow in importance as we continue.
Jack, Danny and Wendy also meet Dick Halorann who is the cook for the Overlook. He befriends Danny and it is through him that Danny discovers that he is not alone when it comes to psychic ability.
Dick warns Danny to stay away from Room 237.
Jack, Wendy and Danny have now fully moved into the Hotel. There is a long cold winter ahead of them. At first Jack loves the hotel but he is having problems with his writing. Also he cannot sleep. Meanwhile Wendy and Danny are having fun.
Jack is not writing. Instead he is throwing a tennis ball at the wall in the room where his typewriter sits. On the wall, which is being struck by the tennis ball, is a Native American artistic motif that looks suspiciously like a group of rockets about to be launched.
Jack throwing the ball at the rocket/arrows on the wall.
Apollo was the god of Archery. Jack is playing ball with Apollo's arrows
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