Ta da! If you don't feel like reading it (and I can't blame you, I typed way too much), basically I really enjoyed The Shining, and only have one complaint (which I talk about in the second to last paragraph, if you're curious). Also, I just went through and edited out a bunch of errors and misspelled names (man, I wonder how I got Doug Bradley out of Delbert Grady
).
Alright, I watched the movie. It's pretty great! I love the imagery and symbolism, especially the color red (which pops up everywhere. In fact, one of the most tense and important scenes takes place in a room that is completely red). In a way, it's different from 2001 in that it's not nearly as ambiguous. Pretty early on, the movie lets you know that there are indeed supernatural forces at play, with two characters conversing using psychic powers. There are also parts in the movie that make it pretty clear that the ghosts are real, like when Delbert Grady helps Jack out of the pantry by unlocking it from the outside (something Jack probably couldn't have done on his own), and when Danny's encounter with the lady in the bathtub leaves him bruised. Also, Wendy sees two ghosts in a room near the end of the movie, despite neither of her family members having ever told her about the ghosts and visions. But at the same, there really
is a lot left to interpretation. Lines like (and i'm paraphrasing, so sorry if I mistype the quotes) "I've always been here, just as you've always been here", "You're money isn't good here, Mr. Torrance", and "Well i'm the kinda guy who likes to know who's buying his drinks!" can mean anything that you're imagination can come up with, from Jack being a puppet of a specific evil force, or being possessed, or being forced into repeating the actions of the past, or maybe even just going insane. The movie gives multiple hints as to what exactly is going on, leading to different possibilities. The first is that the dark events that have happened in the past at the Overlook Hotel have created a sort of impression on the area, which causes the people who enter the hotel to live out the events (such as, an axe murder from years prior). Dick first hints at this when he's explaining to Danny why he's cautious of the hotel; to paraphrase, he says that certain events leave a residue, like burn marks on a piece of toast, and that stumbling unto that residue can be a very dangerous thing. In this scenario, the ghosts of the hotel aren't really evil, they're simply following their roles as they're stuck in the loop, becoming apart of the residue.
Another possibility is that the ghosts of the hotel
are evil, and the dark events of the past have caused many ghosts to be concentrated in that area (after all, it was built on a Native American burial ground during a time of bloodshed), possibly acting independently or under the orders of some more powerful entity. When you look at and listen to the ghosts, you immediately see that they're incredibly ominous, but also rigid and almost completely void of emotion (until Delbert Grady pops up near the very end, smiling, with blood on his face). Their demeanor makes them seem like they could just as easily be under orders as they could be acting on their own, or (as suggested earlier) stuck in a time loop. Their words also constantly make hints at each of those scenarios.
You could also come to the conclusion that the hotel
itself is an evil entity, and the events of the past have given out so much emotion and energy that it in some way gave the hotel sentience, which isn't too far fetched, since the movie plays the loud sound of a heartbeat during many key moments in the hotel, and one character (I think it was Dick) mentions something about how some places simply "have a life of their own". This makes a strange kind of sense, and it comes with the implication that the ghosts are victims of the hotel, trapped (as the ending suggests, with the picture) and forced to be it's pawns. Maybe the house needs them to continue living? Maybe it is simply acting in the same twisted kind of way that someone with cabin fever gets? After all, if you were alive and alone for many months out of the year, wouldn't you want some pawns to play with (calling back to that freaky "Play with us!" line)? And then when someone threatens you, by say trying to burn you down, or maybe bringing someone with strong psychic powers that can immediately tell that you're evil, wouldn't you "correct them"?
My personal interpretation was that the events of the movie weren't so much about the ghosts, it was more about Jack. I don't know why, but I really got the feeling that he had "the shining" just as his son Danny did. Dick mentions that he and his grandmother both used to talk using only their minds, but also mentions that the shining is very rare, which makes it seem like it's quite possibly something that's hereditary, and passed down. He then says something else that is absolutely key in this scenario: that of all the people who have the gift, many of them will live out their lives without ever even knowing that they had it. The reason that Jack and Danny were so vulnerable to the hotel is that they both had a psychic connection to the events that had befallen it (after all, Dick mentions that people with the shining can see the past and the future). But that raises another question: if there's an alter-ego that reveals things to Danny, is there one that does the same thing to Jack? Dick doesn't seem to have one, but then again, he himself admits that the shining is something that is complicated; if some people don't even realize they have it, isn't it possible for others to have much more depth and complexity to their powers then others? Maybe the alter-ego is just another layer to the shining, one that Dick never reached. But why wouldn't he have reached it? Well, remember early in the movie, when Wendy mentions that Danny's alter ego appeared after Jack dislocated his shoulder? Maybe a traumatic event is what triggers someone's inner powers to the point of having an alter ego.
Consider if Jack's shining was compressed and hidden in his psyche. Nothing ever stimulated his powers, and he never realized they even existed. However, they eventually awoke, possibly from when he injured his son (which he makes very clear was something that devastated him, especially since he seems very defensive over whether he meant to hurt him or not, making it seem like he in his anger did in fact mean to injure Danny). Or maybe it was when he came to the hotel, and the sheer amount of terrible events that had happened there overwhelmed his latent powers, causing them to awaken. Remember when Danny says that his alter ego shows him the future/past in his dreams? Doesn't Jack also see the future in one of
his dreams, when he sees himself murdering his family with an axe? I think he wasn't seeing the future; he was seeing the past, his powers forcing him to live through the event through Delbert Grady's eyes. His sense of shame over what he had done to his son caused him to substitute Delbert's family for his own.
Another thing to consider is that Danny's alter-ego pops up every now and then, talking with a different voice and personality than Danny. After arriving at the hotel, Jack occasionally turns into seemingly another person, being incredibly angry and violent at random intervals. The most important thing to consider is this: there is a point in the movie where Danny's alter-ego takes his body over completely, while a heart is beating in the background. At this point, Jack also seems to let his angry persona take him over completely. Is it possible that the heart beat wasn't the house coming to life, but Jack's buried alter-ego finally coming to life?
Even though this is my interpretation, I still recognize that it's kind of full of holes. What exactly was going on when he was at the bar talking to the ghosts? How did Jack get out of the freezer if there really weren't any malevolent ghosts, only images of the past? How did Danny get bruised? One answer is that Jack's powers, combined with his tremendous guilt and the residue of past events left in the house, built the ghosts out of bricks from the past. Maybe he was in control the whole time (or, at least, his subconcious/alter ego was), and he built the scenario as a way of venting his uncontrollable frustrations. His conversations with the ghosts was really him having a conversation with himself, and his alter ego (which makes the whole "I like to know who's paying for my drinks" thing kind of dark, as he himself is the host). Maybe the shining allows thoughts and ideas to take form, which would explain how the pantry door opened, and how Danny was bruised (right, coincidentally enough, when Jack was dreaming about attacking and killing him. Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, was he dreaming when Danny came downstairs? I think I mixed up the scene with when he was dreaming earlier, and Wendy woke him up. Eh, it just means that I have to watch the movie again
).
But maybe the best answer is that it's all of the above in a weird mix. Maybe the house had a life of it's own, there really were ghosts, and things were exasperated by Danny's (and possibly Jack's) powers. That would explain everything from the door, to the bruise, to the photograph at the end. Even for a pretty straightforward film, Kubrick always finds a way to let the audience come up with dozens of explanations for just what exactly was going on. And yes, there's also the possibility that none of the above explanations are correct, and that the whole family was simply affected by cabin fever, making the whole movie a jumble of the various perspectives of twisted minds.
There is only one thing that I disliked about the movie; the soundtrack, and the musical ques. They really weren't horrible, and on the contrary were both creepy and influential, but they too often burst their way into very tense and delicate moments. I think the suspense caused by the dialogue was more than enough to freak people out, and the music just kind of blares up as if telling us when we should be scared (like a horror movie's version of a laugh track). If there's a version out there with no music (save for the phonograph music that plays when the ghosts are around), I'd love to see it, because I think it'd be much more intense and realistic.
Anyway, that's my two cents on The Shining. There's probably someone out there with a much better explanation for the whole "Jack having the shining" theory, and others out there who have theories born from details that I never even noticed (Edit: I looked it up, and yeah, a whole bunch of people have already talked about Jack possibly shining, eventually passing it on to Danny). It really is a great movie, even (or maybe especially) for people who usually avoid the genre and prefer dramas. The amount of detail and imagery definitely warrant multiple viewings, and while the movie probably won't scare any horror movie fans into having nightmares, it'll definitely give you a sense of tense curiosity that almost forces you to watch intently until the end (which is strange, considering that it's movie with little action, little characterization, sparse dialogue, and a total body count of two).