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Originally Posted by Chula Vista
So Kubrick sets up the overhead shot, films it, yells cut, and has the crew move everything 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Why? I can guarantee that pretty much no-one noticed this during their first viewing of the movie. So why do it?
During the scene where Wendy is going through the hotel with the knife looking for Danny they have the camera filming her straight on a number of times inter-cut with showing us what she's seeing. Each time they show Wendy the background color is either predominantly red or blue.
When it's red the knife is in one of her hands and when it's blue it's in the other. Again, why do this?
Stanley being Stanley.
And it was Danny who let Jack out of the food storage room.........  |
Again, I don't think it's that crazy that he was making a commentary about perspective, casting doubts on what supposedly "good" characters like Wendy and Danny encountered. After all, isn't that one of the main themes of the movie anyway?
Red is the color of blood, and for that reason our bodies are able to notice that color more than others, since it's basically the color of danger and pain. Jack truly makes up his mind about "correcting" his family in a room that is painted completely red, Wendy is holding a knife when the color red appears, etc., all makes sense as a commentary on fear.
What drove Jack to try to kill his family (or, alternatively, what caused Wendy to
believe he was attacking her)? Is the fear that warped their perceptions the same as the fear that drove the Americans into massacring the Native Americans? Is it the same hysteria that caused Germany to follow the Nazi party? Is it the same paranoia that makes it easier for people to believe that the government staged various historical events than to go by what has been verified by people they don't trust? After all, they're giving into timeless survival instincts and the tribal mentality that has existed throughout humanity's history, and it's just like Grady says (and again, i'm paraphrasing): "I've always been here, and so have you".
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Originally Posted by Frownland
I think that with The Shining you could make a case that those are subtle cues hinting at Jack's deteriorating mental state.
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Was it the ghosts that gave it away?
When you first watch the movie, he's the one who is pegged as the obvious villain. But like Chula said earlier, there are different narratives going on, and different ways to look at the movie. Jack isn't the only one who sees things that don't make sense, and that may just be Kubrick screwing with the audience, it still makes you wonder if maybe the whole family wasn't afflicted by cabin fever and latent fears/grudges coming to surface.
Edit: Hey Chula, I have a question. Throughout the movie, you hear Jack typing his "story". Has anyone ever listened to when he hits the letter and space keys, to see if he's actually typing "All work and No Play... etc."? It'd be freaky if he was
actually typing something else the whole time.