History Headscratchers / TheShining

*** And, as is pretty significant in the book, abused young children still love their parents.

** In the other movie (miniseries?) Danny from the future helped himself in the past, sort of a closed time loop, but went by the name Tony to avoid confusing young Danny.

** The ball rolls down the empty hallway where Danny is playing outside room 237. It's what first lures him inside when he notices the door has suddenly been unlocked.

* Regarding the above deleted scene, apparently Ullman gives Danny a yellow ball as a {{Callback}}to the Room 237 scene. I didn't notice a yellow ball, but I uh - ahem - have this habit of looking a my hands during scary movies. Anybody else see this "yellow ball"? I figured it must be important if it was in the original ending...

* If (in the novel) Tony is Danny from the future, does that mean [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong he came from a timeline where Jack succeeded in killing his family?]] In other words, where did Tony come from and why is he there?

* If (in the novel) Tony is Danny from the future, does that mean he came from a timeline where Jack succeeded in killing his family? In other words, where did Tony come from and why is he there?

*** Damn!

**** Why would a lack of explanation makes something pointless? I think it's a very significant moment in the film and the fact that it may be Narmy to some viewers doesn't change the fact that it scares Wendy, and would probably scare you too if you were in her position. It's significant that it's the only time any of the hotel's "ghosts" appear to Wendy. So, far from being pointless, it further pushes the ambiguity of the nature of the Overlook - is it really haunted, or is Jack mad? Is Wendy now mad and therefore hallucinating too? Or both? Or neither?

*** It's part of a rush of WONDERFULLY surreal eldritch images that [[YourMileageMayVary I personally]] consider to be the film's CrowningMomentOfAwesome (or maybe more specifically the elevator part is). Would added context really make these images ''more'' powerful than they are as [[MindScrew mind screws]]? Really??

*** [[http://vampirebridegroom.com/journal/2006/10/28/the-shinings-dogman.html Here's a really good analysis of that scene in the Movie and the Book]]. Warning: NSFW topic.

** According to the documentary ''Stanley Kubrick's Boxes'', Kubrick destroyed unused footage. Sorry.

* Me again, guy from above paragraph. I just thought of something else. Word has it from some reliable sources that Kubrick's original ending--which sadly I cannot yet find on Youtube; it was cut out right after the premiere--had Wendy awakening in a hospital and being told by Ullman that they NeverFoundTheBody. I guess this could mean either that ''she'' was the insane one and it was all in her head--getting an imaginary husband from that photograph or something...?--or that Ullman, corrupt as he is, was just in a cover-up. The photo stands and ends the current cut, though it could be interpreted supernaturally as well--as Jack really having "sold his soul" to the hotel for that drink, for instance. CAN ANYBODY FIND ME A COPY OF THIS DELETED SCENE? PLEASE?

* Me again, guy from above paragraph. I just thought of something else. Word has it from some reliable sources that Kubrick's original ending--which sadly I cannot yet find on Youtube; it was cut out right after the premiere--had Wendy awakening in a hospital and being told by Ullman that TheyNeverFoundTheBody. I guess this could mean either that ''she'' was the insane one and it was all in her head--getting an imaginary husband from that photograph or something...?--or that Ullman, corrupt as he is, was just in a cover-up. The photo stands and ends the current cut, though it could be interpreted supernaturally as well--as Jack really having "sold his soul" to the hotel for that drink, for instance. CAN ANYBODY FIND ME A COPY OF THIS DELETED SCENE? PLEASE?

* Me again, guy from above paragraph. I just thought of something else. Word has it from some reliable sources that Kubrick's original ending--which sadly I cannot yet find on Youtube; it was cut out right after the premiere--had Wendy awakening in a hospital and being told by Ullman that TheyNeverFoundABody. I guess this could mean either that ''she'' was the insane one and it was all in her head--getting an imaginary husband from that photograph or something...?--or that Ullman, corrupt as he is, was just in a cover-up. The photo stands and ends the current cut, though it could be interpreted supernaturally as well--as Jack really having "sold his soul" to the hotel for that drink, for instance. CAN ANYBODY FIND ME A COPY OF THIS DELETED SCENE? PLEASE?

** Actually that part bugs me too, simply because it seems to be the only moment in an otherwise intriguing MaybeMagicMaybeMundane movie in which there is no easy answer from the "Mundane" column. The ambiguity is perhaps shattered irrevocably, and we know we're in a haunted building for real. Because if not, how ''could'' Jack have escaped?? Neither Wendy nor Danny would have ever let him out (Danny even less so, I think, if he were in "Tony" mode), and Hallorrann (sp?) had not yet arrived. As far as we know, they're alone in the hotel, and Jack doesn't break ''through'' the door, assuming he even could. Didn't Kubrick say that the aspect of the story that fascinated him so much was the multiple possible interpretations? (EDIT: Word has it from some reliable sources that Kubrick's original ending--which sadly I cannot yet find on Youtube; it was cut out right after the premiere--had Wendy awakening in a hospital and being told by Ullman that TheyNeverFoundABody. I guess this could mean either that ''she'' was the insane one and it was all in her head--getting an imaginary husband from that photograph or something...?--or that Ullman, corrupt as he is, was just in a cover-up. The photo stands and ends the current cut, though it could be interpreted supernaturally as well, as Jack really having "sold his soul" to the hotel for that drink, for instance.)

** Actually that part bugs me too, simply because it seems to be the only moment in an otherwise intriguing MaybeMagicMaybeMundane movie in which there is no easy answer from the "Mundane" column. The ambiguity is perhaps shattered irrevocably, and we know we're in a haunted building for real. Because if not, how ''could'' Jack have escaped?? Neither Wendy nor Danny would have ever let him out (Danny even less so, I think, if he were in "Tony" mode), and Hallorrann (sp?) had not yet arrived. As far as we know, they're alone in the hotel, and Jack doesn't break ''through'' the door, assuming he even could. Didn't Kubrick say that the aspect of the story that fascinated him so much was the multiple possible interpretations?

***** The Hotel is testing Jack. He needs a bit of a hand, but it won't do bloody everything for him.

****It's a vision of perversity, but the back story is one of betrayal and despair.

**** RuleOfScary?

*** If it can open the latch why not just open all the locked doors he has to chop down with his axe?