Of course the documentary room 237 posed all kinds of crazy theories like the movie is really about americans cruel treatment of native americans or. What happened at the end of stanley kubricks the shining. The victim danny can be viewed as the inner child of jacks spouse, wendy torrance, which means that the abuse is a traumatic. The aforementioned sequel, doctor sleep, got a cinematic adaptation that serves as both a sequel to the shining novel and kubricks film, in a way. No horror movie ever has been more analyzed and debated than the shining. For the door that jack chops through with the axe near the end of the film, kubrick originally shot this scene with a fake. Mar 10, 2016 stanley kubricks the shining has one hell of an ending. Aronofsky has said that the odd punctuation of the title is a clue to the films dizzying, 25minute conclusionhis cinematic exclamation point being a sequence in which lawrences character. Stanley kubricks the shining has one hell of an ending. S tanley kubricks indelible take on both the horror genre and the popular fiction of stephen king, the shining is both a radical distillation of its source novels densely stuffed ghostsandgore imagery as well as a conflation of its hidden central theme of the truelife horrors of domestic abuse. A theory that will change how you watch the shining. Gonna go out on a limb and guess youre a fan of rob ager. Doctor sleep comes to an end by referring back to the shining and bringing the story of danny torrance to an end.
The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them. At first, it feels like a traditional horror set up a guy gets hired to spend the winter in an enormous. Kubricks adaptation of the original story makes some drastic changes, leaving the movies danny not necessarily bound to the same fate. The result is a film that, though it ignores almost every major spookshow episode in the. Subscribe to our youtube channel to see the bloodcurdling lengths kubrick put his crew through in 7 movies that put insane amounts of work into small details, and watch other videos you wont see on the site. The hotel itself is built on the site of an indian burial ground and becomes completely snowbound during the long winters. In the shining, she exists to remind jack of his flimsy morals, and also plants a seed of doubt in young dannys head.
Jack is an alcoholic and child abuser who has reportedly not had a drink for five months but is anything but a recovering alcoholic. Mar 30, 2017 the shining is a horror cinema masterpiece, and figuring out its haunting and iconic ending was no easy task for stanley kubrick. The shining 1977 is a novel by american author stephen king. The shining has lost its shine kubrick was slumming it. Jul 08, 2015 when the shining premiered in limited release in may 1980, the hospital scene was still there. The shining producer explains ending changes the shining is a horror cinema masterpiece, and figuring out its haunting and iconic ending was no easy task for stanley kubrick. The newest movie, directed by mike flanagan geralds game, the haunting of hill house, is the cinematic telling of kings 20 sequel novel which revisits the. The shining is a 1980 pyschological horror film directed by filmmaker stanley kubrick, and based on the 1977 stephen king book of the same title. When stephen kings third novel the shining hit the shelves in 1977, it became his first hardcover bestseller.
The film is based on stephen kings 1977 novel of the same name. There was no internet when the shining was released and it. At the end of the shining, why is jack in the photo of. Kubrick decided to direct a comparatively crowd appealing film, maybe as a result of the financially poor performance of barry lyndon, which by many revered critics and filmmakers is considered to be his best film. Ultimately, the genius of the shining is that the ending can mean almost anything you want it to mean. However, thanks to a shining fan site run by toy story 3 director lee unkrich, shining obsessives can now get closer than they have in decades to seeing the ending themselves. For starters, the end of the shinings novel saw the overlook hotel burning.
The shining is a film about cyclical violence, and about how we cant escape the dark specter of history. The 10 most outrageous theories about what the shining. An alternate adaptation written by king himself, the. Apr 08, 2020 the movie ends with kiwoo back in his own basement, just as imprisoned as his father but by economic circumstances rather than legal ones. The interpretation of the ending is going to depend a lot on your interpretation of the film. Parents need to know that the shining is the classic 1980 stanley kubrickdirected film based on the stephen king novel about a man hired to be the caretaker of a hotel deep in the mountains of colorado who develops severe dementia from a combination of cabin fever and the dark and haunted past of the hotel. Jack torrance jack nicholson arrives at the overlook hotel to interview for the open position of winter caretaker. If it seems odd that a movie more than three decades old would now warrant a film documenting its most indepth theories, consider this. Sep 29, 2016 kubricks biggest wtf moment is finally explained. Blood flows throughout this film literally in several notorious scenes. Theres the sense that a great talent has been wasted. The overlook is built on the sacred lands of native americans slaughtered by white.
As amazing as the ending to doctor sleeps movie sounds, the ending for stephen kings book was way different. The shinings 1980 hedge maze chase is one of the most iconic endings in horror history. Just days after the film opened, however, kubrick decided the epilogue needed to be excised. The meaning and topics addressed in the novel are very different than those in the film, given kubricks many changes to the story in order to fit his vision.
With hereditary now in theaters, we take a look at the dark, disturbing, and twisted ending and try to explain what the hell happened to the characters. What is the explanation of the ending of the shining. Theres plenty of speculation surrounding hidden meanings and conspiracy theories of the shining a featurelength documentarys worth, to be exact but the strangest part of the film may forever be wendys sudden discovery of a man in a work suit receiving fellatio from a man in a bear suit stanley kubrick famously tried to distance. Wikiquote heeft een of meer citaten van of over the shining film. And learn which pixar movie is basically an ode to the shining in 6 mindblowing easter eggs hidden in famous movies. The victim danny can be viewed as the inner child of jacks spouse, wendy torrance, which means that the abuse is a traumatic memory of a crime committed on wendy as she was a child. At the end of the shining, why is jack in the photo of the. The shining, one of the stephen kings bestselling novels and the film that has had a huge impact in pop culture, finally has the ending explained in an interview with ew, producers jan harlan and diane johnson explain the steps that were taken in making the film, and the decisions made by director stanley kubrick to create the final ending in the novel, the shining ends with the death.
The shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by stanley kubrick and. Just revisiting this movie in text is making me feel uncomfortable. The film is based on stephen kings 1977 novel of the same name and stars jack nicholson, shelley duvall, scatman crothers, and danny lloyd the films central character is jack torrance nicholson, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy or, rather, a homicidal boy in stanley kubricks eerie 1980 adaptation of stephen kings horror novel.
The final, terrible shot of jack on the ground, his frozen face forever stuck in its maniacal, upwardlooking openmouth gaze, instantly freezes itself into the brain of anyone who witnesses it. The movie ends with kiwoo back in his own basement, just as imprisoned as his father but by economic circumstances rather than legal ones. The title of the novel was inspired by the john lennon song instant karma. When the shining premiered in limited release in may 1980, the hospital scene was still there.
The shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by stanley kubrick and cowritten with novelist diane johnson. The most debated element of the shining s ending is the revelation in the final shot that jack is present in a photo of the overlooks fourth of july party in 1921. The 6 weirdest theories about the shining mother jones. Mazes symbol mazes play a large role in the film, and particularly at its climax. Followed by the stand in 1978, these books cemented kings place as. Heres what fans need to know about the ending of the movie and whether it has. Chandors stunning new movie all is lost, chances are you. The shining, more than any other of his films, has inspired hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words devoted to finding the meaning behind the film, even though, or, especially because, kubrick himself was reluctant to discuss possible interpretations of his films, leaving it to the viewer to make up their own mind. Apr 05, 2018 the shining is a 1980 horror film produced and directed by stanley kubrick and cowritten with novelist diane johnson. The final, terrible shot of jack on the ground, his frozen face forever stuck in its maniacal, upwardlooking openmouth gaze, instantly freezes itself into the brain of anyone who.
At first, it feels like a traditional horror setup a guy gets hired to spend the winter in an enormous hotel, secluded from civilization, where obviously something will go very wrong. The final shot of the shining, its ambiguity forever helping stanley kubricks most popular film carry on its enduring legacy for nearly thirty. Okay this is going to be long, maybe a little rambling, and full of spoilers. Producers reveal why stephen kings book ending was changed for. What does that famous final shot of stanley kubricks the shining really mean, and what happens to the traumatized characters left alive. Below, executive producer jan harlan and screenwriter diane. In shining lore, the numeral 237 itself is of special significance, being as kubrick changed the room number from kings 217 for reasons that for many have never been satisfactorily explained. Why kubrick changed the ending to the shining, page 1. For me, the film is primarily about the cycle of violence and how people ca. Until the last minute, the plot seems to be wrapping up in a conventional way. The shining symbols, allegory and motifs gradesaver. Doctor sleep features 3 shots from the shining the naked old woman mythology dates back to an overlook hotel guest named lorraine massey, a woman who seduced young employees. Danny ultimately uses the maze to disorient and trap his father while escaping from the maze to reunite with his mother. But kubricks original version of the film included another scene inserted between these two iconic.
In the lost ending of the shining, jacks frozen stare cuts to a scene where the overlook hotels manager, stuart ullman, visits jacks wife wendy and son danny in a colorado hospital where theyre recovering from their ordeal. How the shining movies ending differs from the book. The shining is a horror cinema masterpiece, and figuring out its haunting and iconic ending was no easy task for stanley kubrick. The shining is a tragedy, and wed be remiss to classify the ending otherwise. The shining is a 1980 horror film produced and directed by stanley kubrick and cowritten with novelist diane johnson. The shining hidden meanings of the shining gradesaver. Followed by the stand in 1978, these books cemented kings place as the preeminent. As the film develops, it becomes more mysterious, ambiguous, threatening, and hallucinatory. The film is based on stephen kings 1977 novel of the same name and stars jack nicholson, shelley duvall, scatman crothers, and danny lloyd the film s central character is jack torrance nicholson, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a.
The true story behind the legendary lost ending of the. He decided to adapt stephen kings best selling novel, the shining. We recently shared some interesting information regarding stanely kubricks the shining in which we learned some of the original alternate endings that were explored by the director and his creative team the other versions of the ending included wendy killing jack, jack killing danny, and even one in which dick hallorann was one of the real villains of the story. Theres plenty of speculation surrounding hidden meanings and conspiracy theories of the shining a featurelength documentarys worth, to be exact but the strangest part of the film may forever be wendys sudden discovery of a man in a work suit receiving fellatio from a man in a bear suit stanley kubrick famously tried to distance himself. The photograph at the end of stanley kubricks the shining.
Of course the documentary room 237 posed all kinds of crazy theories like the movie is really about americans cruel treatment of native americans or an apology for kubrick filming a fake moon landing. Dec 24, 2018 when stephen kings third novel the shining hit the shelves in 1977, it became his first hardcover bestseller. When he imagines he drinks with the imaginary bartender, he is as drunk as if he. The final shot of the shining, its ambiguity forever helping stanley kubricks most popular film hold its enduring legacy for nearly thirty years. Jun 08, 2018 with hereditary now in theaters, we take a look at the dark, disturbing, and twisted ending and try to explain what the hell happened to the characters. Why that bear performed fellatio on that guy in the shining. As with some of his other movies, kubrick ends the shining with a powerful visual puzzle that forces the. Massey serves as a psychological reminder of everything awful. Not only is the site called the overlook hotel with its overlook maze, but one of the key scenes takes place at the july 4th ball. Oct 27, 2016 before the end of the 1980s, i wasnt the only one to do a 180degree turn and decide the shining was a great horror movie after all. The tension felt when jack jack nicholson chases danny danny lloyd through the hotel grounds is incredible. Shining definition is emitting or reflecting light. It was adapted for the screen by directorproducer stanley kubrick and novelistacademic diane johnson. Below, executive producer jan harlan and screenwriter diane johnson who wrote the script with kubrick explain in greater detail than ever before how the legendary.
Seriously exhaustive analysis of the shining shows. Before the end of the 1980s, i wasnt the only one to do a 180degree turn and decide the shining was a great horror movie after all. Given the legendary place that kubricks the shining occupies in cinema culture, it is perhaps unsurprising that it has been the subject of endless interpretation, including a few extreme readings. Jan 23, 20 however, thanks to a shining fan site run by toy story 3 director lee unkrich, shining obsessives can now get closer than they have in decades to seeing the ending themselves. How does the ending of the shining differ from stephen. May 31, 20 the shining, more than any other of his films, has inspired hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words devoted to finding the meaning behind the film, even though, or, especially because, kubrick himself was reluctant to discuss possible interpretations of his films, leaving it to the viewer to make up their own mind. Jan 29, 2019 the most debated element of the shining s ending is the revelation in the final shot that jack is present in a photo of the overlooks fourth of july party in 1921. The shining novel and film work best as separate pieces, and each ending has a different meaning.