THE SHINING (1980) Explained

[Music] hey what's up everybody welcome to found flicks understanding explained with the new sequel dr. sleep I thought it'd be the perfect time to revisit the original classic Stanley Kubrick's The Shining where Jack Torrance becomes the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel terror starts ratcheting up as Jack uncovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to mentally unravel into a homicidal maniac The Shining is one of the most iconic and beloved horror films of all time there's no question about that Stanley Kubrick ain't your ordinary director he's one of the all-time greats so it's no surprise his version of Stephen King's book is wholly his own vision busting at the seams with iconic imagery and moments all creating a very distinct kind of atmosphere and tone the set that's on its own high tear in the genre one person who is definitely not a fan of Kubrick's quite different take on the book is the author himself King has been quite outspoken over the years about how much he dislikes Kubrick's film because it changed so much from his novel most importantly Jack's character he's portrayed has more sympathetic in the novel while Jack Nicholson's Jack is pretty much unhinged from the get-go only getting more insane as time goes on and yeah that's the kind of thing you'd expect from Nicholson he's good at going nuts that's for sure so all I do understand Kings perspective Nicholson's performance here is one of the most absolutely thrilling of all time to watch you can even do like an entire acting class just based on Nicholson's facial expressions here there's some seriously memorable stuff going on and with a filmmaker like Kubrick inevitably people are going to be analyzing every single piece of the movie trying to find hidden meanings and this one has been analyzed every which way imaginable even to the extent of an entire documentary covering several different whacked-out theories cobbled together from things in the movie sure the number 42 plus a German typewriter that means the movies really about the Holocaust okay kind of reach in there for this video we won't be going quite that far into tinfoil hat territory but we'll be dipping our toes into some of those hidden meanings I think actually are there while also answering the movie's biggest questions stuff like what's the deal with the teddy bear guy just who is Tony the reason behind the hotel is evil along with of course explaining the ending and what it means dread and fear is instantly created from the very opening with some creepy-ass music and haunting stiff with a healthy dose of weird ghostly vocals sound tracking SiC helicopter shots flying over the mountains now this is way before drones remember their former school teacher Jack Torrance first pays a visit to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado in hope of landing the winter caretaker gig he meets almond who lays out the basic responsibilities but also warns that essentially being trapped out here for several months could create a tremendous sense of isolation but Jack is confident that won't be a problem he's looking for some peace and quiet to work on a book and he's absolutely positive his wife and son will love living in the middle of nowhere for months - this all seeming like a huge lie already showing us just how desperate he is he's willing to say anything to get the job without even taking his family's feelings into consideration jack above all else which becomes even more clear when almond informs him of an alarming incident from the hotel's history back in 1970 the winter caretaker a man named Charles Grady went nuts and chopped up his wife and two daughters with an axe chalking it up as your classic case of cabin fever and again Jack plays it cool even suggesting that his wife would find the story amusing as she's a fan of horror films well if you say so Jackie boy and don't worry you're definitely not going to go nuts and try to do the exact same thing he did that it's definitely definitely not gonna happen that's what happens meanwhile Jack's son Danny and wife Wendy are discussing the job over breakfast as well as her casually smoking a cigarette around her child ha the good old days asking if he's excited about the hotel he's not so sure well what about Toni she asks and Danny starts wagging his fingers speaking in a weird kooky voice and it turns out Tony ain't excited to go there either Tony is referred to as his imaginary friend which is sort of accurate but Tony is actually a part of Danny related to his ability to shine here Tony acts as kind of a guide to Danny's shining powers allowing him to see events in the past present and future this is first glimpse when Tony says that Jack already got the job and will be calling soon which happens exactly as predicted followed by another more frightening image when asking again about the hotel and why he's afraid to go there Danny's shown a vision of blood pouring out of a set of elevators flooding the floor gruesome tidal wave this episode causes him to blackout and not remember what happened and when a concerned Wendy calls a doctor she asked when he started speaking with Tony remembering it was all the way back in nursery school he didn't adjust well to school and after an accident his parents pulled him from class the accident being one of grave importance to the family one night a drunken and angry jack came home finding papers of his strewn all over the floor caused by Danny when he went to go yank the boy away it was with enough force that it dislocated his shoulder well it's not a good sign of Jack's character already based on that and it's already established selfish nature even if she insists that it was only an accident whatever you got a thought yourself sweetheart you did at least vow to never drink again and has been on the level ever since so you know that's something arriving at the hotel the family are given a tour of the grounds and Wendy is quite impressed with its size and beauty Ullman delves into the locations history including quite importantly that it was built on top of an Indian burial ground the building crew even having to fight off Indian attackers during construction oh wow we know even from just Stephen King stories alone that it is bad mojo to build on top of a graveyard and the many restless spirits could be responsible for the hotel's evil essentially cursed due to its location here we come to one of the more popular insane theories that I do actually kind of buy into the movies relation to white man's overtaking of the Indian we have the literal building on the sacred ground of their dead also seen throughout the hotel is obvious Indian iconography a kind of bastardization of what they have callously destroyed in building the hotel which does sound like how things went back in the Old West days with a white man wiping out the Native Americans in addition to Jack's specifically using the phrase later of white man's burden this all seems like one of those bigger themes that Kubrick actually was going for while his parents are getting the Grand Tour Danny is left alone with a dartboard oddly encountering a pair of girls and matching dresses these are the granny twins who were actually slain by their father Charles why don't they say nothing and leave almost letting Danny know that the games have only just begun Amy dick Halloran a gentle man and a hotel chef who shows off t quite stacks pantry and walk-in freezer and makes fast friends with Danny who he calls doc a nickname that is Peris use but how would he know that because just like Danny he has the shining as well explaining over a bowl of ice cream that he and his grandmother used to have entire conversations without opening their mouths and learned over time that there were others out there with the same abilities Danny mentions Tony but he doesn't want him to talk about anything dick then asked to be shown him anything about the Overlook he doesn't answer but we know the blood of a derp is from the hotel a warning if you will dick feels that just like some people have this shining some places do as well such as the Overlook saying that when something happens a trace of it is left behind but only those with the shine can see these traces believing a lot of things have happened in the hotel over the years and not all of them were good and perhaps from reading Dick's thoughts Danny asks about room 237 thinking that there's something bad in there that he's afraid of but dick insists he's not afraid while also demanding that Danny never enter the room well that seems suspicious as though he's already aware of something bad in there a month later the family appears to have fallen into a comfortable routine at the hotel the ever caring and sweet windy bringing is still snoozing Jackson breakfast she asked to go on a walk but he says he's got to do some writing first our first sign of his becoming separated from his family and turning obsessed with working even though he admits he has no good ideas this needs to be another major actual problem for Jack but he's just not a very good writer and that's where a lot of his problems come from as well as the days pass we see his behavior already becoming more aggressive and closed off well furiously typing away at the typewriter Wendy cheerily comes in asking how it's going he grumbles that he wants to finish his work and goes off on her about out every time she comes in his concentration is broken establishing a new rule if he's in the room that means he's working so don't come in jeez what a total ass soon there's a massive snowstorm that covers the grounds seeing Wendy and Danny and happily frolicking outside while Jack's definitely got something else going on staring blankly out the window and looking totally deranged man I love that face might be my favorite one turns out the storm took down the phone lines and when using an emergency radio she finds out it's the worst storm they've had in years and the lines usually stay down until spring gee sure is remote out here at least they still have the emergency radio in case something bad happens elsewhere Danny is rolling around the hotel on his big wheel the greatest winds are back and this time they've got something to say telling him hello also seeing flashes of their hacked-up bodies asking Danny to come play with them forever and ever and ever he covers his face in horror and peeking through a moment later they're gone he asked Tony for help who reminds him of what dick said they're just traces like pictures in a book they aren't real and can't actually hurt him still pretty terrifying though Jack continues to lose his grip mentally bound by Danny sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze he asks him over and even though he seems genuine everything he says is actually somehow disturbing and off he maintains that he loves the hotel and echoing the twins says he wants to stay forever and ever Danny can send something off asking if he would ever hurt him or his mother Jack cops a major found face saying he loves him more than anything else and would never hurt him accompanied by a big old insane grin he everything's fine Danny nothing to worry about good lord this dude is going nuts one day while playing with some cars a tennis ball rolls towards Danny out of nowhere he follows it to the usually locked room 237 this time finding the door wide open thinking it must be his mom in there the curiosity takes him through the forbidden door no we don't actually see what happens back at his desk jack is going ballistic heard by Wendy screaming finding him in the throes of a nightmare trying to bring him back he topples out of the chair and looking genuinely frightened reveals he dreamt of killing her and Danny in the same exact manner as Charles Grady and he is coming to realise that he is losing his mind yeah you think so bud whoo-wee Danny enters the scene and Wendy notices marks on his neck assuming that it was Jack responsible having harmed the boy again but he's still way too disturbed to defend himself or even really say anything in response as she flees with her boy I still upset jack rages and yells at no one coming to the Gold Room and takes a seat at the empty bar and we can see Jack longing for even a sweet sip of lady liquor his luck is about to change a bartender magically appearing in the bar now completely stopped strangely Jack already knows the man's name is Lloyd who he says he always liked better than the others implying that they have met before Lloyd here and indeed all of the spirits seen are manifestations of the evil at the hotel and are obviously setting Jack up to inevitably go bonkers and kill his family when asking how thing are going he admits things could be better but he also maintains that he would never hurt Danny his wife on the other hand he reveals he is less of a fan of calling her a bitch for never letting him forget what he did Wow what a romantic huh his venting session is interrupted by a frantic Wendy who has new concerns in the hotel that of a supposed woman in room 237 who is the one who actually heard Danny looks like some of these spirits at least are more than just traces and can actually cause physical harm book makes the connection more obvious but the spirits are becoming more dangerous because of Danny's presence and powers kind of feeding on them to grow stronger so they can't also do more than harm as Jack goes to investigate the room which appears completely normal until entering the bathroom and there actually is somebody in the tub a shapely young woman exits an alluring Li approaches Jack which he seems to approve of another hilariously demented looking smirk she plants a big kiss on him and her figure changes to a rotted older woman who cackles and chases him in disbelief out of the room the movie doesn't expand on who this is but she was once a patron of the hotel miss Massey she came to have an affair with a younger man only for him to steal her ride and abandon her the heartbreak was enough for her to take her own life in the tub this moment at least to me also has a more significant thematic relevance as well it's almost as though this moment is the hotel's evil enticing jack into the dark side she first appears in her more attractive state which he falls for immediately then reverting to her true appearance much more unappealing and well dead rotting flesh evil timpz in many ways but the outcome is always unfavorable he was duped by a shiny package and in some ways it seems that choosing to go for that ghostly kiss robs jack of what little is left of his humanity when returning to windy he chooses to tell her he didn't see anything in the room and things did it must have been Danny who actually harmed himself all the strangeness is enough for Wendy to want to leave but Jack it's extremely heated he claims she's fucked up his life so far and won't let her do it anymore and his bizarre true feelings about Wendy are really starting to come to the surface she's been extremely nice to him the entire time and supportive and everything what does he do he acts like a big jerk vase seeking solace from lady licker Jack returns to his old watering hole this time finding a huge party in full swing and based on the outfits they must be from the aforementioned nineteen he's heyday of the hotel he bumps into a waiter who then guides him in the bathroom to clean the mess up jack asked the man's name telling him Delbert Grady he's confused asking about murdering his family but Delbert doesn't recall that's because he's thinking of Charles Grady not Delbert meaning there are two completely different Grady's that have fallen victim to the hotel Jack still doesn't understand this key difference insisting that he was the former caretaker but Delbert cracks in that Jack is the caretaker and that he always has been which only confuses him further as we know all these spirits are created by the hotel and they'll see our acting in its benefit tell Burt then begins to make clear their plan to murder his family he mentions that danny has a special talent and is bringing Halloran into his aid using his talents against Jack's will offering that his son might need a good talking-to perhaps a bit more yeah like an axe to the face or something you know proper discipline Delbert then begins to reference Charles's murderous actions or perhaps he also had two daughters just as he did and says that one of his daughters tried to set fire to the hotel which luckily he corrected this is interesting because it sounds like one of his girls caught on to the fact of the hotel was bad and thusly would have had the shine as well seemingly in reaction to the mounting danger Danny is taken over by Tony chanting Redrum over and over telling his mother Danny's gone away her husband isn't faring much better discovering his latest output all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy endlessly typed on stacks of papers he appears and attempts to kill her trying to convince her to hand over the bat which he does in a way bashing him in the head with it which knocks him out cold tumbling down the stairs allowing her to lock him up in the cold storage freezer for the time being but before Wendy leaves jack has one last surprise for her he says her discovering that the radio and the snowcat have been damaged meaning they have no means of contact with anyone or escape especially with a never-ending relentless storm outside first things first though he's got to get out of the freezer luckily a familiar voice pays him a visit on the other side of the door Delbert who expresses disappointment in him so far wondering along with the other hotel spirits if he has what it takes to do what they asked and kill his family he gets pissed especially that Wendy got the better of him and vows to do what must be done to be set free this moment is the only purely supernatural moment in the entire film again how does a ghost gonna let you out of a cold storage freezer could have been Danny though I guess the boy has another total freakout which actually seems more like a warning to the sleeping windy still chanting Redrum he grabs a big ol knife writing it in lipstick on the door as seen in an earlier vision he begins to scream which wakes her up seeing in the reflection that it spells murder just as jack is getting to work on the door with an axe si seems like Tony was actually trying to help her warning her right before jack got there and making sure she was armed - thanks town more help is on the way from the kindly and shining attuned chef mr. Halloran who grew increasingly concerned over the family's well-being especially after Danny reaches out to him for help with his shine flying all the way from Florida and renting his own snowcat just to get to the hotel but I'll be damned if he doesn't have the worst look of all time barely making it inside he calls out to the empty halls which draws jack away from Wendy and surprises hollering with a fatal accident have spidey sense or something that doubt would have come in handy the hotel's evil now at full power more strange things await windy as she flails around like a dude and its heady bear costume given someone a blow job all right of course this is almost a non sequitur in the movie version just a bizarre unexplained moment but this is another guest who got into this kind of mischief who was flushed out more in the book as she encounters more in the hotel of Horrors like a split head Gilbert cheering and declaring it a great party then finding the entire main room now decrepit and covered in cobwebs its occupants now all elegantly dressed skeletons and of course our big finale the infamous beloved oh yeah that's gonna be a pain to clean out outside Danny flees into the hedge maze and has one of the most intense chase scenes in movie history trying to evade his deranged father in the snowy labyrinth he finally makes it back to the entrance just as wendy is coming outside hopping into Dick's snowcat thanks buddy and they flee into the night jack is locked behind yelling for them and growing weaker with no means of escape he freezes to death in the bitter cold all alone seeing some time later frozen into a jack sickle well guess that's what you get for being a selfish jerk that's susceptible to being consumed by evil we then return inside the hotel amongst the wall of photographs one party is singled out a big group of revelers with what looks like Jack front-and-center a beaming smile on his face strangest of all is the photographs date 1921 that's because the man in the photo isn't actually Jack but a former incarnation of him and our Jack is a reincarnation of that man the biggest clue to this being the case is the Delbert and Charles Grady thing two different people from the same family that were taken by the hotel it appears the same goes for Jack's family line doomed with each successive generation to live the same fate just as Delbert tells him he's the caretaker and always has been additionally when Jack is beginning to lose it he does admit that he feels like he has been here before and could tell what was around every hallway along with knowing who Lloyd the bartender was by name and everything as though they had a pre-existing relationship in another life it all kind of comes into focus what's going on here and again if Grady's daughter did have the shine this could be the specific reason why the hotel is seeking out those more gifted people out there and as it has its own shine can in a sense lure them here now the outcome of the film is quite a bit different than the novel which seems to be another reason King as in a fan of the adaptation rather than a lengthy heads chase Danny enters the maze and the topiary animals come to life they had actually intended to use this idea in the movie but couldn't figure out the logistics of bringing that effect to reality so I was adjusted to the chase which still works well as Jack is 100% a villain by that point with no going back just a terrifying chase through the snow that was another issue that King had that this jack was kind of a jerk the whole time only taken to the deadly degree by the hotel as the novel's ending gives a hint of redemption for the character one of his duties was to maintain the boilers and guess what he doesn't do it creating a dangerous amount of pressure over time he gives Danny and windy out to safety and attempts to go down to fix the problem but it's too late the boiler explodes taking him and the entire Overlook in the explosion rather than leaving the hotel standing as it is in the movie the movie abruptly ends with Danny and Wendy's escape but in the novel in addition to Haller and also surviving we learn the specifics of just who Tony is as I said earlier he is a part of Danny and he actually is an older Danny helping his younger self from 10 years in the future the shine as we know can show events from the past and future and Danny's older self is helping his younger version go through what must have been the most difficult experience of his life and act as a guide to help him through the terror and learn how to use his powers so Tony definitely was an ally to Danny and Wendy with that we've reached the conclusion of this ending explained on the shining well I'm sure there are tons of other hidden things I'm missing we'll never really know for sure what any of it means as Kubrick is long gone and he's the only one that could answer about all this stuff but there is a lot of interesting little details that I didn't even mention before like the very weird layout of the hotel which seems designed specifically to disorient you such as the magical window right in the middle of the hotel just doesn't make sense or why does a typewriter change color well where the heck did that chair go in that one scene a continuity error I kind of doubt it because of just how meticulous Kubrick was it was almost an endless amount of these details and moments to delve into what just shows us how much of a visionary director he was creating the entire world from scratch and manipulating every single piece of it to craft the world of his movies pretty impressive stuff I guess that's why he's considered a pretty good director some people like them now Stephen King though what do you guys think of the shining and it's ending do you have any wacky theories of your own about the movie's real meaning let me know your thoughts in the comment below make sure to LIKE subscribe and follow thanks for watching conflicts see you next time

Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 838,128

Rating: 4.9066744 out of 5

Keywords: the shining, the shining ending explained, the shining explanation, ending explained, ending, explained, explanation, jack torrance, the shine, tony, stanley kubrick, stephen king, hidden meaning, meaning, room 237, doctor sleep, final scene, end scene, trailer, clip

Id: iCi81H6wrgM

Length: 21min 12sec (1272 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 09 2019