Video unavailable This video is unavailable Watch on That strange scene with the bear costume, finally explained. Related:Are Charles & Delbert Grady The Same Person? The ghost is Delbert Grady, and the past caretaker was Charles Grady. And Kubrick all but disregarded the novel when making the film. Who is the man in the bear costume in "The Shining"? Those who believe this theory also suggest that it indicates the events that happen to Danny inside of Room 237, which are not shown to the audience. Danny goes back to his room to get his firetruck and sees a grim looking Jack, his face shown through the mirror again. One of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly. Learn More{{/message}}. All Rights Reserved. Wendy Torrance, (played by Shelly Duvall) frantically roams the halls of the Overlook Hotel looking for her son Danny while her husband, Jack Torrence ( played by Jack Nicholson) goes on an axe rampage. Connecting the dots, The Shining bear man and his partner could be stand-ins for Danny and Jack. In this post, well break down the six biggest theories on. Before he can retaliate, we hear the sounds of an engine running, marking the arrival of Halloran. Wendy and Danny lock themselves in the bathroom, and Wendy sends Danny through the window. A visual medium requires visual methods. It is used throughout the movie to symbolize the incest and sexual abuse between Jack and Danny. In the kitchen, Halloran takes Wendy and Danny through a twisting-turning path and then opens the freezer room, shot cuts, and we see him opening the door on the wrong side contradicting the previous shot. We see an overly terrified Wendy screaming in agony at the sight, but slashes Jacks hand when he tries to turn the knob open. Ultimately, it's all speculative, but Ager's cogent proof unravels the mystery of the bear man all the same. The abuse part of the story is both physical and psychological: both Wendy and Danny are clearly scared of Jack, even before the hotels influence took control of him, and yet they stayed with him. For example, during the scene where Danny is speaking to his psychiatrist, he is laying on stuffed bears. And what is the meaning? Whats the fun in a horror movie if the characters could just run through corridors swiftly and escape through the main door without any hindrance. Stanley Kubrick's iconic Stephen King adaptation is intentionally dense and even nonsensical at times. But that isnt exactly true. Danny's experience in Room 237 occurs when a ball rolls into the room, and Wendy then comes to his rescue after she hears him screaming punctuated with the claim that a "crazy woman" strangled him. ", Related: What Jack Nicholson Was Really Like Filming The Shining. First few seconds and we are already given a taste of the mise en scne. Although this makes sense, Kubrick himself has said the photo actually suggests Jack being a reincarnation of an earlier official at the hotel. Both the usage of pre-existing music and the original score composed for The Shining are standouts of the genre. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings. In any other film from any other director, you may discard the information as sheer coincidence, but Kubrick was famously cryptic, scattering clues and imagery throughout each and every one of his films leading to a more concealed secret. This scene has been interpreted many ways, and one of the most popular explanations is that it represents the hotel absorbing Jacks soul. Theres something inherently wrong with the human personality. In this interview, Stephen King supports the notion that the Overlook Hotel could represent hell. Kevin is a sweet, frustrated kid. Vitali became a close career-long collaborator of Kubricks and on the set of The Shining he was assigned to work closely with the young actor Danny Lloyd (there are several parallels in The Shining between actors first names and the first names of characters two Jacks, two Dannys and two Lloyds). She clutches a knife and slowly ascends up stairs. Even the Gold Room is spatially impossible due to its enormous size, a beautiful irony of the vastness of the effect of claustrophobia. . Danny and Wendy explore the maze and tired of throwing the ball around, Jack proceeds to gaze over the model of the maze, which is very complexly built compared to the actual maze and symbolizes a sense of psychological entrapment. That scene towards the end of The Shining where Wendy (Shelley Duvall) is navigating the hallways and sees a man receiving a bj from a person in a creepy bear suit. The Shining is full of allegory and mystery, but none are as wild and potentially insidious as what could be lurking behind that strange man in a bear suit. Stephen King's Doctor Sleep follows an adult Danny Torrance after the events at The Overlook Hotel and his endeavor to find closure. Wendy defends herself with a knife and slashes Jacks arm, causing him to retreat. A shift from dog to bear costume doesnt have any significant effect on the aesthetic scariness of the scene so there must have been some sort of logic at work in Kubricks decision. Of course, the ghost of Grady freeing Jack from the freezer remains hard to explain away, although that doesn't stop some from trying. In researching the film I have found three thematic interpretations of the bear man scene and I believe Kubrick intended all three of these metaphors as part of the subliminal narrative. Surprisingly, Jack expresses nothing but anticipation towards the role of the caretaker. Well explain each theory, why people believe it, and look at the corroborating evidence. In one of the most beautiful 5 minutes on the big screen (the heavenly use of colors and symmetry and such calm destruction of the imaginary axis), we see Grady convince Jack to correct his family and reminds him that he has always been the caretaker, which was then shown in the B/W picture at the end. The sequel to The Shining, 2019's Doctor Sleep movie managed to walk a delicate tightrope between adapting King's Shining sequel book and being a follow-up to Kubrick's Shining movie. The Overlook or the hedge structure. Here's the meaning of The Shining Bear Man explained. At the beginning of the movie, Wendy mentions that Jack once injured Danny's arm, and it's later implied that Danny's imaginary friend, Tony, is . Moving forward, we meet Dick Halloran (Scatman Crauthers) the head cook at the hotel who notices the telekinetic and precognitive powers Danny possesses, which he calls The Shining. Kubrick deliberately left many things unexplained, including many details from the third act he did, however, explain why Jack Torrance appears in The Shining picture at the end. For more information, please see our comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment [deleted] Related: IT Chapter Two's Shining Reference Hints At Stephen King's Shared Universe. Coming back to The Overlook, Jack then starts hacking through the main door of their quarters with an axe, while Wendy and Danny run into the bathroom. Stanley Kubricks The Shining is regarded by many as one of the greatest films ever made, and one that to this day continues to be the subject of many debates and discussions. Add to that the fact that he reads Playgirl magazine. Returning to the comparisons between the bear costumed man scene and Danny talking to the psychiatrist, sexuality is subtly referenced in both scenes. The Shining Caretaker Explained, Every Shining Character Who Returns In Doctor Sleep. There were many controversies regarding the adaptation taking its own course halfway down the line, and is still lambasted by King and many bookworms. Either way though, it's a haunting moment in The Shining, as the dynamic between the two men is uncomfortable, to say the least. Kubrick was responsible for such awkward structuring, mainly because he wanted to instill horror through ambience. Our partial view of the felatio bear, before he leans back from the bed, matches our partial view of Danny brushing his teeth before his first Shining vision. The latter is the one that Jack says he saw in the newspaper (and the one who killed his family in the hotel), and thus the reincarnation of Delbert Grady. As for all the weird stuff Wendy stumbles across while running through the hotel, like the guy in the bear suit blowing the party guest and the lift full of blood, it's like Halloran said earlier in the film: "A lot of things happened in this hotel over the years, and not all of them were good". When Wendy finds Danny after he enters room 237, hes in shock and physically injured, and Wendy immediately blames Jack for it as he has hurt their son before. This is one of the more far-fetchedThe Shiningtheories. Is this implying that Jack forced his son to perform felatio in the fatherly love scene? In attempting to answer "what is The Shining about?" Stanley Kubrick's films are known for leaving behind hints and foreshadowing as well as clues that all signify some kind of deeper meaning, usually tethered to psychological conditions, phenomena, or theory. Ager cites Jack's experience in Room 237 as evidence that he's abusing his son. Lover of foreign films; hater of American remakes. Famous Guns in Movies Cinemas Most Creative Movie Guns, What is SAG-AFTRA Guild History, Eligibility & Membership. Sam Kench is an internationally-awarded screenwriter, independent filmmaker, and film critic. Like The Shining's Overlook Hotel, the Stanley Hotel also has a haunted history, even possessing a particularly haunted room (number 217) just like the Overlook's room 237. She looks at the inscription through the mirror which reveals itself to be MURDER. On the subject of wedding rings, a consistent detail is that none of the males in the film wear one. The fact that his films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining require detailed explanations says a lot about his craft. At the hedge maze, Danny manages to escape by laying a false trail to mislead Jack. The puzzled look on Jacks face can be interpreted as an effort to get his mind straight, and notice him using slurs every time he talks to Wendy. Now starts a series of intentional continuity errors and weird set designs, that are prevalent throughout the movie. He came as the caretaker, but this hotel had its own guardians - who'd been there a long time. With a booming siren in the background conveying the initiation of an emergency, we are in the yellow car and we come to know Danny watched something about cannibalism on T.V, and earlier Jack mentions his wife being a horror addict and shes also seen smoking with quivering fingers. Wendy distraught over Dannys deteriorating state goes looking for Jack and finds hundreds of pages by his typewriter, all of them clustered with the sentence All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Quite sensibly quoting Martin Scorsese Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at a mountaintop. The scene with the man in the dog costume and the man in a tuxedo is the one used to support this theory, which says the dog represents young Danny Torrance (who earlier in the film is shown to have a plush toy) and the man in the tuxedo represents Jack. There are many visuals to prove this theory, small details that would be termed as continuity errors but are present to signify the difference between the real world and Jacks world. There are lots of parallels going on here. Danny has been sexually abused by Jack. He doesnt want to spend any time with her, he refuses to take her for a walk after breakfast, he bars her from entering the Colorado Lounge where he hangs out and he stays up all night while she's in bed and sleeps alone in the day. From across the hall, they casually look up at her. Those who believe in this theory point to a particular poster visible on the wall in the background as proof. Without Kubrick around to spell out his intentions, the answer is probably not. When Ullman and Bill Watson approach Jack in the lobby on Closing Day, Jack is reading a January 1978 issue of Playgirl Magazine. But also the sexual abuse is shown in a scene between Jack and his father in the bizarre scene with the man in the bear costume and older gentleman. She has either overlooked or deliberately ignored the abuse that has cause Dannys problems. the scene really doesnt make sense in the movie and i've never read the book so idk if its explained there. Its not much of a marriage. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado made a strong impression on King thanks to its long, eerily empty corridors during his stay right before the hotel closed for the winter. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. The hotel was built upon a Native American burial ground and is decorated with various works of Native American art. One final detail hinting at Jack's guilt as an abuser of his family is his rotten glance to Danny's bedroom (and the camera) after argueing with Wendy about Danny's injuries. Notice how we are shown a freaked out Jack through the mirror (reality) calling Danny to come to him. In the HD version, several book and newspaper titles are visible in the psychiatrist scene. Dannys shine reaches its peak at the Overlook Hotel, which mixed with the hotels spirits and own evil, unleashes some real horrors. Jack, Ullman, Bill Watson, Lloyd the bartender not one wedding ring, and Gradys hands are gloved so we cant see whether he is wearing a ring or not. Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this. Although King didnt oppose to that at the time, he wasnt expecting Kubrick to go as far as to change the essence of the book. In the psychiatrist scene Danny lays on the bed with his jeans removed and his hands curiously covering his groin area, just as Jack did in the fatherly love scene. #theshining #endingexplainedIn the horror classic THE SHINING from Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrick, Jack Torrance and his family become the wint. Most recently, Pennywise was portrayed byBill Skarsgardin Demons, ghosts, and serial killers all make for frightening movie subjects. ", Doctor: "If you were to open your mouth could I see Tony? The most disturbing aspect of the movie and something that creeped me out after thinking about it (I am an avid horror movie fan but this aspect is just terrifying). Before we get into The Shining fan theories, its important to acknowledge the source material. Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. This is one of the film's unique scenes (along with the Grady twins) and it has received a number of interpretations. A flustered Jack heads to the empty Gold Room, where he starts talking to the bartender Lloyd and opts to drink. The maze in The Shining went over better than the hedge animals would've in Kubrick's vision. Along with a painting on the wall of the Overlook that could be interpreted as the head of a bull atop the body of a man, though not in a literal sense. and our Strangelove, at once scary and comical; the brutal pop future of A Clockwork Orange; the raw intimacy of the exchanges between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut. This is the kind of influence he had on other directors in the industry including legends like Spielberg and Scorsese, who aimed to shoot as precisely as him. But that hasnt stopped people all over the world from trying. Another tracking shot, where Danny finds Room 237 and is about to open it before changing his mind and quickly wheeling away. The costume originates from a vision of the past that keeps merging into our timeline. Jack calls Danny and makes him sit on his lap while asking him about the Overlook and if he liked it, saying I want you to like it with a weak smile while rubbing Dannys shoulder, emphasizing the control he is inflicting. Both of them keep their personal writings hidden from their wives. Danny escapes the maze and reunites with Wendy, and they escape in Hallorans snowcat. But it is the mystery and strangeness of it all that makes it so terrifying. The bear man appears to be giving felatio to the man on the bed, just as the dog man in the book was carrying out a sexual submission role with his partner. What happens to Wendy and Danny after that is unknown (in the film, at least), although a deleted scene featured them in a hospital, recovering both physically and mentally from everything they went through. In the scene, Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) is roaming through the halls of The Overlook Hotel with a knife when she approaches a door at the end of a long hallway. He was creating a parallel between Jack Torrance and the main character of Kubricks earlier film Lolita. What makes The Shining so special? Physical child abuse is clear from Dannys broken arm, his trauma response, and the words of his child psychologist. The sexual abuse theme is even communicated in the making of documentary. In order to buy into The Shining conspiracy theories in this vein, you need to already be on board with the moon landing being a hoax, which, of course, it wasnt. Jack takes his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), with him, but little do they know, the Overlook has some dark secrets of its own. Kubricks mind is the limit to its extensiveness. This truly sums up the enigmatic genius of the great Stanley Kubrick. You look up and wonder, how could anyone have climbed that high? Wendy runs around the hotel searching for Danny, and encounters ghosts, the flooding red liquid, skeletons in a completely changed section of the hotel covered with cobwebs and torn hangings and probably the most disturbing instance in the movie, the bear man performing fellatio on a man with blazing tribal music in the background. But The Shining bear man does have a disturbing and specific implication. The Shining is a film about cyclical violence, and about how we can't escape the dark specter of history. This is one of the more popular and widely circulated The Shining theories, but its also one of the sillier interpretations. Based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, The Shining follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who takes a job as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Perhaps explaining The Shining in this manner falls more in line with the book rather than the film despite the conjecture to the contrary. The Shining Caretaker Explained. But believers of this theory point to the word below the skier as proof: Monarch.. Stanley Kubrick. Interestingly, in the 1997 Shining miniseries, which King himself wrote, there's a brief epilogue in which a graduating Danny is visited by the ghost of Jack, beaming with pride, suggesting that Jack's spirit was fully freed when the Overlook blew up. Its eyes are similar in design to the floor dials of the gaping mouth elevator, which weve already identified as symbolic eyes, and the teddys mouth is bright red, which again is similar to the gaping mouth doors of the elevator. Introducing aspiring bodypainterCharrar.basPennywise the Dancing Clownfrom Stephen Kings It, the hit book, television adaptation, and film adaptation. Tony, Dannys imaginary friend, is believed by some to be Dannys way to cope with the trauma of sexual abuse from his father. Additionally, lines of dialogue such as white mans burden further support this association. The particular scene from Summer of 42 that we see on the lobby television shows the older woman telling the young man to sit down while she makes lunch for him. With a narrative that's as puzzling and confusing as the hedge maze found in the terrifying climax, The Shining has led fans to rack their head for it's various meanings for the past 40 years. When the hotels forces get a hold of Jack, Danny starts chanting and drawing the word REDRUM, which Wendy later sees reversed in the mirror, revealing the word MURDER. Danny was warned by the Grady twins that something terrible was going to happen, and REDRUM was the warning passed on to Danny and Wendy through Danny. One of the most memorable scenes from The Shining is the blood coming out from the elevator. Charles Grady killed his family with an axe, and Jack was on track to replicate that. She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. 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