Questions about The Shining
I’ve watched The Shining many times at this point in my life, and I find it a fascinating watch because of how little Kubrick gives definitive answers on. I think a lot of the weird Room 237 documentary conspiracies about the movie are ridiculous, but there are a few fun open questions in the text of the film I have after my latest watch. Note: I’m asking these questions in a vacuum, so I’m ignoring whether any of this is addressed in Dr. Sleep (the book or the film).
- Does Jack have The Shining?
Danny has the Shining and doesn’t really know what it is until Halloran explains it to him in the first act. Halloran also seems to imply that it runs in families, as his grandmother had it too. Both Danny and Jack are affected by the hotel right off the bat. Jack talks to ghosts, knows things he can’t see, and claims to know what is around every corner in the hotel. Danny and Jack both seem to have a primary entity or speaker that they interact with or that shows or tells them things, Tony for Danny and Grady for Jack. So, does Jack have the Shining or is what happens to him something else?
- What the hell is Tony?
Danny doesn’t seem to know exactly what Tony is and has clearly been coached by Tony not to say much about him or to hide details. He is protective of Danny but withholds a lot of information from him. Also, importantly, Halloran seems confused when Danny tells him about Tony. Danny does have a lot of power and, based on Danny’s description of his experiences, functions as a kind of gatekeeper or intermediary that controls how much Danny is affected by or receives from whatever The Shining is. He also seems to be able to use it on Danny’s behalf, as when he sends a message to Halloran after Danny is attacked and goes catatonic. I have similar questions about Grady, who also only speaks to Jack when he’s alone and lies initially about who he is. He says he’s always been at the hotel and, once he breaks character as the waiter in the bathroom scene, sometimes speaks as though he’s speaking for a collective.
- Do the people who hired Jack know something? Worse, are they feeding him and his family to the hotel?
The whole opening scene where Jack interviews for the caretaker job is a rich text. It’s ominous from the start. Presumably there’s a lot that he has already been asked by this point, but Ullman and Watson don’t really probe much on Jack’s qualifications. They seem to be soft selling the responsibilities of the job at best and withholding something at worst. Jack is clearly willing to say yes to anything and is definitely downplaying how desperate he is to get this job. Ullman picks up on this. He’s weirdly glib about Grady’s death and the hotel’s past, but Jack is too. Watson doesn’t say a word the whole time, but they keep cutting to him watching Jack. Have there been more incidents besides Grady that they’re hiding? Or do they hope that something will happen?
I don’t think Kubrick necessarily cared if viewers get concrete answers to a lot of the mysteries of the film, but it’s fun to think about nonetheless. Any other interesting unresolved questions people have picked up on?