The Shining (1980): Impossible Window and Broken Spatial Logic

Exploring the broken spatial logic behind Ullman's window, the kitchen freezers, and the hedge maze.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:06 Ullman's Impossible Window
5:08 The Incredible Freezer Door
9:47 The Bizarre Hedge Maze
#theshining
#stephenking
#stanleykubrick

[@TheNeuroticjetfan]

The biggest mystery is how they got all that luggage in a VW Bug.

[@daniel7___]

My only logical explanation is they were shipped separately

[@m.n.s.s2825]

Cause the car ride was a hallucination. It was all in Wendy's head

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

Jack's head. He was wearing his green shirt and writing/typing in a scene that takes place towards film's end.

[@kyletitterton]

It's so funny that no-one ever considers that Kubrick might have made occasional continuity errors. Or that he just preferred there to be a window in an office because he thought it looked good. He was generally most interested in visuals, he was originally a photographer after all. So it's entirely possible he'd sacrifice that over reality. Many, many other filmmakers do so, why not Stanley?

[@BillionaireDinner]

Does he make continuity errors in his other movies? I think because it’s a haunted hotel, the rules of reality just don’t work the same here.

[@m.n.s.s2825]

​@@BillionaireDinner Kubrick has 2 types of movies. 1 type is straightforward storytelling where there are no hidden secrets or uses of symbolism like Paths of Glory, Barry Lyndon, Full Metal jacket. This movie could have continuity error cause he doesn't passionately really pay attention to the continuity much . Another type is multiple layered movies like Shining, Eyes wide shut, 2001, Clockwork orange where he is over serious of not making any continuity error cause they could potentially ruin the hidden symbolism he is trying to show to the audience. If there are continuity errors in these movies then we have to assume it's intentional and part of the symbolism he wants his audience to solve

[@theshape3988]

He makes many continuity errors in many different movies

[@lovemussb1940]

Officially the most over analysed film in cinematic history. Great film

[@happinesstan]

The changes to the maze simply reflect that the hotel is no longer the same hotel. This is the hotel in Jack's book.

[@MindiB]

I’ve seen several videos discussing the Overlook’s impossible design: Yours is the clearest and does the best job of describing the specific irregularities, while adding insight into technical and editorial choices that inform the audience’s expectations and assumptions.

[@ayem8709]

very interesting. The Shining has always left me feeling a little disoriented, especially in the case of room 237. the room is WAY too big and would definitely have overlapped the other rooms 😂

[@adamblue2980]

Exactly, it gives the feeling of a pocket dimension unto itself.

[@thor3279]

so many anomalies "Overlook"ed at that peculiar hotel. I've always liked that huge pile of the Torrance's belongings along with a tricycle that made the trip up the mountain with them in the little yellow Beetle.

[@ausomeaspie]

I think Ullman is actually a ghost, because Kubrik uses lights to denote ghosts, there are far too many lights in room 237, the bathroom is extremely brightly lit, lloyd is in front of a bunch of bright lights and the whole movie is called the Shining! The window creates light!

[@BillionaireDinner]

Named after the John Lennon song “we all shine on” too 😊💡

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

How does everyone interact with Ullman, then?

[@muslimcel4581]

​@@RideAcrossTheRiverthey 2 are ghosts

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@muslimcel4581 Wendy, Jack, Danny, and Hallorann are all real.

[@MrVuJaDe]

I really like the almost poetical approach to your movie analyses. This movie truly was a one of a kind.

[@NotFamousReal]

In the book things around the hedge come to life a bit and move around, it's not far off to think that the maze itself can "come to life" and shift.

[@BillionaireDinner]

This makes sense, I think the whole hotel is doing this kind of stuff, as if the hotel is “alive”

[@CorbCorbin]

At 9:47 Jack’s head is above the maze, looking down as he will later, as the family are being lead just outside of it. I’ve never noticed this in the movie, but I thought something was weird in the dissolve from the section about the storage doors, and jump cuts. Sure enough, it’s a image of Jack’s head, put into the shot. *It disappears very quickly, almost too fast to see it without pausing the video.

[@watermelonlalala]

You are right, I played it at the slowest speed, and it is Jack, but it looks like he is smiling, to me. I don't think it is the same shot as the Jack looking down at the model scene. Wendy is also there, looks like, you can just see the top of her head behind the gate part of the maze, near the tree shape on top of the gate, on the left side.

[@nickphillips4559]

In the full movie, the scene just before shows Jack and Wendy standing in the bathroom, facing the camera. "It's homey." Their heads are bled over from the previous scene

[@christophergriffin4643]

When the Torrances arrive, the staff aren't throwing dust sheets on the furniture - they are making the hotel shine.

[@damianstarks3338]

The shining such a timeless horror classic.

[@InspireCreate43]

Dang you showed me a couple different things I didn't already know about from other videos, plus the editing technique. Great work and thank you.👍👍

[@robertschneck8583]

What if Ullman's window looks out on an atrium?

[@jimbobeire]

When Wendy saw Halloran's body on the floor near Ullman's office, she had just turned left out of a corridor that runs behind Ullman's office on the side that the window has to be on.

[@BaronTomR]

One other element of the hedge maze is that it can't exist based on the shot of their arrival at the hotel. The hotel is built into a wide spot at the location, with the mountain continuing up just past the far side of the hotel and dropping off just the other side of the parking lot. Not only do we not see the maze in the shot, but there's nowhere in the shot where it could exist as it does in the movie.

[@CineG]

I wanted to mention this ... but there is a "workaround" excuse that the maze was in the rear of the hotel and I decided to drop it. I may revisit it on a future video talking about deliberate continuity anomalies. Thanks for watching.

[@CineG]

Yes, I have. That's why I replied. He should have his own channel.

[@BillionaireDinner]

@@CineGtrue but there’s just not enough room for it to be behind

[@tr1pl3thr333]

Kubrick defies established methods of maintaining spacial logic throughout the film. The scene you included at 8:09 is a great example. 90% of film makers wouldn't use that cut as it defies the 180 degree rule of maintaining spacial logic. In all things, and especially in the shining, Kubrick values aesthetic over convention and that can explain so much misunderstanding about this film.

[@teabagmcpick889]

Hmmm... Remember it is all just a set. Specially built spaces in a film lot in England & not all one giant space as if it were a real building, individual areas built to allow SK to film it as he wanted it to look. I honestly believe that the technical & practical considerations of SK realising his vision are what we are seeing & not a whole bunch of hokey-pokey Easter eggs. Everything is done to make each scene as good as it possibly can be & while there are definite subtleties & deliberate choices hiding in plain sight, there's so much magic in his art as a film maker, I don't think we need to create extra sparkle dust - although as with all SK films, we are free to draw our own conclusions rather than be led by the hand to a closed outcome. Just my 2 cents. You do you. Watch SK films & enjoy them anyway you choose.

[@mattm597]

Kubrick is looking down and laughing his @$$ off at all the intrigue his continuity errors produced.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

He had twenty years to ridicule everyone and never did so. No, Kubrick didn't make errors except on purpose.

[@need-to-know-]

Well I now see why it’s called the Overlook?

[@andrewyellstrom2585]

The bright life-giving sun shining on the tree/bush outside as well as the many plants inside the room. The whole room is so out of place in its style in this sense.

[@SholvaBeats]

Even during the interview things are moving. Watch the ashtray on the desk.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

And the pen.

[@leemcalister4452]

You don't miss a thing: excellent

[@theclaybeartravels3596]

I noticed one thing that was off with the spacial logic was the actual shape of the hotel outside is different than your map that shows what it looks like inside. For example, you map shows the inside of the hotel to be a very boring rectangle straight across. However, when you look at the opening scene of the overlook hotel, the hotel isn't a rectangle, its rectangular shape is bent into an arrow shape.

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

Another possibility is that the office room revolves. And part of the hall opens up to the revolving office with the fake/electrically illiuminated window. A little like in that crummy comedy 'Murder by Death'.

[@buzzsawgr81]

the maze entrance thing could be easily explained as there being an official entrance (on the side with the kiosk and map) and an exit (the side facing the hotel that danny runs into at the end).

[@paulthomson2288]

I'm pretty sure that map of the overlook is incorrect. the start of the movie shows the hotel from the air and they don't match. The maze is not seen in the front so it must be out the rear of the building?

[@haruruben]

It’s so bright maybe it’s something in-universe that the manage made to make the room more cheery. Like it’s just a recess in the wall dressed to look like a window but it’s artificial. If you look at the ceiling light it’s a bright panel light that is very powerful

[@joakimlundgren7043]

the painting to the left on the wall outside the office

[@watermelonlalala]

Maybe the signs were removed from outside the maze to make the place look more like a building, a castle or a fort.

[@BillionaireDinner]

Logically, the hedge maze lights would definitely NOT be on during the closed winter season of the hotel. Also the maze can’t be seen from any wide shots of the Overlook at all, as a kid I noticed this and tried to look for the maze every time it came on Tv, it’s just not there

[@m.n.s.s2825]

Good catch and most obvious one which most people don't want to talk about. If the maze doesn't exist then everything that happened in the movie is either Jack Imagining a horror story for the book or Wendy is hallucinating... and we are 100% confirmed that the maze doesn't exist. Which means jack didn't die in the end. Neither He was chasing Danny. So what we saw in the movie was imaginary or hallucination Either from JACk or from Wendy

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

​@@m.n.s.s2825From Jack. He was seen typing at a scene ( that comes incoherently unless most of the film is in Jack's head)that comes around the last quarter of the film. So this bit about there being multiple theories to the film is phony.

[@sphillyfanatic7451]

How about the fact that the hedge maze is nowhere to be seen at the beginning of the movie when the overlook is first shown…thoughts anyone??

[@HB-bl5mn]

I hate those curtains on the non-existent window so much.

[@happinesstan]

When they step out of the freezer they are in a different part of the kitchen to when they stepped in.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

No, they step into the freezer doorway and right back out same.

[@RogueRM]

Why were the lights on in the maze? The hotel was closed down for the winter. 😜😜😜

[@voltaire6668]

How could they film the chase scene?

[@m.n.s.s2825]

There was no maze in the first place. Check the outside view.

[@RogueRM]

@@m.n.s.s2825 - Aha, I see. 🤪🤪🤪

[@RogueRM]

@@voltaire6668- Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions! 🤪🤪🤪

[@kevinwilliams7778]

The shrubs outside the window bug me.

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

Could it be the window is a fake and there is only two feet of width and twelve feet of length behind the window and a light just out of view illuminates so it looks like outside.

[@JimmyBmusic1]

I don’t get this. There’s windows everywhere no one could possibly know the layout of that set

[@_comfortably_numb]

In Europe it's 04:00 a. m.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

So, the winter storm knocks down all telephone lines, but power lines to a giant mountain hotel stay in operation! Hmmmm

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

Ever heard of a generator?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@user-rg7uh9se4c Not in the film. No mention of it, not seen, not heard, not implied, not hinted. No generator could run a giant facility like that either. So, why is a mountain hotel with one road in 'shining' after a major winter storm? For that matter, do we even see power lines?

[@user-rg7uh9se4c]

​@@RideAcrossTheRiverDid they say there was no generator. And multiple generators could operate it ( if your statement that a single generator could not do it is true). Do giant cruise ships at sea operate on a huge generator or a bunch of generators?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@user-rg7uh9se4c "Did they say there was no generator. " There is no mention of any electricity supply. "multiple generators could operate it" None seen, none heard, none stated, none implied. "Do giant cruise ships at sea operate on a huge generator or a bunch of generators?" Irrelevant to the setting of this film.

[@michaelcalles6824]

Maybe the window opens to a courtyard.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

But the hallway to right does not?

[@danielradilla856]

❤

[@DaydreamOrca]

I'm quite sure I've never actually seen the window. I could be mixing this with the mini series but...wtf

[@CorbCorbin]

How about, the reason the place Danny goes in looks different, is because they take that stuff down, or there being an exit an entrance to the maze, with the exit, not having those things? Danny just went in through the exit. Ok there’s no exit, wouldn’t those things be ruined by being left to the elements, year after year, with such cold winter temperatures? I’m all for the theories, but some things just don’t matter to any conspiracy theory, or what is happening.

[@leafbelly]

Also, when he opens the freezer door, Wendy and Danny are standing to Dick's right. When we see them enter, they are standing on his left.

[@WhiteKneeOnBlackNeck2]

Dude, it's just an oversight/mistake from the film crew. Stop trying to invent conspiracies.

[@davemerrick8432]

I can see a number of justifications for the various apparent spacial placements, including Kubrick not knowing or caring that, unlike "Dr.Strangelove" or "Barry Lyndon," with such a spooky, spooky, movie people would assume such anomalies to be any more phenomenal than maybe the occasional inside joke. Movies are filmed out of sequence, and although Kubrick was a stickler for detail he was not perfect. And in addition to intentional jump cuts there may have been less than logical after the fact edits in the film to trim down its already overly long running time. Some of those edits may have been less than delicate let alone contributing to logic. Having seen the film during its original theatrical release my first reaction was how could Kubrick expect such an overproduced film to be more than just interesting. Who else could have modulated an ax to the stomach moment to the melodrama of a Tylenol commercial. And because it appears as though Kubrick may have been using the production to audition as a Hilton Hotel interior decorator, the distracting over the top set design alone was so suffocating not even the plot or the dialog could survive it, let alone anything subliminal. And, please, Stanley, Walter Carlos' burping and frapping Moogs may have made for a moody "A Clockwork Orange," but Rachel Elkind's and Wendy Carlos' self important synth buried anything that may have been left, inside joke, subliminal or otherwise. When I left the theater that night I felt Jack Torrance wasn't the only one left out in the cold. And there was no subliminal message to that...

[@TheStockwell]

It's like Kubrick was always telling everyone: "I never worry about the details. It's only a movie!" 😺

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Pretty good cover if your prime focus is ALL details.

[@bruggeman672]

The initial premise is flawed, because to suppose no continuity errors is to claim Kubrick didn't make mistakes, which is absurd. Fanatical worship aside, as it's irrelevant, Kubrick was human, and thus flawed by nature... Ergo he couldn't create perfection, being himself flawed...

[@patrickm1533]

The hotel is a real hotel in Colorado. To the best of my knowledge, at least this part is not a set. It makes me wonder what's going on with the impossible window. Either they put something in that looks like a window deliberately (either to make you feel uneasy or to add back lighting to the scene) or that office really does have a window to the outside and it's just not obvious from the architecture in the movie. Somebody has to know the answer, either from working on the movie or physically being at the hotel.

[@JackBirdbath]

The entire thing was a set in England They did not film at the hotel, they built their own.

[@jojobrooks7714]

Probably wasn't enough room to shoot in the real office so he shot the scene in a bigger office to get better shot too much reaching it's not that deep people just a movie a good one I might say

[@user-eg3uc6nq2l]

Articical inceminTion

[@felixcat4346]

This is over analysis, they are ALL to show off the steady cam usage for academy consideration.

[@blueblackcat]

common knowledge. for the past 3 decades of you tube how original

[@TheLightedSky2112]

It's so simple. The reason the film plays out as a malfunctioning diatribe of peculiar, if not pointless, disjointed mayhem is because Stanley was a completely insane slobbering lunatic madman. That's one small step for reasoning, one giant leap for sanity.

[@voltaire6668]

"There are no continuity errors." A claim you make without any evidence to support it. Not very persuasive.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Errors on purpose.

[@jesseolson3142]

Its a movie. If you sit and breakdown any movie youll see shit. They do takes and things change. But your not really supposed to get that deep. Just watch the fuckin movie

[@annacourtney3061]

it must be so boring to be you

[@52flyingbicycles]

Kubrick was a very high class director and a perfectionist. He wanted his films to be works of art, not just entertainment. If something is in one of his movies, you can almost guarantee he did it deliberately

[@jesseolson3142]

@@annacourtney3061 Me? Im not the one breaking down every little thing about a movie I watch. I just watch the movie and take it for what it is. A movie

[@jesseolson3142]

@@52flyingbicycles You can find little mistakes in every movie if you take 5hrs to stop and rewind every scene.

[@sepultura7771]

But the Shining isn’t just any movie,if you feel that way fine,move on to other movies But for me and many others,this is a very special,deep and very different movie