The Shining (1980): Why Jack Lied About Room 237

Jack lied about what he saw inside room 237. Here are a few alternative theories why.
#theshining
#stephenking
#stanleykubrick

[@auntiewewe972]

I always assumed Jack never told Wendy because he didn't want to leave the hotel.

[@thiscorrosion900]

The overriding point is that the hotel is already claiming Jack (or really he's already been claimed following the novels' logic). He may not even literally "remember" his visions after he leaves Room 237. I cannot even recall what happens exactly in the novel, but that's my take on it from memory. He's becoming possessed.

[@postalservice_sp]

Well yeah he had to rediscover that he was reincarnated. Looked insane but he was unlocking old memories the deeper he sank, interested/obsessed- possession, same thing. Sometimes I wonder if the whole family was reincarnated. The young one, with two voices ( the twins) then Wendy, the woman in the bathtub. I guess that would mean that if a soul exists with antiquity, there is no such thing as "starting over" just awareness if you know how to find a past self. Jack starts receiving all the awareness in the world, but the family he once murdered has little to none, just like his own in the present

[@somedorkydude6483]

​@@thiscorrosion900For those wondering in the novel when he goes into 217 (BTW that's not a typo they changed it to 237) it was actually a bit different it was a kid named George which gets into a long back story i won't dive into but. But jack is A. Partly taken over by the hotel B. He thinks he is actually just going crazy and thinks it's not real he is in denial that suits going down

[@thiscorrosion900]

@@somedorkydude6483 Right, I confess I haven't read the novel in a long time now, so I've forgotten a lot.

[@somedorkydude6483]

​@@thiscorrosion900 I don't think it's that jack in the movie lied about it for the same reasons in the book mainly because in the novel jacks mind in the book is a lot more nuanced and in the movie jack genuinly beleives that Grady and Loyd are real and doesn't agknowleged the weirdness. In the book he very clearly agknowleges how weird things are and the hotel he sees it as an entity he can be appart of sort of while it's taking over his mind

[@jtoland2333]

Jack wasn't hallucinating. Those are the ghosts of the hotel. Notice he sees them after declaring hed sell his soul for a drink. He may have used it as a figure of speech, but the hotel took him seriously.

[@ericheiseyHighZ77]

That's the same thing I always thought.

[@johnmc3862]

There are 2 jacks.

[@AbrasiousProductions]

and that's why I've never said something along the lines of that, my soul belongs to Jesus thank you very much.

[@FroggyHopScotch30]

Your soul is not yours to sell. It belongs to the Shepard who paid our dues. Our one true savior and the only true god Jesus Christ.

[@garyt3hsna1l82]

You're remember the simpsons with homer. In the kubrick movie he says "I have 2 $20's and 2 $10's i thought were going to waste", (he doesn't) and Lloyd assures him that his credit is always good here. the soul bargaining thing is from other media.

[@RoosterMontgomery]

Wendy: "Did you find anything?" Jack: "Yep, I found a naked woman in the bathroom. I made out with her until she turned into a rotting corpse, then I left." I don't think Wendy could handle the truth.

[@francisdec1615]

Yes, that's the simple explanation. People trying to be "deep" about this film are suffering from Dunning-Kruger.

[@Elizabeth-hz7jm]

@RoosterMontgomery Lol ~ reminiscent of, “You can’t HANDLE the truth!!!!!”

[@Elizabeth-hz7jm]

Ok, so I’m gonna sound like a typical woman, whatever…..I just figured he lied to his wife as par usual men lie to their women all the time about cheating 🤷🏻‍♀️jes sayin’

[@clementong6332]

@@Elizabeth-hz7jmwomen lie to their men about cheating (and the paternity of their child) too. jes sayin'

[@abduleve8688]

He was hallucinating or dissociating. The naked woman symbolizes maternal or paternal love then turns into a predator. The naked woman was symbolic of Jack's relationship with his son who he abuses

[@wingflanagan]

I saw _The Shining_ in a movie theater during its first run when I was wee lad - 12 or 13 years old. (Yeah - my parents were OK with it).I remember at the time thinking it was odd that Jack was able to meet ghosts, get chased by a walking corpse, and go to a party full of dead people without batting an eye, or thinking it the least bit strange. And then be able to lie about it with utter nonchalance. I still don't know the answer, but my own guess is that he had been pulled by the hotel's influence into a hypnotic or dream-state. Or even a kind of psychosis, where the ability to question the uncanny is suppressed. He accepts these things the way a dreamer accepts the tap-dancing nuns holding balloons shaped link donkeys suddenly turning into dandelions growing out of an old man's face. Or whatever other wacky thing happen when you fall asleep after a Taco Bell binge. It's certainly a deliberate choice - Wendy and Danny react the way normal people would.

[@wingflanagan]

@pyropulse7932 Yeah, but then you would have to be an old fart like me.

[@THECARS7879]

That's awesome. I saw it in the theaters as a long time fan when it came back at the 40th anniversary of the Shining

[@timjespersen3605]

10 years old at the drive-in.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

" I still don't know the answer" All those people were jack. jack has had his conscience split into multiple personalities by illuminati/CIA mind control programming. the hotel is the common framework of his mind that all his personalities live within.

[@aakkoin]

I've listened to trip reports of people using deliriant-type drugs like Datura, it's like real life horror-ghost -stories, and really similar to Jack in the Shining. People on deliriants hallucinate people coming and going and have conversations with them, they can see dead relatives and deformed rotting bodies and stuff, AND they think it's just normal, they don't question seeing that stuff, like it's just casual or something, just like Jack. Horrific stuff.

[@FLAVCO]

When Jack is at the bar talking to Loyd I believe he is fantasising about have some male alternative company and being able to have a drink and relax. This behaviour is typical of someone who has spent much time in Isolation and solitude. Jack needs someone he can offload his woes to other than Wendy who has her own interests prioritised.

[@Fektthis]

Would a sane person have said something? Well, there you go. He wasn't sane. Kind of obvious. Also he wanted to stay. He didn't want to give Wendy a reason to leave. This was fairly well spelled oui in the movie to the point it shouldn't be an issue

[@mediumbeetle9964]

He hears a crazy lady tried strangling his son, sees the crazy lady, and decided to make out with her? I think this is showing his acceptance of what was done, i think he is embracing what he himself did. Before reanalyzing what he did from a less insane lense, thus turning the alluring lady into a hag

[@sillygoose6253]

I think Doctor Sleep recontextualized the Room 237 scene for me, and so much more of The Shining itself. I think Jack Torrance had the shining but never understood it. He never had anybody to be a mentor to help him understand it like Danny and had with Dick, the Overlook's cook. I think the Room 237 incident was like many others he must have experienced in his life where he thought he was losing his mind. Perhaps this fed into need to drink. Also mentioned in this video how in the book when he went back to the room and lied he got that urge to drink, perhaps linking his drinking to his experiences with his shining, in book he didn't see the woman but felt the ominous presence. The original Shining film didn't really go into Jack's anxieties about providing for his family, but Doctor Sleep brought this context into the film in the scene adult Danny has with Jack Torrance in the hotel bar (not sure if just in Director's Cut), about the darker side of Jack began to resent his family for feeding off his energy until he felt unappreciated and couldn't be able to do the one thing to make it all feel better; drinking, to numb the pain, to forget, to wipe it all away. Interesting too in Doctor Sleep is it seems an evolved sense of the shining allows those to compartmentalize their memories. Perhaps Jack not having this ability, possibly by never having a mentor, as taught to Danny by Dick's ghost, he had to resort to the bottle to block the bad memories.

[@virtuous69]

That's a really great point.

[@magallanesagustin4952]

Also, remember that in The Shining, when Wendy brings him breakfast, Jack states that he felt that he had already been at the Overlook before, which is another hint that he might also have the shining.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

stephen kings novel have nothing to do with what kubrik was trying to communicate

[@kylemendoza8860]

That was my interpretation movie as well. He had the shining. When you see Jack at the bar with talking to the ghost bartender. That's our first time see him as audience. I don't think that was supposed to be Jack's first time seeing him and interacting with them.

[@chloemarietaylor4036]

Dr Sleep is great in that it gives more context though while it was King's vision it might not have been Kubrick's. I think though, like you say, that Jack drank to block the shining is very likely, why the hotel was so attracted to him. Reminds me of the Chief's comment about his father in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. "They got to him, they wore him down. He took a drink and the drink drank him", paraphrasing as I can't remember the exact dialogue. With King almost certainly Jack was very strong in the shining, so much so that spirits had been working on him all his life. The drink deadened the shining and he could lead some semblance of a normal life, if somewhat taut and uptight. After the incident mentioned at the beginning of the Shining Jack went on the wagon and the spirits started working on him again. Probably influencing him to apply for the Overlook job. The rest is evident in the film. That being said I suspect the answer to the question is Kubrick did it simply to unnerve people, while he is gaslighting Wendy he is effectively gaslighting the audience too. Making them question what they just witnessed, scramble for an explanation. Like the impossible layout of the hotel, vanishing and reappearing objects; all creating a subconscious uneasiness. You certainly question the reality of every scene afterwards in Jack's further descent into madness.

[@TommyWest.]

I always reckoned that, as a man with a drinking problem it was likely that Jack had a history (especially with Wendy) of being something of an unreliable witness. Be it mis-remembering, misinterpreting, or just lying, Wendy must've heard Jack make unbelievable claims before. Maybe Jack thought if he came to her with a "ghost story" she'd believe he was off the wagon.

[@kawaiiipancakexox1420]

I like your insight on perpetuating the isolation theme. Furthermore, if he admits he saw this woman, then he would be apt to come "clean" about his interactions in the lounge. Wendy would want to leave, and he would not choose his family over addictions.

[@masonschwalm2010]

Thanks for the nightmares tonight with that thumbnail. Jeez! Just when I thought that Tub Lady couldn’t be any more horrifying, lol

[@wolf44875]

😂

[@southernfriedmedia3968]

I think Jack had the Shining like his son Danny and the Hotel messed with him till he broke

[@michellemckillop5712]

Then explain why Wendy saw ghosts too. And lots of them. This movie is starting to resemble the real scary version of the movie Clue, where many interpretations are possible. Come on now. I think it’s much more likely that Wendy is tge one whose eyes we are seeing this movie through or, much less likely, none of this happened and it’s all in jack ‘s mind as part of the actual book he is really writing. So, either Wendy is a nut or we are seeing through jack ‘s imagination.

[@Spacecoke]

That scene was cut from versions outside the US. I think it's because it made no sense for her to see them.

[@flawed1]

I have two theories, one you pretty much mentioned and the other you didn’t really hit on. Kubrick doesn’t make either of these things extremely obvious because he wants the audience to be confused and disoriented. The first theory that I think we have the least information for considering the movie and not the book is that Jack himself has the shining. He may have seen things before and simply gotten used to not telling people or even worse, been made to feel crazy for telling people. My second theory, I think makes more sense. Jack simply didn’t want to leave the hotel at any cost, for any reason and he knew if he told Wendy the truth she would insist on leaving to the point of trying to leave without him.

[@flawed1]

You could even go so far as to say this is the moment Jack chooses to align himself with the hotel against his family

[@Ash.Crow.Goddess]

No, Jack is definitely a shiner in the book, too. He was the one being targeted. King wrote about "mild" abuse. Think of the Hotel as an entrance to the otherworld/underworld. It's always an actual place, but sometimes it's just snowy and cold. In this case, it's both. Put certain people within the influence of "evil" and they always Crack and become Satan's tool. The trick is always to get out unscathed. Just like Ariadne and Theseus running through the maze from the minotaur. Hint; Jack is the minotaur. Wendy is Ariadne, and Danny is Theseus. The Hotel is just a place/house in Hell, the Cold, frozen wasteland that they can't escape.

[@outpost31mac]

@@Ash.Crow.Goddess That's a good observation. I read at one time that Kubrick was fascinated by that story in Greek mythology and I believe he actually named his production company 'Labyrinth' films (or something along those lines). That was a long time back and early in his career.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"Kubrick doesn’t make either of these things extremely obvious because he wants the audience to be confused and disoriented." He doesn't make things obvious to the average person, but if you worked in the CIA project monarch program then everything in the movie would make perfect sense.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

@@Ash.Crow.Goddess "No, Jack is definitely a shiner in the book, too" That's why they want Danny. in CIA mind control training they look for children whose parents have demonstrated the ability to dissociate in response to fear and trauma because they have the ability to be programmed mind control slaves. Jack is a trained mind control slave and he's been programmed to put Danny through the same training. However, what stephen king intended and what kubrik intended are two different things, which is why king hated the movie. kubrik just used the shining to tell the story he wanted to tell.

[@dannydontgoin237]

My feeling is that, while the hotel is definitely haunted, Jack is unaware that he's interacting with ghosts. He's hallucinated having conversations with people who weren't there for years, but has always assumed he was hallucinating because he's insane, and he knows it. So, he keeps his visions to himself, because he believes its all in his head, and he is desperate to put on a "normal guy" facade. How much of it is him hallucinating, and how much of it is him having actual interactions with ghosts, who knows? But Jack can't tell the difference. Just my interpretation.

[@00st307-m]

For years? That doesn’t make sense.

[@dannydontgoin237]

@@00st307-m Why not?

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"My feeling is that, while the hotel is definitely haunted," No it isn't. The movie isn't a ghost story. "Jack is unaware that he's interacting with ghosts." Because he isn't. He's interacting with his own alternate personalities that he doesn't know are his alters because he's a mind control slave.

[@anthonyleecollins9319]

I have never liked the "Jack was always crazy" theory. There's no indication, in what we see, that Jack at the beginning is in thrall to evil forces and/or seeing visions and/or eager to murder his family. He's simply kind of a jerk, "grouchy" (as Wendy puts it), and resentful of his various responsibilities. That's not the same thing, or even an inevitable progression from one to the other. There are a lot of grouchy, resentful jerks in the world, and almost none of them end up where Jack does. Some even work their way through that in the other direction, to something better.

[@wingflanagan]

If understand your comment correctly, I think I agree. Jack was not crazy when he came to the hotel - _yet._ But he was oh-so primed for its malevolent influence to push him over the edge. Kubrick's vision of Jack was of someone who is dissatisfied with life, has a kid he doesn't want with a wife he doesn't love - perhaps never loved. For all we know it was a shotgun wedding - a drunken hook-up gone wrong. By contrast, King's vision was of a basically good man trying to exorcise his demons, but - thanks to the hotel's influence - eventually succumbing instead. Both visions are compelling in their own way, but I find Kubrick's more frightening, because it hints that many people like Jack walk among us, potential madmen and murderers, just waiting for a nudge in the wrong direction...

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"There's no indication, in what we see, that Jack at the beginning is in thrall to evil forces and/or seeing visions and/or eager to murder his family." Yes there is. Jack had lost his teaching job for assaulting a student and he'd already broken danny's arm on one occasion.

[@taracollins5597]

@@jimbeam-ru1my Hurting a student & his son makes Jack very flawed & a losery jackass, but that is not an indicator he was in thrall of Evil or wanted to MURDER his family. I think he was deeply troubled, quite selfish & also unprepared for the responsibilities he took on.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

@@taracollins5597 nah. he had alter personalities because he was subjected to trauma based mind control, which was what he was doing to Danny.

[@johnlynch42069]

I love how you described the skeletal partiers as Pirates of the Caribbean diorama figures. I’m not just a fan of The Shining, but also of the Pirates ride at Disney.

[@Themidnightegardener]

Does anyone else think the ballroom looks like the inside of a coffin?

[@wingflanagan]

Holy s***t. I had never noticed that, but you're absolutely right. (shudder)

[@Themidnightegardener]

@@wingflanagan thank you! I've made this comment on several other videos but nobody ever said anything so I thought, maybe not. But then I see the ballroom, and I'm like, yeah that's the interior of a casket.

[@user-ln4gd6hx7e]

🤯 Great catch. This movie's subconscious mind fuckery just never stops giving.

[@Kakekutter]

Holy ish!!!!! I never noticed until you pointed it out.... could mean Jack is dead and re-living events that took place that lead to his death....I mean he has ALWAYS been the caretaker 😳.....Jack only see ghosts when looking in mirrors

[@nameprivate2194]

He didn't forget; perhaps the best thing to do was not mention that to his wife and boy-child, who are supposed to be the only ones there. I think he might've been wondering if he himself was cracking up. That would've only made things worse and not at all better, telling them all that at the time. Was he going to tell the boy that? I wouldn't. His wife? She worries too much as it is, so no, neither. Best to just...stay away from Room 237, as Halloran told Danny earlier: _There's nothing in Room 237, so you've got no business there, so stay OUT of Room 237._ So now Jack's also not going there a second time. Kubrick was pitch-perfect there, and I wouldn't ask any further what's in Room 237, and I wouldn't bug Stephen King about it either.

[@schlumbl84]

Jack had the shining, too. But he was never able to handle it. Thats one reason why he drank. That plus his low self esteem and not being able to be successful in life made him a what he was. Always taking out his insecurities on his family and numbing his true self with alcohol. Kubrick created a story around an insane character. I always saw Jack in his film as being already crazy and being at the hotel pushed him over the edge. While in Kings book Jack was just a loser who couldnt handle his failure careerwise, had a supernatural gift and couldnt handle both. So he became an alcoholic. Being sober at the hotel made him see things and even made him believe that he was drinking, although he wasnt.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"Jack had the shining, too. But he was never able to handle it. Thats one reason why he drank." The Shining is the ability to dissociate in response to fear and pain. MK Ultra programmers look for children whose parents have already demonstrated this ability. If people can't do that, their mind can't be split into multiple personalities, which is the first step in creating a mind control slave. And jack wasn't a drunk, two of his alters were drunks. We know there are at least two because one of them hadn't drank in three years but the other hadn't drank for five months. Jack has another personality that isn't a drunk.

[@quietlightning4063]

The overlook needed to make sure that Jack was capable of turning on Danny. If Jack had been honest the overlook would not continue to welcome him.. Danny was a threat to the overlook.. essentially he sided with the Overlook by saying that Danny could only have hurt himself. This was awful but the caretaker role was so important to him.. that’s what I thought ❤

[@angrytheclown801]

I always thought it was denial. He didn't want to accept the insane things around him. If he accepted them he'd have to accept he was in an insane world.

[@evelynzlon9492]

Absolutely. In real life your first reaction to an experience that bizarre is usually denial. That's why from the viewer's perspective, it's hard to gage the exact moment when Jack becomes possessed by the hotel. Sometimes normal coping mechanisms for weird experiences are indistinguishable from weirdness itself.

[@evelynzlon9492]

Also, Jack's inability to discuss the bathroom incident with his family reinforces the film's theme of isolation. The Torrances were geographically isolated from society, but they couldn't even cohere AS a family. Each one was further singled out and messed with individually. Somehow I am reminded of the Biblical passage, "to he who has much, much will be given. But to he who has little, even that little will be taken from him."

[@angrytheclown801]

@@evelynzlon9492 I do believe he was possessed almost immediately, but he was strong enough to fight it off and scenes like 237 were meant to break down his defenses. That's also what the bar scene was, was to erode him further. It was All Work and No Play where the hotel won over him. Not that that was a shock, but he held on for a good amount of time in movie.

[@evelynzlon9492]

@@angrytheclown801 That too. I've also had experiences which were rock solid real but incomprehensibly improbable. First, in the 7th and 8th grade I was a finalist in a televised local spelling bee. They gave us a pamphlet to study but for one of those bees I studied but once. I happened across the word 'infinitesimal' on a bulletin board and memorized it. When the announcer posed me with this exact word at the actual bee, I was dumbfounded. I literally refused to acknowledge to myself that I had memorized it and misspelled it. Later on, it occurred to me that 'infinitesimal' has a definition. It describes the odds of that double coincidence involving the word which describes it. Your conscious mind tends to bury these events. But they do erode your subconscious barriers and render you susceptible to escalating intrusions of a not normal kind.

[@pavanatanaya]

I worked in a Mann Theater during the original release of The Shining. I watched this film so many times, but I still missed a lot. Thanks for this

[@positivelysimful1283]

I love the book and the movie but in forming my opinion here I try to divorce it from the book and the stuff Kubrick left out. So from the beginning Jack puts on this charming façade with strangers but we know from Wendy he has been known to drink & be abusive. We know he's out of work and desperate for a job and dreams of being a writer. We also can see the contempt he has for his wife by the way he talks to her and looks at her. So by the time the 237 incident with Danny, they've been there a month and we can already see Jack has been struggling. He is withdrawn, he is going into weird trances and catatonic states, he's having crazy violent dreams. When he goes into the bar alone he is literally willing to sell his soul. We assume he's either A) totally cracking up and is hallucinating now or B) something came to take him up on his offer, and Jack just sold his soul for some booze. Lloyd, be he a dream or reality, gives Jack something else he's kinda desperate for: respect. It's not real respect, we can see it's a bit condescending, but Jack is unable to see that (or willing to overlook it). He then goes to check out room 237 and whaddaya know... So if you believe the non-haunted Jack going mad theory, he is either having what starts off as a sexy but ends up as a horrible hallucination. Jack is probably not gonna tell it to Wendy. She'll wanna leave. He loves the hotel and the dream of being a writer and a success; he'll lose it all. If it is hallucinations, it's not going to hurt anyone. He just has to deal with it. If you believe the ghosts are real theory (I personally am on board with it), then the hotel has been working on Jack (and we later find out Jack's already connected to it pretty deeply), and he made a deal with it already. The hotel owns him at this point. It offers him another little goody... and Jack shows he doesn't give a flying flip about his son being hurt or being unfaithful to his wife. He is eager to jump on an opportunity. Then the woman turns into the hag and it scares the crap outta Jack, as if the hotel is trying to remind him, "remember who is in charge here." It's threatening him to tow the line. "We can give you things at our whim, and then take them away and replace them with your worst nightmares." So Jack is in too deep with the hotel and has to keep his mouth shut at this point. Plus, again, Wendy will wanna leave and because he's caught in the grips of the hotel's force, something in him knows he can't go.

[@panowa8319]

Some things that puzzled me in the movie: who placed the key in Room 237, and if Jack, Danny and Halloran had the "shining", how was Wendy able to see Grady and sleletons?

[@outpost31mac]

I think by that time the Overlook was really coming to life and holding nothing back so that's why she could see those things. BTW,I don't think that was Grady (if you mean the 'great party, isn't it?' ghost). I think it was just another ghost from the past, who met a bad end!

[@Angelenowithacamera]

Because like Halloran said, the Overlook has the shining too.

[@taracollins5597]

The Overlook was using Danny like a battery, getting stronger from his almost-supernatural ability. The Hotel wanted Danny, so it tries to tempt him to interact with it....until it can *fully catch him*. And yet, and yet. The Hotel cannot catch him! The novel explains it a little better: Danny tells the Evil face-to-face "My daddy is the only one you could catch, you lying false-face." The Evil tries out each of the family members for vulnerability-level & finds Jack is the weak link. So long story short, the Evil turns its efforts mostly on Jack......& we see this works.

[@Angelenowithacamera]

@@taracollins5597 Thanks! I really have to read that book.

[@taracollins5597]

@@Angelenowithacamera No problem! :) I highly recommend King's novel. Its easily a 9.5/10 in my opinion & very few books ever get that score from me. :) *no spoilers don't worry* But the ending is also a bit different, I liked it better than the film....but the film was for shock-value. :) Enjoy!

[@Tyler-mm9cj]

Jack didn't tell her because there was no woman. In Kubrick's adaption the whole scene is a dream/symbolism. Jack was one who attacked Danny right after the movie cuts away from their scene together. It was Jacks tennis ball that lured Danny to the room 237 (who also didnt have the fire engine which he went back to get during that scene) notice how when Wendy first tells him about Danny's story he is dumbfounded that she would even believe that story even though it lets him off the hook. Kubrick filled that movie with clues pointing directly at Jack.

[@tehdesp]

I mean, honestly, had I just accidentally snogged a moldy old granny I don't think I'd tell anyone about it either. Ever.

[@RodCornholio]

Jack was just trying to give the appearance of a strong, rational, responsible, family man. As his own parents, I'm sure, and society teaches us. This movie never ceases to bring up new insights. A work of genius. One, broad view, is to consider it a commentary on how humans react to the supernatural. Ignore or deny its reality at your own risk like Jack. Be naïve and pedestrian like Wendy. Be well adjusted but (understandably) secretive like Hallorann. In fact, Hallorann could be considered the anti-Jack, in this regard. One can infer that Hallorann had a loving grandmother (I think) that was a mentor to his "shining" capabilities. Jack did not. And if Danny/Doc doesn't have a good mentor, he might end up in a psych ward, like Jack, etc. In a better world, Hallorann would have mentored Danny longer, like the wizard archetype in a _Hero's Journey_ .

[@outpost31mac]

Yeah, you're right about the 'insights'. I think 'The Shining' is a lot like 'Apocalypse Now' in this way. Over time and continued viewings (and reading a lot of comments on KZbin!) you'll gain a lot of new observations.

[@StudMacher96]

Jack was clearly hallucinating. The way that he talks to Lloyd clearly hints that he knew Lloyd from a bar back then and imagined him being there. That’s why he is so comfortable seeing him there. It’s in his head.

[@saulorocha3755]

I would say that these inconsistencies and contradictions in Kubrick’s film are what let interpretations run loose, rather than point to a definitive theory. What we have of material evidence from the authors (Kubrick and Diane Johnson) is that the story has a similarity with Stephen Crane’s Blue Hotel short story and also made use of Freud’s Uncanny essay and Bruno Bettelheim’s Uses of Enchantment.

[@caucasoidape8838]

That scene might be the biggest case of beer goggles in a movie. lol

[@ganmerlad]

I just rewatched the movie (the shorter version unfortunately) because it's been a while. I think the reason he didn't tell his wife about what was in room 237 is because he didn't remember. He has the shining just like his son (at least he does in the hotel), and just like his son he possibly doesn't remember everything he sees after it's over. The son made a point of telling the cook that he would see things as if he was dreaming and then promptly forget what it was he saw. After going in room 237, he sounds very sincere saying there was nothing there so I really think he just doesn't remember. Even if he did...how is he going to explain approaching and kissing a naked woman only to see in the mirror she was a rotting old lady? And, perhaps he was hoping she would do a better job of killing the son next time, because by that point he sees his family as the main problem in his life. That's even before the hotel or the ghosts, whichever is actually running the nightmare show, insists Jack has to kill them. (I tend to think it's the hotel that's calling the shots...it collects the people that die there, especially violently, and it doesn't want Jack or his family to ever leave) Anyway...I don't think Jack was crazy from the start but he was very flawed from the start. A weak and selfish man. He gave into all the visions he had at the hotel -- being seduced by bathtub lady without a second thought, getting 'drunk' at the bar even though it's intimated he's an alcoholic and it's ruined his prospects, and lastly deciding to kill his family like the other caretaker did because they're in his way. Giving into the visions made him crazy, brought out all the worst in him. Of course, things in the movie are so vague that I came up with at least 3 other theories of what was going on while I was watching this time...but that is the most solid.

[@carlosmeelopatchen9773]

excellent analysis I would only add a few points that I have thought Wendy sexually abuses Danny that's why she sees the vision of the bear. If you realize, the visions have something to do with the protagonists. and she mistreats Jack to such a degree that he hates her. Ullman is the main villain, he is like the hotel entity, room 217 is his room, that's why the key appears hanging, he unleashes Jack's madness. The Gradyjacks are the same spirit condemned to suffer the same fate of murdering their family in an eternal cycle The deleted hospital scene implied that Danny was now possessed by the hotel and had to kill Wendy. What I don't understand are Halloran's scenes before returning to the hotel, which are quite boring, because his body disappears and is never mentioned after his murder.

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"I think the reason he didn't tell his wife about what was in room 237 is because he didn't remember." yeah. mind control slaves wall off trauma in alternate personalities that exist behind a veil of amnesia.

[@jjkhawaiian]

I'm going to lay out a few points as my opinion and/or those that I've seen in their videos that I agree with. I've watched many an analysis video from various content creators. - In the Gold Room, Jack sells his soul for a drink. We witness the result of this exchange when he's talking to Wendy. He is obviously drunk in the way he slurs his words and bobs his head as a drunkard would. - Jack also reiterates how he's been around the hotel before, as was the case when Wendy brought him breakfast in bed. - Jack is aware of his ability to shine well before he gets to the hotel. The hotel seduces and draws Jack back to the hotel to capture Danny and his ability to shine, which is stronger than Jack or Wendy. - All the family members can shine and is obvious in who they interact with at different times in different situations. - The hotel can sense those who shine, just like it did with Dick Hallaran(?). However, the movie only shows this when he's talking to Danny in the kitchen and Danny brings up "bad things" in the hotel and with room 237, specifically. Danny can sense that Dick is scared of the hotel, but especially of room 237. Hence, Dick's warning for Danny to stay out. - We do see the psychic link between Dick and Danny in the pantry and later when Danny experienced what happened in room 237, which prompts Dick to return to the hotel in the hopes of protecting Danny. He did do that by giving Danny and Wendy a way out and away from Jack's rampage. Of course, he'd rather be alive to do it but he served his purpose. Mission accomplished. - The ghosts had to be real in order to release Jack from the pantry. No matter how hard one can try, no imagination is going to control the physical world. Jack didn't imagine anything. Mirrors were also used strategically as a portal for ghosts to come and go. Room 237, the Gold Room bar and bathroom, the parents bedroom mirror, etc. - Jack's psychosis progressively gets worse every day he's in the hotel. From the time he sold his soul for a drink. However, Jack is a drunk and an abuser in every sense of the word. Physical, sexual, mental, and verbal. His first release of the abuse is done when Wendy interrupts him in his writing room. - Jack has always been the caretaker. I get the feeling that Jack is reincarnated to lure his current unsuspecting family, again and again, to the hotel to live out his sick fantasies drawn out by the hotel, who's messing with his weak mind and spirit. - The lady in room 237 is real and attacked both Danny and Jack. Danny withdrew into Tony after that. But, he was able to tell Wendy what really happened. Jack lied because the hotel already had him in its grip and didn't want them to leave until it captured Danny to make the hotel stronger with his shining ability. - Delbert Grady mentioned "others" being unimpressed with Jack's handling of the situation. He also mentioned how they were surprised at Wendy's resilience in overcoming Jack. So, there were obviously ghosts and the hotel's ability to control the physical world (room 237's key and opening of the pantry). Poltergeists can definitely control the physical world and people with possession (Jack) or oppression (Wendy and Danny). The ghosts were from bad things happening there. "Great Party, isn't it?" Obviously, a ghost that was murdered on the grounds. An axe to the skull did him in. - Charles Grady is obviously someone related to or reincarnation (The previous Jack iteration) of Delbert Grady. We know Delbert was alive in the 20s and Charles was alive in the 70s. They aren't the same person as they existed in different eras, but they obviously returned to the hotel in one form or another to wreak havoc on any living person in the hotel during their stay in the winter months. - Jack is the current reiteration of Delbert Grady, which is why Delbert instructs Jack how he handled his situation with his daughters and wife. He also corrects Jack by saying he is the caretaker and has always been the caretaker. He's not lying in that the same spirit resides in both Delbert, Charles, and Jack. And who knows how many others were drawn by the hotel as the "caretaker?" - Wendy has the shine as she sees ghosts and the famous blood elevator scene. However, she was so broken at that point that the hotel was drawing on that ability. - Even the "twins" were used by the hotel to lure Danny to stay in the hotel "forever and ever" using them as an appeal in order to draw out his shine. I think the girls used their death scene to scare Danny away but were conflicted as they wanted another child to play with. These aren't Charles Grady's girls but Delbert Grady's. That's obvious in how they're dressed in 20s fashion, not 70s. Who knows if they had the shine or not. Also, were they representations of Charles Grady's girls like Jack is the representation of Delbert? Because, we don't see Grady's girls. Maybe, the only ghosts that "survive" or are seen are those that shined? Sorry for the essay. I guess I should make my own YT video going over each point as I laid them out. Once again, these are my opinions based on the movie alone and from what others may have presented in their videos or articles written on the movie, The Shining. The book is wildly different (which is why I think King hated the movie) than the movie or mini-series.

[@Vancanste]

This is outstanding. I think you nailed it.

[@carlosmeelopatchen9773]

excellent analysis I would only add a few points that I have thought Wendy sexually abuses Danny that's why she sees the vision of the bear. If you realize, the visions have something to do with the protagonists. and she mistreats Jack to such a degree that he hates her. Ullman is the main villain, he is like the hotel entity, room 217 is his room, that's why the key appears hanging, he unleashes Jack's madness. The Gradyjacks are the same spirit condemned to suffer the same fate of murdering their family in an eternal cycle The deleted hospital scene implied that Danny was now possessed by the hotel and had to kill Wendy. What I don't understand are Halloran's scenes before returning to the hotel, which are quite boring, because his body disappears and is never mentioned after his murder.

[@davidsavage5630]

That thumbnail is nightmare fuel..

[@fryingpanhead8809]

There was no alcohol at the Overlook. Torrance didn't necessarily lie. He just couldn't believe it himself.

[@jonas3333]

I like your review! Puts a few more pieces to the puzzle that is Kubrick's The Shining together. And WHY is it the puzzle it is? For years now, I just can't let this movie go. And it was MUCH better than the book. I honestly don't think King wrote any of his novels himself. I suspect he paid for the works with the caveat to create the endings. I've seen too much of his Twitter ramblings to think that man has an ability to write both the quality & quantity he supposedly put out.

[@rosemadder5547]

He told her at first, with the dream. The hotel has convinced him she is trying to ruin his career (staircase scene in movie) and he isn't going to tell someone he thinks could be an enemy at this point. Pretty clear, Jack doesn't want to have to leave and he needs to "correct" the family so he can't let them leave either.

[@elcross77]

Evil hides in secrecy. That just shows that the hotel is getting its grips on him.

[@frankb821]

I think there's a strong argument to be made that there are no ghosts in The Shining, only projections of Jack's mind as he deteriorates, and lives out his "adult boy" fantasies

[@gibsonraymonda]

There’s definitely a wish-fulfillment part to it. That’s how the ghosts string him along. They stroke his ego and play up his resentments.

[@artursabli5966]

I've always found this scene a dream sequence relating to Jack's traumatic past abuses. All the film is like a dream.

[@colormetakenaback]

After watching so many fan theory vids on Kubrick's Shining here on YT it seems like the film itself is an Overlook Hotel. A Rorschach test for the individual viewer to make of it what they can. I was a purist who just went by King's book but the more I watch, I have to tip my hat to the absolute fever dream that Kubrick created. That guy was more twisted than Stephen King is. 😂

[@TheDomino12121]

from reading the book, it seemed like he didn't want to look crazy nor did he want to leave the hotel because he knew he had nothing ready

[@taracollins5597]

THAT was what I thought too! He either did not want to appear nutty or the hotel was working so hard on him ....tempting him with illusions, that he wanted to stay....so he lied.

[@Lue_Jonin]

I've never known a married man to run home after attempting to cheat and be unfaithful to his wife , to tell her exactly or truthfully what happened . After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

[@Spacecoke]

I think Jack has the shining but doesn't know it. He simply thinks he is going crazy and goes with the flow until he it gets too much for him and he breaks.

[@lukerocheleau9173]

I always wondered how the old lady would have reacted if Jack was all about it and just kept going with the make out sesh…

[@stevev2492]

I always assumed it was because the hotel made him forget. That would seem to be a simple explanation.

[@taracollins5597]

I wondered if that was the case too! Because Jack sure seemed darned calm for someone who just basically made out with a succubus-like creature! I get that it was supposed to be the ghost of a woman who drowned there, but why make her start out young & then become old...other than to torment Jack? Yet like all Evil, it is never 'satisfied'. Jack might have forgotten, but his subconscious didn't....& the Evil chipped away at him even more....while it dangled false-promises of peace to write. Creepy stuff.

[@maralinekozial9131]

Jack didn't tell her cuz Nicholson is "the great seducer" , he even wrote a book with the same title 😂 After all ....all work & no play makes Jack a dull boy

[@JenniferCarney-nk5jj]

It's because the hotel had a hold of him, and Jack was under its spell. Same reason he didn't question the bartender, the party, Grady, or anything else weird he experienced. He was in a weird kind of trance or something and not thinking logically.

[@VictorLugosi]

Please don’t listen to this person.. this is an opinion, from someone who has no idea what they’re talking about.. watch the film, and make your own opinion.

[@adamgardner2244]

He didn't say anything because the hotel has a firm grip on him and won't let him leave. The hotel want's the boy and Jack and will do anything to keep them there.

[@taracollins5597]

What the hell are all the 'Jack sexually abused Danny' comments about?? There is NOTHING in the film nor the novel to even imply Jack is a molester. Its a supernatural film & Jack lied to Wendy because either the Evil erased the memory from him (Notice how he never says anything to her about seeing Grady or bartender Lloyd either?) & also so he could stay in the hotel......the Evil knows Jack is the weak-link......so it works on him.

[@amikkomoon5273]

I feel like the hotel can be a metaphor for domestic abuse. Wendy is in an abusive relationship with Jack and Jack is in an abusive relationship with the overlook. Room 327 is two faced and so is Jake, Often people trapped in these types of relationships double down and make excuses for there abuser like Wendy does for Jake braking Danny’s arm, now Jake is doubling down on the hotel even after it showed him its true face.

[@DontrelleRoosevelt]

I can't take anyone seriously when they say "If you enjoy my content...". All I see are videos, so what other content (stuff) is there? We need to drop that word from our vocabulary, because it just means stuff(s)/things. Also, this is a great film, but it's not the masterpiece that 2001 is. Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall were not good casts to be in this film. She's too flimsy, and he's psycho from the start!

[@AdamMichalMarkowski]

I'll explain this to you, friend - if Jack told Wendy what he saw, Danny would also share more details of his story, Wendy would be forced to believe her husband and son and they would make joined effort to understand whats going on, or would escape from the hotel, therefore changing gloom mood of the movie and whole story. In other words he did not tell her so the rest of the movie could happen. Anything beyond that goes into realm of theories and fun speculations about why character did what they did, although in the end while most of the time writers are able to put compelling reasoning for their characters actions, in the movies this sometimes is lost due to the fact that at the end of the day you write a story with beginning and ending in mind and have to get your characters to make that way from point A to point B, and making it all makes sense is more of a polishing process.

[@DennisHough]

I always thought that Jack didn't share his visions, because she assumed he was drinking. Alcoholism and Abuse7 is a heavy theme in the movie, and though some might think this will take you away from the ghosts, Kubrick just used King's novel as a template. Up to personal interpretation, as all Kubrick films are.

[@grimlund]

I remember the first time I saw this movie. I didnt sleep a minute the night after. Mainly because of that undead women.

[@braddurian]

Jack did not lie about room 237. It was Danny’s shine to Halloran that represented that entire sequence. The explanation is that Danny was communicating the danger that Jack represented as well as reflecting that Danny was molested by him earlier in the film. There was actually nothing in room 237.

[@charlesclarke9368]

Yes, I think you are on the right track here.

[@braddurian]

@@michaelscofield6563 Prior to that scene you see the tennis ball being rolled to Danny. Jack is the only person that is seen with the tennis ball. This suggests that Jack may have sexually abused Danny either in Room 237 or another part of the hotel. The only monster in Room 237 or the Overlook Hotel is Jack himself.

[@RoosterMontgomery]

Shining Conspiracy Theorists seem to forget is the Overlook is HAUNTED. When you remember that, the tinfoil hat comes off. No offense, these are entertaining to read, but it's getting out of hand these days.

[@braddurian]

@@RoosterMontgomery Frame of reference is notoriously hard to establish in the Shining. Jack said nothing was there in Room 237. So the question is did he lie and why would he lie? Better explanation is that it was Danny’s shine to Halloran and relating to prior sexual abuse which is clearly implied elsewhere.

[@charlesclarke9368]

@@RoosterMontgomery Shining Literalists seem to forget The Shining is a MOVIE. There is no hotel to be haunted. Rather, there are a series of images and sounds organized to produce a set of effects on the viewer. The fact that you are only receptive to the simplest and shallowest of these effects may limit your understanding of the film, but it has little bearing on the discussion at hand.

[@Ash.Crow.Goddess]

No one wants it to be incest. But everyone from that era, and others know what the furry on his knees means.

[@arserobinson7118]

Jack's was already deteriorating mentally beforehand and he knew it. After seeing the rotting corpse woman in room 237, he thought he was going completely crazy and tried to hide it from Wendy. If he was revealed as crazy it would mean having to leave the hotel, and thus failing again at his job (both writer and janitor) something he feared more than living in a hotel full of ghosts and actually being mad. Jack is unsure whether or not Danny was attacked by the ghost woman he saw, or if he only hallucinated based on what Wendy said to him as he was slipping away into madness. The thing we see the most in Jack lying about room 237 is his narcissistic and psychotic will to succeed at his job at ANY cost and the ghosts used this against him, when Grady makes him choose between his family and the hotel.

[@jonathanwhitfield2864]

He was crazy and he wanted to stay there. Forever and ever!

[@enshk79]

OMG the thumbnail hahahahhaha

[@Pocketrocket-pj1us]

I would argue, that an alchoholic is saddled with 2 personalities, without question.

[@12HpyPaws]

At the foundation, this was a dysfunctional family to begin with. Likey lead to their breakdown once at the hotel.

[@Baalslegion07]

I think he simply lied because he knew that the truth wouldn't be in his best interest. He wanted to stay and to just mention he also saw a crazy rotting woman would make them leave. He also probably knew that saying to his wife that there was said woman and that she seduced him and they made out, isn't really a relationship booster. There is no reason why he'd tell her.

[@matt77christian]

I think Jack saw the woman, remembered seeing her, but when he had to report back to Wendy, the hotel had it's hooks DEEP into him. He didn't want to tell Wendy the truth because this would have been a valid reason for Wendy's desire to leave the hotel. This coupled with Jack's desire to really make this situation work out with his Caretaker duties, made him lie about what he saw.

[@DrWrapperband]

Jack told the truth, obviously, it was Wendy in 237 and she hallucinated Jacks visit. She was the strange woman, obviously, that's why he didn't see anything. He can't have assaulted Danny, he wasn't anywhere near, and this was Wednesday, i.e. day(s)after Wendy hallucinated the creepy Danny getting his truck scene with Jack / TV with no power.

[@doctoronishispsychosislab1474]

was room 237 forshadowing of jack being let out of the cooler. those are the only 2 times the spirits manifested the material world

[@bottlethrower1544]

Ask any man to name the scariest scene, the will say "the little girls" Ask any woman, they will typically say the bathroon/ax scene

[@jamesbyrne9312]

Because its too disturbing for him to share. I see it as a metaphor for the man's role in society. A man must suppress the terrible things he's seen to avoid hurting his family. He must pretend evil doesn't exist.

[@carolhowley7158]

Thank you for your time and work in putting this together. Have you had a chance to see the analysis of either Malmrose Projects or Rob Ager? I am guessing you are at least somewhat familiar with Ager as you appear to have obliquely referred to one of his interpretations in this video. I am curious to know your thoughts of these two analysts and their conclusions. Thanks and I hope you are well. Most Sincerely, Chris Howley, Wollaston, Massachusetts

[@nicholasjanke3476]

Jack didnt want to hurt Wendy's feelings that he'd been romantic with another woman.

[@SamuelBlack84]

I've always imagined it's because he knows the experience was just imaginary and never really happened

[@nobletyrant6038]

Jack never told Wendy what he was writing either, did he? What a dull boy...He also doesn't mention the ballroom, Lloyd, or Delbert Grady. Or the knowledge of the previous horrors that took place at the Overlook that Jack cited as being a factoid that Wendy would have been thrilled with, though we know he didn't actually share this with her. So why did Jack lie about Room 237? He's an abusive, psychopathic narcissistic liar who rarely tells the truth and who will stop at nothing to achieve the apex of mayhem whilst the manifestation of his demons embody him. And when he's revealing his dream to Wendy, its hardly as if this is some genuine confession. It is clearly a made up scenario as he would not be so negatively affected as a father who in moments will be eager to slaughter his kin.

[@JasoJenkins-mx3zv]

He doesn’t actually see her at all in the book. Just gets a sense of her being there. The visual in the movie makes for a good scene, but they continued with the following scene from the book, because they’d literally have to change the whole story if they didn’t.

[@charlesburns7391]

Danny sees her

[@phyliciabozzi9414]

They were all effed up, crazy, "cabin fever." But what about Jack being in thr photo at the end? Whats with that?

[@SeanLigman-yo6yc]

I felt he was in shock....the hotel had infiltrated his mind to the point its full evil for lack of a better word could no longer be hidden in seductive promises it previously made. This full apprehension of the depth of its darkness belaying the idealization he had held previously...he refusing to believe ...he was telling himself as much as them there was nothing there in a act of self denial.....

[@surfrescue3232]

I used to find the woman in the bath horrid . Now at my age I’d go .. ah what the hell, let’s run with it .

[@stuckinchaselandia6427]

People dont tell others when they are going crazy.

[@wangson]

Same thing occurred to me dude.

[@dottemar6597]

When entering, the camera pans quickly towards the bed and then cuts to Jack staring into the bathroom with a sudden very different look on his face. His hair is also different. So, I think he took a post-whiskey nap in the bed and the ensuing bathroom scene a nightmare he had.

[@ShadowV1]

I believe that in thee substance & antiquary nature with the Hotel. His taboo with Room 237 was necessary to fulfill the Maccabean Prophecy & materialize as the void of Delbert Grady.. She did approach Him, As He was just doing His job & gave in.. Yikes?! 💀

[@bigdaddytrips6197]

Jack didn't tell wendy what he saw because if he would of told her she would of freaked out and would of wanted to leave the hotel.

[@colelevel2654]

Because he's going crazy. It's scary.

[@JohannesLabusch]

"the miniseries the book was faithfully adapted from"? ... "the miniseries that was faithfully adapted from the book"!

[@mickeytwister4721]

Jack had the shining himself. Having it his whole life must of made him insane and realized that it’s futile to explain super natural events to people.

[@andrewoaktree584]

He lied because he has been possessed by Grady ever since he went to the basement for the first time

[@Chris-lz4vk]

It was room 217 in the novel.

[@glyndwr15]

I left this comment elsewhere: "The Wendy Theory isn't convincing, but neither is the No Ghosts Theory. Both of them exist, I think, because close scrutiny of the film reveals that Kubrick is intentionally confusing the viewer as to what is real and what is imagined by the characters. Why doesn't Jack run in terror when a ghost appears behind the bar and starts talking to him? It's because, to Jack, there is no ghost. He's just imagining a bar tender while looking at himself in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar and talking to himself. Jack clearly doesn't believe it's a ghost, so why do we believe it's a ghost? It's immediately after this first scene where he talks to Lloyd that Wendy appears and tells him there's a crazy woman in the one of the rooms. When Jack goes to investigate, he sees a sexually attractive naked woman. Again, he doesn't run screaming from a ghost. It's reasonable to assume that Kubrick is at least floating the possibility that the woman he sees is just like the bar tender he saw. Both are just imagined by Jack and for the same reason. He'd love it if a bar tender had served him whiskey and he'd love it if there was a beautiful woman in one of the rooms because he's sick to death of his wife who he regards as a burden that frustrated his ambitions in life. When the woman turns into a zombified hag and he stumbles away in terror, what are we supposed to think happened if the woman, like the bartender, was just a visual representation of his internal dialogue? It could be that he imagined a woman and then remembered that he's stuck in a marriage with a woman he resents. It's a visual representation of that. If we think it's literally happening and he's actually seeing a woman, then how do we explain his response to seeing her? I guess he's a nutter who is off his gourd and decides to get it on with a crazy woman because reasons, but it's less plausible when we put thise scene in context with the Lloyd scene immediately before it. When Jack returns to the apartment and Wendy asks him if he saw anyone, he says "no." Why does he lie about it? It could be that he tried to sleep with a crazy woman who turned into a zombified hag and probably didn't want to tell his wife this, but if you watch the scene in which she asks, he doesn't even seem fazed. This is because he's telling her the truth. He didn't see anyone in room 237, nor did he think he saw a ghostly bartender that served him non-existent whiskey. So, what I think Kubrick is doing is suggesting that these are just visual representations of Jack's internal dialogue. There is further reason to think this because it's a parallel to his son's imaginary friend Tony. Lloyd serving up imaginary drinks, if you think about it, is actually Jack's imaginary friend. And the parallel is further solidified if we look at the presence of the mirror, both in the scene where Danny asks Tony to show him the hotel and then blacks out and Jack looking at himself in the mirror behind the bar. Mirrors and double images, like the twins, are a recurring theme in the Shining because the climax is one in which Wendy realizes that "redrum" is "murder" spelled backward when she sees it in the mirror. It's because of this intentional ambiguity that you get things like the theory that everything supernatural that is happening is part of Jack's book that he's writing or that there are no ghosts in the Shining at all. But what I think is really going on is that the Overlook is legitimately haunted and that it's appearing in Jack's thoughts and influencing them unbeknownst to Jack himself. If you were the director and you wanted to film something like this, how would do it? To show the Overlook creeping into Jack's thoughts, you'd have to visually represent those thoughts and then float the possibility that somehow something in that visual representation is actually a manifestation of the hotel but isn't recognizable as such by Jack himself. Isn't that just what Kubrick did in those scenes? And he has every reason to do this, as the director, because it's a story about a guy who loses his mind and tries to kill his family. Wouldn't we want to take the viewer into Jack's mind as this is happening, especially if it's happening because of the influence of the Overlook which is ostensibly what's driving him insane? It's the only thing which explains his reaction to supposedly seeing ghosts or lying to Wendy about it. If Jack actually saw a woman in the room, why wouldn't he be keen to tell Wendy this if it would mean that it would explain who hurt Danny and thereby absolve him of guilt? It's because Jack never saw a woman in the room and doesn't believe there is a crazy woman in the hotel, ghost or otherwise. Incidentally, this also explains the fade between the boiler room and Wendy and the room 237 scene. It links Wendy to the woman in the room. The reason the crazy woman turns into the hag is because Jack remembered that he was in an unhappy marriage. If the fade means anything, I think this is the most likely interpretation. Kubrick ends the ambiguity during the scene where Delbert Grady unlocks the freezer door and lets Jack out. People who have tried to save the No Ghosts theory resort to logical pretzels to make this scene fit, with one theory positing that it was actually Danny who let Jack out, which is absurd, imo, since we have no reason to think this other than somebody wanting to save the no ghosts theory. But what's more plausible is that Kubrick was using that particular scene to end the questions about what was real and what wasn't and to establish that it was in fact a haunted hotel."

[@LeandroVelez7]

That’s how it was in the book. So technically that’s a Stephen King thing.

[@klavesin]

If ghosts are kind of induced hallucination who unlocked the food storage door?

[@JoelCraike]

Grady did he unlocked the storage room door and let Jack out

[@carolhowley7158]

Thank you so much for your thought. You might enjoy a video from Rob Ager, an analyst who puts care and thought into his interpretations. He made a video about this topic called 5 Theories of How Jack Escaped From The Storage Room, or some similar title. Most Sincerely, Chris Howley, Wollaston, Massachusetts

[@edgadalinski7493]

This is Kubrick's way of letting the audience judge for themselves. The other angle is if he knew she going to die, why complicate things by telling her the truth.

[@mind-numbingtasks1575]

If only they would have cast the TV miniseries differently with some not so recognizable actors.

[@Forget1987]

Wendy abused Danny in room 237 and she blames jack and Jack's just like wtf

[@choppergirl]

Odd, I don't remember the Pirates of the Caribbean diorama at all. It must of not been memorable.

[@maxiaguirre]

Grady appears and talk to Jack and Wendy

[@DorianYarg]

Maybe he didn't dislike it that much...

[@SwizzleTheNerd]

I gave up on FF after 10. I tried 15 and hated it. The demo for 16 gave me hope..i loved 16 but it was a big diversion from FF. It could have been called Fantastic Journey and I wouldnt have known it was related to FF. I think like Zelda. We need a mix of the old and the new.

[@darthvader386]

Is cuz he's mind is already deranged and has been given to the hotel little by little a side that he was already kinda psycho. That's why when she reads he's novel that he's been writing they're endless pages whit the same sentence meaning that he's been in that spiral for a long while giving in day by day

[@paulturcotte1977]

I think of jack as older version of Danny Un like Danny he had to keep it to himself was told keep it that way. Jack is talk to young version of himself and Danny is talking to his older spirt. Jack probably stop growing when he started drinking?

[@linusmadrone]

Jack thought there would be plenty of booze there and didn't bring his own. Went through the D.T.s and lost his mind. Just a theory.

[@taracollins5597]

Jack had been sober for 5 months prior to going to the Overlook. His DT's would have long been over.

[@Tokolos]

The Shining and Withnail & I are the two films I've seen the most times. Lost count.