So Why The Hell Was Nicholson In The Hotel Picture In 1921?- Page 5

[tazber]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 10:01pm

So here's a little movie that anyone who posted in (or actually read) this thread has to see.

It's not a recommendation, it's a requirement.

This is some deep ****.
Prepare to have your minds blown

[CJ N2N]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 11:47am

(I haven't read the whole thread so if someone said something similar I'm sorry!)

I've seen the film around 5 times and the last time I saw it, I took something different away from it. So here's my take:

Jack felt extremely guilty for his alcoholic past (hurting Danny, etc.). It is because of this guilt that he sees the ghosts of the past. The ghosts are a symbol for him not being able to forget his alcoholism and how he hurt Danny and almost destroyed his marriage. This is also the reason when Wendy runs through the hotel at the end, she sees the ghosts as either dead (Mr. Grady with the split in his skull) or as skeletons. She's been able to put thew memories behind her, so the ghosts are gone. The reason he appears in the photo at the end is because he's been completely consumed in his guilt.

Updated On: 11/22/12 at 11:47 AM

[trentsketch]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 12:07pm

I'm trying to remember if the novel mentioned something about the extravagant parties the hotel used to have. I did confuse it for a moment in my head with Richard Matheson's Hell House, where they had raucous orgies/parties in the 1920s with animals and bondage. I'm trying to remember if there's an emphasis on the past parties in King's novel.

What I do know for sure is that different party decorations pop up throughout the novel. Jack definitely finds an old-fashioned party hat in the elevator at one point. My guess is that Kubrick extrapolated that image to the opulence of the early 1920s, ala The Great Gatsby.

Honestly, I believe 1921 is an arbitrary choice. The year is not mentioned directly in the book or film. I think it's more of an attempt to unsettle the audience one more time with the realization that Jack is probably not the first person driven insane by the hotel. We're talking at least a 49 year history at the hotel where bad things could happen. Some of the design has that eerie, slightly off Dynamic Symmetry look about it, only updated with various mishmashed trends over the years.

The photograph is to show that Jack was always part of the hotel because his spirit was susceptible to the dark influences at play. The 1921 photo is an arbitrary means of expressing that. It's a great image that had been used countless times before in Gothic literature. Its very Dorian Gray or Poe's Black Cat, where the past is literally hiding right in front of you if you only open your eyes.

Updated On: 11/22/12 at 12:07 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 12:39pm

The book does have quite a few mentions of the decadent lavish parties. Specially where the mob guy sodomized a guy in a dog costume. That ended up just being a cut away in one of the rooms in the movie

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 3/7/14 at 4:34pm

The Secret Genius Of Stanley Kubrick & The Shining