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
