12 notes &
(via ‘Room 237,’ Documentary With Theories About ‘The Shining’ - NYTimes.com)
The hotel’s hedge maze, many Kubrick authorities agree, is a reference to the myth of the Minotaur; others have drawn convincing connections between the Overlook’s well-stocked pantry and the confectionery cottage in Hansel and Gretel. The more one views the film — and many of these scholars admit to viewing it hundreds of times — the more symbols and connections appear.
“Room 237,” the first full-length documentary by the director Rodney Ascher, examines several of the most intriguing of these theories. It’s really about the Holocaust, one interviewee says, and Mr. Kubrick’s inability to address the horrors of the Final Solution on film. No, it’s about a different genocide, that of American Indians, another says, pointing to all the tribal-theme items adorning the Overlook Hotel’s walls. A third claims it’s really Kubrick’s veiled confession that he helped NASA fake the Apollo Moon landings.
….not only did I truly dislike Kubrick’s “vision” of this book (and still do to this day), but I always resented the fact that he changed the room number with the lady in the tub from 217 (which it was in the book) to 237. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that the hotel where they shot some of the scenes requested the change so that customers at the actual hotel wouldn’t avoid the real room 217. (One would think that the real room 217 would actually be a bigger draw…..but that’s just me thinking, I suppose…..)
