A densely layered theme that can easily be filed under “Kubrick as Unreliable Narrator”, but disorientation is found in:
The Grady Girls being described as 8 and 10 but cast as twins.
Hearing about Charles Grady and meeting Delbert Grady
The 2nd floor hallway’s carpet design: you can’t get a sense of orientation, where Room 237 is and how it’s adjacent to The Colorado Lounge.
The entire sequence where all 3 characters are running— Wendy appears in various parts of the hotel that don’t spatially connect.
The logic in the arguments.
Kubrick’s usage of image message splicing (like in No.6, No.30, No.50): sometimes its seeing the future, sometimes it’s thought.
In this image · No.66
Disorientation and the Snowstorm
The snowstorm makes Wendy’s disorientation physical. Sound, reduced visibility, and the overwhelming exterior turn leaving the building into another obstacle. Her styling continues the study’s Indigenous imagery reading, while the storm becomes a metaphor for disillusionment as she faces the consequences of Jack’s actions.