No.10
Here we are reintroduced to The Lobby, but from a different view point. The Lobby will become a living space for The Torrances.
We are also experiencing Kubrick using directional movement as a way to show difference.
Ullman and Watson walk towards the camera and we see the banding checkerboard styling of the floor, the contrast of art deco and native american imagery, and bear traps styled as chandeliers.
Jack is shown seated reading a Playgirl magazine (featuring a story on why parents sleep with their children), and is situated where guests where placed as he walked in (from the left, and walked away from the camera) in No.3.
American History/Culture
The contrast of art deco imagery and Native American symbolism shows the conflict in control and who tells the story. Culture as decoration is also shown in each column’s banding pattern, and the Native American blanket shown in the foreground.
Jack reading a pornographic magazine at work, or even having a pornographic magazine out in the open in a hotel, shows how casually sexualized imagery is.
Domestic abuse
Jack is shown reading a PlayGirl magazine, pornography directed towards a female audience (male nudes). On the cover are some interesting articles, one of them being why parents sleep with their children (link to open new image). In the background, the Torrance’s bags and Danny’s trike. Visually signifying “baggage they’re carrying”
The Maze
Ullman’s stylized like The Lobby itself: his pants match the color of the columns and his shirt has a checkerboard design on the front. Both signifying the floor’s macro checkerboard and the marking on his office door, shown No.3
Watson wears all grey, a nod to No.91, and another signifier that symbolically, Watson is here to reflect Jack’s shadow self. (links to that theme page).
Jack shown reading a pornographic magazine while his family’s luggage, and son’s trike in the frame combines the symbols and
Kubrick as Unreliable Narrator:
Ullman talks about touring Jack’s apartment next, yet the scene shown are the adults as they tour The Colorado Lounge. Considering how we see Jack within The Colorado Lounge for the majority of the film, this creates both a disconnection in how Kubrick can be trusted AND connects Jack to The Colorado Lounge.
Furniture as People
The luggage belonging to the Torrance’s visually transition to people standing in front of the elevator in the beginning of No.11. They are positioned not only compositionally but with the same colors and patterning.
Idiomatically, when someone is “a part of the furniture”, they are referring to ‘the help’, or to someone that has been a part of something for so long it’s hard to imagine being without them. therefore, the association and meaning.
Ghost Story
Mentioning the Donner Party, the settlers, the similar music to the Opening Credits sequence all feed into the ghost story narrative.
Cabin Fever
The cramped nature of the vehicle, having Danny visually inserted towards the front all contribute a confined space.
The camera pans from left to right, showing the hustle and bustle of a hotel closing down for the winter. The camera stays positioned in front of the Gold Room Hallway entrance for Ullman and Watson to move foreground and continues to Jack seated.
The Lobby
Jack
Ullman
Watson
The dialogue is banal and what you would expect of a new hire on the first day.
There is no additional sound.