No.4
No.4 introduces us to Wendy and Danny and the space the Torrance's are currently occupying. It also introduces to Tony, denial, themes of violence in cartoons, and establishing color a signifiers for America as well as intensity of emotion.
The external establishing shot is a direct contrast to the expansive size of The Overlook with a clear focus on domesticity: children are heard playing, birds chirping, and a dog barks in the background.
It is shown to be transitory space as brown boxes are visible. It is cramped and visually busy with books. Wendy is shown reading The Catcher in The Rye.
The scene is set up like an interview between Danny and Wendy. Wendy is distracted between a lit cigarette, reading a book and neglecting a sandwich, while Danny is shown eating.
The conversation centers around Danny asking Wendy how she really feels about going to the hotel, Danny’s isolation, and Tony’s opinion about it all.
She engages Danny but her responses are placating her child. Danny also presents a false Tony to Wendy (and the viewer).
American History/Culture
Showing both Wendy and Danny in vibrant red, white, and blue
Danny wears a shirt with Bugs Bunny on it while watching a Roadrunner cartoon
Wendy & Danny eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Wendy is shown primarily around food, and is shown eating what Danny eats
Domestic abuse
Wendy is healing from what looks like a swollen eye
The Roadrunner cartoon and the Tom & Jerry mug both speak to violence shown to children
The Maze
Danny presents a fake voice for Tony. When he speaks to Tony alone in No.6 this is not the voice used
Danny asking Wendy if she really wants to live in the hotel for the winter feeds into the foreboding that was hinted at during The Credits
Ghost Story
Danny asking Wendy if she really wants to live in the hotel for the winter feeds into the foreboding that was hinted at during The Credits and the logical conclusion to this feeling of doom is ghosts
Cabin Fever
Danny mentions loneliness and isolation around not having anyone to play with
Wendy is shown as a stay-at-home mom, and is not exhibiting signs of Cabin Fever. Women have been conditioned to be inside the home
The scene is fixed on Wendy and Danny. The visuals in the setting and the dialogue between the characters communicate additional information.
A signifier of America, Wendy and Danny both wear deeply saturated red, white, and blue. This both ties in with America as well as “color as emotional indicator”- even though we are watching a straight forward kitchen scene, the subtext goes deep.
Wendy wears a blue plaid pinafore, connecting her to the color and foreshadowing the Overlook West Wing Living Quarters.
Wendy’s long underwear is vibrant red, the table cloth is a red plaid, and Danny’s shirt has red in its collar, all indicating danger.
Baseball is often referred to as America’s Pastime. No.4 has a scene pair in No.62 where Wendy grabs the baseball bat. This scene is the set up to No.62’s swing.
Heard offscreen is Looney Tunes’ music for Roadrunner & Coyote cartoons. It is the meep meep that clarifies it so definitively. Roadrunner and Coyote have a predator / prey dynamic similar to Danny and Jack within the maze sequences.
From Wendy’s pinafore (house dress) and the red table cloth, plaids are established as a pattern used by the Torrances.
Even before we situate in the Overlook, the cup Danny drinks out of has a Native American symbol on it— it’s the medicine man symbol seen in blankets and patterns.
Danny Awareness of problems ignored by parents
Danny, in a false presentation of Tony, tells Wendy outright he won’t enjoy the hotel. Wendy’s optimism (and denial) are in direct contrast to Danny’s awareness.
Television is a constant companion for Wendy and so Danny is around it as well At least in No.4 and No.62 it’s child appropriate.
The Catcher in the Rye centers around a 14 year old boy struggling to come to terms with the complexities of growing up and the seeming phoniness of the adult world.
Wife and mother, Wendy is seen around food and with Danny as company and comfort.
Food as a connection to family
Wendy is often around food or mentioning food when she’s with her family (or for her family).
Books are related to Jack and Wendy, their dynamic: his writing them, her turning to them when she’s lonely or as a distraction.
Danny’s awareness around why he doesn’t want to go to the hotel shows something’s wrong.
We can see something’s going to come up, but we can’t see what.
A nod to White privilege in American life.
A signifier for women’s work as well as airing out secrets.
Both Wendy and Danny lie here, but Danny’s lie is around Tony— and why Danny doesn’t want to go to the hotel, whereas Wendy’s lie is a regular “mother altering speech to protect her young son” kind of a lie.
Danny's shirt / red white and blue
A signifier for America
Wendy’s got a cigarette burning, a sandwich barely eaten, but face is in a book.
Wendy’s got a lit cigarette burning in the ashtray, a signifier of distraction.
The Torrance Apartment in Boulder is a lower-income living situation.
Danny wears a shirt with a band of stars around its sleeve.
Showing us right away he’s called Doc (and associated with the cartoon rabbit), Danny wears a shirt with Bugs Bunny on it.
The Looney Tunes, Tom + Jerry mug, the red white + blue, the peanut butter and jelly— all speak to American Culture.
If Roadrunner + Coyote wasn’t enough predator/prey symbolism, Wendy drinking out of a Tom + Jerry mug pushes it even further.
Both Wendy + Danny are eating Peanut Butter + Jelly sandwiches, a signifier for American culture, middle (maybe even lower class) America.
More than a reference or two, this scene is repeated in No.62, where we have seen that they are not having a real good time.
For all the positing that Jack loses his mind over cabin fever, it negates the reality that women have been forced to endure the same conditions for centuries and have never killed anyone over it.
The Tony we see here is a performance for Wendy’s benefit. Compared to No.6 and No.54, there’s definitely the Tony Danny knows and the Tony Wendy (and maybe Jack) sees.
The Native American banding on the glass shows the Medicine Man symbol as a superficial design motif.
Wendy’s denial (expanded upon in No.7) first looks like optimism/showing a brave face, but it is an active work of harm.
On first pass, this could be a child’s natural curiosity and a mother showing an optimistic face. After a rewatch, it’s Danny’s awareness at problems that are flat out ignored by his parents and Wendy's denial.
The dog barking is a signifier of normal regular societal life. It is in direct contrast to the wolf howl heard in No.28’s exterior shot signifying “wild life”.
The establishing shot of the Boulder Apartment has a dog barking, children playing— signifying human life. It will be noticeably different from A Month Later onward.
The Roadrunner & Coyote cartoon is cartoon violence, but so is the Tom & Jerry mug Wendy is seen drinking out of. Predator/Prey relationships and the duality of Play & Harm are shown in the cartoons and followed in real life with Jack’s behavior and choices.
A mainstay in childhood, cartoons. Here to provide a thematic context of Danny being a child and the overexaggerated drama occurring in the late parts of the film.
Woman's Work
The laundry shown in the background, the lunch, the child rearing-- all of it speaks to Wendy's role in contrast to Jack's role- getting the job.
Showing transition. The Torrance’s haven’t unpacked in their current space but they’re moving somewhere else for the next 5 months.
Still prominent, the mountains shown in No.4’s establishing image is on the darker side rather than the expansive view of an entire range (as in No.2)
Not composed or circling in, not fake and peeking around corners.
Wendy eating what Danny eats reflects her innocence but also how she’s treated like a child.
Associated with “make believe”, the imagination, hope and optimism.Florals are the significant pattern around the Overlook’s living quarters.
Plaids are shown prominently, plaids symbolize difference in patterns (behavioral or choices, in general).
Joy & Ivory are both soap brands that can serve as euphemism for the joy of being white. It is subtext for American life.
Wendy’s gold chain is close to her neck, signifying a close ownership.
The conversation in No.4 is happening during the same time as Jack’s interview, communicated by the fade-in transition.
The inclusion of a piece is important. He includes Flock of Loons, a painting by Morrisseau (indigenous Canadian painter).
Shown mid-transition, this specific artwork is a form of foreshadowing: it is shown again as Wendy sees the sabotaged snowcat and as Jack runs outside of the maze to try and kill Danny.
Shown in a transition image from the Boulder Apartment in No.4 to Ullman’s Office in No.5, it takes the references to violence in the cartoons to real life.
Shown when transitioning from the Boulder Apartment to Ullman’s Office
The fishing photos, the maps, all signifiers of direct conquest. Wendy as a stay at home mother could also be another signifier of a type of “conquest”.
Black + White photos
Jack is aligned with the Black + White photos from the very beginning.
Sepia Photos
The Sepia Photos shown signify lineage, generations. They are related to the black and white photos but they also could be more “personal”. They are related to Watson, whose family has a history with the hotel (made much more clear in the book).
Wendy + Danny's dynamic
Wendy and Danny have a warm and comfortable dynamic. Almost like friends.
Boulder Apartment As Overlook Hotel
The Scene Reflection in No.62 has the Roadrunner cartoon, same table cloth, Wendy’s smoking, and a meal, showing that the Torrance life in Boulder has similar elements to that in The Overlook.
The inclusion of the uncut cucumber lying on the counter reflects the myriad of ‘cut’, ‘minced’, sliced’ vegetables shown in The Overlook Pantry.
The Kitchen of the Boulder Apartment
Additional Kitchen Scenes
Wendy washes the dishes from lunch
"Is there something bad here?"
Wendy prepares dinner; Danger and storm warnings
"It'll be like nothing every happened"
Metaphorical Kitchen
Even though it’s in the bedroom, the T.V. tray is styled like the family table here.
DANNY Mom... WENDY Yeah. DANNY Do you really want to go and live in that hotel for the winter? WENDY Sure, Danny, it will be lots of fun. DANNY Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, there's hardly anybody to play with around here. WENDY Yeah, I know. It always takes a little time to make new friends. DANNY Yeah, I guess so. WENDY
What about Tony? He's looking forward to the hotel, I bet. TONY NO, I ain't Mrs. Torrance. WENDY Oh come on, Tony. Don't be silly. TONY I don't want to go there, Mrs. Torrance. WENDY Well, how come you don't want to go? TONY I just don't. WENDY Well, let's just wait and see. We're all gonna have a real good time.
The scene opens up with sounds of children playing and dog's barking, giving the sense of domesticity. These are contrasted by the sounds of wilderness shown in No.22 (a loon's call), No.28 (a wolf's howl), and silence (No.35, No.43, and No.68).
Additionally, There is cartoon narrative music playing from a Roadrunner cartoon in the background, punctuating Wendy's "Well, let's wait and see. We're all going to have a real good time." This is directly reflected in No.62's use of Roadrunner narrative music as Wendy moves off screen, grabbing the baseball bat to confront Jack.