No.6
The important thing to remember about No.6 is the constant sense of foreboding that's being sewn in. No.5 ends with Jack confidently (lying) about how what's happened before definitely won't happen to him, and immediately we segue into seeing Danny talking to Tony about why he doesn’t want to go to the hotel.
No.6 is two scenes spliced together. First we have Danny in the Torrance bathroom talking to Tony (through the mirror) in the Torrance bathroom, then we transition into seeing Wendy talking with Jack while he’s still at The Overlook. Then we go back to Danny to see a visual sequence of why Tony doesn’t want to go.
The sequence gets a ton of attention, and it should, but the subtler messages also carry merit: Danny is heard playing with water, transitioning to Wendy washing dishes. This shows Kubrick’s use of sound as a transition device, and that Danny /Tony are aware to his parents’ activities.
Kubrick’s use of sound plays heavily along with the visuals, and both are linked to other scenes.
Stylistically, the Boulder Kitchen is reflected in No.40’s usage of Summer of 42.
Scenes that take place in a Bathroom are also scenes with fear and vulnerability.
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.
Wendy is shown watching a western on TV
Wendy is shown with tv on as comfort.
It’s a black and white tv, speaking to their economic status.
Domestic abuse
Wendy talks with Jack wearing a blue plaid house dress (pinafore). In the background, a chair with the same blue plaid. This reflects No.56 where Wendy smokes a cigarette, pacing back and forth within the West Wing Hallway, talking to herself about leaving Jack at the hotel. In the background, a pillow with the same green plaid as her shirt (which is Jack/s shirt No.3-No.5)
The reflection here is that the Torrance home life is the same in Boulder as it is in The Overlook.
The Maze
Kubrick has Danny in the bathroom, with his hands unseen. Water is heard running/splashing.
When we go to i130, Wendy is doing the dishes and running water is shown/heard.
Kubrick establishes Danny’s awareness with his parents actions across the film. Sometimes it’s spatially, like in No.50, sometimes thematically like No.64.
The styling of the living space is reflected in the styling of The Overlook, the Torrance’s just have a poorer quality.
Kubrick as Unreliable Narrator
Kubrick creates a messaging system that he betrays.
Compare i162 to A50 in the same way— Danny experiencing something that’ll come up in the film, but it is Wendy who witnesses this in A87 in parallel to Jack trying to kill Danny.
Compare i166 to No.30 when Danny touches a door knob and ‘sees’ The Grady Girls. He’s ‘wondering’ if that’s where that image is from when in fact it’s from A38 when he sees The Grady Girls in a different location.
Compare i169 where this is Danny reacting to his father killing Halloran in A78
What’s missing: Room 237 and Danny running for his life through the Hedge Maze.
Ghost Story
Kubrick’s use of internal messaging as a warning is seen as a warning from ghosts/spiritual forces.
Cabin Fever
Danny mentions loneliness and isolation around not having anyone to play with, and is seen talking to himself for company.
The scene is comprised of 3 pieces: Danny in the Bathroom talking to his reflection as Tony, Wendy talking with Jack on the phone, and Danny receiving why Tony doesn’t want to go to the hotel. The information is delivered in a visual sequence collaging the Grady girls, the elevator, and Danny screaming.
Filming Danny’s portion through a mirror sets the viewer up for No.24, No.47, No.53, No.71
The Kitchen of the Boulder Apartment, the content of No.4 in general is reflected.
No.4
No.7
The Bathroom of the Boulder Apartment
No.7
Wendy
Danny
Tony
DANNY
Tony, do you think Daddy will get
the job?
01. TONY (OFF)
Yeah, he did. He's gonna phone
Wendy up in a few minutes to tell
her.
WENDY
(into phone)
Hello.
JACK
(into phone)
Hi, babe.
WENDY
(over phone)
Hi, hon. How's it going?
02. JACK
(into phone)
Great. Look, I'm at the hotel and
I still have an awful lot to go
through. I don't think I can get
home before nine or ten.
(I find it interesting he made very good time to get to the interview, but will be late going home— Jack hating his home life?)
WENDY
(into phone)
Sounds like you got the job?
03. JACK
(into phone)
Right it's a beautiful place. You
and Danny are gonna love it.
(fatalism/reflects Wendy: "We're all going to have a real good time)
DANNY
Tony, why don't you want to go to
the hotel?
TONY (OFF)
I don't know.
DANNY
You do too know, now come on tell me.
DANNY wiggles forefinger.
TONY (OFF)
I don't want to.
DANNY
Please...
DANNY wiggles forefinger.
TONY (OFF)
No.
DANNY
Now Tony, tell me.
The music used here forms additional scene connections, like a musical shorthand for themes and their message:
1. Penderecki’s Awakening of Jacob, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8yzgpa_xSY, repeats: No.45, No.48
The choice of music is ironic because Danny’s loss of consciousness and vision of something horrible and the biblical text behind the work is ‘being aware that God is there to protect you’.
The occurrences for the music relate to Danny talking with Tony about not wanting to go to the hotel and why Tony was afraid, Jack’s “I had a horrible nightmare”, and Jack embracing the woman in Room 237 and transitioning to the reality of the decaying woman.