No.48
No.48 is one of the most famous scenes of the movie. Jack enters Room 237, but not before being framed as a mental conversation between Danny and Halloran.
American History/Culture
A statement on Womens’ Status, Blacksploitation, and Ownership:
Halloran’s bedroom boasts two portraits of women that are fetishized images. Both exhibit signs of blacksploitation with the image above his head a modern (for the time)’s sexualized ideal of a black woman, and the one above his t.v. is a sexualization of slavery, or at the very least, black people as more primitive.
The pose of the woman with the red background (i918) will be the pose of the naked woman as she gets out of the bathroom in Room 237(i941.5).
Black culture, fetishizing slavery
While Halloran is shown as good to Wendy and Danny, ultimately giving up his life for their survival, he’s shown to inhabit the same sexist and subjugational tendencies of other men.
Uncle Tom- showing to be of one group but betraying that group to gain favor in the ‘ruling’ group. Black people are just as capable of holding up White Supremacy/Patriarchy, but it’s done as self preservation.
Culture as Decoration:
The lamps in Halloran’s bed room have a rough and indigenous styling to them, the decoration is similar to a fish drawing in a cave painting (or other rudimentary mark making).
Reflects both the real nature and the reproductions made across the hotel to recreate that nature
A2:02
A13:i317
A49:i989
Woman’s status and ownership
Relates to pornographic images of women and images of women in struggle.
No.10, Jack reads Playgirl magazine while waiting for Ullman
A45:i744, pornography is in the boiler room space
A60:i1205, a man looks at a pornographic pin up calendar at the mechanic shop
Domestic Abuse
Due to this scene being a conversation between Halloran and Danny, his scene can be understood as an example of ‘psychological transference’.
The same place the woman reaches on Jack is where Danny’s bruises are, and is where Jack touched Danny in No.41.
Bullies getting bullied:
Jack taunts others, because he’s primarily in control. He taunts Wendy as he berates her about interrupting him, he will eventually taunt Danny as he chases him to kill him. Here, Jack is taunted and chased and scared out of Room 237, while images of Danny are interjected in between. Danny is “fighting back”, if only mentally.
Predator & Prey:
Related to hunting, the framed bird picture reflects:
A6:i129, bird stickers on Danny’s door
A23:i487.5 framed bird imagery, pheasant centerpieces
No.48, the framed images across the bed are reminiscent of children’s books, Beatrix Potter.
Or at least more predatory / prey imagery with ducks and rabbits
A53:i1060 pheasant centerpieces
A53:i1064 feather as art deco headband
(stylized headdress)
A53:i1080 woman wears white feather
The Maze
Kubrick as Unreliable Narrator:
Having the camera zoom into Halloran tighter and then cutting to No.44:i922 conveys that what Halloran (and the viewer) is now seeing what we (as Danny) saw in A44:i740.
Kubrick intentionally bathes Danny’s bedroom in green light (923) He’s wearing red pajamas.
Jack is in a bathroom with the same green coloring, wearing a red jacket. Compare Danny’s bedroom shown a few scenes later, at night (No.54:i1164).
Aside from Kubrick establishing that this sequence is a message sent from Danny to Halloran, the viewer been the camera’s perspective. The hand that pushes the door is ambiguously sized so the viewer still assumes we are Danny walking through Room 237 as we ended No.44. When the camera reveals that we are now Jack, it is disorienting.
Inserting images of Danny drooling in bed is literally inserting Danny into this sequence and the ‘visual conversation’. Showing Danny again while we’re seeing Jack within the space brings the viewer back to the reality that this is what Danny is communicating to Halloran, and can be assumed is what HE (Danny) experienced when entering Room 237 (A44) or when entering the bedroom (A41).
Jack shows fear until the ghost reveals herself, then he becomes excited; a classic male fantasy. It is also a sexualized take on predator + prey.
The way the woman steps out of the bath and stands waiting for Jack to approach her mimics the way Jack beckons Danny to him.
The woman in the bathtub and her movements are connected with Danny sending the message— TO JACK. This is the psychological transference.
Once Jack enters the bathroom, you don’t see Halloran receiving the message. You see Danny, the woman, and Jack’s fear. Danny is ‘retaliating’ against his father who harmed him.
Once outside Room 237, Jack walks towards staircase that connects with The Colorado Lounge, insinuating that this portion relates to the scene where A44 ends and A45 begins.
Amalgamated Space:
The experience of this scene— the way the camera moves, the styling, the objects, the colors, the patterns— are all pulled from other scenes:
The pheasant centerpieces are pulled from The Colorado Lounge, The Lobby & The Gold Room
The desk, chair, pen + paper shown are pulled from The Colorado Lounge (and reflects Jack’s work).
The mirrored entrance, showing the reflected pheasant centerpiece, reflects JAck’s position in No.41
The carpet is the same pattern in the curtain of the West Wing Living Quarters.
The camera pans through the space like it does as the adults tour The Colorado Lounge & The West Wing Living Quarters.
Danny’s bedroom has a sink inset and metal rails just like they’re shown here.
The Living Room in Room 237 is set up like the full-sized couch lounge space within The Colorado Lounge.
The bathroom of Room 237 is set up like a more luxurious bathroom that the Torrance’s are shown having in Boulder across the point of view of the shot, the inclusion of green, yellow, and pink and the floral shower curtain.
The color green that bathes the bathroom is pulled from The Games Room, Jack’s shirt & The Green Hallway.
The floor marking where the woman stands is set up like the banding within The Lobby, a ceremonial space.
Television as Messaging System
Showing the news on the television is a way to show the character (and the viewer) receiving updates on a situation.
With A4 we meet Wendy and Danny as they’re watching Roadrunner Cartoons, foreshadowing both of their relationships with the missing member of the family, Jack. (Foreshadows the maze, Wendy running from Jack, Danny running from Jack, Jack being dangerous)
With A29 and Wendy, the messaging we’re receiving is women in danger of their husbands, the violence of men, and the snow storm (which acts as a metaphor for the conflict brewing within the Torrance home).
With A40, it’s the metaphorical linking of a young boy and an inappropriate sexual relationship with an older person.
A48 has the message of “elevated problem”. The news program (which is a real program from Miami) has facts about the weather, its severity, and then has all of the ways in which travel is impossible. Which for the majority of Halloran’s scenes are primarily what he does: he flies over at 8am, lies to his friend to get a snowcat, drives to his friend, drives the snowcat to the Overlook. The series of scenes coupled with the news story shows Halloran’s determination to save Danny, much like the remainder of Jack’s scenes are a representation of Jack’s determination to harm Danny and Wendy.
A62 again shows Wendy and Danny while Roadrunner cartoons play off screen. This provides the viewer a ‘mid way’ moment to see the relationship dynamics already established and occurring in ‘real time’, but not made literal until A79.
Kubrick’s Aesthetic:
the symmetry of the records, the lamps, and Halloran’s feet, the pillows, the television, the framed pictures.
Within Room 237 itself, the doubling and reflecting continues with two shower heads, two sinks, two side rails, a toilet + a bidet.
Animals:
Framed fox image as we enter the bedroom, a symbol of cleverness and seduction
The framed images across the bed are ducks and rabbits, prey animals who are often hunted by dogs.
Framed bird picture, reflects Danny’s stickers on his door in Boulder, but also here (No.23) and here (No.79 as Jack chases Danny out of the green hallway).
Pattern Reflection:
The carpet of Room 237, while vibrantly colored, has the same style of pattern shown in the curtain of the West Wing Living Quarter. While Danny’s room does have a door, the curtain serves as the “boundary” between the sleeping space of Jack and Wendy and the rest of the space.
The fluorescent floral curtains reflect the heightened intensity of the scene but also the wallpaper within The West Wing Living Quarters, speaking to fantasy and disillusionment.
Color Palette reflection:
Green- the light green is shown in the hallway Danny hides in to avoid Jack’s rage, and Jack’s shirt as he’s woken in No.24
Purple: Purple isn’t really shown anywhere else BUT this space. It could be a ‘mixture’ of red, white, and blue.
Gold- the lamp shades, the woman’s gold necklace and loin cloth
Green, Saturated - the sheets and pillows, wallet
Pink and Gold
Reflects A15 and Wendy’s “Pink and Gold are my favorite colors” / The Gold Room
Ghost Story
Jack is shown interacting with a woman in Room 237 who lures him in with her beauty and devolves into an old rotting corpse, taunting him.
Cabin Fever
The storm coverage of Colorado on a Miami news program reflects the intense pressure / emotional stress of the Torrance living situation.
No.48 opens on a television screen playing the news sharing the difficulty of the storm over in Colorado and has Halloran witnessing what Danny experienced during No.44 through mental connection.
Inserting an image of Danny in his bed drooling tells the viewer that what we are watching is a message Danny is sending Halloran*.
It can be gleaned that Danny experienced what he did within the space of A41 or A44.
The camera flows through the space similar to how the camera moved in The Closing Day sequences, specifically the tour of The Colorado Lounge & The West Wing Living Quarters.
Having 237 serve as a similar flow to the WW Living Quarters/A13 creates the link that what we’re about to experience in Room 237 is experienced within the Torrance home.
Having 237 serve as similar to Closing Day’s view of The Colorado Lounge, especially as Ullman talks about the hotel, creates the link that euphemisms and permissive attitude can be applied to Jack’s behavior/demeanor, Danny’s involvement (and how he’s involved), Halloran’s involvement and the attitude towards Halloran.
*It is very important to recognize that Danny’s bedroom is shown bathed in green light while he’s wearing red pajamas. The space is shown No.13 and No.54 and not green, but Jack is shown in a green bathroom in Room 237, while wearing a red jacket.
Room 237
Halloran
Danny
Jack
1. The Awakening of Jacob
The news story is drowned out with high pitched tones and the beating of a heart. As the camera pans through Room 237, the high pitched tones are replaced by The Awakening of Jacob, with the heartbeat continuing.
2. Utrenja II: Ewangelica
This same piece of music is used as Danny talks with Tony about why he doesn’t want to go to the hotel, as the tennis ball rolls to Danny luring him into Room 237, and as Jack screams about his dream within The Colorado Lounge.
Using it here to its completion cements the meaning of its usage.