Cultural Viscera

The Maze:

Kubrick as Unreliable Narrator:

Throughout the scene, Danny/Tony repeats REDRUM  (similar to A54), and gets louder as he faces sleeping Wendy. As she wakes up, Tony turns into Danny. See: Fire Alarms

Danny is the one who writes the REDRUM he’s been seeing. This reflects all of the times we’ve been shown REDRUM through Danny (No.6, No.50, No.64), as well as reflects (A45)where Jack tells Wendy what he’s ‘dreamed’ and how that’s about to come true (A72).

Fatalism:

“Mom? Do you really want to go live in that hotel for the winter?” / “We’re all going to have a real good time!”

“Tony, why don’t you want to go to the hotel?”

“You would never hurt Mommy and me, would you?”

REDRUM as MURDER:

Wendy realizes it spells Murder. 

in A78, Danny ‘experiences’ the murder of Halloran, 

A83 Wendy comes upon Halloran’s body (realizes that Jack has been capable of murder)

Euphemism/Idiom:

the vanity, Vain, and In Vain. 

Having Danny take his mark-making choice off of the vanity is a strong choice. 

A) vain: caring about how one looks, 

Reflects No.69 and the heavy indicator of peer pressure for Jack to “fulfill his duty”. 

B) In Vain: futile, without success

Reflects Jack and his concerns over his job and reputation, and equally reflects Jack’s failure to kill his wife and son despite his best efforts. 

Color:

Wendy wears green plaid shirt, with blue robe

Danny wears white and blue plaid shirt with green and red striped sweater

On the nightstand, a camouflage tank on a blue book

Wendy and her color combination reflects the tank and book. 

Wendy and Danny reflect each other, Danny reflects the green in the tank

Not only this, but Wendy’s blue reflects the WW Hallway carpet and the greens and the tank reflect the army camouflage chair outside of the room. 

(which allllll reflects the A13 Native American children portraits outside of the room). 

Blue:

Sadness. And usually associated with femininity. 

Danny’s sweater shoulder and the tapestry curtain behind him.

We’ve seen this color combo and style before, in cans shown No.69

Artwork:

Bear in snow painting on wall, which reflects both Danny and Bears as well as Kubrick using artwork to show themes of the Torrance’s in other ways. 

Reflects the exterior maze sequences where Danny will be running for his life from Jack (A79, A81, A82, A84, A86, A88)

Danny & Bears

No.7

No.13

No.26

No.62

Artwork as metaphor

No.30, picture of seated Jack

No.7, Horse & Train as futility

No.80, snow covered homes and cabins as reflection of this hotel being the same as the Torrance’s “Normal home”

Tool as a weapon:

The knife, which will reflect the escalation of an axe. 

Ghost Story:

All of this is happening because of ghostly peer pressure— from a ghost that wasn’t the same as the caretaker we hear about from No.5. 

Cabin Fever:

All of this is happening because of Jack’s inability to leave the hotel— even though when he had the option, he still chose not to— and even though Wendy is already shown to be a stay at home mother who was house-bound from the beginning. 

Scene Reflection:

No.54, (which is a reflection of No.6)

As Wendy paces back and forth talking herself through the plan to take Danny to the Doctor, Danny starts yelling REDRUM from his bedroom (he was assumed to be asleep). 

No.71 is Danny pacing back and forth repeating REDRUM while Wendy sleeps. 

No.6 has Danny stationed in the bathroom, talking to Tony in his reflection in the mirror. The sound transitions to Wendy washing dishes, answering Jack’s telephone call. 

This connects the reason why Danny doesn’t want to go to the hotel with Jack. 

No.41 (which in itself is a reflection of No.24)

“You would never hurt Mommy and me, would you?”

“When we first came to the hotel, I thought it was a little scary”

Both scenes take place in the bedroom, but around Jack and his sleep (or lack there of). 

No.72

What Danny is really doing here is a preparatory warning for how Jack will axe down this same door. 

Mirrors, reflections

A6, Danny talks with his reflection as Tony about why he doesn’t want to come to this hotel. 

A24, As Wendy walks in with food, Kubrick shows a mirror reflection of Jack and zooms out to reality. 

A41, Kubrick includes both Jack and his mirrored reflection as Danny walks in to the Bedroom. 

A44:i740, Kubrick conceptually recreates No.41’s shot with a potted pheasant centerpiece as Danny enters Room 237. 

A54, As Wendy paces back and forth talking through her plan to leave, the bathroom is clearly shown in the mirror. 

Wendy wears two layers of Jack’s clothing:

Wendy wears Jack’s robe shown A41 when Jack threatens Danny in front of the bathroom.

Wendy wears Jack’s green plaid shirt from The Interview, A45, where Jack lies about any of the problems “not happening to him”. 

Sleeping:

showing unawareness, transition/transformation

A24, Wendy wakes Jack with breakfast in bed. The camera fixes on Jack’s reflection and zooms out (the same way he’ll show REDRUM means MURDER in this scene). 

A45, Wendy does Jack’s job while he sleeps in the next room

A69, Grady wakes Jack who sleeps in The Pantry and Jack assumes it’s Wendy. 

Also, Not Sleeping:

No.41, Jack’s inability to sleep because he has “too much to do”

No.50, Danny’s not sleeping and in fact very much aware of the conversation happening in the next room. 

Wendy’s Denial

A45- Jacks screaming interrupts Wendy’s tending to the boiler (Jack’s job), she tends to him ‘ tells him it’s a bad dream’, Danny’s already in a trance.

A54- Danny interrupts Wendy’s planning (to herself) by repeating REDRUM from his bedroom. She is able to get him to engage slightly. 

A64- “You’ve had your whole fucking LIFE to think things over. What good is a few minutes more going to do you now?”

Also reflects

A7: 

“Tony’s his imaginary friend” - Wendy’s obtuseness with Danny’s Tony

“Did Tony’s first appearance happen to coincide with your arrival here?” / Nursery school, the accident- but she doesn’t (or won’t) put the pieces together. 

“My husband had been drinking, so he wasn’t in the greatest of moods that night”- Wendy’s obtuseness of Jack’s moods and the behaviors they influence. 

Wendy’s Trail of Awareness

Triggered by Wendy seeing what REDRUM means in the mirror.

A78, Halloran’s Death and Danny’s awareness/reaction

A79, as Danny runs out of the sideboard and Jack chases him down green hallway

A80, as Wendy comes upon the bear blowjob tuxedo man

A80, close up on bear and tuxedo man

A80, mid length on Wendy reacting

A83, Wendy views Halloran’s body

A83, Wendy sees “Great Party Isn’t it?” man

A84/A85, music carries throughout A83 and as Jack says “I’m right behind you” scene transfers into A85 as Wendy comes up on the skeletons

No.87 Wendy runs through the red hallway to witness the blood from the elevator at the same time as Jack and Danny are within the center of The Hedge Maze. 

Optimism vs Reality

A4, “We’re all going to have a real good time”

A5, “5 months of peace is just what I want”

In sharp contrast to 

A31,

A41, 

A45, 

A50, 

A64, 

A65, 

A71, 

A72

The scene opens with the camera fixed on Danny as he paces from the vanity to the nightstand and back to the vanity— and then back to the bathroom door. It’s here that he writes REDRUM. He then turns to face Wendy holding a knife, screaming RED RUM in her face until she wakes up. 

It reflects No.54 with Wendy pacing back and forth from the opened bathroom to the vanity and running into Danny’s bedroom as he’s shouting “Red rum”. 

West Wing Living Quarters Bedroom

No.13 

Jack and Wendy tour the space- Wendy disappointed, Jack putting on a happy face. 

No.24

Wendy wakes Jack with breakfast in bed. 

No.41

Danny and Jack talk in the West Wing Living Quarters Bedroom.

No.50

Wendy and Jack talk in the Bedroom about how to move forward. 

No.54

Wendy talks through her plan to leave The Overlook, Danny interrupts with screaming REDRUM from his bedroom. 

Wendy
Danny

The external sound becomes part of the internal scene’s focus. 

Reflects A47 and Jack’s telling of The Incident from his perspective. Wendy is heard yelling his name off screen, and the sound punctuates the scene as if you hear Wendy’s reaction from The Incident, but she is yelling his name to find him for protection. 

In A71, Wendy’s realization of murder is punctuated by the reality in the threat of murder by Jack axing down the door.