No.72
No.72 is truly a continuation rather than new scene, but it begins the moment where Jack’s axe hits combined with Wendy’s realization of MURDER written on the door of their bathroom.
American History/Culture:
There are so many layers to American Culture- having Jack moving to kill his family in the West Wing Hallway (where the President’s Offices are held in The White House), next to a army camouflage chair, facing two framed Native American children portraits.
The wood plaque, Wendy’s blue robe, Danny’s green stripes in the sweater, all reflects A2, the nature. A mother and a child, natural (link to i1619)
Danny’s sweater is also brown/red, which reflects the REDRUM on the door and the knife. Violence, aggression, both reflecting that Danny is a child of the land and the violence and death that has taken place on it.
Perhaps also, as much as we don’t like to admit it, violence towards others is just as natural as the mother and the child.
With the inclusion of the red white and blue palette, the camouflage chair, and the Native American portrait, Kubrick says that it’s America’s nature, A72:i1621, i1622
Red, White, & Blue
His jacket, deep red. The walls, a bright blue— the carpet, a deeply saturated blue. White in the lights or the off-white beige.
Military in Regular Life: Camouflage chair, Tank
As Jack axes down the door, the camouflage chair takes on a different semiotic message. The toy tank inside shows that American life is tied to violence and the presence of the military.
Domestic abuse:
Wendy and Danny hide from Jack in the bathroom. Reflecting scenes where the bathroom window has been prominently centered in frame (here) and (here), Wendy’s options for escape are quickly diminishing.
One of the best indicators that this experience is centered around domestic abuse is the fact that Wendy and Jack both stop their fighting once their hear the oncoming vehicle.
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)
Play vs. Harm
Wendy slides Danny out of the window and down a bank of snow for safety. It’s an action that mimics a child going down a slide in a playground.
No.26, Wendy chases Danny through the maze playfully
No.33, Wendy and Danny play in the snow
A38 “Come play with us, Danny”
No.45, Wendy telling Danny to go play in his room while he’s in a state of shock and his neck is bruised
No.79, Jack chases Danny out of hiding
All of the Maze Sequences
Color:
Idiomatic:
1) Black and white:
A subject or situation is one in which it is easy to understand what is right and wrong.
The Bathroom is black and white— a stark contrast to the other bathrooms Kubrick’s shown us.
2) Black and Blue: Bruised, beaten up.
The term black and blue refers to the colors of a bruise. Something that is black and blue has been hurt either physically or emotionally. When used literally, the phrase describes a physical injury.
Blue:
Sadness. And usually associated with femininity.
Jack as The Big Bad Wolf:
No.28
No.79
No.84
No.88
Fairytales:
Whether these fall under “American Culture” or “Domestic Abuse”, the stories we tell our children and ourselves and how they lead us down false paths is very much connected.
No.16 “Leave a Trail of Breadcrumbs”
No.26 “Didn’t think it’d be that big, did you?”
No.48 and the woman as “the evil witch”
No.73 Danny hides in an oven.
Tool as a weapon:
The knife, becomes the replacement for the bat. This scene as an escalation of No.64.
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.
The scene is a continuation of Wendy’s realization and Jack’s actions coming together.
There is a structural parallel in that the swiftness of the camera pan in A41:i703, i704 asn Danny reacts to Jack is how the camera swiftly follows Jack swinging the axe.
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 is grateful for Jack’s help, but she trusts Jack’s word over her son’s and this scene has the consequences.
No.54
Wendy talks through her plan to leave The Overlook, Danny interrupts with screaming REDRUM from his bedroom.
Bathrooms:
No.6
Danny talks with Tony, as his reflection, about why he doesn’t want to go to the hotel.
No.48
Halloran receives communication sent from Danny, the viewer sees Jack inside the Room 237 Bathroom.
No.53
Halloran receives communication sent from Danny, the viewer sees Jack inside the Room 237 Bathroom.
Wendy
Danny
Jack
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.
The sound crescendoes and fades out within seconds of each other, inside of Halloran’s snowcat looking at the Overlook hotel and focusing on the lit bathroom window.
This is to signify that the scene isn’t over just because Halloran’s intervention.
Foreshadows A87:i2043, i2046 and A88:i2054, i2056 and how the music carries through Wendy witnessing the blood elevator and Danny hiding from Jack, who lumbers around the corner.
The music signifies the blood spilt from aggression.