Yes, it’s a Christmas movie.
I occasionally go on Kurt Vonnegut jags.
Ill reread his entire catalogue.
I do that with several artists, Stanley Kubrick among them.
King had written a book about an external, malevolent force that infected the energies that encountered it.
Kubrick wanted to reimagineThe Shiningas a Christmas parable.
Kubricks vision is ultimately optimistic, with a lesson to be learned by the whole family.
SoThe Shiningis perfectly reasonable family fare to me.
Stanley Kubrick is well known for the symbolism, metaphors and allegories in his works.
He is a master craftsman who explored subversive filmmaking while never losing sight of the commercial side of film.
No Kubrick movie is a single film.
They all work on the audience on two levels.
There is always an entirely different film being told through subtext.
Kubrick reveals mysteries and shares secrets.
The cockpit of the bomber inDr.
The space shuttle in2001: A Space Odyssey, looks like it is a replica from the future.
There are people who believe Kubrick was killed for exposing these secrets.
Kubrick includes references to the moon landing inThe Shining.
The head cook at the hotel, Dick Hallorann, notices that Danny shines like the Star of Bethlehem.
Hallorann explains that the hotel has a shine of its own.
Danny is an imaginative child and he has more than visions of sugar plums dancing in his head.
There are two girls around his own age who want to play with him, forever.
Jack Torrance could use some Christmas cheer.
He has lost that spirit of imagination.
He laments that all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
Jacks frustration mounts and he begins to take it out on his family.
Wendy is hopelessly lost as she tries to put the best possible spin on their bleak circumstances.
She tries to bridge the growing gap between the Ebenezerly father and his Tiny Tim son.
Tony is very respectful towards Dannys mother while Danny is withdrawn.
Jack bursts into the room with the axe fresh from chopping wood for the fireplace.
The young sisters who were killed could represent the children killed in the Massacre of the Innocents.
The Scroogey father dawdles too long in the snow and becomes a Jack Frost lawn ornament.
In the book, he roasts on an open fire.
Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance with an over-the-top Dr. Seuss animation.
She even dresses in the same color coordination as the Goofy toy Danny has in his room.
Danny Lloyds performance as the creepy Danny Torrance is a wonder of concentration.
Joe Turkel mixes it up as Lloyd the bartender.
Anne Jackson plays Dannys doctor.
Tony Burton plays Larry Durkin.
Barry Dennen portrays Bill Watson.
The Grady girls are played by Lisa and Louise Burns.
The Overlook Hotel is a major character.
It is a winter wonderland awash in reds and surrounded by the lush evergreens of a Christmas tree forest.
Green and red are universally accepted as Christmas colors.
Christmas is a co-opted holiday.
The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a feast named for Saturn, the original supreme creator.
Medieval Christians werent happy with the joyous, secular celebrations that were becoming tradition.
They felt that Christmas should be a somber day of religious reflection.
There is no Santa Claus inThe Shining.
There is no tinsel, lights or ornaments on any tree.
There is no menorah.
Kubrick hides his seasons greetings beneath a corridor of blood.
In other films, Kubrick hid menace beneath perfectly framed configs.
InThe Shining, he subverted the ghastly goings with eggnog and red rum.
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