![]() That’s a complex idea, I guess, so head here to learn more about what I call The Story Room.īut it was while looking into those 447 moments (which I was thinking of as “story code” moments), that I realized that the first Roadrunner breakfast includes that 4:47, while the second one is happening in the mirrorform at 40:47. And there’s a thing called the Aarne-Thompson Folktale Motif Index, which is a series of numbers that seem to be what all the numbers in the kitchen’s storeroom are all about. Is that because Jack’s in the building with them?įinally, I did a study on the various moments of the film that use the numbers 447 in the time code (4:47, 40:47, 44:07) because that’s the number of pages in the novel, and I’d noticed that Wendy likely passes between a verified Tom Thomson painting and a likely Alois Arnegger painting at exactly 47:40. But we’ve lost the stampeding bull image. First breakfast it’s the salt and pepper shakers, second breakfast it’s the Paul Peel nudes. ![]() ![]() Perhaps Kubrick had a point.Īnother thing to note here is what’s behind them: a book shelf with a set of twins. I have a funny experience with Bambi myself in that I know I saw it twice as a child, and yet I have no memory of it, unlike even the frightening nightmare that was The Secret of NIMH. Kubrick professed not to be a fan of Disney’s role at the top of the cartoon food chain, saying that films like Bambi are essentially traumatizing to kids. Only the Bugs plushie is seen fully (along with the only other appearance of the Pooh bear).Īnyway, we’ve crossed from a non-Disney universe to a Disney-tinged universe, it seems. What’s strange, perhaps, about the Bugs shirt is that he never appears in full view. So it’s interesting that Danny and Wendy in the film get some lessons from just such a cuckoo and hound.Īnd speaking of other cartoons, the first breakfast has Tom and Jerry and the Bugs Bunny on Danny’s shirt, while second breakfast only has Pooh bear. And there’s a strong subtext in The Shining about Jack’s fears that Danny comes between he and Wendy (more overtly in the novel), a fear that the hotel transfers onto Hallorann, with a little help from the n-word. Also, cuckoo birds are where we get the idea of cuckolding from, since they’re able to trick other birds into raising their children. A play that has a song all about cuckoo birds. Also, the road runner bird is part of the cuckoo family of birds, and near the end of the film, according to the subtitles in only some versions of the home release, Jack is singing a line from the 1921 Al Jolson play, Bombo. Roadrunner and Coyote go better with the Tom and Jerry mug Wendy was drinking from (in the sense that Woody lacks a singular mortal nemesis). Woody’s colours are blue-white-red, which might account for red being the only cross-over colour. Side note: Shining lore has it that Kubrick wanted the cartoon to be Woody Woodpecker (but couldn’t get the rights). I think you could end the analysis there, but it is a funny change to see, since the coyote is the impotent menace, and roadrunner is the brilliant target. So Wendy and Tony/Danny have gone from being prey to predators, it seems. Even the plaid tablecloth and Danny’s milk have turned brown. But there’s a few interesting changes, between these similar-looking, similar-functioning scenes.įoremost, in the first breakfast, Wendy and Danny are wearing blue and dark blue–roadrunner colours–and in the second breakfast they’re both wearing brown–coyote colours. 23, 1979, and Wendy clubs Jack on the 13th of December, 1979), so it’s reasonable to expect that Wendy isn’t realizing the duality, or doesn’t care–she’s about to face a madman. Note that the cartoon contains railroad imagery.įirst, these events are separated by about 82 days (11 weeks, 5 days) in the lives of the Torrances (the most recent newspaper in the living room is from Sept. This episode plays twice in the film, during the following two breakfast scenes. The Roadrunner Show: Episode “Stop! Look! And Hasten!” (Augdir. But for now, they exist only elsewhere.Īlso, if you’re especially interested in the phenomenon of the screen media in the film, I did a breakdown of the various time codes these videos appear at in the film, and what the time codes are from the videos themselves, and how the numbers game that goes on amidst them is kind of mind-blowing. Just to note: I originally wrote this after writing the sections on artworks and books, with the idea that I should skip anything I’d already covered in those sections, like all the Disney stuff. PAINTINGS ⎔ MUSIC ⎔ FILM & TV ⎔ RECREATION ⎔ LITERATURE MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
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