We 've all seen the “REDRUM” scene hundreds of times in movies, however this clip is where that classic scene made it 's first debut, in Stanley Kubrick 's movie adaptation of Stephen King 's novel The Shining. The Shining is a movie about a family that lives in the Overlook hotel one winter. The father, Jack goes mad and attempts to murder his wife and son, Wendy and Danny. Stanley Kubrick 's The Shining is packed full of subtext, which many people have developed theories about from speculation. Today I will be discussing just three themes people have expanded on within the movie,the genocide of native Americans, the Holocaust, and the apollo space program. The first theme in the film I will be discussing, is the genocide of Native Americans. …show more content…
Allusions to the holocaust can also be found throughout the movie. For example, in the very opening scene we see Jack driving in his yellow Volkswagen. According to William Blakemore in his article “‘Room 237’ Subject Bill Blakemore Writes About His ‘The Shining’ Theories.” this is important for three reasons. First, Volkswagen is a German brand. Second, Jack 's car is yellow, the color of the badges Jews were forced to wear. Lastly, that particular model car is thought to have been designed by Hitler himself. Another subtle reference can be seen while watching a transition between two scenes, where tourist fade into suitcases, an item very relevant to the holocaust due to so many of them being the only things remaining of masses of Jews that had been killed. In addition to that, we are shown Jack 's type writer. Also made by a German brand, this speaks about the very bureaucratic and industrial way the Nazi 's had carried out the extermination. A repetition of the number 42 can also be found throughout the movie. I have provided three examples, right before Danny 's first vision the number 42 is seen on his sleeve, Wendy is seen watching 'The Summer of '42 ', and the product of room 237 is 42. The number 42 is significant because it is the year the Nazi 's decided to go ahead with their extermination plans. There is also a scene containing an interaction between the cook, Halloran and …show more content…
A full blown theory has been developed around this theme in the film. Some people believe Stanley Kubrick helped stage the apollo moon landings (I am not trying to tell you this is true) and The Shining is his way of telling the world. Jack and Danny are thought to represent two sides of Kubrick. Jack represents his more practical side while Danny represents the artist in Kubrick and his child-like nature. The things that happen to Jack and Danny are relative to experiences Kubrick had while working on the moon landings. The first hour of the movie, Wendy, Danny and the manager are wearing red, white, and blue, our nations colors. The Overlook Hotel symbolizes America, and the manager is the face of America, better known as the government. During his meeting with Jack we can see a little flag on his desk in addition to an eagle behind him, not only a symbol of America but the lunar lander for apollo 11 that was referred to as “The Eagle”. In Jay Weidner 's interpretation The oncoming snow storm is symbolic of the cold war, one of the driving forces for the space race. In relation to the cold war, the bears that appear in the film are symbols of Soviet Russia. Oddly, in Stephen King 's novel the room number was originally 217. However, Kubrick changed this rooms number to 237. 237 Thousand miles is the average distance between the Earth and Moon. In this way room
The Shinning, a horror movie that was released in 1980, featured Jack Nicholson, as a writer who is left in charge of the Overlook hotel during the winter. During this time Jack began to developed schizophrenia among many other personality and mood disorders and attempts to murder his own family. After reviewing this film it became apparent that there was a mixture of accuracy and exaggeration of the development of schizophrenia. Jack had this disorder, but also had symptoms of other personality and mood disorders. For the sake of Hollywood the film did take schizophrenia to entirely new levels. Some of this hype was generated around Jack becoming a full fledge killer. The delusions that he suffered from were undeniably crazed and did have a central theme; however, they were induced by other substances. The themes that ran strong throughout this movie were persuasion. Jack was constantly told by his delusions that he needed to take control and steer his family in his own direction. When his family urged him to leave this hotel, it only generated more hostility and anxiety, which pushed the decline of his mental health.
However, creating a scale of genocides like this with the Holocaust at the top undermines the severity of all other genocides. Some historians have used the term “America’s Holocaust” for the Native American Genocide, but this indirectly invalidates it by inferring that it has to be comparable to the Holocaust to be a legitimate genocide. By considering it the Holocaust of America, it disregards the differences between the two genocides and indirectly erases the Native American Genocide from history. Although equivalent in magnitude and destruction, characterizing the Native American Genocide as “America’s Holocaust” is historically inaccurate and disrespectful.
In chapter six of her book Making the White Man 's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies, Ange Aliess explores the topic of how Western have begun to change recently. The changes that she references in the film Dances With Wolves are also present in the film Winter in the Blood as well as in the 1491s shorts, even though the 1491s are a comedy group and not a Western genre. Aleiss describes the ways in which Native Americans reacted to Native portrayals in the film Dances With Wolves, and they tended to see the film’s better sides in contrast with critics. In Winter in the Blood, there are many stereotypes that are explored in ways that make the characters seem more real and less stereotypical as the backstories are revealed, despite
The film Dances with Wolves, that was written by Michael Blake and directed by Kevin Costner, helps to shift our perspective of Native Americans from one of stereotypical distaste, to one of support and respect. According to an anonymous critic on www.eFilmcritic.com "This is one of the few westerns that devotes its time to looking at the plight of the American Indians (particularly the Sioux), who were thought by some as even more subhuman than blacks during the 1800's (and even during parts of the 1900's)." It has always been thought that Native Americans of old were savage, non-feeling, unemotional, cold-blooded killers. It is difficult for people to see them as anything else. I have come to the understanding that they are much more that. They are kind, feeling, understanding, loving, loyal, helpful, good people just like us. There is no difference between them and us. The film helps us to think of them as real people that can relate and understand us.
The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by Stephen King that is based on events at the Overlook Hotel where the Torrance family is snowed in for the winter which leads to some unfortunate events. Maus I: a Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History is a 1986 graphic novel by Art Spiegelman about the story of his father during the Holocaust. Both of these novels are good stories that are filled with episodes and events that are demonstrated differently. Although the plots of The Shining and Maus 1 bear some minor similarities, the difference between them are more clear, which includes whether the plot is linear and sequential, and the use of stream of consciousness, foreshadowing, and flashbacks. The novel Maus I is story within a story so it goes back and forth from the present and the past, which means the plot is not completely linear and sequential. In the other hand, the novel The Shining is more linear and sequential than Maus I. Both of the novels contains flashbacks and has foreshadowing but The Shining has more foreshadowing than Maus I but less flashbacks. The Shining clearly includes stream of consciousness while in Maus I it is not.
Jacquelyin Kilpatrick , Celluloid Indians. Native Americans and Film. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999
The limited presence of Native Americans translates to the limited possibility of Native Americans to voice their perspectives. In order to achieve a fuller picture of Native Americans, the media must stay away from misrepresenting the race when they are present. Presenting Native Americans as a race of savages only makes more people believe that misinterpretation. The media needs to become more informed about the culture of Native Americans, feature more Native Americans in their productions, and represent a clearer picture of a people that has suffered from portrayals as a primitive people. The media should never be responsible for interpreting the image of a particular race; it should serve to more accurately inform people.
[1] Why would a person in 1992 make a historical film about Christopher Columbus’ discovery that completely ignores the then current debates that question whether or not it precipitated genocide? Director Ridley Scott set out to produce the be-all-end-all depiction of Columbus, yet he blatantly neglected to address the most heated issue: Native American genocide. In Scott’s film, the native voice is unheard, their identity is muted, and their culture is disregarded. The quincentennial celebration of Columbus’ voyage triggered a proliferation of literary criticisms addressing the controversy over the traditional Columbus myth. 1492: Conquest of Paradise, however, is silent about these issues. Having full knowledge of this multi-faceted debate, did Scott simply take the easy way out by providing another typical Columbus story? Under the pretense of a historical film, did Scott sacrifice historical truth and intellectual integrity for mass appeal at the box office? In his silence, Scott decides to avoid the genocide debate. Whether or not the discovery of the New World indeed precipitated genocide is still under debate, but it is an important one and should not be ignored. We still have a lot to learn from our heritage and need to address the important issues in order to better learn and evolve. The two strong arguments below represent the two sides of a heated debate that was not represented in the film 1492. They contain harsh truths which aren’t marketable to the American public but are vital to the understanding of the moral implications of cultural conquest.
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white supremacy. During this essay, I would focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant especially during the era when the film was released.
The depiction of minorities, specifically women and Native Americans, in Western film has changed drastically from the early 1930's to the late 1980's. These changes represent the changing views of American society in general throughout the 20th century. In the early part of the century, women and Native Americans were depicted as a burden. Women were viewed as a form of property, helpless and needing support. These minorities were obstacles in the quest for manifest destiny by the United States. Western films during the early 20th century represent the ignorance of American culture towards minorities. As time progressed, society began to develop compassion for Native Americans and men began to see women as equals. The movie industry perpetuated the views of society throughout the last century. When Native Americans were seen as an "obstacle" in westward expansion, film directors supported these views on screen. As society began to question the treatment of Native Americans and women, the film scripts responded to these changes. By looking at western films over the last 60 years, the correlation between societal attitudes and film plots has changed the views of Native Americans and women. The two have worked together to bring the portrayal of Native Americans from savage beasts to victims, and women from property to equals.
They brought real Natives to play the Natives on the big screen and eventually movies were created by Natives themselves. Around the same time was the Hippie movement; many people wanted to be like the Natives they saw in the films even though it was not an accurate depiction of the Natives. They liked the 'positive stereotypes' of the Natives in the movies, the family unity and their strength as warriors. In the 1960's the American Indian Movement (AIM) also began and in 1973 The genocide at Wounded Knee occurred. Jim Jarmusch says “That is a genocide that occurred and the [American] culture wanted to perpetrate the idea that [the natives] these people are now mythological, you know, they don’t even really exist, they’re like dinosaurs.” This shows just how much Americans wanted to belittle the Natives, and despite succeeding for a number of years, the New Age of Cinema commenced and movies like Smoke Signals began what some would look at as a Renaissance. The Renaissance explained in Reel Injun discusses the rebirth of the Native American in the Hollywood films, and how the negative stereotypes went away with time. Reel Injun also makes a point to explain how it impacted not only the films but Americans who watched them, and ultimately America as a
Looking back on the Native American time period, I've come to a realization that the way all of them adapted to life with how they lived was much different then than how things are today. Going from the way they talked, how they dressed, how education was done, to how they live everyday, etc. I think it's all somewhat different with how people are today in those categories. But some of those things that the Native Americans were used to doing everyday, were being forced to change by different kinds of people. The Native American experience was a genocide act.
The film, Dances With Wolves, was very cleverly written in my opinion. For most of the introduction, before John Dunbar begins to get friendly with the Sioux Indians, you are given an emotional expression of hatred and dislike towards the Native American Indians as they are slowly introduced into the script. There were a few scenes of brutality and savagery that triggered these emotions. For example, there was a...
Through its remarkable breakthroughs in film and what the camera could do, Birth of a Nation can be explored as a film that set the standards for future film development and masterpieces. However, one can never look past the way that African-Americans were horribly represented and depicted on film. This has caused this film to be such a great film to explore when studying film and especial minorities in film. This debate will continue way past my life and beyond. One must hope and believe that the ignorance of the few that still see this as a positive image of reality can be overturned and that this film can only be seen as a studying device for all those that look to explore the art of film and the sad realities that can come from the ideals of those who create film and movies.
Allies of the Native Americans advocated to “kill the Indian and save the man (Smith 36).” It was far more cost effective to commit “cultural rather than physical genocide (Smith 37).” Native Americans were denied the right to their culture, children were forced to attend boarding schools that would rid them of their cultural practices and “civilize them.” Native Americans were to be civilized in theses boarding schools and taught American culture, with the supposed goal to assimilate to mainstream society but “because of racism in the U.S., Native Peoples could never really assimilate into the dominant society (Smith 37).” Native Americans were dispossessed from their own culture, one door being closed without the other door ever being opened.