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ART OF THE LOBBY
COLORADO POSTERS ⎔ GERMAN POLITICAL CARTOONS ⎔ LOG HUT ON THE ST. MAURICE ⎔ MT. HOOD POSTCARDS ⎔ MYSTERIES ⎔ NORTHERN RIVER ⎔ PAYSAGE D’HIVER ⎔ SOLEMN LAND ⎔ STORMY WEATHER ⎔ TOWER OF BABEL
APPEARANCE
There’s three of these. One is tucked away on the short wall behind the cashier’s office. It’s seen first during the approach of Ullman and Watson in the lobby (19:41-19:46) and again when Wendy can’t get the radio to work (47:35-47:36), and again for a split second before Hallorann takes the axe (128:37) (the darkest one, bottom right). It might also appear when Jack’s throwing the tennis ball at 39:24, it’s hard to tell. This one seems to be the same design as the one plainly visible in the above photo, behind the cashier, but they might all three be the same, honestly. It’s hard to tell.
So the plainly visible one appears first as Ullman and Watson approach Jack for the tour (19:45-19:46, 19:49, 19:52-19:55 – stuff keeps getting in the way), then when Jack’s playing with the tennis ball (39:19-39:20), then really obscurely with the other one when Wendy can’t make the radio work (47:35-47:36) then as Jack’s going to murder the radio (94:09-94:11) (red box), then during Hallorann’s death march (128:00-128:16). This one flashes by again for a second as Jack stalks to get Danny (129:01)
And finally on the north wall of Susie’s office, half obscured by the door, as Jack gets in the killing mood (94:23-94:25). Actually, Susie’s one is seen for a sliver at 3:34 too.
SIGNIFICANCE
I feel like there might be a numbers game going on here, but I can’t seem to suss it out. Like, the fact that one appears at 19:41, and then almost exactly twice that, 39:20, seems significant, but then there’s no appearances at multiples of those. Then there’s the one that first started disappearing at 19:45 being the one that appears for a final time in the moment of Dick’s death, which happens to look like a mash-up of the room number that brought him here (237) and the room number that he seems to end up in (238): 2:08:37. The one is Susie’s office first appears at 3:34, and last appears at 1:34:23, which contains the same numbers. I don’t know. They’re in such odd places that the building forces them to only appear in fits and starts, which, again, feels very controlled and meaningful, but I’m not seeing it, sorry.
Perhaps if we could ID the mountains, that might tell us something. The closest thing I’ve seen to the piece is a vintage Telluride tourism poster, which has similarly-shaped mountains cutting in at the sides, but the foreground is much different. But if it was a poster depicting that region, it’s 78 seconds after Jack passes it throwing the ball (39:24-40:42) that Wendy starts to hear about how “the search continues in the mountains near Ouray today for that missing Aspen woman”. It’s about 15km as the crow flies between Telluride and Ouray. And about equally far from Telluride (a few clicks further from Ouray) is Twin Sisters East Peak and Twin Sisters West Peak. If this was somehow that region, these might always be invoking the Grady twins. But just for the record, there’s a lot of mountains near Ouray (and a whole lot of mountains in Colorado) with names that could be of interest: Carson Peak, Niagara Peak, Mt. Eolus, and so on.
I’m also not entirely sure if all three aren’t the same poster.
There is the thing how the full “COLORADO” appears behind the cashier, while only “ADO” appears on Susie’s poster, when Jack clicks the light on. Meaning “COLOR” is blocked. Is “colour” what Jack’s murdering when he kills the radio and Hallorann? Is it that simple?
Next art reference: Paysage d’hiver, Laval
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OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 