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LESSONS ⎔ MIRROR MOVEMENTS ⎔ MIRROR PHRASES ⎔ TWINS
OTHER ⎔ LOBBY ⎔ FASHION ⎔ 42 & 237
The lobby is the part of the film with the most objects that connect us to other areas of the hotel. I’ve discussed this all over the site, but I thought it would be good to show all the evidence in one spot.
LOBBY AND 2ND ENTRANCE
The 2nd Entrance (top two shots) is interesting for the way that everything in it is earlier/later seen in the lobby, with the exception of one Oxborough portrait, located just over the power panel that Jack will access to illuminate the exterior. The effect is that there’s no area of the lobby that doesn’t have some connection to the 2nd entrance. The east back hall, the west back hall, the north back hall, Susie/Ullman’s office, even the hall behind the east back hall (the Oxborough lattice), and of course, the lobby proper. The only area left out would be the lobby foyer, with the shadow monster painting, but I think the point of that piece was its obscurity.
LOBBY AND THE BLOODFALL HALL
This one’s quite similar, if a little less completist. The get the north back hall (blue box), west back hall (green box), east back hall (red box), and Ullman’s (yellow box). We don’t get anything in the lobby proper, except an elevator and matching furniture, which honestly is probably good enough.
LOBBY AND THE BLOWJOB WELL
A bit simpler, what’s interesting about this one is that both lobby pieces appear about equidistant (and out of sight) from where Hallorann is murdered, which happens right before we see these two pieces appear in the BJ well.
LOBBY AND THE GOLD ROOM
There is the Gold Room sign, of course, which appears in both, but that seems like a definite duplicate, whereas what I’m more interested in here is things that seem to be moving through the hotel without any logical explanation. That said, the final shot of the movie is some time after the death of Jack Torrance, presumably, and so there’s nothing really to say someone couldn’t have moved the bloodrug from the Gold Room bathroom to the lobby. Except of course for the way it’s also seen at the 2nd Entrance, before anyone’s died. What’s really neat there, then, is that the Gold Room, which is almost utterly devoid of artworks, does have a connector.
LOBBY AND THE COLORADO LOUNGE
There’s also an absurdity where the rug beneath the TV becomes a different Colorado Lounge rug, but we’ll skip that for now. The interesting thing about these connections is the way they’re all so separated. None is within sight of any other. That makes me wonder if connecting the lobby and lounge was a later thought in Kubrick’s process, but the two paintings are, once again, to the north and south of Hallorann’s murder, and the two corresponding pieces outside room 237 are to the east (red box/south) and west (yellow box/north). Appropriately, the lobby yellow box art is also west of the lobby red box art. And 237 is what causes Danny to summon Hallorann to his doom between the lobby art.
Oh, I forgot that the photo in the CAMERA WALK sign, which also appears in the lobby at the beginning, is the same as the “summer” shot of Mt. Hood in Ullman’s office, cropped and possibly coloured slightly differently. And Danny’s red trike is seen in the lobby as well. And in case you’re thinking of the tennis ball that rolls up to Danny, it’s pink in my version, not yellow-green like Jack’s.
Oh, and I forgot the Scientific American appears in both places.
LOBBY AND THE GARAGE
There’s three of these German political cartoon posters (there’s one in the radio room as well, but that’s also the lobby) around the hotel, by the satirist Oskar. They seem linked to Jack’s three murders (snowcat, radio, Hallorann)
LOBBY AND SUITE 3
Things seem to move from the lobby to Suite 3 in pairs. Two magazines, two toys, two paintings.
LOBBY AND THE KITCHEN
It’s possible I’m missing something, but so far all I can see is this nine-rung ladder. It might not be the same ladder, but it’s the same size and design.
LOBBY AND BOULDER
I suppose you could also count a depiction of Bugs Bunny being on Danny’s shirt and the plushie here, but I think it’s fair to limit it to only specific reproductions.
Note too how the black bear at the hotel was in roughly the same spot as Ullman and Watson during the other side of the above seen phone call.
LOBBY AND THE FOREST SERVICE
There’s a set of postcards, one that connects to the US Forest Service, and one in that office that connects to the labyrinth kiosk. My thinking is that these indicate that the hotel, the maze and the forests of the world have properties in common. The properties the maze and the hotel share are obvious, so just transpose those over the natural world.
LOBBY AND THE LABYRINTH
Of course, the actual labyrinth bears a completely different design from the model and the map, but the model and the map are identical, so far as I can see. Also, you can make the point that the lobby and the exterior both have hedge mazes in them.
You could also say, on the same basis that I mentioned the floating baseball bat, that Jack’s bloody axe starts in the lobby and ends in the labyrinth. But it feels moot somehow.
LOBBY AND THE TWINHALL
Danny’s trike also takes us to the lounge area, but perhaps most significantly, it ties the lobby to the remote twinhall, which is somewhere impossible to guess the location of, besides to say it has wallpaper similar to the staff wing.
LOBBY AND THE GAMES ROOM
Both feature the same style of couch, which I believe is meant to suggest (among other details) that the games room lies north of the lobby.
LOBBY AND BOILER ROOM
Both feature “rescue breathing” and Heimlich maneuver instruction posters. These are also seen in the kitchen, incidentally, behind Hallorann’s head when he’s talking to Danny.
Okay! That about does it.
That means the only areas that don’t have a direct lobby connection (that I know of) are Hallorann’s apartment, Durkin’s Garage (although both contain Coke products at one point, very similar vending machines, and a very similar time card punch), and Stapleton Airport (although people holding ski equipment are seen in both at different points). That’s still only three settings out of almost 30 with no connection, all associated with Hallorann’s outside life.
Click here to continue on to Curiouser and Curiouser, Part 7: Inverting Fashions
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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 