by Hugh Monahan
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ART OF THE LOBBY BACK HALL
BEAVER SWAMP ⎔ BOG OAK ⎔ DECEMBER AFTERNOON ⎔ MAKAH RETURNING IN THEIR WAR CANOES ⎔ MALIGNE LAKE, JASPER PARK ⎔ MIST FANTASY, SAND RIVER, ALGOMA ⎔ MYSTERIES (CARMICHAEL, MONAHAN) ⎔ OXBOROUGH ⎔ PLOVERS ⎔ RED MAPLE
APPEARANCE
- To the left of the bloodfall in Danny’s three visions
- When Danny’s running to his hiding place behind the lobby (also when Jack comes to get him)
- When Jack stalks through the 2nd entrance area (cropped out when Wendy passes)
- In isolation as Wendy perceives the bloodfall
That’s seven sightings in three locales. No painting appears in more than three locales, but this takes the cake for most individual sightings, I think. Only Dorothy Oxborough – whose five (possibly six) pieces are seen 24 times across 12 shots (or 25 times across 13 shots) – would generally appear in more individual shots.
IDENTITY
Monahan grew up in India, went to school around Dublin, and got PTSD fighting in Northern Africa and Italy during WWII (similar to the author of Bomber Pilot, sounds like). He moved to Vancouver later in life, to become a full-time artist, and became an early champion of environmentalism. He was known for his colourful observations and stories, but was plagued by depression, and couldn’t get over the “inhumanity of war”.
SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
A flock of geese flying over a marsh on a sunny, snowless December afternoon. Kind of a funny thing to kick off two of the film’s most frightening images, one of a father running down his son with an axe, one of a blood tidal wave. The name, December Afternoon, seems to confirm that, yes, these events are meant to be happening in December, and that yes, even though it’s dark outside, it is still, basically the afternoon (Wendy sees the bloodfall sometime before 6pm).
In the bloodfall it hangs across from Trapper’s Camp, which is completely associated to Hallorann’s murder, so I wonder if this piece was meant as a more generic symbol of death/murder, a kind of subliminal repetition of an image to make us think Danny’s gonna get it. Because, though Wendy passes through the same 2nd entrance as Jack, she doesn’t “see” the painting during that shot; it’s cropped out.
Recall how three of the four paintings in the bloodfall hall are repeated, in the same order, in the lobby back hall? The exception is December Afternoon, which is replacing Makah Returning in Their War Canoes, by Paul Kane, most prominently featured next to the Grady ghost, when Wendy sees him. But what’s cool is, while there’s 24 birds in December Afternoon, there’s 42 rowers in the two canoes in Kane’s painting (not counting coxswains). Since Danny is associated to birds, and the number 42, I doubt this was an entirely unconscious selection.
There’s also the little matter of the album Commoners Crown by Steeleye Span that appears in Hallorann’s apartment at the midpoint of the film. The opening track of that album is about Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln, an actual child who was murdered in 1255 CE at 9 years old, allegedly by Jews. Steeleye Span took out the antisemitic reference for their song. But since this Hugh Monahan piece is so closely connected to Hallorann’s murder, I think it’s worth considering the link. In the mirrorform, the backwards murder of Dick takes place between 12:45 and 12:52, which, if think of these as years, goes brilliantly with Little Sir Hugh’s short years (1246-1255). Also, Dies Irae, the apocalypse song that opens the film, is thought to have been written between 1253 and 1255. So backwards Dick’s first moment of not being murdered (12:53) would possibly be the same as the first year Dies Irae could’ve been written. I think that’s pretty snazzy.
Next art reference: Mystery Monahan
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
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 