Grimm’s Fairy Tale Version
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APPEARANCE
Referenced by Wendy in the kitchen (25:49-25:50). And possibly by the fact that Jack springs out to kill Hallorann next to a sign that reads SWEET SHOP.
IDENTITY/SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
The fairy tale is classified as 327A in the Aarne-Thompson classification system, a type of folk tale known as “The Children with the Witch“, in which I imagine this is the most famous example. 327 is yet another 237 anagram.
The story also possibly originated thanks to the Great Famine of 1315-1317, which, as Wikipedia delightfully points out here, may have lead to child-on-child cannibalism. Good times. Also, you may recall there was another possible Great Famine reference. Also, in the four horsemen section, I posit that the lobby is where Wendy encounters Famine, once Hallorann’s body has vanished.
MIRRORFORM SIGNIFICANCE
In the mirrorform, at 13:15-13:17, backward Dick is walking to his doom while the doctor asks Danny about his teeth (“Now Danny, do you remember what you were doing just before you started brushing your teeth?”). This also means that the doctor is overlaying the SWEET SHOP sign and the AY Jackson painting Red Maple, throughout every appearance of that painting (in this sequence) in the mirrorform. (Also, the doctor is played by Anne Jackson.)
There’s also a book in Boulder called Angell, Pearl, and Little God, and the names Hansel and Gretel translate into “God is Gracious” (Hansel) and “A Pearl” (Gretel), so I suspect a connection there. In fact, between the SWEET SHOP sign, the book, and the connection between Wendy’s reference and the kitchen, there’s almost no moment from the entire first half of the mirrorform that doesn’t connect to the fable in some subtle way.
Another thing this has caused me to wonder is: could the doctor be something like an early, softer version of the 237 ghost? In the novel, the doctor shows up on page 137, a number that would be 2:17 as time. And while the doctor helps invoke the first of novel Danny’s lessons and escapes, he’s also the character who tells Jack and Wendy to ignore Danny’s obvious shine ability, priming them to make the psychological decision to remain in the most threatening environment. Movie doctor performs much the same, dismissing Tony’s existence, and leading Wendy to believe the wrong thing. That, combined with the SWEET SHOP, and Red Maple overlays, and with the Angell, Pearl, and Little God growing out of her head, makes me wonder how much this swirl of connecting inferences is incidental. But I doubt that the character of the doctor is an active agent of the hotel’s dark energies. I think she simply reflects the notion that Kubrick and King seem to have against scientific dogmatism: the way that the scientifically literate will often dismiss something as patently false until its proven true by their own tool of science. At which point, the formerly “false” becomes the most obvious “truth”. In some future, where the scientific nature of Tony is understood, this doctor might have been just the champion Danny needed. As it stands, her role in ushering Danny to his ultimate abuse in 237 is not a neutral one.
Also, let me point out the giant triangle-shaped rock on the table beside her, with the hole through its middle. These are called hag stones, and are associated with witches and snakes, so the doctor’s close proximity to one all through the scene that follows from all that “Jackson” energy may be another hard chip in that pile, so to speak.
Next literary reference: Glamour Magazines
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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 