Mean Mr. Mustard – Round 3


MAIN PAGESECTION PAGESITE MAPGLOSSARY

REDRUM ROAD – ROUND THREE – SKIP TO A PAGE
COME TOGETHERSOMETHINGMAXWELL’S SILVER HAMMEROH! DARLINGOCTOPUS’S GARDENI WANT YOUHERE COMES THE SUNBECAUSEYOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEYSUN KINGMEAN MR. MUSTARDPOLYTHENE PAMSHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOWGOLDEN SLUMBERSCARRY THAT WEIGHTTHE END

ROUND ONE STARTROUND TWO STARTSPECIAL: STORY ROOM


  • “Mean Mr. Mustard sleeps in the park/Shaves in the dark” – Stubbly Jack in the dark. Also, recall how the round 2 intro leads from Lloyd to Grady in the space of a few seconds. Round 1 features backward Jack skulking back into the dark while Wendy discovers the All Work pages. It’s hard to say exactly when the idea of Jack becoming Grady occurred to Wendy. I like to think it was the “chopped you up into little pieces” dream episode. But it’s possible it took as long as discovering the All Work pages.
  • As a general thing: Jack meets Grady not long into this track in round 2, and their conversation continues almost to the end of Carry That Weight. This means that the entire interview and the entire Grady-onscreen sections are virtually identical in Redrum Road. The same holds true for different songs if you regard the scenes on the other side of the film (obviously).
  • “Savin’ up to buy some clothes” – Jack clutching his corduroy jacket shut because it’s super cold out, and he’ll die of exposure soon. There’s also a neat moment at the end of this line (on “clothes”) where Jack seems to be looking down at the nicer outfit backward Jack has on.
  • “Such a mean old man” – Backward Ullman recounting the familicide of Grady. But also, where Ullman is Satan, he’s a mean old man himself (you can even see a horn poking out from the wingtip of the eagle behind his head, here).
  • Also, this moment connects Danny’s maze walk to his escapes: this song played over the maze walk, and it plays over the tail end of the reflection of those left-rights, here.
  • “His sister Pam works in a shop” – The entire part about Pam starts just as Wendy’s coming up the hall here, and feels relevant to Wendy’s movements right to the end.
  • “Only place that he’s ever been/Always shouts out something obscene” – On “Only” Wendy is crossing the spot where the Grady ghost will appear in a moment. On “obscene” she’s seeing Hallorann’s corpse. Fake Grady is the one who tells Jack that he’s always been the caretaker here.
  • “Dirty old man” – There’s two repeats of this phrase, one before the zoom on Hallorann, and one after. So, while Hallorann has the look of an old hobo asleep in the street, I think this is more about the Grady/Jack status as family killers. Ullman’s describing Grady’s breakdown right here.

Click here to continue on to Redrum Road: Polythene Pam – Round 3


MAIN PAGESECTION PAGESITE MAPGLOSSARY


OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS

THE MIRRORFORMTHE BEATLESTHE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ARTOVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHSGOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDSPATTERNSVIOLENCE AND INDIGENAABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOMANIMAL SYMBOLSTHE ANNOTATED SHINING

ABOUT EYE SCREAM